Author Topic: Am I frugal or just strange... (Read 2023 times)

AtlLaw · « **on:** August 13, 2011, 07:56:05 AM »

Well, maybe that's not the right way to put it as some folk been known to think I'm a little ... different most of the time

So let's just say frugal!

I thought about that this morning as I was getting ready to start on my "honey-do" list. Now, I usually don't own more then two pair of jeans at a time; dress jeans and work jeans. When the work jeans fall apart I cut the legs off them and throw the rest away. The former "dress jeans" then become the work jeans and I buy a new pair to refill that now vacant slot.

But long before the work jeans are trashed they are "rebuilt" a number of times using the aforementioned leg material that I cut off the previous pair! The work jeans are usually a patch work quilt before they are ready for the trash!

Poor Kathie just can't understand this. I'm a constant source of embarrassment to her and I have even caught her trying to throw away a perfectly serviceable pair of work jeans! Her only statement was "will you PLEASE just buy a new pair!?"

Now I know how I was raised may have something to do with it. For example, my Daddy used to sit me down with a hammer an anvil and have me straighten out recovered nails for reuse. I still do that to BTW...

Am I wrong? $:-\$ Should I buy a new pair of jeans when the first hole appears? After all, it's not like I get designer stuff. A $20 pair of Levi's from the local factory seconds clothing store is it. I spend more then that in my time doing the patching!

What to do, what to do...

BUGEYE · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2011, 08:21:58 AM »

looks like you're respecting the training your dad gave you. for me, I'd rather take a beating than shop for clothes.

AtlLaw · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2011, 09:06:34 AM »

Me to! The only time I go shopping is when I know what I want, I walk in, pick it up and walk out! After paying for it of course!

AND IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

I had just finished item number 2 on Kathie's list. Number 3 involves me going to the store. So she says "you've got to change your jeans before you go..."

I tell ya boys, it's enough to drive a man to drink! Matter of fact, I think I'll start that ol' ride here directly!

Old Syko · « **Reply #3 on:** August 13, 2011, 09:11:10 AM »

20 bucks for a pair of jeans!!!! Dang, man you must be rich. I figger the good pair should last most a lifetime. The work pair get replaced from Goodwill or a thrift store for 5 to 10 bucks and the money goes to a good place. Surplus or used BDUs are cheap too and hold up well.

We musta been raised a lot the same. Now i don't mind throwin stuff away but not until it's no longer usable or repairable. Shoot the junkyards don't even want a car when I get done with it.

Atlaw you ain't frugal or strange. You just paid attention when you wuz young. I guess nowadays that is strange.

Pity ain't it?

Sourdough · « **Reply #4 on:** August 13, 2011, 09:11:57 AM »

I'm with you on that Richard. I was raised the same way, straightened a lot of nails myself. Patched patches on mule harness as well. The wife waits till I go hunting and cleans out all the clothes she thinks needs to go away. At least she replaces what she gets rid of, with like items.

Now while I was in the middle east, she had a big yard sale. The big chest containing all my platform shoes, plaid pants, bell bottoms, sequined shirts, and leisure suites, went away. It was a couple of years before I missed those. I had only kept them to show my kids what we wore in California in the 60s.

powderman · « **Reply #5 on:** August 13, 2011, 09:19:02 AM »

RICHARD. Frugal is another word for common sense. I pretty well mirror your OP and will have my wife read it just to show her that I'm not the only one who does these things. A pair of everyday jeans is hard to toss, good jeans even harder to go to the next step. Patty is the weorst about my shoes. So what if they are falling apart, they are fine in the garden, besides, it's summer, kinda like air conditioning. Then there are my summer socks and shirts, she calls them full of holes. Goodwill and salvation army are my favorite stores for clothes. Good to see I'm not alone in this. I remind her that the Amish have a saying. Use it up or wear it out, make do or do without. Now whats wrong with that?? Charlie.

