We are thrifty...to put it in the nicest way. Some would say we (especially Wayne) are cheap, but let's just say we're thrifty. A few examples:
1) When we were expecting our first child, Wendy, we went to a garage sale and bought a crib (slats too far apart by today's government standard), with a side that lowered (not available anymore. Can you imagine a vertically challenged little mom trying to lift a 25 lb. baby out of a crib with immovable sides? Or trying to put a sleeping 25 lb. baby into the same crib without breaking her own back?) Anyway, enough about being over-regulated, back to us. We bought the crib, a playpen and a highchair for $10. All four of the kids slept in the crib...well, not at the same time, of course. And it is currently residing among the other clutter in the attic...it could really be trashed, but, it takes up almost no space, so what's the point of making that effort? Talk about thrifty...it's over 41 years old, costs less that $10, and could still be used (if absolutely, positively necessary...but not by MY precious grandchildren!)
2) We reuse nails. Enough said...although I could tell a funny story about straightening nails while we were building the horse barn. Actually, I might have already told it...but since I never remember to label my posts, I'd never be able to find it to point you there.
3) We built and moved into this house in 1978. We replaced the original double ovens a few years ago when we did some remodeling...thank you, Wayne, for flooding the house. But, for several years before we replaced it (the oven), the upper oven door was held tightly closed by using a coathanger that I twisted into just the right configuration. FYI: it didn't bother me a bit that I needed to do that. I weighed the choices...new ovens--maybe $1000, coathanger--$0. Easy decision.
4) The clothes dryer still worked perfectly fine...except for the knob to select the drying time. Actually, we might have already replaced a part or two, but it was fine except for the knob. The part of the knob that actually connected to the metal gear thingy was plastic...so it was bound to wear off all its gear meshing properties after a period of time. We used many methods to overcome this little challenge (including electrical tape (can you say redneck?)and they all worked in the short haul. We finally had to resort to the vise grip (REDNECK) placed directly on the metal gear thingy. And it worked like a champ until the dryer finally had one thing too many go wrong and got itself replaced.
5) Of course, there were other things like the (very old) television that had to be whacked every once in a while or the Christmas lights that, once installed on the front of the house, were never taken down until we had the house repainted years later. But, that might be characterized more as indifference than thriftiness. Might be?
The current example of thrift would be the remote control that Wayne uses on his television in the bedroom.
He can get it to work only if he takes the cover off. And I must say he's pretty pleased with himself for finding a solution. Now, don't mention this next thing to him because it's a Christmas present...I bought him a Logitech remote at Best Buy yesterday. It's on the low end of the remotes they offer..."only" about $80. They actually had several models that were way more expensive (and maybe one that was cheaper). The most expensive one looks like a small video game. It costs $400! It controls 15 different devices. Some of them are rechargeable. The one I got is not. The problem will be its durability as Wayne is 99% likely to go to sleep clutching it. Hitting the floor too many times was probably the cause of the current remote issue. I have to program the new remote by hooking it up to the computer via USB. Wayne wouldn't be able to program it himself, so it will be my job....just another way I make myself indispensable around here...heh, heh, heh...
DON'T TELL HIM!!! It's a surprise!
No comments:
Post a Comment