Not a single luxury.
Posted on 01/07/2007 4:48:05 PM PST by fishhound
The best shopping trip I ever took in my life, in terms of fashion and value, was to the Goodwill in Carmel, CA. The most fun visit was to the Goodwill in New Orleans--full of Mardi Gras costumes and masks.
I found I've collected too much stuff, and spend too much time picking up. Lately, I've been shopping in my own home--discovering something ignored, enjoying it one more time, then donating it to the local Salvation Army.
So basically they're a bunch of yuppies who've bought some used things.
Funny what you wrote because I go to Goodwill for books from time to time.
People would be amazed at what you can find there. The wealthy drop off all their castoffs.
ooooh. social engineering!
This is a play right out of "Your Money or Your Life", which had a very liberal bent, but I admit did get me to banking more cash and led me to other books on personal finance.
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-Transforming-Relationship/dp/0140286780/sr=1-1/qid=1168234957/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8264919-9874348?ie=UTF8&s=books
Speaking of Black Friday, I draw the line at wrapping presents in inside-out potato chip bags. (A tip mentioned in the book.) On the frugal side, however, I crack up when they interview people who've just spent a couple thousand bucks on $hit or gifts and brag about how much they "saved" by getting out at 5 AM.
I've seen my dad plow behind a mule in my youth. We brought in corn, tomatoes, potatoes, okra, peanuts, peas, beans, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, carrots, and turnips from a garden half the size of a football field. We picked wild blackberries, plums and poke salad from stands in the edges of the pasture. Mom raised chickens and Dad kept cattle and a couple of hogs.
We sat many nights in the kitchen watching the radio when Johnny Dollar or Boston Blackie were rebroadcast in the early Sixties. Yes, without a TV for years in my youth.
My oldest brother has only shopped at thrift stores and flea markets for years and years, nearly all his life. He has always furnished his house with found objects, dumpster diving or cobbled together contrivances. He made a coffee table from an old library table with a broken leg. He cut off the legs and fashioned pedestal legs from scrap two-by-eight boards liberated from a construction site, pegged with hand whittled dowels and stained with shoe polish to almost match the table top.
This New Age frugal living apparently becomes news when Left Coast pious and smug Bay Area socialists reinvent frugality in their own name rather than experience it due to meager circumstances and necessity.
Gee, I never knew the Puritan's didn't "shop" in "malls." :~)
I am delighted to be able to bring this bit of historical fact to the attention of fellow posters.
My comment was in tandem with yours, adding that most of the people in our society who live frugally are Christians.
It's been interesting to me for a long time that the wealthy will pay (or lose money) for "convenience" every time - and not just the wealthy, either.
I live well, but within my means, and even though I get called "cheap" for not buying the latest gadgets and clothes and vacation packages and whatever, I have pretty much everything i need/want, and I got it all at a discount, sometimes eye-opening deep, and I'm become very patient about researching big ticket items and finding the best deals or alternatives. I don't mind buying last-years models (besides, version 1.0 of anything is gnerally a bad idea, bug wise) and I could care less what other people think. I see all you MBA types on the plane sneaking looks at each other's laptops, seeing who has the latest and most expensive. I have a 17" Powerbook G4. I got it free, with a broken LCD, was told it was only good for parts. $300 and a few minutes research on Ebay later and some quality time with a micro-driver set and detailed instructions on the web, I have a working, gleaming Powerbook. It's not the new Intel version, but it works, it's practically brand new, and I challenge you to find one of this quality and reliability for $300.
Avoid the 'Gotta have it!"s, research anything over $100 (there are great resources online), and question if you REALLY need it, or just "want" it. Can you wait 6 months, a year for that gadget? Because I guarantee you'll find it at a steep discount later. You pay each month for internet access, the deals are out there, you just have to dig. There are whole stores, those factory outlets, that specifically sell last year's stuff.
