Tonight I came to a realization as I was thinking to myself in the shower, and said the very thing we all come to admit at some point or another (usually, begrudgingly).
My mother was right.
In my case it was something not necessarily negative. She and I talked the other day and she was telling me that she'd told my dad that I'd matured a lot over the last few years and had become quite thrifty. While I'm not really sure what thriftiness and maturity have to do with each other, I took it as a compliment, especially seeing as how it came in the midst of a conversation about my brother and some of the rather immature things he's done lately.
The "Mom was right" moment didn't come until tonight, though.
A couple days ago I noticed that I needed to buy new blades for my razor. (Sorry if that's a bit TMI for anyone) So, today while we were out shopping, I stopped to grab a pack. I spotted a pretty, flowery little razor with a wide grip and its own neat little shower caddy. It was only $4 so I thought, hey, it couldn't hurt. After all, it came with two blades, and if I didn't like it I hadn't really lost any money. I don't really like spending over $10 for four cartridges for my Quattro, and since this little razor is put out by the same company, I felt like it would be the smarter purchase for the time being. So we hurried home and after Sweet'ums was tucked in for the night I decided to try out my new razor.
Mind you, I began shaving sometime around the advent of the triple-blade razor, and the first one I ever used was one of my mom's little double-blade disposables. So it has been a LONG time since I've used a double-blade razor, and I'm not really sure if I've ever used one that wasn't just a cheap disposable.
Long story short, I love my little two-blade razor. It's wider so I can get a better grip, and I can't see where more blades necessarily make the shave better or quicker. I've got bad skin so any razor burn would be quickly evident, and so far it seems that this shave was no different than a shave with my Quattro. It's the same brand, so I don't feel like I'm showing brand disloyalty or anything. What I do believe is that it's a far better value for what seems to be the same results.
Replacement cartridges for my little Silk Effects Plus razor are somewhere in the ballpark of $6 for a five pack, compared to $10.64 for a four-pack of my Quattro blades. You can also find double packs (10 blades total) for S.E.P. for about $14 if you look carefully. And, should the razor start to grow "that funk" as razors kept in the shower often do, it's cheap enough to replace without really wasting money.
All of this was going through my mind in the shower earlier, which resulted in me coming to the above starting conclusion.
Mom was right.
I'm getting thrifty in my old age.
I make my own laundry detergent. I try to only buy things we can get good use out of and I'm happy to spend a little bit more for something that has multiple uses. I don't really do a lot of second-hand stuff, but I try to keep our stuff in good enough shape that if it comes to the end of its usefulness for us, I can find someone else who might need it. We don't eat at home as often as we should, but I love to cook and try to maximize the nutrition we get out of the meals I do fix while keeping expenses as low as possible. I like making things myself, and I'm one of those weird women who actually enjoys getting "useful" gifts (like my sewing machine). I can feed us for a week on a $50 grocery budget between Publix and Walmart, and anyone living in Florida knows that this isn't always easy--stuff can be expensive down here.
With all of that tumbling through my brain I realized that Mom was right. I never thought I'd become "thrifty" but I have. I'm not what I'd consider a penny pincher. I don't clip coupons and I don't even shop by the sale pages, but since Sweet'ums has been with us and we began stumbling financially we've really learned to stretch what we have. I prioritize our expenditures and even though some things go unpaid sometimes, or low-priority household needs might have to wait a week, we still have what we need to keep ourselves clean and fed and happy.
I'm not sure really why I felt the need to say all of this here but I thought it was worthwhile to stop for a moment and enjoy my mom's compliment, since part of my "love" theme this year is learning to love myself and finding the good in myself as well as in others. And I'm proud of the fact that, while we don't always have the things we want, we nearly always have the things we need, and on good weeks we have enough left to pick up the slack for the other weeks and still come away with something we wanted.
I'm sure there will be many more "Mom was right" moments to come in the months and years ahead, and not all of them will be nearly as pleasant as this one. Has anyone else had one of those moments lately? Care to share?
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