How age affects your frugality.....

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ohjodi
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:57 pm

How age affects your frugality.....

Post by ohjodi »

Colonialgirl brought up a good topic in the "How does your location help or hinder your frugality..." thread, and it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently.

Here's her quote:

" Also - I would mention that it is humbling when age slows you down in your frugal actiivities. Not everything you do now will be possible in the future and that is hard to accept. I used to arrogantly wonder why anyone would (insert any non-frugal activity here) pay to have groceries delivered, not hit several stores to stock up, change their own oil, not hang clothes outside to dry, etc, etc. Now I know."

Age, medical condition, mobility, and/or just not wanting to do certain things anymore....What are you doing, or not doing, now that you're older?

I don't drive around trying to get the best deals, anymore. My knees are terrible, missing a couple leg veins which makes me tired and hot, I don't want to get in and out of the car more than a couple times, sometimes I use the scooters in walmart.....I'm also afraid of twisting my knee, ankle, tripping, falling, etc.

I have three grocery stores, and I mostly go to the smaller, more expensive one, IGA. They have good sales, great meat, carry out your groceries, but their regular prices are a bit higher, and there's less of a selection of most things. But it's EASY for me. SO EASY. I do find great deals, so it balances out, I'm sure. And if it doesn't? Oh well.

In any case, whatever store I'm at, I buy what I need if I need it (unless a price is outrageous). My dad was visiting last month, and I was giving the poor guy heart attacks because I'd buy distilled water for my CPAP machine at the IGA grocery store for $1.25, rather than drive all the way to Walmart, hike through the store, drag it to the self-check lane and out to the car to save .42 on it.

At the gas station, he asked me to get him a Baby Ruth candy bar "but if it costs more than $1, forget it, we'll go somewhere else!" Um, no, we won't. So I bought him one for $1.49. So what! Life is short, have a candy bar old man, lol Everywhere we went "it's cheaper at walmart, we'll go there....." NOPE. We'll get your Rolaids here at Dollar General or you won't get them at all, dad!

I've used Walmart pick up service twice, and I do like it a lot, so I will be using it more for sure.

I also do only half-loads of laundry, and this actually has more to do with depression than physical issues......I can get overwhelmed by not a lot. So I do small loads because it's faster to fold them. I sometimes have a house cleaner come in to get the "dust and crust" and clean my bathroom and floors. It costs money, but physically and mentally it's worth it.

What are you doing differently now that you're older.
ohjodi
mbrudnic
Posts: 4497
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:57 am

Re: How age affects your frugality.....

Post by mbrudnic »

well, when I was younger, I had young kids. Running from store to store, carrying a baby or even dragging reluctant toddler makes it difficult to do a lot of that.

So I think it is more a matter of we utilize different strategies at the various times in our lives. The old adage of YMMV (your mileage may vary) meaning you do what works for you at this point in time.
Quilter51
Posts: 2815
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:04 pm

Re: How age affects your frugality.....

Post by Quilter51 »

I said don't think were less frugal but use different strategies. But then I was never a labor away, can all my food, run to ten stores kind of girl.

Also it needs to be seed at this age true needs are much less..after lifetime of accumulating there is little I need in term of things as such that are not replenishment items as other things wear our. I mean I love knitting myself a sweater because I love it but I dont need another sweater, ya know.

So I cook from scratch but I do walmart Delivery. And in general my frugal strategy is buying less but buying what I want when I do. And thinking the twenty bucks to the snow shoveled or the twenty spent at happy hour is well worth it.

Having said that , like I said I have never been an active labor intensive type frugaler and sometimes and am both scared and awed by what many people do each day. I am much lazier by choice.
floridacatlover
Posts: 8056
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: How age affects your frugality.....

Post by floridacatlover »

ohjodi wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2020 7:38 pm Colonialgirl brought up a good topic in the "How does your location help or hinder your frugality..." thread, and it's something I've been thinking about a lot recently.

Here's her quote:

" Also - I would mention that it is humbling when age slows you down in your frugal actiivities. Not everything you do now will be possible in the future and that is hard to accept. I used to arrogantly wonder why anyone would (insert any non-frugal activity here) pay to have groceries delivered, not hit several stores to stock up, change their own oil, not hang clothes outside to dry, etc, etc. Now I know."

Age, medical condition, mobility, and/or just not wanting to do certain things anymore....What are you doing, or not doing, now that you're older?

I don't drive around trying to get the best deals, anymore. My knees are terrible, missing a couple leg veins which makes me tired and hot, I don't want to get in and out of the car more than a couple times, sometimes I use the scooters in walmart.....I'm also afraid of twisting my knee, ankle, tripping, falling, etc.

I have three grocery stores, and I mostly go to the smaller, more expensive one, IGA. They have good sales, great meat, carry out your groceries, but their regular prices are a bit higher, and there's less of a selection of most things. But it's EASY for me. SO EASY. I do find great deals, so it balances out, I'm sure. And if it doesn't? Oh well.

In any case, whatever store I'm at, I buy what I need if I need it (unless a price is outrageous). My dad was visiting last month, and I was giving the poor guy heart attacks because I'd buy distilled water for my CPAP machine at the IGA grocery store for $1.25, rather than drive all the way to Walmart, hike through the store, drag it to the self-check lane and out to the car to save .42 on it.

