selective cheapness

[unclemick]

Why don't you give them back to Blondie along with the cabinet? You could say that they need to stay in the family.

Yes! Yes! Yes! - a gift for Christmas - I ought to have my dumb 'MEN!" look down pretty good by then. I'm going to start practicing in front mirror when I shave.

Thanks Martha.

heh heh heh -

 

[Janet H]

Can someone give me permission to throw out / give away some new towels I got from my mom's house that are a color I don't like and have turned out to be not that absorbent? I'm "rich", dammit! (A rich person with inferior towels... sob!)

Take them down to the local dog grooming place or animal shelter. Wet dogs really aren't too picky about colors

 

[ladelfina]

See how everyone is so concerned about the fate of the towels!?!?!??

I'll take them to the charity clothes drop-off. I'd use them for our own dog, but their big drawback is being less-than-absorbent. The color I could live with if they were kick-a** towels.

The bigger question is: at what point can we -allow- ourselves to jettison things that are 80% good, 50% good, 20% good, 10% good?

 

[Nords]

heh heh heh - you can't take it with you - but does anybody else have 'stuff' they are 'expected' to keep but don't really see any sense in it?

Spouse's mother passed down Grandma's fine silverware with the understanding that we'd actually use it, not just put it in a museum display case.

However it's never quite that simple, and just about every time MIL was in the house she'd find a way to communicate her disapproval that "You're using Grandma's fine silverware wrong"...

Now that MIL is 5000 miles away again we race frivolously about the kitchen using the silverware on various whims to actually eat food, stir coffee, and even scrape things off plates. But that'll just be our little secret, right?

 

[justin]

Ladelfina, if it's going to take you much more than a few minutes to dispose of consumer goods that around here aren't worth a whole lot, then throw them in the trash. That's what I would do, anyway.

What's the FMV of a few unabsorbent used bath towels?

 

[ladelfina]

Arg. We have a big credenza-type thing with a second level of shelves, glass doors and so forth to "exhibit" this "bounty". We bought the cabinet because it seemed as though we "needed" it but I'm now realizing how it's an end in itself.

Half of the contents are from G's family, half from mine. Heavy silver tea and coffee service from his; Victorian glassware from mine. The glasses are exquisite, but tiny and fragile. I can only think that: a.) the Victorians drank less, b.) the Victorians were physically smaller, c.) the Victorians had servants to constantly refill their glasses, while the glasses remained small to (no doubt falsely) convey "modesty" in consumption.

What really is driving me bonkers is that out in the perifery where we live the dust is overwhelming and it's a fine clay dust that filters in everywhere. WITH THE CABINET DOORS CLOSED these things get dusty w/in a month. To actually use ANYthing (no matter where stored or what it is: cheap/expensive.. heirloom/bot at Target.. frou-frou dinner-party-type odds&ends or cheapo frypan.. as it may be) I have to wash it FIRST. Then wash it after. Then, if it is visible, wash it periodically in-between uses.


I'm going to go live in a beach hut and order in Chinese.


--

I WILL buy new nice towels and take the cheesy ones to the charity drop-off. It was never HOW to get rid of them that was the real issue, but WHETHER. I can drop a couple grand on something w/o thinking twice, but some bad aspects of "selective cheapness" linger, and are hard to shake. The bad-towel-retention was an example, a metaphor, for a kind of pointless "penny-pinching".

 

[old woman]

The vets office can use towels to bed down the pets in the back room, they don't need to absorb just be softer than a cage bottom.

 

[Sue J]

Years ago my MIL sent us a nice set of dark red towels for the boys' bathroom. I don't know why she chose dark red, the bathroom was light blue, pale green and yellow. Maybe she got them on sale.

All my other towels are white, off white, yellow, pale pink, light green ...all light enough colors that they can be washed together.

I washed those dark red towels by themselves 3 or 4 times and they were still turning the water red. I tried soaking them. I tried hot water and cold water. They still bled. I normally wash any kind of towel in hot water and I wait until I have a full load. There was no way that I was going to wash these red towels by themselves every time.

Eventually I gave up and stored them in a plastic bag and the next time we had a reason to donate household goods I gave them away. They were decent towels, fluffy and absorbent. MIL never noticed.

I wish I would have thought of giving them to an animal shelter.

 

[citrine]

I spend a lot of money on my art supplies, my two kittens, and my bedding....the three joys of my life!

 

[MasterBlaster]

There is a book on this very topic on how people at all income levels scrimp and save on some things to be able to splurge on others based on their own personal value system.

Amazon.com: Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Consumer: Books: Michael J. Silverstein,John Butman

 

[kaudrey]

ladelfina - I am like that too. I don't often splurge on things, but right now I'm shopping for a good dSLR camera (with 2 lenses), and a wine fridge. I'll probably end up buying both in the next month or two.

Right after I go wash out some plastic baggies...

 

[deserat]

I'm late, but Ladelfina - if the damn towels won't soak up anything they are worthless as towels - if you don't like the color and don't want to make them into a tote bag or something else, I give you permission to get rid of them in any way you deem appropriate and in any emotional state (feeling generous or in a fit of rage).

Signed, the queen of permission giving

 

[W2R]

ladelfina - I am like that too. I don't often splurge on things, but right now I'm shopping for a good dSLR camera (with 2 lenses), and a wine fridge. I'll probably end up buying both in the next month or two.

Right after I go wash out some plastic baggies...

Exactly. I have been living on less than $16K/year for the past 5+ years, including emergency/unusual expenses (and not including P&I on my house, which was paid off in 2006).