Goatwhiskers · « **Reply #6 on:** August 13, 2011, 09:36:22 AM »

Scotsmen are "frugal". You're just plain tight. Or is it possible that your last name actually ends in "stein"? Goat

BBF · « **Reply #7 on:** August 13, 2011, 10:05:07 AM »

I dislike breaking in new stuff. Shoes, shirts,sweaters, pants, all need a certain amount of seasoning before they feel right.

I friend of mine likes those lumber jacket shirts, the types that have wadding in them and so do I.

Mine lasts until the stuffing falls out, his on the other hand only as long as his wife doesn't see them. They are not acceptable clothing in her eyes. If mine............

Land_Owner · « **Reply #8 on:** August 13, 2011, 10:14:17 AM »

Quote from: AtlLaw on August 13, 2011, 07:56:05 AM

Am I wrong? $:-\$ Should I buy a new pair of jeans when the first hole appears? What to do, what to do...

You know what to do and what you are going to do. Stay the Course.

saddlebum · « **Reply #9 on:** August 13, 2011, 10:45:01 AM »

My mom used to patch my jeans with those 'iron on' patches. They were always stiff and weird feeling because of the glue, I guess. I continued to use those for a while after I moved out but switched to stitching on pieces from other wore out jeans.

Now I just wear them with the holes in them until they get to the point where they are obscene. Then cut them up for rags and gun cleaning patches. That probably puts me in the 'strange' catagory?

I wait for sales to buy jeans, (or anything else), and stock up so I don't have to pay full price when the time comes that I need them. I only wear one kind of jeans and rotate them to the work jean catagory as needed.

Dee · « **Reply #10 on:** August 13, 2011, 12:28:41 PM »

Well Richard, the first thing you need to do, is stop buying Levis, as their pro-queer marriage, anti-2nd Amendment, and stopped supporting the Boy Scouts of America cause the BSA wouldn't allow queer scout masters.
Wrangler, Cinch, Lee, and others still make jeans. As for your frugal-isms, proceed sir, at your own risk, as Kathie may some day protest and forget to tell you she is protesting. Remember! "You cannot tell the difference between a licked spoon, and a washed one". Didn't you tell me you had a Great Pyrenees?

jhm · « **Reply #11 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:44:11 PM »

I know I sure Miss those LEISURE SUITES, wish they would come back Id bet you might find some in the 2nd hand clothing stores. Ha Ha Jim

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #12 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:52:47 PM »

Richard,
The way I see it you have two options.
Continue fighting with her.
Or go buy another pair and keep them handy in case you are headed out with her for an errand. Wear the quilted jeans and continue to fix them as need, for jobs when you are going to get dirty like working on the truck, cleaning guns, or the motorcycle... or what have you.
When I was a kid, I was not allowed to go out in public with out a colar. I could wear a tee shirt in the yard or runing around the neighborhood but if we were headed out to store or neighbors for dinner I had to have a colar. After fighting with my mother about it. Dad came to me and said, "your mother is always going to win the argument about the shirt, it will be just easier if you keep a Polo shirt handy and just change and avoid the fight you know you are going to loose". From then on, I kept a shirt and a belt in the station wagon (I also had to tuck in the shirt and wear a belt). Stick the new pair of jeans some where handy and change as needed. It will take you two minutes at most.
I have three pairs of jeans - Old ratty that I do chores in and two nicer pairs one to wear and one in the wash.

Spirithawk · « **Reply #13 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:53:42 PM »

You guys are waistful. I just run naked through the woods! Now try getting that pic outta your head!

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #14 on:** August 13, 2011, 01:57:37 PM »

Quote from: Spirithawk on August 13, 2011, 01:53:42 PM

You guys are waistful. I just run naked through the woods! Now try getting that pic outta your head!

Why, in my mind you are a 20 year old blonde co-ed with c cups.
Do not Post a picture!

bobg · « **Reply #15 on:** August 13, 2011, 02:09:54 PM »

Are you telling me people sew patches on jeans?

I use good ole duct tape on mine.

