Will I be like the Great Depressioners who saved tin foil?

[CoffeeCat]

We hear stories about people who were "never the same" after the "Great Depression".

They hoard things. They never throw away anything. They use tin foil repeatedly.

We've totally changed our spending and budgeting. We are socking away as much cash
as possible and doing without almost everything that isn't a necessity.

We were busy saving when my husband was forced to take a $1,200 a month pay cut. We put the
student loan in forbearance (we were paying $1,200 per month), so now we're really hoarding
cash because we're afraid of the uncertainty. What if his regular pay never returns? What
if the company goes under? It's a high-tech start-up--and well, healthy companies don't
cut pay.

It's possible that in June his pay will return to normal, so I began figuring our budget
based on that possibility.

I couldn't return to business as usual. I just couldn't do it. I'm afraid that I'll never be
able to stop hoarding cash and preparing for disaster.

I'm afraid that I've all ready been changed forever--and that's hard to contemplate because this
economic crisis isn't finished with us yet.

[gauguin57]

1. I actually reuse tin foil all the time.

I hardly ever have to buy a new roll of the stuff.

[ddeclue]

2. I hear it is good for making hats..

:)

[cliffordu]

35. And reall nice ones, too!!

I'm wearing one right now!!!

[blogslut]

3. Take this as a time to look at your lifestyle

The US is responsible for producing somewhere between 30%-50% of the world's waste. We need to knock it off. I will always be thankful to my mother, whose depression experience taught her frugality and an appreciation for the items others would deem "trash". She would repair and mend and reuse and taught me the true value of "things".

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. Same here ..........

My parents, who came of age during the Depression, wasted nothing and wanted for nothing. We had a regular mini-mall in the basement - shelves with (yes) countless rolls of aluminum foil , canned goods, paper goods, stacks of towels, cleaning products, gallons of vinegar. All bought before the advent of big box stores, all bought on sale.

I'm the same way. It kills me to use plastic wrap, and, yes, I use foil over and over. The recycling thing didn't begin with the ecology movement and the hippies. It began during the Depression, and it just makes sense. I don't use paper towels where a sponge or regular towel would do. And, if a paper towel is used for something - like to cover something in the microwave - and not stained or damaged in any way, it gets draped over the roll to be used for something else.

Our current climate has me reluctant to spend money, too. Sitting on it is nice, but I also have everything I could ever want or need. I was a great shopper - world class - and I have the stuff with price tags still attached to prove it. Fortunately, my taste is simple and classic, so all the clothes are always in fashion. And they were all bought on sale....................

[Booster]

20. I thought everyone reused tin foil - it never occurred to me

not to. I, too, figure if I don't have something by now, then I obviously don't need it. My brother and I were both raised to look at something and try and figure out something else it could be used for. For instance I was about to throw away something the other day and said to myself "now, this would make a great sinker for when I go fishing" - I never go fishing, but just couldn't throw the thing away. We just got a new trash service in my area with a recycling trash can - that thing has been a lifesaver. Now it doesn't bother me to throw away things that go in that can. But, tin foil? You can't mess up tin foil by using it just once. haha

[blogslut]

22. Yep

When mom passed, we held an estate sale. Unfortunately, although she had complete sets of china and glassware, none of them sold because most of the pieces had been glued back together. My mom was a great believer in epoxy.

Miss you, mom. :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

30. We had great teachers, didn't we?

Every time I put an unused paper napkin back on the stack, I think of my Dad, who did the same thing.

And that's nice, to remember them that way.

:hi:

[blogslut]

31. It is nice

I have a tube of two-step epoxy in my tool drawer.

If one wants to be all hip and groovy about it, then one can always become part of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture">Permaculture movement. One of the philosophies of the movement is that everything is energy and every time we throw something away, we are wasting energy.

Reuse. Recycle. Relax. :hi:

[JDPriestly]

40. I save rags and use them instead of paper towels.

Old tee shirts (cotton ones) are great.

