Meet a Reader | Ruby
We've got another reader-requested interview subject today: Ruby, a Georgian reader who, like many other FG readers, was originally inspired by The Tightwad Gazette!
1. Tell us a little about yourself
I’m in my early 60s and a life-long Southerner, having lived mostly in Georgia and for the past eight years in Tennessee.
(Note: I doubt my own mother would recognize me with my Covid mask on, but this photo tickles me because I sewed the mask out of remnant quilting fabric, my shirt is thrifted, I'm sporting a self-haircut, and I've reused those glasses frames for six years running, just putting new lenses in them. So it's my portrait of frugality.)
My parents grew up on small farms during the Great Depression, which shaped their thinking about money all their lives. My husband and I have been married for coming up on 35 years.
We have a young adult son who is on the mild end of the autism spectrum and who lives with us. He works, drives, has friends and just needs some occasional help navigating life now.
I was a stay-at-home mom with him for seven years and for the past 21 years, I’ve worked as an office manager for churches and in various university jobs. Right now I’m working in student services at a university.
We have five rescue pets: two cats and three dogs, so our house is always full even though our family is small.
I love to sew, cook, read, and grow an herb garden when the weather cooperates.
2. How long have you been reading The Frugal Girl?
Oh, gosh, years. None of Kristen’s children were taking high school classes when I started reading, as I recall.
3. How did you get interested in saving money?
Being frugal was pretty much baked into me by my parents, who had a big garden, raised a calf for the freezer, and both my mom and my dad knew how to sew and taught me. My dad was very creative: give that man a soldering iron and a junk pile, and he could have made anything.
When our son was born, my husband and I were facing the reality that babies can be expensive. We both worked in low-paying white collar jobs and were buying our first house, so we had to really buckle down and use every skill we had. It was still very hard and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel every month.
Around about 1992, I was in the dentist office and read a magazine article about The Tightwad Gazette. I subscribed to the newsletter and it completely changed my life.
My husband used to grumble about the penny-pinching extent I’d go to: he was served some meals he definitely did not care for, but we:
- used old-fashioned cloth diapers and hung them to dry in the back yard on a clothesline
- bought a little chest freezer from Sears that we still use today
- wore thrifted clothes
- sewed the baby’s outfits
- had a fully stocked pantry
- couponed judiciously
And we did a thousand other little things that made a lot of larger things possible.
I think it’s much easier now, with community resources and the information offered by the internet and online communities, to be frugal than it was for my parents in the 1970s when they were hit by inflation and high oil prices.
Cars are reliable and last much longer. Clothes and shoes were so expensive new then, and now we can cherry-pick from thrifts for pennies on the dollar.
Word of what’s a deal and what to avoid is at your fingertips.
Information on how to make repairs, how to container garden and a thousand other topics are there for us. It’s great!
4. What's the "why" behind your money-saving efforts?
The why is to have a comfortable retirement as early as possible. I do not want to work until I’m dead!
It’s been a rocky road, as my husband and I started in low-paying jobs and had employer-provided health insurance that was often not particularly good, leaving us with sizeable medical bills outside of insurance almost every year.
For a couple of years, none of the therapy our son needed was covered by our insurance. It was like making a payment on an expensive car every month to pay for that.
We started catching up in the mid-90s when he went back to school to retrain for a career in IT. However, we realized last year that if we stopped all “silly spending,” we’d most likely be completely debt-free, including our mortgage, by the end of November 2021.
“Silly spending” is shorthand for saying “nothing not required for food, shelter, and maintenance of the house, cars, and ourselves” and even that’s going to be scrutinized and done with utmost frugality. So we’ve been eating down the freezer and pantry.
I used a work perk and cut $33 a month off two of my husband’s newspaper subscriptions by getting the educational rate. I just did a deep dive into our online check register to see exactly where and what we spend money on and what can be cut back and out.
I did the math and determined that over the course of the year, the budget frozen entrees and bottled drinks I’d been buying on sale to take for my work lunches added up to TWO house payments. So that gave me incentive to always bring leftovers and drink home-brewed iced tea or water.
Sometimes I hear people talk about frugal fatigue, but I always remember something Amy D. said in The Tightwad Gazette, that frugality without creativity will feel like deprivation. So I look on it not as an onerous slog but as a challenge with little prizes along the way – we saved X this week! – and the big prize at the end.
