thrifty or pack rat?

[wareagle69]

the one this i have notice during this move is how much stuff i have accumulated since coming to Canada 6 yrs ago. lots of tools books, tons of books, clothes and plumbing parts.

now some clothes i have not worn in yrs but i paid good money for and might wear again when the ones i have now wear out.

books i have not read in yrs but some are reference so why get rid of them.

tools goes w/o saying never get rid of them.same with plumbing parts.

but i wonder when enough is enough my wife ids from the same train of thought, the girls at work give her crap because of the stuff she saves but can use again, in the two yrs linda has worked there she has not gone out to eat as most of the girls always do yet always complain about being broke.

i even have been surprised during this move finding things that i forgot i own which tells me i need better organization at the homestead, but there is allot more space for shelving and storage.

so just wondering if there are any fellow rats or are we thrifty..

[FVR]

We're just very thrifty. My wife does the grocery game and feeds us good for less than 100 bucks a week.

We have 8 bucks each to go out to eat during the week. Now we do have the family eat out fund, the date night fund, etc.

Since our kids are constantly growing and only 4 and 5, we take this chance to purchase clothes for them at consignment shops, yard sales, etc. we won't have this chance later in life.

We have a great stockpile of food. We also hord books. We love books and I have many that I just won't get rid of. I have however started reading library books rather than buying them.

Our problem is that we have 0 to 5 yrs worth of toys in the basement that the kids no longer use. We do sell them at consignment sales and my wife makes a good chunk of change. I always vol. so we can get the day before entry.

I have started selling off things that I do not use anymore, like my swiss rifles, a few compounds, treestands, etc. If I have not used them in a year, they get gone. This does not pertain to my bp pistols or two rifles.

Motorcyles, all gone. Extra 25hp Honda v twin, gone. Bicycles, gone, you get the drift.

We limit our dining out to the budget which allows us to do special things and have the money to do so. We have friends who filed bankruptcy a few years back and they are heading there again. Wife gave their kids ice cream money as they don't have money. Not that they don't make it, he is a top manager but the wife is a spendaholic. Kids need dental work, don't get it but they eat every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner out. He has a suped up hotrod along with a modest camaro that works just fine. She drives a exp. SUV, hell, both our car payments are alot less than their one SUV payment. We do however drive out vehicles into the ground. My last jeep had over 300K and same goes for my wifes nissan stanze.

We're just frugal.

[Fog_Harbor]

If it weren't for the fact that I'll be moving soon - I'm a true New england Yankee - I save EVERYTHING until there is absolutely no use for it anymore. I had 51/2 floppy disks, and a drive until last year!

My wife thinks its a mental illness. Wrong, depression era parents.

[Nomad]

I used to keep alot of stuff i thought i needed. when i moved to the woods i sold most stuff and trashed the rest. kept only what was survival useful.I did keep a box or two of just stuff that i stashed away. In my opinion material things are such a burden but i can't let go of all of it. strange huh.

[trax]

My entire life would fit into one decent sized backpack when I was 19 and 20.

Now.....hmmm, not so much. But hey WE aren't us packrats the original re-use, recycle people? Since I've settled I'm getting to be more like I remember my Dad being, he could find a use for anything.