[moundsview]

4. My parents were "Last Droppers" to the end

both were kids of the depression. No matter how much money they had, and they did quite well, I can remember a razor blade sharpener, a toothpaste tube squeezer, shampoo, ketchup and mustard jars set to drain into the new ones, and even a device to compress soap slivers into bars. It never leaves you.

[imdjh]

17. I don't sharpen razor blades, but all the other stuff is just what you're supposed to do, isn't it?

OK, maybe not the soap slivers thing either. I use liquid soap because it doesn't collect on the tiles.

[eridani]

41. I just stick the soap slivers onto a new bar of soap.

I absolutely will NOT use a recipe calling for only egg whites or egg yolks unless I can plan something to use the rest of the egg for.

[RJ Connors]

5. You mean you haven't started yet?

Time to get with the program.

I know what you mean, both of my parents were depression era people, my father turned 19 and left the farm to find employment in the big city in 1929. Needless to say it didn't work out and I didn't even find out until I was in my late teens that he had actually rode the rails for awhile. Since then I have studied a lot of people who lived through that period, which the majority are gone these days, and have always been astounded at the deep psychological impact they had from an economic event. And yes, it left scares which they never recovered from.

[Jennicut]

6. OMG, my 88 year old Grandma reuses tin foil AND wrapping paper

I don't think there is a need to do that as both are extremely cheap compared to the cost of other products. After Christmas in CVS I found wrapping paper for 2 rolls for $1.

[blogslut]

7. Maybe she isn't thinking about cost

Maybe she's thinking about waste.

[Jennicut]

11. Well, I think its about the cost as she said many times there

were things she could not get/afford during the Depression. I think that is the main reason.

[blogslut]

19. Perhaps

But necessity is the mother of inspiration. When you unwrap a present, you see the paper as a useless piece of trash. Your grandmother sees perfectly good paper going to waste.

If you have broadband, go to YouTube and watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygaaOm8uAus

It's broken up into six parts.

:)

[Jennicut]

24. Okay so you are making me rethink the whole reusing wrapping paper thing.

It was a running joke in my family for years...there goes Grandma folding up the wrapping paper nicely again!
It IS a waste, really. I am glad you pointed that out.

[blogslut]

27. It's quite addictive when you get into it

Think about quilts. Sure, it's a nice hobby but quilts were originally created because going out and and buying new material was costly. Instead, quilt makers took all those small bits of fabric and instead of throwing them away, made beautiful, functional heirlooms.

[imdjh]

14. See, my parents are Depression Reaction Babies

They are wasting my already meager inheritance at every turn. My mom has every light in the house on and my dad buys crap like riding lawnmowers.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

18. It depends on how much land ya got.

If you need a riding mower. I got two acres and am using two push mowers at the moment.

[imdjh]

23. He just wanted a riding mower

And I can hardly blame him. It's a go-cart for grown ups, and it makes him happy so I shouldn't tease about it. He gets the cutest expression on his face when he's riding it around.

Also, in fairness to my mom, the older I get, the brighter it gets in here too. I used to do mood lighting, now I do see lighting.

[blogslut]

25. I have an uncle sort of like that

When he was little, he used to walk a wheelbarrow full of vegetables into town every day to make a little extra money. He swore he would never be poor again. Now he's a multi-millionaire and his kids are fighting for inheritance money while the man's not even dead yet.

When my parents passed, we kids took the mementos that meant the most to us and paid off their debts by selling what was left of value. The residual was donated to charity.

As for me, I'm leaving my kid a gallon of gas and a match.

[Mr. Hyde]

8. Wow, you can afford tin foil?

;-)

[CoffeeCat]

9. Actually, I got it for free...

There were $1 coupons in the Sunday paper, and Walgreen's had it on sale
for 99 cents.

FREE! :)

[Mr. Hyde]

12. damn. Talk about deflation.

[imdjh]

13. What are you using tin foil for?

I know, it's a metaphor. My grandmother had a collection of used tin foil which had been washed after use- but I would point out that that was the OLD TIN FOIL, the good thick stuff and not the crap you get today.