Steelbanger · « **Reply #16 on:** August 13, 2011, 03:40:19 PM »

Hello Richard,

My Dad gave me the assignment of straightening nails for his projects when I was a boy. We didn't have an anvil so I did my work on concrete. I wish he were still here. I would buy him a bag of factory fresh nails for every occasion!

Frank

P.S. My daughter doesn't like the traffic in Atlanta but she ate at a few Mexican restaurants that she liked.

JustaShooter · « **Reply #17 on:** August 13, 2011, 04:29:46 PM »

I think y'all are missing out - when the knees are too far gone and the bottoms of the legs remind you of the fringe they used to put on everything back in the 70's, as long as the butt and crotch are OK, just cut them off at the knees (or thereabouts).

Now you've got a pair of shorts, and the tubes that used to be the lower legs can be sewed up on one end, filled with sand (or your media of choice) and the tops sewed to make sand bags. If you are tall enough, maybe you can get 2 sandbags per leg... Keep a few for use around the house and at the range, then (here's the good part) sell the extras to your shooting buddies!

I've managed to make enough on 2 pairs of old jeans to buy a new pair, and still have two pairs of shorts to boot!

Just a Shooter

powderman · « **Reply #18 on:** August 13, 2011, 04:41:11 PM »

RICHARD. I'm glad you started this thread, I don't feel all alone now. POWDERMAN.

BBF · « **Reply #19 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:00:05 AM »

Quote from: Spirithawk on August 13, 2011, 01:53:42 PM

You guys are waistful. I just run naked through the woods! Now try getting that pic outta your head!

I can do the naked, the running is another thing !!

magooch · « **Reply #20 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:25:18 AM »

If it depended on me to buy my clothes, I probably wouldn't have any. My wife is a professional shopper, or at least that is what she does. Consequently, I have more clothes than I will ever wear and as for jeans, I've got stacks of them. I've got one closet that has nothing but leather jackets; I'm pretty sure there are some in there I've never worn.
You can only imagine how many closets full of clothes my wife has. And why does anyone need 300 pairs of shoes and a 56 purses?

DDZ · « **Reply #21 on:** August 14, 2011, 08:05:37 AM »

Quote from: magooch on August 14, 2011, 06:25:18 AM

If it depended on me to buy my clothes, I probably wouldn't have any. My wife is a professional shopper, or at least that is what she does.
And why does anyone need 300 pairs of shoes and a 56 purses?

My wife used to buy all my clothes. Or I would probably have been wearing rags. She was also a professional shopper. Always got the best stuff for the best deals. Since My wife has become disabled, I have been forced to buy my own clothes, and I hate doing that. I have had the same jeans now for years. If my wife were still able, she would be telling me you need new jeans, and she would buy me a couple of pair. Now I'm destined to wear the same jeans until I'm forced to buy myself some.

I have asked the shoe and purse question many times. I have never got a good answer. Of coarse I guess I have never given my wife a good answer when she used to ask me why I need so many guns, which was always her question when I asked her why she needed so many shoes and purses.
I was always kind of glad my wife was a professional shopper. It helped me out in many times. I just used to over look the shoes and purses. I guess the shoe and purse thing is just in their "jeans" or is "genes".

rockbilly · « **Reply #22 on:** August 14, 2011, 10:05:59 AM »

Why is it that women just can’t understand that old denim is more comfortable that new?

I know how you feel, I get the same treatment from my wife, and she complains that I never buy new clothes until my butt is shining through the old ones. I guess it’s something about the times I was raised in.

I see no need for her having forty pairs of shoes, and three closets full of dresses. As my Dad use to say, “Son, it makes no difference what you have on as long as your face is washed, your clothes are clean and your shoes shined.”

lakota · « **Reply #23 on:** August 14, 2011, 10:37:59 AM »

Nothing wrong with that-I will shoot targets with a .22. I will save them and shoot them with a bigger bore gun the next time I go out. At the end of my range sessions-as long as no one else is at the club-I will go dig throght the back stop dirt and fill my pockets with spent bullets so I can melt them down and recast them. I guess we are practicing a form of recycling so we are going green as well. Cheap, frugal, practical? Arent they all the same?

