Simviation Forums

I grew up in the fifties/ early sixties with practical parents -- a mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it.
She was the original recycle queen, before they had a name for it...A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away.

I can see them now, Dad in trousers,  T- shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, dish towel in the other.

It was the time for fixing things --a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress.

Things we keep.
It was a way of life,
And sometimes it made me crazy.
All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing,
I wanted just once to be wasteful.
Waste meant affluence.
Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more.

But then my father died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes, what we  care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return.

So...while we have it...it's best we love it.....and care for it.....and fix it when it's broken.....and heal it when it's sick.

This is true.....for marriage....and old cars.....and children with bad report cards.....and dogs with bad hips.....and aging parents.....and grandparents.

We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep.

Like a best friend that moved away --or -- a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.....and so, we keep them close!

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here, we might as well dance!!!

Wise words Romulus

That describes my dear old Mum and Dad, (long departed), to a "T"...!
Different time, different people... ...!

I take my tip from them, and pass it on to all my children, grand-children and great-grand-children...!

Cheers all...!

Paul.

Dad: "Happy birthday, Lucy! A nice present for you..."
Mum: "What is it, Laurie?"
Dad: "A shiny, new, garden spade..."

So that is how you are getting the vegetable garden ready over the winter
Okay call the NSPCC, Fozzer is running a child sweatshop in his back garden

Mark

My Mom (Mum to you Brits... ) still recycles everything she can. My wife must be taking lessons from her, because she started doing it as well.  ;D

My Grandmother was the master of recycling and passed it on to my Mom. My Grandmother had 8 kids to feed during the depression and until the mid forties and had little choice but to learn to make everything last as long as she could. My Grandfather made very little wages and if not for farming, making clothes, and the infamous hand-me-downs. They wouldn't have made it. They were extremely thrifty and incredibly ingenious with what they had and made.

My Mom said she was thrilled to get an orange and a few walnuts for Christmas one year, because she expected nothing. My Mom said she had laid there in her bed listening to her mother crying because it was Christmas Eve and she had nothing for her children, until my Moms oldest sister came in with even these meager gifts, none of them would have had anything for Christmas in the mid forties.

This is the purpose behind this post, to teach the new generation.

Interesting. I think the times have changed though. With all due respect to those mentioned - I personally won't be saving next to rubbish for anything, I'm not that sort of person.  If times got hard again - I'll be just like them - but for now - everything is plentiful, relatively cheap and just not worth the time and hassle.
Say it saved you

I understand your point of view, but I'm speaking of the past when a salary of $50.00 USD per week was the norm. I was trying to relate the thriftiness of the greatest generation. The generation that fought WW2 and went on to make our world into the free world it is today. What they sacrificed and all the hardships they suffered with gives us all a better world (for the most part) to live in.

My Mom still does it because she lives of a ridiculously low fixed income and that is how she was brought up. My wife does it more to annoy me....lol.

That's nice to read...  :)

BTW I'm not discrediting what you say Romulus - just that it doesn't work for everyone.

Ben

No offence taken.