Cost Conscious in CT

Saturday afternoons are for yard work. Sunday is a great beach day. But spring, summer and fall, Saturday mornings are for tag sales!

After a slow start, Tag Sale season is finally underway! Thank goodness! As a certified tightwad, I do most of my shopping at tag (aka yard or garage) sales. And why not?

Why should I pay full price for something I can get for a few bucks—or a quarter? My house is furnished, my garden decorated, and my closet filled with tag sale finds. And, yes, I do most of my Christmas shopping at yard sales, too. Why should I shop for my family and friends differently than do for myself?

Many folks baulk at the idea of buying gifts “used.” But think of it this way. Which is more thoughtful–to rush out in December to the crowded mall, harassed and hurried, to buy something—anything—for Susan because I’ve GOT to get a Christmas gift? Or to see something at a tag sale in July that I know Susan will love (and I very likely wouldn’t be able to afford to buy for her, new)? As long as it’s pristine—in the same great shape as it would be had I bought it new—why not? Will Susan enjoy it less because she wasn’t the first person to use it (assuming she knows).

Maybe that’s the problem—the implied dishonesty in giving a gift, that the recipient assumes is new, when it is in reality pre-owned.

As one of six kids of a schoolteacher (in the years when teachers were notoriously underpaid), economy was a way of life.  It mostly meant you didn’t buy much.  You had a pair of shoes-maybe dress up shoes (handed down from your sisters and uncomfortable) for church, and a pair of other shoes for school and play.  And you bought them at TOPPS discount city (fabulous city of discounts).  Potato chips were a once-in-a-while big treat.  Dinner out?  Not so much.  I remember once, on the road to visit Grandma Cook in Cape Cod, we stopped at a roadside restaurant, and had hamburgers and fries.  Now, that was a treat.

 We didn’t ski or belong to the “Y”; rich people did that.  Vacations were spent with aunts and uncles, or at Grandma Cook’s house.  We had one family car (’til my teen years) and schedules were planned around that.  We walked a lot. 

 This no-frills life was our norm. Most of our friends lived this way, too. When we turned sixteen, we got a job to save for college.  So I guess I just never got in the habit of spending money.

I plan to blog about saving money, saving time, saving space, saving your health, saving the planet, saving your sanity….Some folks tell me they are inspired by my economies. Some people just think I’m cheap. Most believe, I’m sure, I’m a bit weird. (Dating myself, no doubt, with that word). But I do love to write, and have learned, through the exigencies of life, a bit about saving.