5. What's your best frugal win?
I don’t tend to have big frugal wins. My wins are small and add up over time, but probably my best one was last year looking at our Verizon cell phone bill and saying, “Hey, this is way, way too much for two people.”
We switched to Google and save $100 a month and have no complaints about the service. We briefly tried Mint, but the service did not work well enough for us.
6. What's a dumb money mistake you've made?
One made rather out of desperation instead of dumbness: We sold our last house in the depths of Great Recession for $25K less than we paid for it after it had been on the market for 11 months.
However, we had sold our previous house for $27K more than we paid for it, so I guess it balances it in the big picture.
But at the time in the Great Recession, we really needed to move out that deeply depressed area and closer to where my husband was working. That move ultimately saved us thousands of dollars of year in taxes and commuting costs, but it hurt to lose that much on a really lovely house.
7. What's one thing you splurge on?
Our dogs.
They all have health issues related to the circumstances that led to them being rescued which we have spent a lot of money sorting out. They live like princesses since they came into our family.
8. What's one thing you aren't remotely tempted to splurge on?
A fancy car. I love my little ten-year-old econobox Honda.
9. If $1000 was dropped into your lap today, what would you do with it?
Make extra mortgage payments!
10. Share a frugal tip with other Frugal Girl readers
Unless it’s a basic necessity, always ask yourself, “Is this a need or a want? Is it an urgent need, or can it wait until next week? If I buy this, can I get it repaired? Do I own something else that can do the job?”
You’d be surprised how often you don’t actually “need” something when you ask yourself those questions.
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Ruby, thanks so much for participating and answering my questions. And I especially appreciate you sending the picture of your cat with his tongue out; so cute!
Hi Ruby! I love that bag you made. As a complete non-sewer (with the exception of putting buttons back on) anyone who can sew like that is so impressive to me.
Thank you. I no longer do very fancy sewing, but found that pattern online and realized it would be really cute with the odds and ends of fabric I had found at the Salvation Army. I made another bag with a more open top out of some other SA fabrics that I use as a lunch bag and carry to work every day. It's bright orange and green and makes me happy every time I see it. 🙂
Ruby, this was so fun to read! Your frugal ways are inspiring. I love your "portrait of frugality" - both your picture and description!
Thank you. I have a great deal of fun with frugality. Sometimes it's a bit hard, such as when I'm tired and I absolutely have to create magic with what's in the pantry, but 99 percent of the time, it's fun for me. I love a challenge and a puzzle, and it suits me.
I love your picture of frugality. Nice work!
Thank you. Frugality is almost always fun for me.
Ruby, what a lovely story! I wonder sometimes how much those depression-era folks made an impression on each of us. My grandparents were the depression folks in my life, and I know my Oma's soap making, gardening, using scraps, etc. was a huge influence on me.
The Great Depression had such a long reach. It was scarring to a lot of people. My mother would never eat rice and gravy, noodles, or biscuits and gravy as an adult because of it. As one of the youngest children in a large family, she had too many meals of starchy carbs because that was what was left after the working members of the family ate. But a lot of folks celebrated that they survived it.
I have one of my grandmother's quilt tops that she never finished, and she made it during the Depression of bits cut from old clothes. When there wasn't enough fabric to make a full piece, she sewed two scrapes together and cut the piece from that, even though it meant there was a seam across that piece. I love those seams: they speak of frugal ingenuity.
Ruby, it’s so nice to meet you. The internet certainly was a game changer for us frugal folks that thought we were odd birds. There are so many resources now compared to the roaring 90s when thrift was almost a countercultural phenomenon. I’ve enjoyed your comments over the years and so admire your frugality, hard work and perseverance. Keep rocking those cute thrifted outfits.
Thank you, Bee. It's been great to meet everyone doing this series. Yeah, certain people did look at you like you had something smelly on your shoes if you were frugal in the 90s, but it saved us and let us have the lifestyle our family needed.
It's nice to "meet" you Ruby. I can't believe how many of us were influenced by The Tightwad Gazette.
I love that this blog is an outlet for frugal people when those in our in-person lives often are not frugal.
You have an interesting story and I love that you continue to refine your frugality. I can't wait to hear that you have paid off your mortgage later this year. I think it's good for our brains and the environment when we are frugal like you are, questioning purchases and trying to work around the needs/wants issue.
