Educating the Wheelers

My dad always likes to talk about the concept of "secret economies," or the strange little frugal/cheap practices that we practice, even if they don’t make sense in our overall money handling schema.  Even non-frugal [especially non-frugal?] people have secret economies.

My father’s personal example is paperclips.  Whenever he sees a loose paperclip, he grabs it.  Whenever he can salvage one, he goes for it.  He started his own business 20-some years ago, he bought a 20-box pack of paperclips.  Nineteen of those boxes remain unopened.

Now, my father is not a particularly frugal man in many ways.  He’s a busy guy with his business, and will often eat at least two meals in a restaurant per day.  A very small tweak in some other aspect of his life would more than cover the paperclip expense, and yet he still does it.

My mother saves napkins.  If she goes to a fast food place or restaurant that gives out napkins, she folds up the extra and puts them in her purse.  Her napkin holder at home is a cornucopia of different colors and sizes.

Since I’ve taken a decidedly frugal turn, I’m not sure what my secret economies are anymore.  I suppose in the case of an actively frugal lifestyle, you can count things that you are driven to do, even if they are of dubious thrift value.  For instance, I am very weird about air conditioner use in the car.  Even in Texas, even in the summer, I turn it off while going up inclines or any time I have to accelerate.  And then I turn it right back on again.  [Yes, it drives my husband crazy.  No, I don’t know why I must do this.]