Attitude towards planning purchases an indicator of wealth

[REWahoo]

I have so much free toilet paper and toothpaste that I had to go on haitus and stop buying free stuff for a couple of months.

Maybe it's because I'm not a Penn State graduate, but I don't understand how you 'buy' stuff that's 'free'...

 

[rs0460a]

Maybe it's because I'm not a Penn State graduate, but I don't understand how you 'buy' stuff that's 'free'...

Steal it from the hotel room?

 

[yelnad]

Hey, I'm not a Penn State grad! Don't insult me like that. I just work here.

You still have to go through the act of "buying." You can't just grab the stuff off the shelf and run. Double coupons, folks. They work.

 

[Nords]

Now that we're FIRE'd, it's hard to stop watching the pennies! Sometimes we laugh at the contrasts in decisions. Being "thrifty" gets in your blood like a hobby and you just can't stop.

Same problem here. I've gradually cut back on the things that don't give me a big thrill for the effort, like mail-in coupon rebates or contest entries. Otherwise I tell myself that I'm setting a good example for our kid. When she's not around, I don't have to set such a rigorous standard of behavior...

I tend to stock ahead on nonperishables when I have coupons. I have so much free toilet paper and toothpaste that I had to go on haitus and stop buying free stuff for a couple of months.

I know people who enjoy the challenge of getting "free stuff" and donating all their toiletries & cleaning products to shelters.

Maybe it's because I'm not a Penn State graduate

The local joke used to be that you're either a graduate of Penn State or of the state pen... you're either designing those license plates or you're making 'em. They encouraged it, too-- I grew up with a friend who was one of nine siblings on PS's "group tuition" plan.

 

[maddythebeagle]

I've changed our strategy away from bulk buying to one of just watching the sales for most items. Living in an urban area, it's easy to visit several stores and only put 3 - 4 miles on the car for the entire trip.

yes, but starting and stopping is the real vehicle killer....unless you just hoof it...

I thought there was a thread about this on the Simple Living forums...something about using marker to post when you buy stuff....that way you can tell if you have a problem....

 

[Caroline]

We always buy stuffs that we always need in bulk, e.g., paper towel, toliet paper, detergent, tissue, tooth paste, shampoo, hand lotion, rice.

My Sweetie has been helping his mother clean out her garage. Turns out she and my FIL (two 85-year olds) had a garage FILLED with the above.

I suppose they saved a few bucks, but in the meantime the cars sat outside and half the stuff was forgotten back there in the darkness. (I helped my mother clean out her pantry once and found Jello packages over a DECADE old. )

Some folks, god bless 'em, have the attention span for this type of shopping. I don't. We also don't have any kids so a lot of things bought in bulk end up going to waste. I buy a few things in bulk (ONE big box of toilet paper, vs three), don't use paper towels at all, and shop for food that's fresh, vs canned / cheap.

Just another data point...

 

[Martha]

Hey, my MIL had 10 year old packages of jello too! Probably still good.

We haven't ever had to buy aluminum foil, still working through rolls from deceased relatives. A real puzzler is the waxed paper. No apparent use for it, but we sure aren't throwing it away. Suggestions?

 

[LOL!]

We use wax paper alot when making our homemade chocolate candies like turtles.

 

[yelnad]

The only use for waxed paper is to cover a bowl of soup when you're microwaving it. Martha, do you have any extra freezer paper? Donate it to local quilters.

Nords, that's funny since Rockview (State Pen) is just down the road. I'm pretty sure PSU doesn't have that group tuition discount anymore. When I meet with the parents of prospective students, some of them are out right insulted that I don't have a PSU degree.

Go SUNY!

 

[HFWR]

Wax paper = baking

I don't buy in super bulk; no place to store...

I do use store brands for things like tomato sauce, catup, jelly, milk, bread, tuna, frozen vegetables, butter, yogurt, etc. I've tried store-brand cereal, but the imitation Cheerios taste like soda crackers, and the imitation Wheaties resemble the boxboard in which they are sold...

These actions are an indicator of my wealth...

 

[Khan]

Hey, my MIL had 10 year old packages of jello too! Probably still good.

We haven't ever had to buy aluminum foil, still working through rolls from deceased relatives. A real puzzler is the waxed paper. No apparent use for it, but we sure aren't throwing it away. Suggestions?

Back in the early 60s, Mother used to wrap my lunch sandwiches in waxed paper.