The 90s were a time of such conspicuous consumption, and Amy D. was an absolute blessing to those of us who could barely cover basic consumption. I learned skills from her newsletter that are so woven into my daily life that I can't imagine not doing them. Just this weekend, I defrosted the little chest freezer we bought after reading in her newsletter about how useful one is to the frugal life. It's been going strong all these years, saving us loads of money, and I have such great affection for that little appliance even though I have to stand on my head once a year to scrape the ice out of the bottom. 😀
Loved this!!!
Thank you. It was great fun to do.
Ruby, that bag is gorgeous! I wonder if you could turn that talent into a side hustle.
Thank you, but I don't enjoy sewing quite that much any more. I get inspired by a fun project and do it, but it would be a slog to make one after another.
Hi Ruby! I especially like how you noted how hard things were in the 1970s. How cars are much better made, and so on. People often think, "Well, hamburger was $1 a pound back when!" without taking into account inflation. Also, of course, technology makes for much better consumer goods now.
Hi, Rose! I learned to drive in the 1970s, and we all used to hold our breath when turning the key in the ignition because you never knew if the car was going to crank up, even if it was relatively new. And shoes were so expensive then compared to the average person's wages!
And shoes had their own stores! Even in small towns. I loved the leather smell of A&E Bootery where we shopped when I was little, and the feeling of having shoes fitted. Cheap shoe stores are just not the same.
My Dad (of the Depression era) made getting new shoes a sort of big deal, and taught us how to polish and shine them. We had a church pair and a play pair, and my Mom thought us having to leave a pair at school for PE class was a huge waste, as they never got worn much before we outgrew them.
We used to polish our shoes on Sunday nights so they'd be nice for school. Saddle shoes were on their way out by then, but I had a pair and they were so hard to polish, keeping the black off the white and vice versa.
There's a real old-fashioned shoe store in the next county. It still has that wonderful smell.
Oh my I had saddle shoes. My Dad said they were the best for our feet. And you are correct you had to be so careful polishing them Thanks for the memory.
I remember sniffing my new shoes back in the day! The leather smelled so good! We usually got new shoes twice a year, sandals for summer and school shoes for September. I loved that smell of new leather.
I don't want to be that person, but sometimes I think we valued our things so much more because they were scarce and expensive.
If you knew you were going to get one thing all year, you did take good care of it. We also used to wear dime store flip flops in the summer to save on shoes.
I had to wear saddle shoes with my school uniform and they were okay, but my true love was penny loafers.
Ruby I do love those purses you made especially the second one, it is so beautiful! I must look for that pattern and make me one similar to it. I enjoyed your story!!
When I buy thrift store fabric, I always launder fearlessly. Usually I can tell by the feel if a fabric has enough of a cotton or polyester content to withstand being washed and dried. If I'm mistaken, I'm not out much money on the purchase.
Now that I'm in my 60s, arthritis in my hands has made it difficult to use the kind of snaps that require a plier-like tool. I use the sew-in magnetic snaps instead in bags, and it works out fine. It's also easy to use a large, pretty button and make a fabric loop to close it with.
It's encouraging to hear that your frugality is mostly in little choices. I feel like I don't have the opportunity to make big frugal saves very often, and I keep hoping that my little choices (eating homecooked food, making bread, choosing clothing carefully to last a long time etc.) will do.
Thanks for sharing today!
Little choices done consistently add up in a big way, and they are usually so easy to do. The first thing I read when I ordered the back issues of The Tightwad Gazette was Amy D.'s article on ten ways to save $10. That concept instantly seared into my brain because the next step is thinking up a hundred ways to save $10 and so on.
Hi Ruby- i love all your animal photos! Thank you for taking in rescues- they look like they have a wonderful life!
They are the light of our lives. The big gray cat is the only boy, so the others are our princesses. They all have a tough start and needed a lot of love and veterinary care, but they are doing great, and they give back that love hundreds of times over.
Nice to meet you Ruby! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. It was a lot of fun to do.
This post was full of so much great advice! I think looking at expenditures in terms of how much it's costing you over a year (as you did with your work lunches) is really smart and can be inspiring. And I agree that if frugality is approached creatively, it can be a fun challenge instead of a slog. Congrats on being mortgage free by the end of the year.
Thank you. My husband and I had a budget discussion over the weekend, and we might even put the mortgage to bed a month early when the size of the escrow exceeds the size of the remaining payment. That will be an awesome, happy day.
