Gross inconsistencies concerning money (our thoughts and behaviors)

Timeisprecious

Timeisprecious

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
473
Location
Grand Rapids
Well, I'm relaxing tonight after finishing the last leg of a two-day drive wrapping up a road trip with DW to upstate NY and MA. It was really nice seeing related family and old friends.

I was cleaning out a few things in the car and laughed at myself - I was actually taking out the unused Subway napkins with the idea of preserving them for later! We just finished a $3K road trip and are considering a $15K cruise to the Mediterranean in the fairly near future (blow that dough! :LOL:); yet here I am preserving napkins. I threw them away with a chuckle and wondered, "How many others are having a hard time letting go - even just a little - to that 'more than a little frugal mind set?'"

I'd love to hear from you about this. I'm not talking so much about things that are fairly logical (e.g., turning out lights behind you when leaving rooms) - some of these types of things may be a bit silly if we did otherwise. I'm talking about the ridiculous inconsistencies and things we do like saving napkins at this phase of our lives (we can sort of afford a few more napkins, right? ;)).
 
How about saving plastic grocery bags for reuse instead of paying ten cents for new ones.
 
Have you been peeking in our window?


The napkin holder on our kitchen counter currently holds a stack of napkins from Panera.


I don't think "frugal" is something you can turn on and off. It's a mindset, and it's a good one. It's why so many here are already retired early or are well on their way to doing so. Heck, I just gave notice today to cut back to part time. I'll be 57 next Tuesday. If saving napkins is one little thing that helped get me there, so be it.


We do dozens of things like that. Most of us here probably do. In the past week, I had my wife patch a couple of pairs of pants for me. Could I spend $30 for a new pair? Sure. But they are just bum around pants I wear to work around the house. I don't care what they look like and I'm not buying new pants that will just get trashed working in the garage or doing yard work. I just don't want a big hole in the knee.
 
I save those napkins all the time. It’s no longer a money thing but I still hate waste. I’m usually mindful not to take too many napkins in the first place but many places give you 3X what’s needed without asking. It’s handy to have them in the car so I don’t need to buy something to keep in the car. And I have no problem trashing them if we get too many. I don’t think degradable recyclable paper products are nearly as bad environmentally as plastic. I see plastic waste everywhere I look when I’m in out in public. Now we have a drawer full of bagged plastic utensils from all the carry out meals we’ve consumed. They’ll go to the local food kitchen.
 
My frugal mindset is still intact.

I still have plenty of cheap habits.

I spend when the desire hits me.

It's not very often.
 
I justify most of these behaviors by calling them environmentally good. Why throw away clean napkins, or perfectly reusable plastic bags? Also, money to buy new napkins isn't worth anything when you have a small spill in the car that one of those fast food napkins can handle.
 
Unless you have a stack of saved paper napkins in your car, what's wrong with a few sheets in the glove box in case you need to mop up a spill, or wipe off some dust on the rearview mirrors?
 
Waste is waste, whether I can afford it or not. I save my napkins from, say, Five Guys, in my car. I almost always find a use for them somewhere down the line, whether it is cleaning my hands after gardening or blowing my nose. I feel good that I have gotten some use from them before they hit the landfill.
 
Problem is it's not just cheap, it creates clutter. The napkins, or the wrapped plasticwear, or the straws, or the 17 packets of ketchup and salt...they all can end up stuffed in drawers taking up space, etc.

DH has always been a bit more of the "we might need that...perfectly good" mindset, whereas I know to just make everything disappear. I have perfectly good paper napkins for the 1 or 2 times a year we need them. Even that box from amazon "might need a good box that size" -well sure we might but I'm not having it sitting on the office floor for 3 months so off to recycling it goes.
 
Gumby said:
Waste is waste, whether I can afford it or not. I save my napkins from, say, Five Guys, in my car. I almost always find a use for them somewhere down the line, whether it is cleaning my hands after gardening or blowing my nose. I feel good that I have gotten some use from them before they hit the landfill.
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha, and I think it is a waste of my money to buy food from Five Guys.

Obviously a highly individual thing.

Amazing when I think about it. We have our own shopping bags when we go to the store, and we never go to fast food restaurants and very rarely have any kind of takeout. So we accumulate very little restaurant or grocery shopping clutter.
 
Last edited:
audreyh1 said:
Ha ha ha, and I think it is a waste of my money to buy food from Five Guys...
Click to expand...
It may well be. But, having committed to wasting my money buying food there, what am I going to do with the excess napkins that they put in my bag? They won't take them back, so I either throw them in the trash immediately or use them and then throw them in the trash later. I prefer the second option.

P.S. -- they also give you too many fries. I save them and bring them home for use in another meal.
 
Last edited:
Gumby said:
It may well be. But, having committed to wasting my money buying food there, what am I going to do with the excess napkins that they put in my bag? They won't take them back, so I either throw them in the trash immediately or use them and then throw them in the trash later. I prefer the second option.

P.S. -- they also give you too many fries. I save them and bring them home for use in another meal.
Click to expand...
I was just giving you a hard time about your “waste is waste” comment.

Saving things to reuse - it’s a balance. A lot of people instinctively save things they think they might use later. And if you rarely get around to it after a while you are drowning in clutter.

P.S. no fries for me!
 
I still have a hard time not washing out plastic baggies....

Living in Africa on Compounds the last 18 year before retirement - where you had to make do with what you had - as there was no getting many items w/o shipping from oversea's or having other Rotating Expats to bring back in their luggage.

Poor Man Has Poor Ways....

I still remember my Grandfather plowing the fields with Mules and straightening out nails to reuse. They lived thru the depression and both ms gamboolgals and I parents were raised in the Depression.

Thus we grew up saving stuff as we might need it.

I was a Pack Rat in the Oilfields for 43 years - even after I moved to managing the projects for Offshore - I can't stand to see good equipment and materials not preserved and kept for use....
Reckon that will not never change.....

ha - but I do agree some of the things I save or try too are abit of a stretch....fortunately ms gamboolgal keeps me grounded
 
Saving up the little things adds up to having money for the big things, like retiring early, not ever have to worry about running out of money or paying for LTC.
 
Gumby said:
Waste is waste, whether I can afford it or not. I save my napkins from, say, Five Guys, in my car. I almost always find a use for them somewhere down the line, whether it is cleaning my hands after gardening or blowing my nose. I feel good that I have gotten some use from them before they hit the landfill.
Click to expand...

I also hate to be wasteful. I don't like to throw things away unused.

Aerides said:
Problem is it's not just cheap, it creates clutter. The napkins, or the wrapped plasticwear, or the straws, or the 17 packets of ketchup and salt...they all can end up stuffed in drawers taking up space, etc...
Click to expand...

I would be sure not to pick up too many packets of ketchup and salt next time.

It's not a good mentality to pick up extras "just in case", then throw them away afterwards.
 
Timeisprecious said:
Really? Ugh! Something about recycled fries - I think they lose a little too much before that second meal.
Click to expand...

My air fryer reconstitutes fries to near fresh again. One of the best uses for it, along with heating up chicken wings that are precooked/frozen.
 
Frank and I prefer to be thrifty/frugal/tightwads, just in case. You never know what challenges life may bring in the future. Besides, we are used to these habits and we don't see any sense in expanding our lifestyle when we are already perfectly happy.

I just put a half dozen napkins in my purse yesterday on our way out of the restaurant (before seeing this thread). These were unused extras that the waitress brought to the table with our shrimp fettuccini alfredo without us asking for them. I am sure they would have been thrown out after we left anyway.
 
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