Jane Thynne tells us why being thrifty is the next big thing. Why shouldn't we make things stretch a little bit further? And you don't have to be poor or old to be thrifty, she says. Being frugal is a lifestyle choice and she reckons we should all be doing our bit to use less and save more.
Tips for Meanies: Thrify Wisdom from The Oldie
Posted on: Wed 22-Oct-14 15:57:44
(41 comments )
Jane Thynne
Some time ago, at the height of the recession, I was enjoying a ‘credit crunch lunch’ with Richard Ingrams, editor of The Oldie Magazine, and discussing the fact that the Girl Guides were about to resurrect their badge for Thrift. Richard said that had he ever been a girl guide he would certainly have won the badge for his scrupulous saving of spare bits of string and his frugal way with teabags. I countered this with a recipe for chrome polish using lemon peel. We carried on swapping odd and ingenious uses for household items and wondered if Oldie readers ever did the same. And, intrigued, I carried on researching.
Anyone who has ever kept candle ends in a drawer knows that thrift is about more than money; it’s hard wired into the DNA. You don’t need to be either old or poor to be a Meanie – indeed it’s a common virtue among the very rich. John Paul Getty, while the wealthiest living American, installed a payphone for guests in the hall of his Tudor mansion. The Queen, recently photographed enjoying her breakfast cereal from humble Tupperware containers, is probably the patron saint of Meanies, and Diana Fox, wife of the governor of the Bank of England, blogs about the joys or re-using gift wrap and re-purposing Mason jars.
Anyone who has ever kept candle ends in a drawer knows that thrift is about more than money; it's hard wired into the DNA.
Why should it matter to know that hotel shower caps make brilliant containers for storing shoes in a suitcase, or that salt water makes a perfect, and practically free mouthwash, or that it’s better value to fill up your tank in the cold because the petrol will be more dense? Or that a squirt of hair spray can cure a grease stain without the expense of dry cleaning? I’m not sure, but every tip I learn gives me a little thrill of satisfaction that I’m fighting back against a culture of instant obsolescence and conspicuous consumption. Thrift satisfies something deep within us. Now that recycling and repurposing are ecological virtues, Meanies can claim brownie points for saving the planet, but my hunch is that the impulse is far more primitive. Perhaps it goes back to our caveman days when we had to make every scrap count. Either way, it’s always fun to learn more.
But would such a column for Oldies be seen as teaching one’s grandmother to suck eggs? We worried that passing on wisdom about unusual uses for loo rolls and silica sachets might seem presumptuous for a readership raised on make do and mend. Yet as soon as the column started, the tips – some brainwaves and some frankly bizarre – began to pour in. Meanies, it seems, are never averse to learning new ways to save.
Thrift is certainly in fashion, as TV programmes like Super Scrimpers prove, but I think it’s more an attitude to life itself – one that’s inventive, ingenious and deserves to be celebrated.
Tips for Meanies by Jane Thynne, illustrated by Martin Honeysett, is on sale from Square Peg, £6.99
By Jane Thynne
Have to admit , in my time I have TURNED Mr N"s collars, when we were setting out.!
Seems strange now, couldn't imagine doing it !
Still, I suppose times change !!
I used to love reading old-fashioned women's magazines when we visited my aunt in the 50's. Some of them dated back to the late 40's and had austerity-beating tips like 'how to make a brassiere out of an old lace curtain' 
Did anyone ever sides-to-middle sheets?
Can't say I ever did, but one of my godmothers used to, at the 'big house' near where she lived
vegasmags Viz isn't defunct. But you've just given me a good idea for DS's Xmas gift
https://dennis.subscribeonline.co.uk/subscriptions/viz
Goodness! Haven't heard that phrase for a few decades
Some people are definitely mean. The lady that used to help me look after the house told me that her last employer used to 'make' her wash used cling film and peg it out to dry (and placing pegs all around to stop it from resticking once it had dried). She was then asked to do the same with tin foil if it wasn't too badly marked. I think that was the point at which she left!
My husband wouldn't put windscreen wipers on until he could barely see out of the windscreen - and even then it was just one swipe - because the wiper blades would wear out 
I'm as thrifty as anyone, and regularly read Money Saving Expert. However, the lengths that some people will go to remind me of the Household Tips series in the long-defunct Viz comic. My favourites were saving bulldog clips to attach to your budgie's wings to prevent it flying around the room, and saving old drinking straws in case you ever needed to take a worm to the vet's.
Ingenuity by Gransnetters seems to be the theme (more ideas for her next book?)
And I like Granny23's money saving tip.
Elegran I think his thinking was that, if one gas was lit you could relight the match from the hob and light the others when you needed to.
This is a useful thread (don't like the meanie title, though). Like Gill I always ask family to bring back hotel shower caps for proving my bread dough. I save gift bags to recycle, and when I buy new ones I don't always write on the tags, expecting the recipients to want to use them again, also. Candles are good for sticking zips, too.
When nail polish is getting too low to reach with the brush, I add the contents of another almost empty bottle, swilled round with a few drops of nail polish remover to make it more fluid again. I wash out plastic trays with lids from takeaways - they're handy for putting leftovers in.
MoneySavingExpert.com has great forums with saving tips. You don't need to spend £6.99 on a book. Alternatively, pick it up in a charity shop next year when it's 50p
Granny23
I have just made a salt cellar filling funnel with an empty and washed out piece of plastic toothpaste tube. I already have a larger funnel made of the top end of a two litre Ribena bottle.
I will let you know if everything tastes of toothpaste.
This is not meanness. It is problem-solving inventiveness.
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