I had a very used Dodge van in the 1990s...if it SEEN a puddle it would backfire and stall. Driving my teenage son to a get together, I dropped him off, turned around and...didn't see the puddle. When that old van back fired you would have thought a rifle shot went off. Fire came out of the tailpipe. I looked over, and all those country kids had hit the ground flat out. It's funny now.
Oh, that is very funny, although I'm sure it wasn't at the time.
We Tightwad Gazette people are a fun group, I think. We Frugal Girl people are both fun and like family, because we can all reach out to each other and connect so easily.
Ruby, I had to laugh about your mention of the cars in the 70's. You must have some of the memories I do -- our car that stranded my mother and me numerous times, because it started perfectly to take us away from home, but refused to start to bring us back home, oh, so many times.
It is a pleasure to meet you and your houseful of pets. They are adorable. Congratulations on sticking to your goals!
Do you remember when if the motor got even slightly wet, you were stuck there? That happened to us so many times, usually with a carload of groceries on a summer day. 😀 And driving around with lots of tools in the glove box because you were going to need them sooner than later? Such fun times!
Thanks for the compliment on the critters. We do adore them. They are worth all the trouble.
Now that you mention it, when I was a kid my parents drove a '66, and I remember that they were very careful not to drive it through this road near our house that got minorly flooded sometimes.
Yes! We didn't dare let it get wet! And we had one car that would die while leaving a stop sign or stop light, and wouldn't start again unless you turned off the radio and the A/C first. Which got quite interesting when it died one day leaving a stop sign, as a semi-truck barreled toward us, horn blaring! We made it just in time. My goodness I don't miss those cars!
I had one that would die and would only re-crank in neutral with the wheels turned slightly left. That had to be an electrical issue. It was terrifying in an intersection.
Just want to share something I’ve learned. Sometimes paying off a mortgage is not the best use of your money in the long long run. Getting the lowest cost mortgage you can and investing money provides better for retirement. A qualified financial advisor can advise. My parents knew nothing about “ buying money and paying it back” and investing, so I’ve had to educate myself.
We have been saving for retirement all along while paying on the mortgage. Once the mortgage and the small amount of other debt we have is gone, we'll be able to pour every bit of our extra money into retirement savings.
As someone whose husband had cancer and have had two catastrophic illnesses, I want to comment o paying off mortgages, no matter what the financial experts tell you. During his illness, at 28, he spent almost an entire year in the hospital. I was constantly worried about not having a place to live; I could go to the food bank if I had to, and there were places that gave small grants for utilities, but no one would have covered our rent. Having our mortgage completely paid off by the time I got ill, provided one of the few spots of security during those miserable times. The emotional payoff far exceeded what interest we would have earned from investments; I know a lot of people who put their money in investments and when the economy tanked, were left with very little and were too old to follow the conventional wisdom to just hang in there and the stocks will rebound. Our paid off mortgage felt like shelter in a storm.
Several people have mentioned over the last few weeks that paying off a mortgage was not the best use of money. It has been suggested that it is better to pay the minimum and invest the difference. Mathematically and financially, this does make sense in the current financial climate especially if you are young and disciplined. Interest rates are currently at historically low levels and we are in the midst of a bull market. However, it hasn’t always been this way. It was just a decade ago that the stock market and housing market were in free fall. Our money supply was so tight that mortgage loans were not available and unemployment was increasing steadily, This is a scary place to be if you are close to retirement. I never want to find myself there. So as I age and the magic of compounding is becoming less relevant, I am growing more anxious about getting that mortgage paid off.
Absolutely. Our investments took an absolute beating in the Great Recession, so we don't regard that as the same safety net as a paid off home. Plus, age discrimination in hiring is a real thing. It took me forever to find a job last year and I took a 30 percent pay cut when I did. My husband and I want the security of owning the roof over our heads if something horrible happens. Everything else we can patch together somehow.
When I paid off my mortgage after receiving a lump sum windfall, and THEN told my independent fiduciary personal financial advisor, she was obliged to tell me that by doing that, I had messed up a big tax advantage. Mortgage interest is tax deductible, at least it was then. But, it was too late, and I did like knowing that I owned my property. She understood, but suggested that I talk with her first in the future!
Several of my neighbors also own their homes, but are really struggling to pay for maintenance, repairs, upkeep, and TAXES. Those can be really expensive. If they can’t keep a home in good shape, selling it for a decent price won’t even be an option. And falling-apart houses affect the neighborhood and community.
