Photo from Windows Sample Pictures
My Grandma was a nurse, wife, mother of 7 (4 of which were adopted), foster-mother, avid quilter, enjoyed traveling the world and amidst all of that was very frugal. She passed away last week, that’s why I didn’t post anything. Gracia and I flew up to New York State, where my family’s from.
There’s a lot of great things I could say about my Grandma, but to go along with the theme of my blog I’m going to share some of the ways she saved money. She loved getting a good bargain and would save in certain areas so she could do things she enjoyed like traveling. So sit back with some coffee (she was always drinking coffee) and enjoy reading the ways my Grandma lived a frugal life:
My Grandma was the queen of garage sales! Her and a friend were always out garage saling together. I remember numerous times she’d bring us kids bags of clothes she’d picked up at garage sales.
Grandma had a garden and every time she served fruit or veggies from it she had to mention that, “it’s from the garden, free food!” Plus she saved kitchen scraps to compost with.
She cooked from scratch and used her garden produce in her cooking too. She canned tomatoes from her garden. My favorite thing she made was her Hawaiian delight and seven layer salad, which were almost always at our family get togethers.
Both Grandma and Grandpa are careful with electricity. She liked to hang her clothes out to dry or dry them on the lines in her basement. If she was going to use the dryer she’d use it later in the day when the cheaper night rate kicked on for electricity. She had lots of lamps around her house (probably mostly bought at garage sales), so only what area needed to be lite was.
She knew what was a bargain and what wasn’t. I’m working on making a price book, but she was a walking price book!
She saved every little thing. Buttons were kept, scraps of fabric were sewn into quilts for charity and cool whip tubs were saved for storing leftovers in.
And even though she was a tightwad in a lot of ways she was also a very generous woman. My favorite gift from her was my American Girl doll, Samantha and all the many clothes Grandma sewed for her! I’m so thankful for all the good memories I have of my Grandma and the legacy she’s left!
