I am a natural born thrifter. I have been poorer than a church mouse as well as on top of the mountain. That has never stopped my bargain hunting. I learned about thrifty living early in life since my mom was raising 3 kids on just her salary. Even after we were gone and she was retired, she would get 2 uses from each tea bag and saved and hoarded every twist tie that made it's way into her house.
She never used a paper towel or a paper napkin just once, she felt that it was wasteful and she was not only a hoarder but also a recycler as well. Mama always counted her change and looked through her change for pennies, nickels and dimes to check them with the coin collector book. Although I have the same tendencies, I tend to look at things a bit differently and find that my time is worth more than the effort to recycle napkins.
I have a large (5 bedrooms, 4 baths) beautifully decorated house and I have furnished my home with hand me downs, thrift store finds, clearance items and even dumpster donations. To me, finding a bargain at one of these places is an exciting game and I love to win at this game! What do you think?
By Ellen from Charles Town, WV
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This was a good story. I am a big garage saler and thrift shop shopper. When we decided to adopt 2 children from Russia, I made the rounds of garage sales and bought them many nice things and saved a lot of money.
Many times I see that atleast one person at our dinner table did not use their napkin (usually my little boy) or may have hardly used it. I just leave it to be used the next morning at breakfast. I might use a paper plate more than once....let's say I just had toast on it or a sandiwch, it's not really dirty and I just dust the crumbs off and use again.
My daughter also has a house. Hers has 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. She too was born thrifty. She says its just good money sense. She told me she thinks its fun to get a bargain or a good deal. Its her hobby!
I've gotten many "treasures" from shopping the local rummage sales; you never know what you might find! It also calms my shopping "fix" for not a lot of money.
I totally agree with your thinking. I didn't have a lot growing up but for some reason it never bothered me. After my husband went into business things went well until his partner decided he didn't want to do it anymore.
I love shopping in thrift shops- you get a real sense of satisfaction when you find something of good quality for a small price. And it's a great place for kids clothes (kids usually outgrow clothes before they can wear them out.) Not so with mens clothes- we all know that guys tend to wear things 'til they are stained or threadbare - or both. Sometimes you gotta go behind there backs and sneak things out of the closet and into the trash.
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