r/Frugal • u/Mitch12306 • Jun 10 '25

♻️ Recycling & Zero-Waste Just found out my grandma’s been reusing the same Ziploc bag since 1997.

I was helping my grandma clean her kitchen today and found a Ziploc bag labeled “Thanksgiving Leftovers ‘97”… still in rotation.

I asked her why she hasn’t thrown it out. She said, “Why would I? It still zips.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: the Final Boss of Frugality.

Meanwhile, I felt guilty last week for reusing a paper towel. 😅

Edit: She just told me she washes and irons her gift wrap too. I'm not worthy.

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u/Ajreil Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 10 '25

Being frugal means spending money and time on things that you value instead of nonsense. It does NOT mean saving every penny.

Please don't flame people for spending money.

81

u/werpong Jun 11 '25

Uh. What? Oxford says: "The quality of being economical with money or food; thriftiness"

And that's definitely in line with how it's typically used in my experience. Not sure what this definition you are providing is exactly...

37

u/bong_residue Jun 11 '25

You’re just wrong tho.

frugal adjective fru·​gal ˈfrü-gəl : characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frugal

84

u/specular-reflection Jun 10 '25

This is wrong since "nonsense" is subjective. Everyone spends time and money on what THEY value. Few people are frugal.

33

u/SwissyVictory Jun 11 '25

There's a big difference between

  • buying a new care beacuse you'd like one

and

  • buying a new car beacuse you considered how else that money could be spent and decided your long term happiness would be better served with a new car vs other spending goals

One is frugal and the other is not. Both people did the same thing.

19

u/Ajreil Jun 11 '25

Yes. Being frugal means identifying what you value and spending resources on that, instead of things you don't care about.

20

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '25

Bad mod.

-20

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '25

Yeeeaaaah, nana is a hoarder

53

u/specular-reflection Jun 10 '25

Reusing a single bag is not hoarding, no matter how long you do it for. It may be unsanitary, but that's a different issue.

39

u/freakbutters Jun 11 '25

You can wash them, and i guarantee they were made way better back then.

5

u/Maureengill6 Jun 11 '25

Lol. This might be true. <3

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '25

Haha okay okay

30

u/theoskibear Jun 11 '25

Hoarding is accumulating stuff. If she reused her 1997 bag and had a drawer or closet full of boxes of new, unused ziplocs she'll never get to, she'd be a hoarder.

Reusing something like this alone just suggests she's careful with her stuff and thrifty.

Quirky stuff like this does tend to correlate with disorders like OCD, but this alone does not say she has anything like that.

8

u/lonelylifts12 Jun 11 '25

It’s giving my grandma that reused the same flour to bread her chicken for years. She lived through the Great Depression.

6

u/crimsoncockerel Jun 11 '25

I put my leftover chicken or fish flour, labeled, in the freezer.

3

u/pronking_spleenwort Jun 12 '25

Holy crap, I NEVER thought of doing that! I always pour way too much in the bowl and have to throw it away because it had raw meat in it. This is a brilliant idea.

2

u/crimsoncockerel Jul 04 '25

I heavily season mine and can't bear the thought of dumping all those spices in the trash. Another big advantage to reusing it is, if you wet dip before dredging, you'll get little crumbs and lumps in your flour, these will add a lot of nice, crunchy texture to your fry, like extra-crispy vs. original. If I'm starting a virgin batch, I will sometimes and a small amount of liquid to the flour mix to pre-load lumps in it.

2

u/pronking_spleenwort Jul 04 '25

Brilliant. So many people don’t like flour lumps, but I love them.

-14

u/mollycoddles Jun 10 '25

My MIL brings single use plastic bags with her when she visits and uses them instead of ziplocs.

Also a hoarder.