My Frugal Life: What My Mother and Grandmother Taught Me

Being frugal has a long history for me and I owe it all to my Mother and Grandmother for setting the ground work. My Mother became a single mother of three young children when my father left and never paid support. At the time, we lived in a house that used to be a hospital in a small town named Mentone. My Mother never accepted charity and carried the burden of providing for us where all eyes were often watching.

The inside of our home was the treasure where no one had a clue of its beauty. Besides the many rooms were massive, the wood in this home will always be a treasure in my mind. We had ornate wood carving in one of the archways, pocket wood doors that led to the play room, several huge walk in closets where my Mother hid so many Christmas presents and those boxed Halloween outfits from the 70's, and bathrooms that had a little window above the door way with beautiful ornate hardware and a claw foot bathtub. By one of the bathrooms, there was a diamond shaped window where I could look down to the elementary school and watch the buses come in when I was sick. The stairway that was massive with a heavy beautiful wood railing, as well as a full attic and basement that could have been another apartment.

How did my Mother manage to single-handedly maintain this home for her children? She managed her money extremely wisely! We weren't given everything we wanted all the time. The only time we could receive a special item that we desired was at Christmas and there was a minimum.

My Mother would stay up late at night sewing doll clothes for my dolls as a gift for Christmas. Even now, I sew almost all our gifts that we give and have done so for many years. People love homemade gifts because of the love and time that went into it.

Our Grandmother lived with us as well and all the meals that she cooked were stretched but healthily. She cooked from scratch every day and this is what I do today, often using her techniques of stretching meals and making it all from scratch. She would cook a roast on Sunday and make it stretch into beef stew for the next 2 days. Or she would cook a ham and make that last for 2-3 days. My favorite is when she would cook a chocolate cake fresh every week for our snack after school.

The clothes my Mother obtained for us were used. Even today, I shop all the thrift stores for our clothing and home needs. Recently my husband said he needed garden boots and I told him we had to wait till the thrift store had them. It's the entire principal that I stick to when buying anything.

My husband is the only working person in our family and I believe that we can live this way by being so frugal. Thank you Mother and Grandmother for so much that you have taught on how to live practical and frugal.

By MissySorg03 from Saline, MI

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