Recreational Thrift

A couple years ago, there started to be an upswing of service articles in my feed on how to save money. I don’t have a tonne of money and beyond that, I am recreationally thrifty—you know the type, has a wallet full of loyalty cards, enjoys a good coupon, squeezes the toothpaste paper flat—so I always read the articles. This was at the liftoff point of grocery-store inflation, and there was panic in the air, and the articles were catering to a different market than me and my “there’s still toothpaste in there, I can smell it!” vibes. There was a lot of advice like, “Shop sales!” “Find cheaper alternatives!” And…yeah, I guess, if you are worried about money haven’t already tried those things…try them.

The articles have calmed down a bit now, but I do still read them when they pop up and friends, I still think a lot of the advice is bad. For a few reasons—1) they seem to assume the reader is an actual embryo and has never even once tried to save money (what’s a sale?) and 2) they seem to assume the reader actually HAS some extra money to invest in the larger project of coming out ahead in the long run.

Listen, I do usually have extra money (but I’m not an embryo) but I realized years ago, from times when I wasn’t as flush and from, you know, talking to other people with different lived experiences, that thrift is not a recreational project for many, and the original money-saving move is just, you know, not having things. Advice like, “buy bulk because it’s less per item, and use it up over time” is nonsense for someone who only has exactly enough money each week to buy that week’s groceries, plus has to take the bus home with only what they can carry, and has limited storage space. I personally bought 48 bags of Crispy Minis recently because they were really cheap and am storing them on top of the vacuum cleaner where they regularly fall over, but that is privilege and I understand that.

If you try to think of being smart about money not as a fun shopping trip or a gamified loyalty points app (where you still have to shop) but just things you can do to be on top of your finances that don’t ask a person to make an initial investment—it comes down to knowing what’s going on. I think anyone could read some of the materials in their online bank portal or their taxes and it would benefit them. And yeah, credit where credit is due, I learned a lot of this from my Mominator—who taught me not to be afraid of money or think I couldn’t handle it, which is probably the most useful money-related skill to have. Also, a small amount of credit to a holiday newsletter I got yesterday from my mortgage broken that had some financial tips along with craft ideas ??? which partially inspired this. One of the tips was to LOOK at the payments being charged on your credit card before paying in case there’s fraud, double payments, etc. It makes me very alarmed to think some people don’t do that but yeah, do that too.

In tribute, a dialogue with my mom:

RR: They changed the name of the subway station—it’s TMU now, not Dundas.
Mominator: Yes, it’s been all over the news. People have all sorts of opinions.
RR: Well, I just found out today. I rely on you to keep me abreast of these things!
MR: I do my best! It has only been a week or so.
RR: And people are upset? It says “Dundas Street” underneath on the sign. You can figure it out.
MR: You’d think…
RR: Seriously, though, the only way I want to hear about current events is from you.
MR: I think most people get their news from their phones.
RR: I know, but that’s terrible. What if they don’t understand something and need to ask a question? What if they are upset?
MR: AI would be happy to answer questions.
RR: Yeah, but AI doesn’t know anything. It just makes things up.
MR: That’s true.
RR: You’re the only one who knows everything. You should start a news hour. We could call it the Momcast.
MR (laughing)
RR: Seriously, people would watch.

Also a dialogue ABOUT my mom:

RR: …and I was talking to my mother…
Child of Friend: Why do adults always say, “Mother” instead of “Mom” or “Mommy”? It’s so weird.
RR: Oh, that was just because I was talking to you and you don’t know her, I was being a bit formal. When I’m actually TO my mother, I call her Mominator.
Child: GOOD!

And a few extra dialogues, since I’m in that mode now:

Mark and Rebecca reading in a cafe. Mark gets up and goes to the bathroom, returns.

Rr: how was the bathroom?
MS: fine, they gave me a code. There was one bathroom without a code and one with so they gave me the code in case I needed it.
RR: ….
MS: which I did.
RR: I’m just waiting to see if this story is going anywhere.
MS: it isn’t. This story has already arrived…
RR: ok.
MS: …sat down, ordered a beer. This story is feeling quite cozy!
RR: this is my own fault. I blame myself for asking, “how was the bathroom?”
MS: yeah, that’s on a level with, “how was your shower?” A question you hate.
RR: do you think we’ve been married too long?
MS: I think we might have been married too long.

One more…

Mark (alone in his office, working)
RR (storms in) There is a magnet, you can order it on the internet. One side says “Clean” and one side says “Dirty” and you can put it on your dishwasher so you know which is which. You need to order this magnet.
MS: And when you say “you” you mean…
RR: You. I can remember what is going on with the dishwasher.