CannonKrazy · « **Reply #24 on:** August 14, 2011, 05:17:57 PM »

Patching old jeans is kinda like patching old socks and underware. You aint suposed to do it until you start loosing hide or leaving skid marks on the furniture

. Thats being frugal.

blind ear · « **Reply #25 on:** August 14, 2011, 05:35:49 PM »

This place feels like home. ear

OldSchoolRanger · « **Reply #26 on:** August 14, 2011, 06:41:28 PM »

Quote from: Sourdough on August 13, 2011, 09:11:57 AM

Now while I was in the middle east, she had a big yard sale. The big chest containing all my platform shoes, plaid pants, bell bottoms, sequined shirts, and leisure suites, went away. It was a couple of years before I missed those. I had only kept them to show my kids what we wore in California in the 60s.

I thought I was a little wild with my clothing choices in my younger days. I confess to the platform shoes & bell bottoms, but plaid pants, sequined shirts, and leisure suits?

Have you no shame?

You must have been a "real" hippy.

Quote from: saddlebum on August 13, 2011, 10:45:01 AM

My mom used to patch my jeans with those 'iron on' patches. They were always stiff and weird feeling because of the glue, I guess. I continued to use those for a while after I moved out but switched to stitching on pieces from other wore out jeans.

I remember those patches, I also remember how strange they looked. New dark navy blue "iron on" patches on top of comfortable washed out denim. I soon discovered that if you went to the neighborhood Army Navy surplus store, you could get a whole bunch of used military patches, which I begged my mom to sew on top of the holes. They made my jeans look way "cooler" than the jeans with "iron on" patches.

Quote from: lakota on August 14, 2011, 10:37:59 AM

Cheap, frugal, practical? Arent they all the same?

People usually say: Cheap when referring to someone else. Frugal/practical when referring to themselves.

AtlLaw - The real reason, you are the way you are, is because you were raised by a person who went through the Great Depression. I remember stories that my grandfather & father told me about working all day just to be paid with a meal and a place to sleep. My parents never threw out anything without making sure it couldn't be repaired. To this day my mom, when she finally decides to get rid of an electrical appliance (like a fan), usually will keep the electrical cord, "just in case".

Dee · « **Reply #27 on:** August 15, 2011, 03:27:09 AM »

I guess I was a little wild in my youth also. The tops of one pair of my Tony Lamas was turquoise, and I used to wear a red shirt, with a black cowboy hat. My music was pretty edgy too. Merle Haggard was pretty out there I guess.

powderman · « **Reply #28 on:** August 15, 2011, 04:39:45 AM »

HEH. I let Patty read this thread last night. She said, hmmmmmmpppphhhh. In many cases frugal is the difference between the haves and the have nots. Most, or many of our parents went through WW11 and had to make do and sacrifice and it carried over into their daily lives. I'm thankful to have been raised the way I was. Mom told about the doc coming out for a couple of sick kids when she was little. Grandma was sitting in a chair darning holes in socks. Doc says Ada, I'd like to check you over too, seems like you never get sick. Grandma says, I reckon I aint had time. POWDERMAN.

no guns here · « **Reply #29 on:** August 15, 2011, 05:22:33 AM »

exact opposite here... When they start getting threadbare or worn through I replace them. I don't patch or sew or any of that stuff. I ain't rich but I ain't poor either. I'm not extravagant but I will go buy a new pair of jeans or shoes or whatever. My wife on the other hand will wear crap until she absolutely HAS to get new stuff. I tell her all the time... just go BUY what you need. It won't kill us for you to buy some new pants that fit right and don't have holes. She's just to danged cheap to do it though. Of course she wants to nickle and dime car repairs and stuff like that too.
Can't buy new tires because these are still fine even though half the tread is gone and they ride funny now.

NGH