At the gas station, he asked me to get him a Baby Ruth candy bar "but if it costs more than $1, forget it, we'll go somewhere else!" Um, no, we won't. So I bought him one for $1.49. So what! Life is short, have a candy bar old man, lol Everywhere we went "it's cheaper at walmart, we'll go there....." NOPE. We'll get your Rolaids here at Dollar General or you won't get them at all, dad!

I've used Walmart pick up service twice, and I do like it a lot, so I will be using it more for sure.

I also do only half-loads of laundry, and this actually has more to do with depression than physical issues......I can get overwhelmed by not a lot. So I do small loads because it's faster to fold them. I sometimes have a house cleaner come in to get the "dust and crust" and clean my bathroom and floors. It costs money, but physically and mentally it's worth it.

What are you doing differently now that you're older.
Totally agree about shopping. I’ve never liked Walmart because you have to hike through a big store after hiking through the big parking lot. If you need anything from the pharmacy section, that’s on the other side of the store. For what, to save a few pennies or even dollars. No thanks. No way that Walmart can compare to Aldi prices. My mom got her Rx at Walmart and I didn’t like it. Not for me. I don’t have a Walmart Neighborhood Market near me but probably wouldn’t shop there anyway. I’m sure that the order online/pickup is handy but I’ll admit that I frequently pick up a few items at a time and rarely do a “big” order. I like Aldi and Publix. Publix has a reputation as expensive but if you watch the sales the prices are good - except on produce. As you say, Jodi, it evens out and if it doesn’t, oh well.

I ask various service people I happen to have at the house (plumber, a/c guy) to change my high light bulbs and give them $10. I asked the dryer vent guy to look at my gutter when he was on the roof and gave him $20 to clean it out. (No trees near it but the “sand” from the new roof.)

In general I value convenience over money.
Last edited by floridacatlover on Sun Jan 19, 2020 9:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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MackerelCat
Posts: 7257
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:44 pm

Re: How age affects your frugality.....

Post by MackerelCat »

When I was 30 years younger, I was hardcore frugal, but we had to be. One of my favorite photos of that time is my toddler son, dressed in secondhand and Mom-made clothes, playing under the clothesline full of cloth diapers on a windy day. There's a container garden along one edge of the photo, with the buckets up on blocks so the dogs couldn't get into them.

Now I have bad knees and a year and a half on a drug that kept me from going blind but caused profound exhaustion that I'm still recovering from. There's a similar need to be frugal, but I have to go about it smarter, not harder. It probably helps that we're older and just don't eat as much and the toddler is grown now and provides his own clothes and entertainment.

The other day I looked up the electric company's winter time use rate schedule so as to do laundry at the less expensive time of day. The clothesline has been replaced by a big drying rack in the laundry room. It's a lot easier that way.
Mackie
colonialgirl
Posts: 1835
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2015 2:01 am
Location: Central Illinois

Re: How age affects your frugality.....

Post by colonialgirl »

Well for me, it has been a 180 degree turn from when I first got on this group. Gosh that has been I don't know how long - almost since the beginning. Hubs and I both were extremely frugal by choice - we wanted security and we wanted nice things.

Things we did then I don't do now mostly because I physically can't :
Hung all of my laundry to dry and did lots of ironing.
Grew a garden and canned and froze a great deal of our food.
Bought 1/2 cows and pigs for the freezer.
Washed our own cars
Changed our own oil, anti freeze and annual maintenance on cars.
Did all of our own home improvements & repairs. Even if we had to hire someone professional, we tried to do it ourselves first.
Cleaned my own house.
What few trips we took, we always drove there no matter how far. We just didn't consider flying it affordable.
Made gifts and cards.
Wrote letters rather than make long distance phone calls.
Shoveled our own snow - snow blowers were too expensive.
Drove basic cars - always new - but often no AC and no add ons. We drove the until they quit running.
Never drank soda or anything except water, milk, kool aid and tea.
Seldom went to a movie, concert or any type of paid for entertainment.
Never had cable tv.

If I could physically, I would still garden and can because I loved it. I would clean my own house because no one cleans your home as well as you do, but most of those things I don't miss or the times have changed enough to make them no longer a frugal option. Write letters? No way. Hurts my hands to grip a pen & I can call for no extra cost. I am lucky and I don't mean this as a complaint. I do miss that feeling of true frugal accomplishment - I don't miss missing out on the things we often could not afford.


Only subscribed to 2 magazines ever - my 2 decorating magazines.
We never ate out.
Tracked my money to the penny.

Things I still do:
I am a grocery guerilla. I buy on sale, in bulk and I manage my inventory.

Buy needed household items on sale. I try to anticipate needs, do a lot of comparison shopping and usually buy when items are at their lowest price. Online shopping helps this.

I don't buy clothes for entertainment. I buy classic styles in solid colors that don't go out of style. I am very careful about washing by sorting like color etc. They last me many, many years. When I do find something I like, I bulk buy it. I like 3/4 sleeve, V neck t shirts in winter. If found just what I like on sale after Christmas - marked down from $25.00 to $6.00. I bought 14 of them - one in every color - 2 in each neutral.

I combine trips and run errands when I am out to conserve gas.

I continue to use the library and also have Amazon Prime and get free books to read monthly through there.
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