March 26, 2025–How many squares of toilet paper do you use?
How many paper towels does it take to clean up a cup of spilled milk?
If you had parents or grandparents who lived through the Depression, I wager that you are familiar with the often compulsive lengths they went to save money They were the original recyclers. But they didn’t do it to signal their love for the environment. For them, it was a real effort to stretch scarce resources to provide for their families.
We all remember dads going from room to room switching off lights, turning down the thermostat, and shutting off the hot water. Or moms yelling at us to not stand there with the fridge door open trying to decide what to eat.
The fascination with frugality appeared in unlikely scenarios. I remember while frying eggs, dad said to turn off the stove burner before the eggs were fully cooked, as the retained heat would continue to cook them to proper doneness.
We had one bath tub, and were allotted four inches of water, which four boys took turns using.
Every farm kitchen cupboard had coffee cans, one filled with used wire twist ties, the other with those plastic C-clips used to secure plastic bread wrappers. What good were they? Believe it or not, there were daily newspaper columns dedicated to how to use such scraps. One author had a successful newsletter series in the 1980s called The Tightwad Gazette, filled with such frugal tips as
-Building a used-clothes filing system to organize hand-me-downs
-Making play dough out of glue and white bread
-Tearing dryer sheets into four pieces
-Making popsicles from apple juice and leftover gelatin
-Designing a doggie pooper scooper out of a 20-quart dry milk carton
The world has turned for those of us who grew up this way. Today, if one side of your toaster browns too lightly, you throw it away and order a new one that arrives tomorrow.
But as my kids will attest, the legacy of frugality lingers deep in children of the greatest generation. I don’t do it so much as a way to save pennies–or so I tell myself–but more as an intellectual pursuit. Just how little does it take to achieve satisfactory results?
It can be as silly as in my first example: what is the minimum number of squares of toilet tissue needed to prevent “breakthrough.” Here’s a quiz to test your minimalist tendencies:
What is the minimum number of scoops of coffee required to create a satisfying cuppa?
When someone leaves a half bottle of water, what do you do with it? I can’t pour it down the drain, and I don’t want to risk drinking what might not actually be water. So I’ll use it to water the plants or the pets, or top off the fish tank.
Paper plates. When they stick together, do you use a thumbnail to separate them so you only use one?
Do you let the faucet run while washing hands or brushing teeth? Does it make a difference if it’s the hot water?
Do you reuse bath towels? For me, and probably most guys, I can make a bath towel last two weeks. What is toweling off, anyway, if not sort of “washing” the towel with clean water? Hang it on a hook, and 24 hours later it’s ready to use again.
Do you turn your underwear inside out to get a second day out of it? Just kidding.
Admittedly, these practices can be considered inconsequential. Or maybe manifestations of OCD. But they add up. If you separate two paper plates, you double their utility. Not a bad return on an investment of a few seconds.
Your dads knew.
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Phil Houseal does more with less at FullHousePR.com.