A fun look at someone even thriftier than me
Remember my post about tightwad treasures, like the ubiquitous York County tinfoil ball?
Well, my friend Tracey had SUCH a true York County response that I had to share it. Now, I want to make it clear here, that I am not making fun of her by posting this. I liked these ideas. For lack of a better way to describe it, they remind me of home.
But they really are an “Only in York County.” So I thought you’d enjoy them.
Tracey writes: “OK, I save socks. When I ran EMS I bought longer socks in giant bags.
When one gets a hole in it, I throw it out, and put the other one back in my sock drawer. Because when another one wears out, that means I still have a good pair made up of the remaining mates.” (Joan says: Yes, a perfectly good idea.)
Tracey says: “Both at my parents’ house and at (my boyfriend) Erik’s, my Mom and I save the plastic take-out containers from Chinese food. If you get the specials, it’s a pretty good container, and we use it to seperate leftovers into packaged meals to freeze, or take for lunch for the next few days. It’s cheaper than Tupperware, and you don’t have to stress if you lose it, or someone steals your lunch at work (I just lament the loss of yummy leftovers).” (Joan says: Yes, I agree also. But I disagree with keeping the ones from 10 years ago’s Chinese, which are probably a touch crusty.)
Tracey says: “We save bacon grease once in a while. We’ll make BLTs to use the tomatoes from the garden, pour off the bacon grease, and that same week, or even day we’ll use that grease and garden corn to make corn fritters, because they just taste better that way. I don’t think of it as penny pinching, but instead as true PA Dutch cooking!” (Joan says: While I don’t like corn fritters, I can’t argue, if you’re going to use it. But my grandmother used to keep a jar of grease in the fridge – again for ages and ages – and not use it! You know, because she might want it. Joan, who is getting used to referring to herself in the third person, also says thanks for the chance to insert a gratuitous bacon photo. Joan loves bacon!)
Tracey says: “We also save our grocery bags and use them as small kitchen trash bags. We hang one from a cabinet handle and throw out scraps, leftovers, etc., then change it out every day or so, and throw it outside on the back porch in our large trash can. That way we don’t have a stinky trash container in the house. We also use them to clean out the litter box.” (Joan says: This tip is totally environmentally friendly and cool.)
Tracey concludes: “Wow. Writing that out does make us sound like we’re cheap…”
And Joan says – no way! Just York County thrifty!
