Friday, January 23, 2015

Reading the Godmother of Frugality

I got a copy of Amy Dacyczyn's The Complete Tightwad Gazette, and I've been having fun starting to read through it. I got it from the library's interlibrary loan, of course, but it is still in print. This is a compendium of most of the articles from the full run of her newsletter, previously collected in three separate volumes, plus some additional material that postdates the last book. Amy is the godmother of frugality, referred to by just about everyone who currently writes on the topic, and I suspect millions of people have been affected, directly or indirectly, by her work.

As you can see, it' s a huge book, nearly 1,000 pages! I remember reading one of the smaller books years ago, and thought much of it would be very dated by now. In some respects a lot is, but Amy was always trying to teach general principles, rather than just specific strategies. And that still works.

I found several usable ideas in just the first 40 pages:

  • I've been wanting a way to store my double-pointed knitting needles so that I can quickly find the size I need. No more rummaging! On page 20 I found instructions for a roll-up fabric holder for children's school supplies that I could readily adapt for needles. Perfect! I'd been thinking of buying a similar-type holder... expensive and not adapted to some extra-long needles I have. 
  • A homemade granola recipe appears on page 27. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup vegetable oil. Well, nowadays we know that vegetable oils are not healthy. Used in anything but minimal quantities they are associated with higher cancer incidence and undesirable polyunsaturated fatty acid ratios. Back when Amy wrote this, seed and grain oils were being touted as health foods. Yet another example of "expert opinions" that somehow become totally wrong in a couple of decades, right? But that's another story. Currently, a quick Google search (searchwords: granola recipe without oil) yielded many yummy-looking recipes. I have always liked a warm-weather breakfast of granola, yogurt, and fresh fruit. So I'll try making some homemade granola when the weather warms up. Who knows? Maybe I'll graduate to making my own yogurt, too! Both are quite a bit cheaper and healthier when made in your own kitchen from basic, wholesome  ingredients.
  • Instructions for making envelopes from wasted paper are found on page 38. I do a lot of printing of lesson plans, and always end up putting tons of paper in the recycling bin. This looks super easy, needs just a bit of glue or a glue stick, and will allow me to use at least a little of the paper for something useful. And if I make homemade "art cards," as I'd like to, this would solve the envelope problem.

Amy was (and apparently still is) an unrepentant, in-your-face tightwad. Her philosophy is that for many people, the key to a better life is NOT in making more money, but in using their existing money and other resources more effectively. The main difference between her and me, I think, is that she is proudly, flamboyantly cheap, while I tend to practice what I have come to think of as Stealth Frugality.

I've just found over many years that being "cheap" elicits negative responses from some people. I was perhaps 9 or 10 years old when I suggested to a group of friends that we take the long way over the bridge so we didn't have to pay the ferry fare, and was taunted as a "cheapskate" for months afterward. (Kids can be such little meanies, can't they?) We all lived in a pretty upscale beach town and our families were all comfortable (or better), but while my mother taught the virtues of frugality, conspicuous consumption was clearly being modeled in other homes. Even now, I find that referring to my frugal ways can make some people uncomfortable. So I have come to embrace the concept of Stealth Frugality, in which you live well on a lot less than many others, but use taste and creativity and canniness to make that difference invisible or at least much less apparent.

I like the big ol' Tightwad Gazette book so well, in fact, that... I decided to order a copy. It's only $13.92 in paperback from Amazon.com, but I found it in "very good" condition from one of Amazon's used book sellers, for $10.49. Three dollars is three dollars, and I've had good luck with the used book dealers who sell through Amazon.


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