NEW AND IMPROVED

This blog is now sugar FREE, fat FREE, gluten FREE, all ORGANIC and all NATURAL!!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

THE THRIFTY (?) MRS. CRANKY


THE THRIFTY (?) MRS. CRANKY
Oh yeah, she's done this!
Mrs. Cranky is not cheap; usually she is just thrifty.  What is the difference?  She is not afraid to spend money on things she needs, but she will not overspend on those items.  She is not particularly label conscious.  She loves her shoes, but they do not have to have red soles.

Mrs. Cranky is not cheap; she is thrifty, except when it comes to stupid things.  Then she is cheap.  What am I talking about? 

She saves Popsicle sticks.  Why does she save Popsicle sticks?  Apparently you never know when you might need a splint for a sprained finger, or a makeshift wedge, or to make a roof for a doll house, or…hell I don’t know but we have a drawer full of Popsicle sticks; cheap.

Mrs. C saves paper towels.  Just because you use them to wipe up a water spill, don’t throw them away.  If you leave them out flat, they will eventually dry and you can use them again; cheap.

On second thought, Mrs. Cranky is cheap.

I’ve learned to not complain about this cheapness, and I’m glad when she is thrifty.  I will not throw anything away without first checking with the queen of reusing stuff.  I’m pretty sure she went through the depression in a previous life.

Sometimes her strange cheap side will throw me for a loop.

The other day I came home from toddler-sitting in Pennsylvania.  Mrs. C was not home, she leaves for work at around 3:00.  Sitting on the kitchen table was a glass with about one ounce of water and a paper towel over the glass.
Granted we use filtered water.  The filter costs about forty dollars and lasts about six months.  Our filtered water probably costs about .001 cents an ounce.  Now the Cranky’s live on a fixed income plus the part time income Mrs. C earns.  We need to watch our pennies, but I think we can let a few .001 cents slip down the drain from time to time.

When Mrs. C came home from work, I asked her,

“Why is there a one ounce glass of water on the table with a paper towel over the top?”

“I didn’t want anything to fall into my glass of water.”

“So you had a glass of water and you didn’t finish the last ounce and instead of pouring that last ounce of water down the drain, you covered the glass and are saving that ounce for later consumption?”

“Yes.  It’s filtered water.  It costs money.”

“But one ounce, it is practically nothing!”

“Well it is something, and you’re a jerk!”

Don’t even get me started on our one-ply toilet paper. 

26 comments:

  1. I'm cheap - I'm decorating my bathroom at the moment and I didn't want to fork out for expensive paint to cover up the blue before I paint it pale grey so a bought an own brand £7 for 5L - that's cheap! Shame it's going to take 3 coats to actually cover the blue ... I can't be doing with cheap loo paper though, it's got to be 3 ply - I shall send you some for Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know, she's on to something with the 1-ply toilet paper. We usually use 2 ply but one time we were going to be out. The store had a sale on 2 ply starting Friday so I told hubby just to buy the cheapest thing he could find at the store that would last until Friday. He put 4 roll pack of 1 ply. That 1 ply lasted THREE times as long as the average 2 ply roll.

    I'm learning to be cheap the older I get. Drives hubby crazy, but my latest kick is not turning on a light unless it is absolutely needed. Those pennies add up.

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  3. laughing!

    i sometimes re-use paper towels, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sometimes after I wipe up a spill with a paper towel I blow my nose on it before tossing. Does that qualify?

    ReplyDelete
  5. We could do with more frugality at our house. My Mrs. C. refuses to use the last of anything. There are right now five jars of mayonnaise in our fridge, all with varying amounts inside. It falls on me to use the last of something and throw out the container.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sooo...is that why she still keeps you around? ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Best. Comment. Ever!!

      Delete
    2. Five jars of mayonnaise? FIVE?? ye gods!
      Empty them all into one jar. Stir well.
      Remove label and call it Mayo Surprise.

      Delete
  7. I don't ever want to know about the toilet paper. Never. No.

    Your wife sounds like my father. He was very cheap. Very. He would do things just like this.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suggest that next time she place that ounce of water in the fridge to save on ice when she does drink it. It will also forgo the need to waste a re-used paper towel for covering as it's less likely to gather chaff in the fridge.

    No, just NO on the 1-ply. Queenie has always opted for the like-Grandma-used-to-stitch quilted froo froo paper that you need 6 layers of to be strong enough for the business at hand. Recently, bowing to peer pressure, she tried 1-ply and while she complains an gnashes her teeth about how rugged yet unsatisfying it is she says she'll never go back because she's not having to buy it but once a quarter instead of twice a week with the froo froo. She won'y listen to the voice of reason that there's stuff somewhere in the middle.

    Or that the 1-ply lasts forever because everyone is holding it until they go somewhere else .... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. My cup of water sits uncovered until I finish it. That can take all day. But, I'm not cheap. My mother was cheap. She stopped the dishwasher at the end of the wash cycle, opened the door, pulled out the racks and let the dishes air dry. "Saves electricity."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha ha well she's saving the earth too by not wasting water. Like my mother used to say "save some water for the whales"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hmmm. Yes that's cheap. My spouse is not cheap. She is a hoarder. Meaning she never throws anything away. And more storage space does't come cheap these days.....:(

    ReplyDelete
  12. She has my cheap brother beat by a mile. Well done Mrs. C. A frugal wife has to be a husband's greatest wish. Look at all the money she saves YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  13. My mom rinses out ZipLoc bags to use again. It takes them a while to air dry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mrs c here. turn them inside out to dry. it goes a little faster

      Delete
    2. use a teatowel to dry them, faster still.

      Delete
  14. Weren't you tempted to just drink that last ounce of water, yourself?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm frugal/cheap with a lot of things so that I can afford the things I really want. I reuse ZipLoc bags, eat a lot of inexpensive bean soups, bring my lunch to work, drive a fuel-efficient car...and drop big bucks on cameras. It's all about what your priorities are!

    ReplyDelete
  16. One ply toilet paper? I'm surprised she hasn't learned about Marine Corp toilet paper. (Look it up.)

    S

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh boy,and I thought I was cheap! I guess not. I do have a half glass of lemonade sitting in the kitchen...but that is at least 10 cents more than an ounce of filtered water. Yeah.I don't think that makes me the most cheap person here right now.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've tried saving teabags for an extra cup out of them, and they are just not as good, flavourwise. Of course if all you're after is coloured water that tastes vaguely like tea, then go for it, but not in my house. Saving a single mouthful of water is a bit silly too, just swallow it down and be done with it.
    One ply toilet paper is awful stuff. on the other side of the coin, I think 3 and 4 ply toilet paper is too much, too thick, too expensive and not enough sheets per roll.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Is that single ply made of tracing paper like I remember at school in the early 1970's??? My Grandmother used to save filthy cling film and wash it rather badly before using it again. Disgusting!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Uh-oh. My wife shares that gene. But I refuse to embarrass her any further by giving examples. After all, I have to live with her. (But, saving used trays from t.v. dinners?)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Too funny! Things are even worse when you consider yourself "crafty." I have a large box full of 5 years of bottle caps waiting for the "robots" I plan to make with the grandsons. Popsicle sticks too, just like Mrs. C. Someday those will become furniture for Barbie. I think I'm blurring the line between being thrifty and just plain old "hoarding."

    ReplyDelete