 

[chris2008]

Hello,

I believe that there are several levels of wealth:

If you have hardly enough money to live from day to day you will not have a chance to buy in bulk or to plan purchases and thus to save some $$ mid-term by doing it. A journalist who's name I cannot recall wrote a book on the difficulties to get by on minimum wage and mentioned this problem.

Once you have managed to accumulate some $$ you have reached a first level of wealth. This allows you to "invest" by bulk-buying and by planning purchases mid- or long-term.

Of course there are several layers of wealth above that.
One of these (very high up) might be the level where you could use personal shoppers. They also could be regarded as investment: Your own time invested elsewhere might bring a better Return of Investment (ROI) than the cost of a personal shopper.

There is also a level of wealth where you may find that monitoring special occasions or your bulk-purchases for end-of-life does not provide better ROI than your time and attention invested elsewhere.

Financial problems occur if you believe that you are in a higher level than you actually are.

"Stuffed basement" problems occur if you do not realize that your purchases are investments and need to be used in due time to provide sufficient ROI. If you stuff up not for ROI but for sentimental reasons (you feel safer with lots of food in the house) you will loose money on the long run.

Chris

 

[astromeria]

A journalist who's name I cannot recall wrote a book on the difficulties to get by on minimum wage and mentioned this problem.

Barbara Ehrenreich
http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/

 

[Mr._johngalt]

"Stuffed basement" problems occur if you do not realize that your purchases are investments and need to be used in due time to provide sufficient ROI. If you stuff up not for ROI but for sentimental reasons (you feel safer with lots of food in the house) you will loose money on the long run.

Chris

This is my mother. Although she lived through the Great Depression,
she was never deprived (although many of her friends were).
Anyway, her home is loaded with all kinds of foodstuffs. She doesn't
even know what she has and she still keeps buying even when there
is no room to store it. The fridge is full. Both freezers are full, and in the basement.............well, you can barely walk as the stuff has spilled out all over the
floor. Still, if I call on the phone and mention food, she'll say "Oh, we are
out of that. " Or, "I have to get to the store." I think it's a safety net
thing, either that or she just uses it as an excuse to get out of the
house.

JG

 

[ladelfina]

JG.. we have something in common! No second freezer.. but tons of food, yet mom had to run out to the store when I visited, just to get something.. anything.. to make for dinner.

She eats out all the time and what's in the freezer is whoknowshow old and freezer-burned, while the dry goods are home to flour moths. I think it's just the sensation of not having an "empty" larder or fridge despite the reality that in effect there's 'nothing' in there to eat.. (no fresh vegetables.. but there ARE fourteen bottles of salad dressing!!).. She never cooks for herself anymore beyond toast in the am and the odd scrambled egg--heck, she doesn't even LIKE cooking and never did. With what she really uses she could easily have a dorm/minibar-size fridge.

Ah, well.. who knows how I'll be when I'm in my dotage?? and anyway..she can afford to waste it now if it makes her feel safe; the ROI is no longer the point. Every visit I try and clean out but she hates it.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

JG.. we have something in common! No second freezer.. but tons of food, yet mom had to run out to the store when I visited, just to get something.. anything.. to make for dinner.

She eats out all the time and what's in the freezer is whoknowshow old and freezer-burned, while the dry goods are home to flour moths. I think it's just the sensation of not having an "empty" larder or fridge despite the reality that in effect there's 'nothing' in there to eat.. (no fresh vegetables.. but there ARE fourteen bottles of salad dressing!!).. She never cooks for herself anymore beyond toast in the am and the odd scrambled egg--heck, she doesn't even LIKE cooking and never did. With what she really uses she could easily have a dorm/minibar-size fridge.

Ah, well.. who knows how I'll be when I'm in my dotage?? and anyway..she can afford to waste it now if it makes her feel safe; the ROI is no longer the point. Every visit I try and clean out but she hates it.

Yep, no living person knows what lies at the bottom of Mom's chest
freezer .

JG

 

[P.S.]

A real puzzler is the waxed paper. No apparent use for it, but we sure aren't throwing it away. Suggestions?

use to bake anything that's baked on a flat surface. helps to decrease uneven distribution of heat and decrease undesirable drying of edges or browning. Cut to shape of cake pans or springform pans. Use to cook fish en papillote.
Here's a recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104017
Tasty!
Also, better for the enviroment than alum foil.

We also buy in bulk, especially non-perishables. Also buy fruit and veggies in bulk from costco since there is no farmer's market near us, which simply means we eat ALOT of a choice of 3-4 veggies/fruits every week.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Way too much wax paper, Toilet paper, bottles of wine....Luckily I don't indulge in those items.

