The following is a reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!
Do you make solemn vows of frugality only to find yourself inadvertently forking over fistfuls of cash at the mall? Keep forgetting that you’re on budget? Then you need the new-fangled, patent pending crap-in-a-shoe frugality reminder kit!
Because while going through old papers this evening, I came across this wedding announcement clipping from 1988:
“AnnaLiese Megan LaBlond of Philomath sewed 1,000 antique pearls on her gown for her marriage to Timothy John Keck, also of Philomath. Their September 5 wedding took place at the Peavy Lodge in the Peavy Arboretum, Corvallis. The bride’s stepfather placed an Indian head penny and a World War II meat ration coupon in her shoe to remind her to be frugal.“
Perhaps the stepfather should have intervened when she got the not-so-frugal idea of incorporating “1000 antique pearls on her gown.”
News of the frugally bizarre — I *lurve* it!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
At least she sewed them on by herself! I can’t imagine how much that would have cost had she hired out the job.
I agree. She totally did a DIY on that one. Maybe it’s the kind of wedding gown she always wanted and I wouldn’t begrudge her the experience of getting to have it. Plus they were antiques which makes them less wasteful and more eco-friendly than new ones.
It also doesn’t say that they were genuine or where they came from. ’80s gowns were over the top, and DYI was not a fashionable thing. If you were making your own gown in 1988, chances are you were probably already pretty dang frugal.
My in-laws recently were telling us how our frugality had rubbed off on them so they bought a second refrigerator so they can shop at Costco. I still haven’t gotten clarification on why the refrigerator but at least the thought was there? (I mean maybe they are going on an all cheese diet and need the second refrigerator to hold all of their discount cheeses?)
In 1988 this man still had a WWII ration coupon? Wow.
That’s an odd thing to put in the announcement, that he put stuff in her shoe to remind her to be frugal. I guess the fact that she insisted on pearls, to the extent of sewing them on herself, inspired him to nudge her to frugality? So strange.
I wonder if she cut the pearls off and sold them later?
Too bad that my daughters have already married! I could so do this to them! I don’t happen to own a WWII ration coupon, so I’d have to use, let’s see, a penny and maybe a washed and re-used baggie?
Thank you….I found myself on Amazon today hesitating over the purchase of a couple of DVDs (to the tune of $35.00) that I covet but certainly don’t NEED in any way, shape or form. I decided to wait, and then came your frugality reminder. The last thing I need to do right now is spend money on DVDs. …Score one for frugality!
My challenge today was shampoo. My brand was on sale from $3.29 to $2.99. I bought one last week because I had a $1 off coupon. Today it was, I have a $2 off coupon, but I just bought it last week. Did I buy one? Darn right I did!! It added $1 to today’s bill and saved me $2. (I would wait for the sale in any case.) It will keep until I use it up. They are the only two I have on hand.
And Listerine was on sale for $4.49, and I had 2 coupons for $1 off. Bought 2 of those too. It’s on sale often, but we sure seem to use a lot of it! Husband puts it in his water pik, and I rinse with it twice daily. We both have dental issues way too frequently so prevention is big in our house.
To make couponing less of a chore, I cut out only those I will use (well, say 75% of the time I will use them.) The rest go directly to my DD who does not get the daily papers. So my coupon holder has only coupons for things I really use, and I try to flip through it weekly before I hit the store so I can sort out the ones I am likely to use this trip. I do bring the rest in their holder (a fabric wallet) in case of unexpected bargains. But I don’t have to sort through for EVERY coupon. I used 7 coupons today on an order of $90–a big shopping week for me. Saved $8.50 – the two for under $1 were doubled. It’s not a lot every week, but it’s steady.
We had a friend in the 1980s who made her own wedding dress and hand-sewed about that many fake pearls on it. It was a gorgeous dress, very simple in style except for the pearling, which elevated it to elegance.
I think if the bride’s father was still holding onto a rationing coupon in 1988, then he came from frugal stock. 🙂
There is an old British tradition that the bride’s father puts a sixpence in his daughter’s shoe on her wedding day to wish her union prosperity. ” Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue, and a sixpence for her shoe.”
Katie, this blog really helps me to be mindful about frugality and not wasting anything, so thank you!
I wish there was a similar blog to help me to be more mindful about what I eat, calorie and health wise. I need help losing weight and I don’t want to pay for a program.
Whoa, this post brought back memories! I’m willing to bet that ration coupon that the “pearls” were actually seed pearls, which are really a type of bead. They can be purchased fairly inexpensively in strings of 1,000 at bridal specialty stores.
In the late eighties, I sewed over three thousand beads on my roommate’s wedding dress. One might reasonably wonder why the hell I did such a thing. Well, she is a frugal girl, too. She set a budget of $300 for her wedding dress and then somewhat illogically made an appointment at a super swanky Bridal Store. We were there for hours. I watched her try on scores of dresses. When they finally dug up “The” dress, she said she liked it, but she wished it had a few more beads. At that point, I so wanted out of that Bridal Store, I’d have promised her anything, so I said I would add some more. IIRC, the beads, thread and beading needles cost less than fifty dollars. Oy vey, I worked on that dress for weeks, and it was beautiful. Her $300 dress looked like a million dollars. I’m pleased to report that she’s still happily married and we’re still friends. I’m sure it was because her dress was so lovely and she stuck to her budget, lol.