Our financial advisor knows that we are very close to paying our home off. We've had to explain to him that we don't have a lavish lifestyle and don't ever want one. We suspect he's mused to advising Texas gazillionaires or something like that. But he did manage to shift gears to talking to us about what it will take to age in place, so that was good.
It’s looking at your money over decades.
This is so true. My husband and I tend to have different specialties as far as family finance goes. He is good about long-range planning, and I'm good about keeping a rein on day-to-day spending. The two approaches work very well hand-in-hand.
Oh I can so relate to this!! My husband had to go on SS at 62 due to a health issue. This cut our income drastically! He owned his own dirt gravel business. Even though I remained at work until retirement age. We also was raised by depression era parents, so we immediately went into what can we do without? Thankful that we are now debt free. Love Tightwad Gazette and reread the book about twice a year. Making good financial decisions early in life will pay off 10fold. Never know what life will bring
The Tightwad Gazette absolutely saved a generation. I am convinced of that because the 90s were not encouraging people to save. I'm happy to hear that you came through a tough time debt free.
Fun to "meet" other Tightwad Gazette fans here. I reread her (compilation) books, too!
Lovely Ruby! Thanks for sharing!!
You're welcome. I really enjoyed it.
Love these posts! Like Ruby, I don't want to work until I die- that's my why!!!
Thank you. My husband and I knew too many people who dropped dead a few months after retiring, and we have pretty much vowed to live to enjoy ours. It helps that we've never developed a taste for a lavish lifestyle. 🙂
Ruby,
Thanks for sharing your story. My Mom taught me to sew and it has really been helpful to fix ripped seams, hem pants, tighten a low cut t-shirt... all the small jobs. Those purses are super cute.
Cathy
I think knowing how to sew ranks right up there with knowing how to cook as my most money-saving frugal skill. I am very short, and can alter thrift shop finds to fit me right because of knowing how to sew. I spend very little on clothing as a result and can keep it going for years and years.
Hi Ruby,
I'd love to know what your laptop is sitting on. I'm guessing you came up with a frugal solution. : )
It's part of a locker shelf I bought for $1. I made little bumpers out of rolls of foam to keep it from sliding off. No one makes laptop stands small enough for a Chromebook, so I made one myself.
Thanks for sharing your story, Ruby! 🙂 Congratulations on being mortgage-free soon! That's an awesome accomplishment! I love seeing the pictures of your pets and your cute purses.
Thank you. I will be back to shout the news from the rooftop when we retire the mortgage. It's going to worth every mended shirt elbow and place of unusual leftovers for lunch. 😀
Hi Ruby - Thank you; I enjoyed your story! I'm so impressed by your self-haircut - I think short layered hair must be tricky to master, and your hair looks great. And I agree that it's much easier to be thrifty these days. My parents were thrifty in the 70s/80s, but it wasn't very mainstream in their family/area, and to this day I feel like they sort of reflexively apologize for it (or mildly mock it to beat the hearer to the punch line). Which reminds me what a blessing it is to have a supportive community these days!
(Speaking of which, y'all have made me go out and find a Tightwad Gazette at a used bookstore. Somehow I missed it back in the day, but I'm enjoying it now - lots of fun tips! )
I think in the 70s and 80s frugal was connected to the hippie lifestyle and people felt the need to not be connected to that. But I grew up in the rural South and so many people were frugal because they had small farms and/or big families.
Thanks for the compliment on the haircut. I've had tons of practice cutting my husband and son's hair for years. Occasionally over the years I would cut my own, but really started doing it regularly during Covid. I've gapped a spot only once, so I've been lucky. A Tinkle razor comb with replaceable double edge blades really helps.
Some of the content in The Complete Tightwad Gazette is way outdated. The internet barely existed when she retired the newsletter and long distance calling was very expensive, so anything about technology is obsolete, but the basic principles of other t hings are very sound.
Hi Ruby,
Nice to meet another life-long Southerner! I enjoyed reading your story. Your description of cars from the 70's and 80's brought back lots of memories!
The current generation has no idea how lucky they are when it comes to cars. 😀 My little Honda has a design quirk in that if I raise my arm and bump the dome light while lifting something off the seat, the light will get turned on (hard to notice in daylight) and run the battery down. So a few months ago I had a flashback to the 70s and 80s while standing in the work parking lot with the hood up while waiting for my husband to come jump off the battery. It was not a fun flashback. I have turned the domelight switch permanently to off rather than to have to deal with that again.
Wow, you are a frugal warrior! Inspiring. I really enjoyed your post; thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thank you. I enjoyed doing it.
