On Being Cheap

"Verna Oller was a proud cheapskate to the very end of her 98 years -- and the children of Long Beach, Wash., will forever be grateful.

Oller, who cut her own hair, bought only thrift store clothes and refused to purchase even shoelaces, parlayed her tightness with a dollar into an act of generosity that the country is quickly learning about. The sassy former fish filleter amassed $4.5 million through savvy stock picks -- and she donated all of it to her town so it could build the swimming pool she never had as a kid. She also had some left over for scholarships and teaching grants."

Verna Oller, little old lady and secret stock picker, leaves small town $4.5 million


A cheapskate? Is it really so cheap to buy your clothes at a thrift store? I recently bought two cotton shower curtains, one for $3.00, and one for $5.00 at Marshall's, made of  designer fabric.    I plan to use them to make slipcovers for two parsons chairs in my dining room. No one will know the fabric began in the form of shower curtains unless I tell them.

My daughter cuts my husband' s hair with a set of tools she bought for him at another low-cost store. I will admit that occasionally I trim him up afterwards, or send him up the street to Barber Rick, who isn't a whole lot better than we are. The big difference Barber Rick can boast is the "razor vac" he designed and built. It is essentially an electric trimmer with a hose attached which sucks up the hair trimmings before they fall to the floor. My husband  says it is like being barbered by  an  old Chevy; his  ears ring whenever he leaves Barber Rick's establishment.  Apparently Barber Rick was considering adding a muffler to the device, which would make the whole experience more up-scale, to be sure.

Ok, so we don't have a hose that sucks up hair, but we do have a towel we spread on the floor.

When we were kids my Dad, who grew up during the Depression, used to make glue by melting a tin can over the stove. I have inherited his creatively frugal ways, and I use them for a reason.

People around the world have much, much less than we have. They need our help. People in this country have less than we do. We owe it to them to spend less on ourselves and give away more.   People shop at  garage sales in our neighborhood , carefully  checking  the cost of a used shirt or an old rusting child's bicycle.

When our neighborhood decided that we should all have garage sales on the same day, once a year, as a way to keep out "the undesirables" who come our way looking for sales, I threw a fit. And then decided to have sales frequently. (Although I haven't actually held many, because we donate a lot to the trucks who come around   looking for free clothes.)

Have we become such intrepid consumers of things we don't need, that shopping at used clothing stores, and cutting our own hair is a sign of being cheap?

Most of the hairstylists around here charge anywhere from $30.00 to $50.00 for a simple shampoo and cut. Extras, like color and perms. costs a great deal more.

Is there a special place  in heaven for the people who had great hair while they were alive?

OK, I'm finished ranting.

Now, it's time to go make those chair covers, which I promise to photograph and post here when I'm finished. Call me a cheapskate, but I promise they will look great!