But I am sitting here watching a name brand 42" plasma TV that I bought last year within that budget. I always wanted one and it makes me happy.

LBYM is much easier for me if I identify what is important for me and what is not and act on that. Khan-like introspection is valuable to me in seeking and gaining the self-knowledge that I like to use for making these decisions.

 

[ladelfina]

deserat -- FINALLY! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.

right now I'm shopping for a good dSLR camera and a wine fridge... Right after I go wash out some plastic baggies.

Kaudrey - we must have been separated at birth; that is me!

The baggie washing and tin-foil re-use must have saved me ... ohh.. $60 over the last ten years?

 

[kaudrey]

Kaudrey - we must have been separated at birth; that is me!

The baggie washing and tin-foil re-use must have saved me ... ohh.. $60 over the last ten years?

Yeah, but it helps the environment too! Every little bit helps!

 

[RunningBum]

Does anyone else re-use charcoal briquets? After grilling, I put on the lid and close the vents, and the coals cool down. Next time I add some new briquets to the old, mix them in my chimney starter, and they seem to burn just fine! Some of it is due to cheapness, some of it is to not waste, some of it is to not have to haul away charcoal ashes so often.

 

[CuppaJoe]

?? I just said, "No thank you!", and my brothers and nephew jumped right in to divy up the stuff for themselves, to help fill their McMansions I suppose. Guess I am lucky. (?)

Ditto! My sister even keeps a lot of my old stuff. Visiting her is like a going into a time warp, decade by decade.

 

[Gumby]

I will cheap out on many things -- cars and my own clothes, for example -- but I will never go cheap on food at the grocery. Being able to buy exactly what I want at the grocery, when I want it, is very important (we could not do that when I was a kid and I swore it would not be the case after I left home).

 

[brewer12345]

I will cheap out on many things -- cars and my own clothes, for example -- but I will never go cheap on food at the grocery. Being able to buy exactly what I want at the grocery, when I want it, is very important (we could not do that when I was a kid and I swore it would not be the case after I left home).

I am the same way with food. I view it as a cheap luxury and I am a foodie so I actually care about the ingredients when I take the time to cook.

Other stuff, I could care less about.

Then again, I just spent $70 on half a dozen bars of soap and a bottle of bubble bath for DW.

 

[CuppaJoe]

...I will never go cheap on food at the grocery. Being able to buy exactly what I want at the grocery, when I want it, is very important (we could not do that when I was a kid and I swore it would not be the case after I left home).

That was my big rebellion when I got my first apt. I shopped at an international market that specialized in fresh imported produce. One time I bought some out-of-season grapes and the clerk reminded me they were priced by the half pound and asked if I was sure I wanted them. Yes, but no doubt she wouldn't have quibbled if it was a bottle of wine.

 

[old woman]

One time I bought some out-of-season grapes and the clerk reminded me they were priced by the half pound and asked if I was sure I wanted them

I try to buy healthy food at any price and if a food is both yummy and healthy I can get myself to pay a high price. Bing cherries cost about 3.99 then go down to about .99 a pound but I buy some any time I see pretty ones at any price. I grew up with mom refusing to buy overpriced things and I still have trouble with it, I like bargains. If it is bad for me like chips I often look at the price per pound and put it back. Sometimes I get a bunch of produce bags and tell myself I have to fill them no matter what it cost. I go to a veggie market and can get two or three grocery bags of food for $6-$7 even if I throw in something that cost too much.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I try to buy healthy food at any price and if a food is both yummy and healthy I can get myself to pay a high price. Bing cherries cost about 3.99 then go down to about .99 a pound but I buy some any time I see pretty ones at any price. I grew up with mom refusing to buy overpriced things and I still have trouble with it, I like bargains. If it is bad for me like chips I often look at the price per pound and put it back. Sometimes I get a bunch of produce bags and tell myself I have to fill them no matter what it cost. I go to a veggie market and can get two or three grocery bags of food for $6-$7 even if I throw in something that cost too much.

I'm still in heaven in produce shops and farmer's markets because mom bought only apples, oranges, bananas and (yuch!) ice berg lettace. But she grew some delicious stuff: rhubarb and tomatoes but the grape vine never produced.

 

[Meadbh]

I've been splitting dryer sheets for 20+ years. I buy no name brands all the time and compare price per gram or ml. I use generic over the counter drugs such as acetaminophen. I am selective about gifts, grooming, wine.....

 

[Martha]

You would think docs would get things like acetaminophen for free. Just like I have an endless supply of pens and legal pads.

 

[Meadbh]

You would think docs would get things like acetaminophen for free. Just like I have an endless supply of pens and legal pads.

Actually no, not in my situation. Docs in private practice may get drug samples from pharmaceutical reps, but usually it's whatever newfangled drugs they are trying to mass market, e.g. the latest antihypertensive or antibiotic. Acetaminophen is a commodity and not worthy of their attention. In any case, I'm a baby doc in academic practice and when I prescribe acetaminophen for my patients, it's in syrup or suppository form. All our major new treatments are introduced in the context of rigorous randomized clinical trials and if the evidence doesn't show benefit, out it goes. When it's a new use for an old drug, our team pharmacists advise us. It's pointless for pharma reps to come visit, so I simply don't see drug samples. The only free stuff I get is conference pens.

There is evidence to show that "physician detailing" works to some extent. Big pharma knew that all along, else why bother hiring those drug reps? It's scary, because your local doc may be getting his/her information from biased sources. So many of the medical professional associations have ethical codes about what physicians can and can't accept from drug companies. For example, sponsorship of an educational event is OK, fancy dinners are not.