For me though what I have perhaps way too much of are golf-shirts. Lately I think that I have become the Imelda Marcos of Golf Shirts. I find them in the deep-discount racks at various stores and pick up really high quality shirts at the end of the season for next to nothing. At last count I had around 63 golf shirts. Here in SoCal, where it's always sunny, I can and do wear them pretty much everyday. Some of them are a little shop-worn and I wouldn't wear them out of the house. However most of them are good-to-go. If I never bought another shirt I would probably be good for 5-10 years but I keep finding these great deals.

Maybe I could use some of my extra golf-shirts to wrap up your wax paper rolls

 

[Mr._johngalt]

We haven't ever had to buy aluminum foil, still working through rolls from deceased relatives. A real puzzler is the waxed paper. No apparent use for it, but we sure aren't throwing it away. Suggestions?

I store my used dryer sheets in it.

JG

 

[kcowan]

In our home swaps, we are amazed at the stuff people keep. These are large family homes with 2 empty nesters. Garages full, basements packed, even spare rooms up to the ceiling. No drawer space at all.

These people are financially comfortable but seem to be immobilized at the thought of geting rid of stuff. And they continue to acquire. And these are not grandmas but contemporary ERs.

We downsized to move into our condo and maintain a rule about something going out whenever something new comes in. And we have spare drawers for them to use when they are here.

Does anyone else get puzzled by this behaviour?

(PS yes I have more golf shirts than I need. Many are collectors from tournaments.)

 

[rs0460a]

Does anyone else get puzzled by this behaviour?

Puzzled? Not at all. My DW is an example of this. When we started out together "last century" (actually married in '69) we had literally nothing (execpt each other).

When things "got better" over the years, she didn't want to give up anything. She always comments that she went through hell to get the "stuff" and was not going to get rid of anything that still might be of "some value".

It's nothing more than having emotional value, not real value.

- Ron

 

[ladelfina]

There are different reasons for hoarding. I got and read "Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save & How You Can Stop" but left it with mom (hint, hint).

My memory is not good enough to accurately re-cap the book -I skimmed it quickly very late at night- but it has some decent ideas for how to cut down if it's a problem for you or someone you know.

Some people hoard newspapers and magazines because "there might be something in there" of value to them, yet they never read or go through the back issues. Others, as Ron noted, have sentimental ties to things, keeping a ton of stuff from Dad/Mom/Grandma when just a few choice items could serve the same purpose. That could be tied to some ancient guilt or sense of loss, real or perceived.

 

[audreyh1]

Ever seen the TLC show "Clean Sweep" where they help people get rid of their useless accumulation of stuff that is degrading their quality of life?

It's amazing the psychological torture some participants go through in letting go of some of their stuff and/or making choices between stuff. That's why they need counselors to help them get through it.

Fascinating study of human nature.

Audrey

 

[youbet]

It's nothing more than having emotional value, not real value.

IMO Ron, there's nothing really wrong with that. As long as the accumulation doesn't become onerous due to storage expense or inconvenience, I don't see a problem.

We have some of the same issues here. My shop is full of tools, materials and do-dads I accumulated over the decades and inherited from my Dad. It's tidy but crowded. Frankly, I don't spend much time tinkering there anymore. Yet, I'm inclined to keep it all. When I do invest a few days in some project, it's really satisfying and I enjoy it.

DW is a quilter. Her "hobby room" is loaded with fabrics, machines and apparatus and we both know she could do without a lot of it. But, who cares? She likes having the stuff, we have plenty of room, so why not?

And there are a few more examples around the house. I won't get started telling about my accumulation of camping and fishing gear much of which could be done without but I still chose to hang on to.

The worse case scenario would be needing to unload everything quickly due to an emergency or rapidly changing plans. I bet we, or the kids, could give much of it away to charity and then call in a local estate liquidator and have the balance gone within a few days. Sure, we'd only get a few cents on the dollar, but taking a loss of a few thousand vs. selling it all ourselves would mean little to us or our estate.

I understand there are extreme cases out there where someone has 200 cases of cat food on hand for their twenty-seven cats, but that's an extreme. Needing to own so little so that a couple can live in an efficiency apartment with room to spare is a little extreme too!

 

[shiny]

I got and read "Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding: Why You Save & How You Can Stop" but left it with mom (hint, hint).

I would love to leave that book with my mom, but she might never find it under all of her stuff!

Whenever I read articles about hoarding I feel the need to immediately go get rid of some things - I'm not a hoarder, but worry that one day I might wake up with too much junk.

I'm off to the Goodwill!