I grew up in an exceedingly thrifty household also. In my case it was partly about thrift-as-a-virtue - I know this because my parents continued their habits of spending-avoidance when they had more money available later. But mostly when I was a kid, it was because they had very little money, and had to scrape and scrimp simply to get by on a day to day level. A VCR wasn't an option, even had they been available when I was younger (they first started becoming commonly available when I was in highschool, if I recall correctly)... we had a B&W TV through most of my childhood because colour TVs were too expensive to buy. And I grew up learning that I only ever needed to own two pairs of shoes at a time (one hard-wearing everyday pair, and one "dressy" pair). I guess that habit has mostly stuck - while I do own more shoes now, I still have *one* "everyday" pair that get worn by default each day, just coz that's what I do with shoes.
I still retain many of the "use it until it's totally non-functional" habits I grew up with, too, although possibly in a less extreme form. And I'm not convinced that it's an entirely bad thing - who cares if the lining of a coat is torn, if the outer layer is still good? So long as an item can still perform the function that I want it for reasonably well (even if it's a little inconvenient), I'm not too bothered by dents, dingles and scruffiness. But I have no compunction replacing something if it doesn't actually perform its primary function adequately.
One attitude from my upbringing that I have had to work at to put aside, though, is the idea that if one has the ability and the time available to do a job, then paying someone else to do it is shockingly lazy. Earlier this year I arranged for a cleaner to clean my house once a fortnight. I had been simultaneously tempted by and resistant to doing this for many years, and seeing how I'm a grad student working from home at present, I have no "excuse" time-wise for not doing the cleaning myself. But I hate cleaning, and so does Mark. It's an onerous task that we both loathe - and so in this context, being willing to pay someone else to do a job that we are capable of and have the time to do ourselves has been such a wonderful relief! And arranging for someone else to do the cleaning has been such a success that I'm now intending to investigate the cost that'd be involved in organising a regular swimming-pool cleaning service for the summer, as well.
Sure, I have the time to be able to do these things myself. But if I can afford it, then hiring someone else to do such tasks frees up a lot of energy that I can use doing the stuff I *want* to be doing, rather than spending all that time thinking "I really should clean the bathroom/swimming pool/whatever" and then vigorously procrastinating instead. :-)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-10-11 02:09 pm (UTC)I grew up in an exceedingly thrifty household also. In my case it was partly about thrift-as-a-virtue - I know this because my parents continued their habits of spending-avoidance when they had more money available later. But mostly when I was a kid, it was because they had very little money, and had to scrape and scrimp simply to get by on a day to day level. A VCR wasn't an option, even had they been available when I was younger (they first started becoming commonly available when I was in highschool, if I recall correctly)... we had a B&W TV through most of my childhood because colour TVs were too expensive to buy. And I grew up learning that I only ever needed to own two pairs of shoes at a time (one hard-wearing everyday pair, and one "dressy" pair). I guess that habit has mostly stuck - while I do own more shoes now, I still have *one* "everyday" pair that get worn by default each day, just coz that's what I do with shoes.
I still retain many of the "use it until it's totally non-functional" habits I grew up with, too, although possibly in a less extreme form. And I'm not convinced that it's an entirely bad thing - who cares if the lining of a coat is torn, if the outer layer is still good? So long as an item can still perform the function that I want it for reasonably well (even if it's a little inconvenient), I'm not too bothered by dents, dingles and scruffiness. But I have no compunction replacing something if it doesn't actually perform its primary function adequately.
One attitude from my upbringing that I have had to work at to put aside, though, is the idea that if one has the ability and the time available to do a job, then paying someone else to do it is shockingly lazy. Earlier this year I arranged for a cleaner to clean my house once a fortnight. I had been simultaneously tempted by and resistant to doing this for many years, and seeing how I'm a grad student working from home at present, I have no "excuse" time-wise for not doing the cleaning myself. But I hate cleaning, and so does Mark. It's an onerous task that we both loathe - and so in this context, being willing to pay someone else to do a job that we are capable of and have the time to do ourselves has been such a wonderful relief! And arranging for someone else to do the cleaning has been such a success that I'm now intending to investigate the cost that'd be involved in organising a regular swimming-pool cleaning service for the summer, as well.
Sure, I have the time to be able to do these things myself. But if I can afford it, then hiring someone else to do such tasks frees up a lot of energy that I can use doing the stuff I *want* to be doing, rather than spending all that time thinking "I really should clean the bathroom/swimming pool/whatever" and then vigorously procrastinating instead. :-)