Ruby, I totally love that you rescue animals. That is really on my heart.
It's on ours too. We thought pretty hard about a third dog, but we have a big house and big hearts, and so we adopted the little blonde dog when she was four months old and the other two were much older. She had been abused and it took a long time to get her physically and emotionally right. She is the smartest, sweetest dog we've ever had.
Hi Ruby,
So nice to meet you. You are an inspiration. Very talented with hair cutting. The dogs are amazing. I hope they are around for many years to come. Hope you and your family stay well.
Aww, thank you. Our black and tan dog is getting on up there in years, but we hope to have her quite a while longer. She was our first rescue dog and has the funniest personality.
Hi Ruby - Thanks for sharing today! You offered such wonderful frugal advice. And I really love that your profile picture captured your frugal pursuits, it is like a five frugal things photo edition. Great bags too!
Thank you. It's funny how that photo worked out that way. 🙂
I was also a devout follower of Amy Dacyczyn and her Tightwad Gazette movement. I still refer to her book for recipes. I do need to reread it. because I loved her concepts. It is inspiring to hear about your frugal journey - Thanks for sharing some of your life with us!
I use her recipes too. When we were buying groceries Saturday, I glanced at some bran muffins in the supermarket bakery and about fainted: $4.99 for four muffins! My mind immediately went to Amy's basic muffin recipe and how easy those muffins would be to make.
I think you are 100% dead-on correct about it being easier now to be frugal with the resources we have (with a few exceptions of course.)
Cars are definitely much more reliable now. I remember all the problems my parents had with their vehicles which I haven't had to experience.
On top of that, we have so much free "How-to" advice out there and Right to Repair (an issue I feel strongly about) is gaining ground with voters, albeit slowly.
I feel strongly about Right to Repair too. There's hardly anything that frosts my cookies like spending a lot of money for something and then finding out I'm not allowed to change out the battery myself.
So nice to meet you Ruby! I love reading about FG readers, especially those of us who are older. I used to think I was the only one I knew who followed The Tightwad Gazette, cooked from scratch, followed my mother’s & grandmother’s thrifty ways, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing while reading your story.
The Tightwad Gazette had something like 100,000 subscribers at its peak, if I remember correctly, so there are more of us out there than you know. It's been wonderful to find people like Kristen who are carrying the torch for the new generations of frugal folks.
The bags you made are beautiful!
I'm 61 so we're around the same age. I read Tightwad Gazette back in the '90's too.
I wish you all the best paying off your house and being able to live your post-employment years with joy.
Thank you. I am really looking forward to retiring, to read a lot, to putter around the house, play with the pups and continuing to be frugal.
Loved hearing your story. My husband has cut my hair for the past year. I think he needs to watch a tutorial by you!
I really learned how to cut hair when my son was little by reading a library book about cutting children's hair. His hair was blond and stick-straight, unlike his dad's curly hair that hid any mistakes I made trimming. That kicked off decades of cutting their hair. I had to get brave and apply the techniques to myself when Covid hit.
Oh. . . how I hate cutting hair, but I do it for all of my clan because it saves so much money! This last time, my eldest son asked me to do something different, and I had to say, "Next time," because I don't know how to do anything different. We'll be doing some youtube research, I think.
Hi Ruby.
It's nice to meet you and I love those bags you made! I'm glad my mom taught us basic sewing because even though I don't have room in my small apartment for a sewing machine I can at least repair my clothes to extend their use as long as possible. I was able to hand sew my own reusable masks from some old t-shirts when it was still hard to buy them.
Love the idea of making appliances and such last as long as possible and I fully support the right to repair and that manufacturers should have to make parts available for a long time. We have an old hassock fan that my dad bought in 1974 that still works because I take it apart once a year to clean and oil it as needed.
Hope you reach your goal with your mortgage!
Hassock fans are wonderful and nearly impossible to find now. That's wonderful that you are keeping your dad's fan going.
That reminds me of something funny from years ago. My ex and I were in his father's NYC apartment, which didn't have central air. My former inlaws were people who "didn't believe" in air conditioning, even when we were all about to drop dead from its being 90 degress in Manhattan. Former FIL reluctantly brought out the hassock fan, which managed to bring the temp down to about 89.5 degrees, and my ex said, "Anyone got a sweater? It's just waaayyy too cool in here now."