I've pretty much stopped using foil. I have nonstick sheet pans and a covered roaster, as well as a Forman grill and some other specific appliances. I just don't have much call for tin foil, but still I buy a roll before Thanksgiving and use some now and then for broiling if I'm feeling lazy. Half the time, you have to wash the pan anyway.

I find that the easiest place to save money is on utilities and the little stuff. I can really piss away money if I'm not careful. Of course, we all saved so much money by being careful with utilities, that the power company went to the state for a rate increase. So there is a certain bend over factor to all of this.

[PerfectSage]

15. I'm going to ask my 93 year old neighbour what it feels like to see a second depression.

Market timing SPY put options work great in a bear market. Oct 2010 is the bottom.

[imdjh]

21. I can tell you what my mom says

"Damned Republicans!"

That's pretty much all she has to say on the subject. She's feeling pretty vindicated for playing it safe financially. "My money may not have grown much, but it's all still there."

[eridani]

42. Me too. If it weren't for certificates of deposit--

--I'd still be with the First National Bank of Sealy Posturepedic.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. And what you have to do after they die.....

Spend YEARS cleaning the crap out and throwing it away.

My parents and grandparents all saved all sorts of stuff they didn't need and didn't use.

I think I threw out 300 to 500 large trash bags from mom's house after she died. One bedroom was five feet deep in trash (paper towel tubes etc.) and it was 10 feet by 20 feet. That's 1,000 cubic feet of trash in ONE room. I cleaned out the unused shower stall recently and took 37 purses to the thrift store. I picked up over 100 empty pill bottles in one bedroom in a five minute trip through with a garbage bag in the other hand.

I took several carloads of clothes and kitchen stuff to the thrift store.

I got an auctioneer to come and get the excess furniture and sell it. He had a 40 foot trailer and it was completely full with perfectly good furniture and SIXTY banker boxes of glass and assorted stuff I had packed by hand. And I still have not finished.

There is also an attic and three sheds that are not completely cleaned out. Perfectly good stuff was mixed in at random with useless trash. There was a mahogany bed that had MOLD on it. Mold on the footboard over the varnish. I didn't know that lacquered furniture could get mold since it wasn't porous.

Growing up, I was not taught to clean and sort and throw away things. I have had to learn that when I got older. My mother said we could not have kids over because of the "junk". The junk that she hoarded to assert possession and control of the house over me, my father and my sister. I could not have my own room, because we had a three bedroom house and one bedroom was full of her junk. Fortunately I got along well with my sister, and we had to share a room. I could not have birthday parties. Mom would gripe at me about "not helping with the housework". However, if I threw anything away, like used plastic bags or plastic forks, then I was yelled at and told NOT to throw it away.


Hoarding is a sickness. If you want to know how it splits families apart, read books about hoarding by Don Aslett. He has quoted me in this book for half a page:
http://www.amazon.com/Don-Asletts-Clutter-Free-Finally-Forever/dp/0937750123/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237526122&sr=8-10

I have not told him about the final chapter -- shipping out large quantities of trash and furniture, and despairing of ever finishing the job. Or the fact that when I was trying to clean out the bedroom that was five feet deep in crud that I literally had to step ON TOP OF, she came outside and started shrieking at me and cursing me. I figured out later that the stress of throwing away her trash caused her to dissociate. I had never seen anyone dissociate before.

:wtf:

[pansypoo53219]

28. i had some of the same cleaning out granma a's hoard.

no, no use for the bundles of string saved. the used disposable razors. etc etc etc, BUT, i am using the saved plastic drycleaning bags for packing as i slowly ebay her hoard off. heck you'd be shocked what i sold, HECK, i found old toothpaste tube thingies to squeeze out the last bit which work on my tom's of maine. heck, i found a 1974 sears wishbook and it sold for $25. an old fanny farmer's chocolate covered cherries box(50's?)i FINALLY ebayed and got almost $30. that was very pretty. old toys. etc etc. she hoarded everything. (more cause her mom died when she was about 9). her sister is almost as bad and 96. sigh. no use for string. i threw it in the compost.

[blogslut]

29. I sympathise with you

But hoarding a frugality are different behaviors.

