The crazy things we do cuz we don't have money

simcha2

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:10 pm

Trademark wrote:

This is such an unhealthy mindset.

Socks cost a few dollars and for heaven's sake just throw out useless knee highs.

Terry Pratchett says it best

"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

↑ Trademark ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:14 pm

simcha2 wrote:

What this is saying is that people who have money can pay now more so they save later.

Not that rich people are rich because they live like misers.

For example if you can't afford a new car you might buy a second hand and the long run you end up paying more because you need more repairs. But if you are wealthy you can afford more expensive cars in first place so you end up saving more in the long run.

It's not about keeping useless or ripped stockings.

Being a miser is not a good middah, even if it's only for yourself.

LovesHashem ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:19 pm

amother Topaz wrote:

I'm loving gifting stones.

Things I used to do/still do
Obviously nail varnish tights.
Freeze veg going off and then use for soup
Extra layers to save heating bills
Turn off lights as you walk out each room
No bottled water, no prechecked salad, no precut veg

I do all this, Baruch Hashem we aren't desperately struggling but most of these are just easy ways for me to save money and don't take so much effort.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:34 pm

amother Opal wrote:

These sound like more of a personality than a money thing.

Not sure about anyone/anything else, but wearing torn stockings is because paying $6 everyday for a new pair (which will inevitably run again), is too much for my budget right now. If my family wasnt struggling to pay tuition, I would gladly wear a new pair every day. And I pray the day will come.

amother

Almond

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:40 pm

amother Carnation wrote:

I sew up runs in my tights

Can you teach me how?
Just recently bought a few new ones 80 denier. Got a small catch and after one time use has a run. I only use it when I wear a long robe or skirt. Basically at home.
And I'm good at sewing but can't figure this one out

amother

↑ Carnation

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:45 pm

amother Almond wrote:

Just stitch back and forth over the run by hand. Stitch very close together. It ends up looking like one side of a buttonhole.

amother

Buttercup ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:46 pm

I am on some give away chats. Many times people give away junk but other times it is decent stuff! And people take my kids old clothes (outgrown but not super stained.).

I shop around at different stores for the best price.

Couponing!!! Not as good as in the old days when I got free shampoo and toothpaste and... but I still get discounted stuff.

I don't wear a sheitel because can't afford wash and set.

amother

↑ Topaz ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:48 pm

Live with camp survivors in your life and it is hard to waste anything. Or the children of survivors, or any extreme circumstance.

This generation sees everything as disposable, which was not the case in previous generations. There is a beautiful Yiddish story about a grandfather who makes his grandson a coat, and as he grows out of it it becomes a jacket, a vest, a scarf, a handkerchief, a necktie, and smaller and smaller but each part is used. That is a story about "waste not, want not ".

amother

↑ Buttercup ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 1:51 pm

Trademark wrote:

This thread is about what we do because we don't have the money. Not about being a miser.
So if I can charge my phone at work to help save a few cents on electricity every day, then I save a few cents. Because I need to save a few cents as I don't have it or I have a better use for it but either way I don't have extra money laying around.

If this amother couldn't afford new socks, bad socks are better than no socks.

I think this thread should be retitled "shame free! What we do because we don't have money".

amother

Rainbow

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 4:19 pm

amother Buttercup wrote:

Oh yes! I got a stroller that way, my daughters bed was a 6 month old bed someone was giving away cuz her son didn't like it anymore. All of my art has been free on groups, clothing, tons and tons of great stuff! I've gotten completely unopened unbuilt stuff from IKEA, a new freezer, crazy stuff for free!

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 4:38 pm

amother Rainbow wrote:

Where do yo u get this stuff? What kind of groups? How do I join?

amother

Daffodil

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 4:53 pm

amother OP wrote:

Where do yo u get this stuff? What kind of groups? How do I join?

Many neighbourhoods have such whatsapp groups, the problem is I live in an area that anything being given away for free is usually very close to dumpster style.
You have to live in an area where people tend to buy and dispose quickly.
I wonder if the other who wrote is my Sil she definetly got a stroller and nearly new bed for free, im sure other stuff as well. Im so happy she can get such bargins!

Im on with catching stocking ladders with nailpolish and then using the past knees for long skirts (or if they just peeking out pretend not to have noticed it, Summer stocking can get very expensive.
I also have many big holes up on top but no one sees (if my kids get a glimpse they find it hilarious.

I keep all the nice ribbons I get from presents and reuse as long as they look good, It has saved me so much on all the Morahs gifts as well saves from running to the store to find the right color, I usually have it from someone else.
I hand sew all DH pants when they rip on the seam or by the Zip.
have glued many clips on bows that have lost or broken the clips.

amother

Catmint

Sun, Jul 21 2024, 5:02 pm

About the tights, I simply stopped wearing them except for shabbos. I don't know if this year's batch are worse quality or its something else, but I was opening new pairs and having them rip nearly instantly, every day. I was constantly buying new tights but was costing so much I had to stop. When I had just 1 pair left I saved it for shabbos and haven't worn any during the week since. So far no one's noticed, not even my mother who would be horrified, so I think I'm ok.