Funny story of frugal mother

[Bades]

My parents are well off and my mom could for the most part have whatever she wants - yet she is still very frugal to this day.

My dad told me the following.

About 30 some years ago when my parents were newly weds, they went over to my grandparents (mom's parents) house for dinner. My grandpa had forgotten to pick a few things up for dinner, one being a head of lettuce for salad, so my mom volunteers to go pick some things up.

She returns, and my grandpa goes where is the head of lettuce?

As to her reply "It was $1! You can usually get that on sale for around 75 cents!"

My dad said my grandpa started up a cussing storm about the extra 25 cents, and to this day make my dad crack up every time.

[bjl584]

Haha. I guess you can't just turn off a frugal mindset. It becomes a way of life.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

It is sometimes said that it is no longer frugality but cheapness if you painfully impose your small saving/small spending choices on others. This might be a case of imposing on others, in someone else's home, no less. If her father-in-law was paying, it sounds like she was reversing his decision without his consent.

[glycemic]

Ha - that sounds a lot like a story my mother shared about her parents as well. Generation rules!

[BuckyBadger]

I don't know if I'd call that "frugal." I'd consider it to be pretty unpleasantly cheap. Grandpa wanted a head of lettuce. Your mom offered to go get one. She came back without one because of $0.25.

I'd be pretty pissed off if I were your grandpa.

If she wanted to shop around for a head of lettuce that cost $0.75, more power to her, but to not come back with what she was sent for simply because she wasn't going to spend $0.25? Especially because the lack of lettuce could have lead to a waste of the other salad makings without a salad to make.

[YLTL_Dan]

I would be that way more, but I always consider the opportunity cost of frugality. In her case, she wasted gas and the time it took her to get to the store.

Luckily for her, gas wasn't nearly as expensive 30 years ago was it was today! If I were to guess, I'd say the average amount of gas each person spends on going to the store is one gallon... so not only did it cost her the joy of dinner that night, it also cost her the gas ($5 in today's money!).

[eddyhartley]

WOW, lol.

[snshijuptr]

I would be that way more, but I always consider the opportunity cost of frugality. In her case, she wasted gas and the time it took her to get to the store.

Luckily for her, gas wasn't nearly as expensive 30 years ago was it was today! If I were to guess, I'd say the average amount of gas each person spends on going to the store is one gallon... so not only did it cost her the joy of dinner that night, it also cost her the gas ($5 in today's money!).

Wow your store is either really far away or your car has a really low mpg. 1 gallon of gas should take you 15 miles at least.