[vadawg]

34. hoarding can b bad, ive done evictions were the whole house is full of trash

and one had floor to ceiling trash bags and rotten food and i think animal control found over 100 cats, its gotta be even smellier than any dead bodies we have found, that houses smell still lives in my memory.

[Hannah Bell]

26. my uncle couldn't even allow someone to take him out to a nice dinner.

he'd go, but he couldn't enjoy it, thinking about how much money the other person was spending.

[donheld]

32. We can't save tin foil like that any more

We've got hats to make

[blogslut]

33. The horns are a nice touch

:)

[lynnertic]

38. ooo you beat me to it, with a nice pic to boot. n/t

[lynnertic]

36. not if you make it into a hat

:tinfoilhat:

[knowbody0]

37. most of us waste more than other peoples consume

I believe these tough days will render us better humans.

[JDPriestly]

39. Just remember. This is good for the environment.

We were spending and wasting too much for a long time.

[Thothmes]

43. My mom and dad were somewhat like that when it came to food.

She canned every summer, stocked up at every sale. Reused aluminum foil. Once counted 14 2# cans of coffee on the shelf. She was born in Western Oklahoma in 1924. Her parents migrated to Washington State after loosing there farm in 1937. According to her, as the environment deteriorated
in Oklahoma during the 30s, their farm produced next to nothing. No rain, no garden, no chickens, no hogs, no cows. I suspect that real hunger during those years shaped her outlook for the rest of her life.

[carlyhippy]

44. not a bad idea anyway-recycling tin foil

wash it and lie flat to dry, stack the pieces....probably a good idea to buy the heavy duty foil if you are going to do this. Probably could do that with saran wrap too

[Mari333]

45. when i was young

we all wore onions on our belts

[lunatica]

46. I grew up when saving money was how we bought things

And I never felt poor. We had everything we needed. A house, a car and we even went on vacations. We had presents at Christmas and on our birthdays, and we ate balanced meals. We had clothes.

Don't think of it as hoarding. Think of it as recycling, or as saving.

[ThomWV]

47. Your lack of understanding of what the Great Depression was like astounds me

"We've totally changed our spending and budgeting. We are socking away as much cash
as possible and doing without almost everything that isn't a necessity."

"I couldn't return to business as usual. I just couldn't do it. I'm afraid that I'll never be
able to stop hoarding cash and preparing for disaster."

Hording Cash? During the depression my father and his brother were dam near beat to death by security guards (Pinkertons actually) for tearing down part of a wood fence around a plant for firewood to heat their home. Hoard Cash? There wasn't a god dam dime to be had and if there was one it would have been used to buy five pounds of potatoes - it certainly would not have been horded.

You got cut back $1200 a month? There were families that didn't make that much in any five year period from 1929 until 1939 - and I mean with every single member of the family trying to make a dime any way they possibly could.

Go back and read what a Depression is like - it is clear you don't have a clue.

Oh, there was no tinfoil (sic) to save back then, they used 'wrapping paper' and if they were lucky it was waxed.

[CoffeeCat]

48. Your lack of basic reading comprehension mystifies me...

Excuse me, but I never said that people hoarded cash in the Depression. Nor did I EVER suggest that
people during the Depression had as much money to work with--as people currently do now.

How in the world are you arriving at these bizarre misnomers about my post?

My post, and you may want to read it slowly--while you're not drinking---clearly stated that I am
concerned about "never being the same". I am concerned about being AFFECTED by our dire economic
times, just as those who experienced the Great Depression were forever AFFECTED by their experiences.

I'm not saying that today and 1929 are identical economic situations. I NEVER SAID THAT.

I'm not suggestion that my current struggles are EXACTLY what someone in the Great Depression experienced.

I'm saying that I feel changed. I feel that I will never be able to return to a time when I'm not
on a strict budget--because all of this has scared me. Just as the people who lived through the
GREAT DEPRESSION were changed by their experiences.

Got it?

Next time you want to attack someone and behave like a bully--telling them that they "don't have a clue"
and that you are "astounded" about how much they don't know---you might want to check your ego first--
and make damn sure that you've actually READ what they wrote and that you understand it.