That's just too funny! 😀
The Vermont Country Store Catalog sold hassock fans for the longest time, but I just checked and they don't any more. It's a bygone era now.
Thanks for sharing. Loved your pics! Your critters are adorable.
You're welcome. I'm always happy to share pictures of the little ones. They are the light of the household.
Lovely to meet you! I appreciate what you shared about frugality and creativity. Sometimes I do get tired of all of my frugal efforts and it was such a good reminder to be creative to make it feel a bit better. I am usually a creative soul and do feel that it enhances my frugal abilities.
It can be really tiring, especially when you work at it day in and day out and feel like you've gained so little traction. I do believe in giving myself a little break. The past two weeks, I've come home from work so tired on Friday that I've given my unspent pocket money to my son, who is the king of discount pizza, and said, "Give it your best shot." He is very pleased to come in under budget and provide us with a nice fuss-free meal. Totally worth it!
That’s awesome! I would feel like a proud mama and it would be money totally well spent!
Thanks for sharing, Ruby!! After so many have talked about The Tightwad Gazette I may just have to check it out!
Your local library should have copies.
Just put my request in. 🙂
Ruby, you are a very talented seamstress!!
Oh, thank you. My mother was really talented. I'm sloppy compared to her, but I did learn a lot from watching her.
Thank you for sharing! Your home is very lovely!♥
Thank you. We are only the third owners since it was built in 1952. The previous owner lived here over 50 years and did not change much at all, plus she took excellent care of it. The laundry room (where our big gray cat is shown) still has the original paint.
Lovely story, and lovely bags! My Mom made some like that for me and I love them and use them all the time! Nice to know you, Ruby!
It's been great meeting everyone here.
Thank you, Ruby. Love your furr family.
Thank you. They are such little sweethearts, all of them.
Hi Ruby! So wonderful to "meet" you and have a face (even a masked one!) to put to your name.
Enjoyed seeing your lovely home, beautiful handmade bags, and precious pets, too. Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome. It's been lovely chatting with everyone.
I’ve been enjoying “meeting” Kristin’s readers and it is nice to meet you,Ruby.I am also in my 60’s so it’s fun to meet up with others who are not young moms, online on the frugal blogs. Many of us started out frugal when we were young and out of necessity—but over the years, the habits stick..and, well, they do serve us well in retirement,I’ll say that! It’s always fun to save money,I think, and to save the splurges for when and where it really counts.
Being frugal is also good for the environment and is a good example to younger generations!
The habits really do stick. Sometimes I'll be doing something and realize it's a frugal thing and that other people may not do it, but I can't imagine not doing it. What else would I be doing with that few seconds that's saving a few pennies? A few pennies over a lifetime really adds up.
That reminds me: I never explained about the three pennies in the photo of the striped bag. Almost every day, I find pennies on the sidewalk outside the entrance to the building where I work and I pick them up. Don't know if it's students or the construction workers next door, but someone hangs out there and cleans out their pockets of that "annoying" change.
Hi Ruby -- lovely to meet you and be inspired by your story! Cheering for you to be mortgage-free and retired so you can enjoy some "you-time" -- that really resonates for me. Love your pets and your beautiful and unique bags. And the frugalista picture that says it all -- thank you for sharing with us!
Thank you. It's been wonderful chatting with everyone, and I'll take all the cheering we can get. It's been a year of chugging like the Little Engine that Could, in the frugal sense.
Hello Ruby. I love reading about people who save money! I'm Sally and I live in Daventry, Northamptonshire in the UK. I'm 56 and very happy, even with very little spare money! My husband and and I rent our little house, he is ten years older than me. If you ever want to get in touch, I would love to hear from you, like old fashioned penfriend! Sallystoddard5@gmail.com. Best wishes, Sally. X
Hi, Sally. It's very nice to meet you. My husband has been to England several times, as a student and while working for a company that had a UK branch, and some day we hope to visit there together, if travel ever becomes a thing again.
Hi Ruby - it's very nice to meet you! We're definitely of the same generation but I'm almost 65 and happily retired for two years now. I borrowed the Tightwad Gazette books from our public many times for encouragement and ideas of how to be frugal.
And would you believe it - I have not had a haircut in over a year!! Luckily it looks quite nice long and I have kept up my colour myself with discounted, on sale hair colour of course!
