Use it up!

When I was young, my grandparents were a huge part of my life. We lived with them several times, lived close to them at other times and were always in touch with letters and phone calls when we were apart.



My grandpa was the best. I could write a whole post about him, and maybe I will. But I was thinking about him today and the specific phrase that he taught my mom and then she passed on to me. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." I'm sure most Americans who lived through the Depression and WWII knew this phrase and lived by it.



And I'm also not sure we have any idea how to live by it today. Something breaks, we just get a new one. We get tired of something, we give it away. A newer version of what we have hits the market and we just have to have it.



But I do something that my mom taught me and I think my Grandpa would approve: when my face lotion runs low, I take out the pump and turn it upside-down in my palm and shake another 10 uses out of it. When my body lotion gets low, I cut the top off and reach in with my fingers to get the last little bit. Lotion is not cheap and I am going to use it up, by golly!



I suppose I could calculate how much time it takes me verses how much money I'm actually saving, but doing these little things makes me think of my Grandpa and it makes me happy!



What little things do you do that save a few pennies?