The latest loser in my battle to save money and avoid fads: HDTV. Sure, it's cool. Yes, I have an HDTV plasma (got a great deal on it by searching for 6 months online), but the price of entry for a technology that will be pennies on teh dollar a year or two from now, and might change anyway? Pass! Everyone I know who has it dug their claws in me and got me all worked up about it, and I wanted it...then I came down to earth, and simply could'nt justify it. Would I like it? Sure! Do i want to pay hundreds for something I'll watch maybe once or twice a week? (judging by the listings). Nope! Nobody complains when they visit, for not having it. Is the ego boost worth a week's pay? Pfffft.
Less stuff, but the stuff I have is quality, and my Dad raised me to at least try and fix it before replacing it (and fixing it and fixing it and fixing it...). I hate clutter, and if I don't use it, it gets donated or given to friends. Laptops, printers, tvs, vcrs, clothes - they work fine, but I don't use them, they all now live with freinds and coworkers who are very happy with them.
I got some great antiques that were left on the curb when people moved. Just needed refinishing and a little TLC. People look at me wierd, and think picking through trash is beneath them, but most people throw stuff away that has nothing wrong with it, or can't be bothered to order a part or go to a junkyard. I love refinishing furniture, and love old wood - I'll pay for it, but if they're leaving it out for free...it'd be a crime NOT to grab it and take care of it. IKEA is fine, but the old Art Deco secretary desk with a gorgeous wood grain (that some villian painted blue, then yellow, then white) that I found is a more satisfying desk than anything IKEA has, and stripping it and hand sanding and finishing it was a project I loved every minute of, depspite the looks of horror and irritation at the idea of actually working on furniture. "Just go buy one, you can afford it!"
Another good example is picture frames. The raw materials are cheap, but making them is finicky and requires good tools, knowledge and space. Most people would rather spend $2-300 to frame a PRINT - not even original art - when you can go to Goodwill and St. Vincent DePaul or salvage yards and get beautiful, old, well made frames for pennies, that just need a cleaning, maybe some kind of varnish, or paint. Heck, even if you make your own, instead of the cheap raw wood they sell now, cut down an old frame - some of them were made with wood you can't get anymore. A piece of glass for a couple of bucks (acrylic if it's a print), and viola.
I spend money, but c'mon. Most of what people buy is junk, they won't use, and there's whole industries built on selling people more junk to store the junk they don't use.
Half the drawers and cabinets in my kitchen are empty, and I take great pride in that. Freeing yourself from junk is an experience I urge everyone to try, it's an elightening experience. It's not anti-American, it's common sense. The fact that i do not own an Ipod, nor plan to (I listen to music mostly in the car or while working, external drives and iTunes is fine) will not drive the economy down, and I resent anyone that even hints at it. That $400 is better spent in my 401K or a savings account generating interest.
If I really wanted one, I could go buy one tomorrow, because I don't buy junk, and have no debt, and that feels great too!
This country throws away better stuff than people own with pride in other countries, or sell it cheap to get rid of it, to make room for new stuff. Sporting goods, computer gear, and cameras are excellent areas to find GREAT deals, if you look, or ask. Need a starter lens for a digital SLR? Ask anyone who bought one the last few years, most take off the stock lens and stuff it in a drawer.
Whatta guy!
They'd probably be shocked and digusted if anyone called them 'conservative', but that is the way they are acting, conserving resources by not buying things that are unnecessary. Ironic, isn't it?
I buy alot of "stuff" but never to "keep up with the Joneses." I think it can honestly be said that most people are in the same boat. They buy a certain item because they saw others with it or and ad...and liked it.
I've lived very comfortably; I've lived very not comfortably. In America, there's always a way to live and live well without making a emotive production out of one's economic/financial circumstances. Living comfortably is definitely preferred. :)
That's the ticket to keeping your life streamlined. :) I do it too.
I am saving to pay cash for a halfway decent used car (no more than 2-3 years old), the problem with the really old junkers here is that the more winters a vehicle is driven, the more damage to the undercarriage because of salt on the road.
How fun! :) Worth saving up for!
bookmark for later read
Not a single luxury.
Shame on me for not thinking of that.
The road crews here do not use salt (too cold to be effective) so cars last a lot longer.
Our 'herd' goes back to as far as '41 (that one does need a little work).
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