Ever feel like a rodent or insect?

[stretchmark]

To clarify, the world could not exist without insects as they consume things such as dead skin cells that we shed which would be pilling up if they weren't around.

I am at my mom's house and feel a bit like an insect, living off the leftovers of modern society. I am thrilled to have her old rug (because it's practically brand new) or old suitcase. Sometimes I am not overly happy that my income is such that I don't even own a real suitcase or that my furniture is used and doesn't match or that my life kind of depends on this "higher society" consuming like they do so that I may find nice things at the salvation army or the recycle building material shop. I wouldn't have gotten my windows for my greenhouse for 5$ a piece (regular 195$) if the people didn't upgrade and spend. I am looking foreward to finding another washing machine for around 25$ too.

I really feel like an ant or mouse sometimes excited by what someone else is throwing away. Anyone else?

[stretchmark]

OK, earlier I had low blood sugar and couldn't get my point acrossvery well.

I guess what I am expressing is how I feel so weird being excited that mom is getting rid of stuff or has a garage sale pile that I picked through. I shouldn't feel that way but I guess my regular life is so isolated from this much consumption and lately I've been feeling like a scavenger (which doesn't feel too highly looked upon, at least here at mom's) which I have been realizing is necessary. Imagine how much waste there would be if we all bought everything new, and upgraded every time a new fad hits (like stainless steel appliances), or got new bedding just because the seasons changed. Yikes!

So what I'm getting at is how I feel a little weird about being a scavenger and yet I see how important it is to have people like us around. Now that I think about it though, everybody is like this to some degree, even the lady who owned the house in Vail right on the slope and made her healthcare worker bring her own tea bags to work.

Anyway, someone please tell me they get what I mean even though I am not feeling like it is much of a point.

[Savoir Faire]

I understand. I enjoy getting things used and free....but sometimes I think "hmm...this is sloppy seconds."

[justmama]

I totally get what you mean. I feel like that sometimes. Sometimes I'm totally pysched at my frugal behavior because it affords my little family a little breathing room financially for stuff like heat and food and whatever. But other times I feel sorta guilty for living off the rejects of society. I hear everyone talking about remodeling the kitchen or the new tv or having to clean the kids' playroom and I feel poor. But then I remember that I'm doing what I need to do to get my family by and most of the time I can be really excited at my great finds or I can feel really blessed that someone gifted us something.

[texmati]

i understand!!! ! I just like to think as it more like I'm a treasure hunter. But yeah... sometimes just walking into a thrift store makes me vow up and down not to accumulate too much stuff!

[Minerva]

There's nothing wrong with scavenging. Someone has to do it, and we're keeping all that stuff out of the landfill by using it up.

We're getting to the point that a good amount of our stuff is used. What's really funny is that the 50+ year old towels I find cheap at estate sales hold up better than the new ones I bought at Target a couple of years ago. I guess they don't make stuff like the used to?

[superstella]

Oh great, now I feel like a mouse. Just kidding. I do get a thrill from finding use in other people's leftovers! I'm glad to keep it from the landfills, and I'm happy to pass my sloppy seconds along to someone else who can use them as well. But I come from a long line of scavengers I guess because my grandpa used to get loads of "junk" and ran a small "junk" store as he called it. He always said to never turn away anything that was free because someone would want it! Of course, I couldn't deal with the clutter that his lifestyle produced, but he didn't spend much money on "stuff."

[fhqwhgads]

I do, but I certainly don't feel bad or second class about it. In a culture where rampant consumerism is slowly being seen in a different and less favorable light, people who are willing to re-use a perfectly good item, rather than letting it sit and rot in some landfill somewhere, are doing the world a favor.

I looked at Craigslist the other day for furniture for our move. Huge, nice, barely used couches and microfiber recliners for $100. All because I live in an area that is affluent and engages in a lot of social wealth signaling - aka Keeping up with the Joneses. If people like me didn't buy those items, they would end up in the dump. Even if I did make the median income in this area (which ranges between $70k and $100k a year!), I would still buy a lot of my things second-hand, gently used and the like. Money can be used in so many better ways than to show others how much of it you have with social status symbols.