Frugal Life: When to say yes, when to say no

Years ago I read a novel about a family facing an economic crisis in 1923. The husband had lost his job, and the bills were piling up.

Finally [Irene] took an astonishing step. Without consulting anyone, she put $5.00 down on an electric sewing machine, which she arranged to buy on the installment plan, paying $8.00 additional each month for a year.

"At a time like this!" her husband fumed. "What are you thinking of, Irene?"

"I'm going to make clothes for some of my friends," Irene retorted grimly. "I know half a dozen women who like the way I dress and who can't find sizes to fit them properly in the stores." (Betty Cavanna, Joyride)

If you do the math, that comes out to about a hundred dollars (apparently about $1800 in 2024 dollars), so it's not hard to see why that made Irene's husband stagger a bit. (He probably also wondered why anyone would need an electric sewing machine.) However,  Irene turned out to be right, and the dressmaking business was a success. Sometimes getting ahead (or at least staying on course) means you have to take a calculated risk.

Buying used things can be a calculated risk, or just a regular old random one.

But so can buying new things, especially these days. Mr. Fixit recently bought a new pair of sneakers at a local store, in a brand that has previously worked well for him. However, these ones hurt from the first day he wore them, and even so, the store wasn't especially cheerful about taking them back (they did eventually). Everything you buy, new or used, carries some amount of risk. One of the ways you can minimize that is to try to pay so little for things that, if you hate the taste or the shirt's too tight, you won't feel like you've lost much (even if you bought them at a yard sale and there aren't any returns).

Example #1: I posted in August about some packages of rice and mixed grains that we bought for half price. I was a bit leery of the lentil-ancient grains mix, as it sounded like it might cook up into something awfully heavy or with a weird flavour. I thought I might have to doctor it with taco spices or something to make it edible. However, one night we needed a side dish, and I decided to cook up a small potful to check it out. We actually ended up liking it quite a lot--it has an interesting Thanksgiving-ish flavour and texture. So, you never know.

And, on the other hand, the baked yogurt-egg-fruit thing was too much to choke down, so I had to call that one a loss.

Example #2: On the didn't-work-out side, I bought a winter coat for five dollars at a church rummage sale. It was a good brand and it was in good shape. However...it turned out to be too big for me, so I'm going to re-donate it. I guess I will be wearing my same-old coat this winter. But five dollars is a manageable loss.

On the wins side, though, I found a boiled-wool vest for a dollar at the same rummage sale, and a pair of  leather pumps at Value Village (something I really needed).

Example #3: I had thrifted some candles in fall shapes, a couple of years ago, and stored them in a Ziploc bag. We lit a couple of them, and  used the rest as decorations. When I pulled them out this fall, I found that most of them had gotten kind of soft and sticky, maybe from the bag, maybe just from age, so I disposed of of them. Well, we probably got our small-amount-of-moneys'-worth from them, so I wasn't too put out; and we have enough other things to decorate with that I'm not looking for replacements.

On the positive side, one of our favourite thrift shops had some new-in-package silver taper candles, which I'm already thinking will be our Advent wreath candles in another few weeks. I'm not a colour traditionalist on that--I think silver could be as nice as purple and pink (and easier to find).

They might even work with these sparkly candleholders I found in the summer. The holders are meant to hold tealight candles, but with some sticky stuff and maybe a bit of padding, they could work with tapers. 

Well, one way or another we'll use the tapers.

Example #4: Travel stuff. About a year and a half ago, I made a trip by air, with only an underseat bag, and I bought a new backpack that fit within that airline's size limits. Sometime in the near future, I will be taking off again for a couple of days, but with a different airline, one that has even tighter size limits. Well, I'm not buying yet another bag just for one trip, so I scrounged around to see what we did have that would fit. It's down to a choice between two.

 I also thrifted a couple of packing cubes and other gizmos that might help this more-in-less venture succeed.

But that's what the next post will be about.