Posted on 06/23/2008 5:35:05 PM PDT by Lorianne
Back in 1985, I'm five years old and staring into my lunchbox. All around me, children are ripping into packs of Monster Munch. I've got yesterday's quiche and a mushy tomato.
And there's something soggy at the bottom, possibly a homemade rock bun, but I can't be sure.
My lunchbox was a testament to my mother's thrifty habits Today, it would be celebrated as a resourceful meal made from leftovers. Back then, I didn't give a hoot about food waste and packaging. I wanted pickled onion crisps and a Penguin bar.
It wasn't that my parents were tofu-munching hippies who spent their weekends waving banners.
Growing up in a village outside Cambridge, I don't remember us having environmental worries, but I did appreciate that my family was spectacularly good at saving resources.
Electricity, gas, food, water: you name it, we made it stretch further. To do so, we called on the powers of 'eke, eke'.
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I’m into thrift but not out of noble purposes.
Its pure ol mean spirited conservative fiscal responsibility so I can get more capital to invest in big oil and things along those lines.
My parents were exactly like Anna’s, this way. And yes, it is a tradition. And it continues. :) I still make bungee cords and tree/stake ties out of old bicycle innertubes. Etc.
What the hell is an Aga? My Grannie would be 118, and was of English descent, how come I didn’t know what a quiche was until I was 30? My Grand Pa would have been 122 this last February and he said Tea was the down fall of the British Empire, horrid stuff except in Alabama, cold.
In my family, you were taught it may be very very fashionable to live above one’s means, but the very very wise always to care to live below whatever their means were. Some might call it saving for a rainy day.
I rewash zip lock bags if they're not too scummy.....I do get two cups of tea out of one bag....and speaking of bags, am I the only one who still cuts up paper bags to wrap boxes in for the mail?
Nope. I still do.
I was taught early in life that the answers from God that we need are all around us and absolutely nothing is impervious to His message to us. We suffer when we assume there is only one way we will receive His guidance to us.
You are right about cutting down on the garbage, in re using current items for other purposes. I consider doing as so maximizing my investments at the micro-level.
A saving nation, a nation which saves, can more readily do so, when it is able to utilize current resources, already purchased, perhaps requiring minor additions to make the item more fully functional. Like, say, drilling for oil in our own country.
My kids loved the part in Gone with the Wind where Scarlett goes to Atlanta wearing an outfit made out of velvet drapes and the rooster's tail on her hat; she wins Atlanta!
But I have learned a thing over the years, Cherry -- learning to maximize any object we possess is in fact a learned thing, a tradition. There are people who've never been exposed to the idea of fully maximizing in utilization that which they currently have.
I've currently got a stack of t-shirts my son has outgrown. That which aren't going to be re-cut for the ragbag, I'm experimenting with making "designer t-shirts" for females. If these turn out well, I'm going to try to sell these. :)
I also deadhead and preserve seeds from past years.
I know that I'm responsible and accountable for my "stuff"; ergo, I try to make the best of it in using these.
People who do not understand the above, are people who do not understand basic Economics, or even, say, Fashion.
I've seen some designer Sweat Shirts selling for $100+. I realize, someone had an overage in Sweat Shirts which didn't sell, either refashioned or resold to someone else with an IDEA! $100 for these sweat shirts: a bit of cloth, a new cut, some buttons, and fabric paint. My, my! :)
I always reuse my teabags. I have a morning pot and an afternoon pot. Teabags from the morning pot go back in the pot in the fridge. Afternoon pot is therefore effectively caffiene free, without the aftertaste treated teabags usually have :)
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