I am a Canadian and will start receiving Old Age Security cheques in July, the first full month after my 65th birthday. I started collecting my Canada Pension Plan as early as I qualified (at age 60) even though I was still working. If I deferred until 65 I would have received a larger monthly cheque but my logic in collecting early is that it's when you're younger and healthier that you're more likely to travel and need the money. And you must live until you're 75 until everything evens out and as you know there are no guarantees in life! And boy did I find that out when I was diagnosed with breast cancer last April! Glad to say I made a full recovery and have resumed all my normal activities including running! I run 5 km three times a week and in between I snowshoe, cross country ski, ice skate, go biking, hiking, walking, gardening, etc. Certainly not one to sit still for long.
I have been a vegetarian for over seven years and eat very healthily. I have never drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes (or anything else for that matter now that marijuana is legalized here - something I don't agree with!). This past year has been very humbling for me as it made me realize that no matter what health precautions you take, it's no guarantee that you won't get ill. I am very grateful for Canada's universal health care program as there were no out of pocket costs for the surgery or radiation. Reminder to you all not to skip your mammograms! And please use aluminum free deodorant.
I utilize a lot of the same strategies as you do for saving money and still have a 40 year old wool, kick pleated skirt in my closet! I don't wear it a great deal but whenever I do, I still get a lot of compliments because it just fits so well. It was part of a suit and the blazer was made of a different material and has long been discarded as it was worn out.
It was great to get to know you and we share a lot in common!
It's great to meet you too. I love meeting others of my generation and hearing their long view on frugality.
Health care costs outside of insurance have long been a big expense for my family. It's kept us in debt a lot of years. I keep hoping the US will come to its senses and make the health of the nation a priority as Canada has.
My husband originally had a plan to work a couple of years past his official retirement age, but he's scaled back. In the past two generations, no men his family have lived past 68, so he's decided that retiring at 66 and 10 months instead of 70 is just fine.
Please don't assume that Canadians die while waiting for treatment as some Americans do. I was diagnosed on March 31 last year and had my lumpectomy on April 15th and this was in the middle of Covid. My tumour was shipped to a lab in California for the oncotype dx 21-gene reocurrence score to determine if I would require chemotherapy. When I did a google search to see the cost of that test I almost keeled over to discover it's about $4000 U.S. Yet as I mentioned before nothing came out of pocket. Of course our rate of taxation is greater than in the U.S., but children also start school full time at age 4 (even 3 if birthday isn't after September). So it's my opinion that it all balances out.
And I don't blame your husband for wanting to retire one bit! I retired at age 62 years, 7 months and haven't regretted it. Some period of readjustment is needed though!
Yes, I knew that Canadian health care is very efficient and while there may be some waiting, it's nothing like the negative talk. Heck, there's waiting for American medicine too, even for people with good health insurance.
Last year, the man giving us an estimate for installing air conditioning had a Canadian accent so I told him how much I love Canada and miss going there. (I live in Seattle and we traveled there often.) He immediately went on a (very impolite, very un-Canadian if I may say so 😉 ) rant about the Canadian healthcare system and how he'd never live there again because his sister died when she couldn't get cancer care soon enough. I didn't tell him that my sister-in-law died here in the US from pancreatic cancer and even though she got care quickly, because of her crappy insurance she died bankrupt. She had been unable to marry her boyfriend before she passed---if they had gotten married, he would have been responsible for her hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical debt. For my family of three, we've spent almost USD $40,000 in the last 5 years for out-of-pocket medical costs. My 19 year old son has a very nasty chronic disease and since December 2020 has been on medication costing over USD $200,000 a year. It's covered right now through our insurance from my husband's job and through a "copay assistance" program from the drug company that you have to have insurance through an employer to qualify for (i.e. people on state insurance for the poor do not qualify---this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever). My son is terrified about what will happen when he's 26 and has to go off our insurance. It's causing him a lot of stress, worrying about getting through college though he's very ill and then finding a job that has good enough insurance. It's absolutely outrageous that a supposedly civilized nation can't offer good health care to every citizen, regardless of their job. I lived in Europe in my 20's (in actual civilized nations) and sometimes I wish I'd never left. Anyway, thanks for posting about the realities of the Canadian system. Having to wait for appointments happens in the US every day. I just found a breast lump in March, had to wait 2 weeks for an appointment with a nurse practitioner (the doctors were all booked up) then was told it would be 6 weeks till I could get the diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound. Fortunately, they had a cancellation and got me in two weeks later, and extra-fortunately, the lump is not cancer. But for a month, I didn't know that and waiting and worrying about it was very hard.