I went in to my mom’s apartment the other day, and she was busy at the sink. “What ya’ doin’ mom.”  “I’m washing the tupperware.”  Well, I walked over to the sink to give her a kiss and the tupperware she was washing was several I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter containers.  This is the story of my childhood.  Throughout my early years, I was encouraged to eat more jelly so we could have another glass.  Do you remember that?  For you plebes…this is the story.  In olden times, one of the marketing strategies for jellies and jams was to place it in drinking glasses.  That way when the product was gone you had another addition to your drink ware.  The marketing geniuses would run a complete set too, so you would be looking for Pebbles to complete your Flintstone’s glasses.  You could get Yogi bear and some Super heroes too, but that must have been the really good jelly because I only remember seeing them in the store…not in our cupboard.

My mother has always been very economical.  I have seen her re-use plastic forks and plates (after they were washed of course).  I have been agog as she washed ziploc bags and turned them inside out to dry and re-use.  She was the original collector of the plastic Wal-Mart bags.  Some of hers are vintage!  She won’t throw out anything she thinks might be used again or in some other form later on. If she could figure out a way to make a windsock out of those plastic bags…OMG!!!  Her crafting skills are widely acclaimed.  Guess who is the proud recipient of some of this sh…stuff?  I know she grew up during some of this country’s worst economical times (kinda hard to believe things were harder than now, huh) and so by saving everything under the sun she will never be without.  However; does anyone really need every coffee can they have ever opened?  I mean after you punch holes in them for night crawlers, what else can you do? We used orange juice cans for rollers.  We used margarine bowls for stray buttons.  We used Cool Whip containers for sewing supplies.  We used the coffee cans for bacon grease (disgusting, yet delicious atop biscuits before they have been baked).  We used a soda bottle with some little lid of some kind stuck in the top of it to sprinkle the laundry before ironing.  Any jar of any kind, with or without pictures, was always saved. (Let me tell you, a mayonnaise jar with plenty of holes in the lid makes a real good lightning bug container.)  They could be used for leftovers (as could the “tupperware”) or if we needed to borrow something from the neighbors.  They were also good for taking back whatever had been borrowed.  I can’t even remember all of the junk that wasn’t discarded and is still in her house today.  I do know, however, prior to 2000 no commercial plastic ware was purchased for the purpose of storing leftovers by my mother.  I am the proud daughter of the greenest red neck on the planet.

I did not pick up my mother’s conservational ways.  I save just enough Wal-Mart bags to wrap up dirty diapers before they go in the trash.  I keep a few to send home with people when they have a ton of leftovers, which we never eat.  I do not save butter, Cool Whip, jelly, jam, pickle, or any other containers.  To me they always smell like whatever came out of them.  And while I don’t buy Tupperware, I do buy Gladware or some similar product.  These plastic containers are cheap and since no one ever returns them, cheap is good.  Yes mother, I hear your pious little voice screaming “waste not, want not”, but I assure you sometimes it’s just not worth the scalding hot water you put your hands in.  I recently bought the green shopping bags at Wal-Mart.  You know, the little recycled bags for your groceries so you don’t have to kill a plastic tree in order to bring home the goodies?  Well, as I mentioned before, we are trying to be more environmentally responsible.  We are recycling, my hubby has a hybrid, and I have my recycled shopping bags…that I have used, twice!!  I mean well, damnit!  It’s just that the grocery thing is always so spur of the moment.  “Oh and while we’re out, I need to run by the pharmacy, Hobby-Lobby, and we should probably pick up a few groceries…Oh crap, I forgot the g@#d@#$ bags!!”  My grandson is going to grow up thinking this is a brand name.

Okay, so I’m probably more of a chartreuse than a true green.  The movement is still new  though, and I am trying (my husband says I am very trying…har har) I will get there eventually.  You have to admit this green thing will be easier for the children of the 50’s and 60’s, you know, the real tree hugging hippies.  That was their thing man.  Love the earth.  Love the trees, love grass!  My teen age years were in the 70’s.  There was nothing to love in the 70’s.  I blame the 70’s for 30+ years of indifference.  So, I will let my mother wash the “tupperware” and let me drink out of the “good glasses” for however long she wants me to.  I will continue to buy Glad ware and fight the man.  Who ever he is, but know that in my own way I am doing my part.  I am recycling and I bought the green bags.  They are in the pantry…and as God is my witness, some day they will be in my car.

 

That’s another thing.  She doesn’t trust her dishwasher.  She pre-washes everything, and by pre-washing I mean totally washes and rinses.  She can put her hands in water hotter than is physically acceptable for humans.  I thinks her hands are bionic.  She completely scrubs the dishes, rinses them and places them in the dishwasher.  I place my grubby dishes in the dishwasher, and if they still have crud on them when they come out…then I will run some water and hand wash them, but not unless I absolutely have to.  What’s the point of having a dishwasher if you are going to wash the dishes anyway?  I told her she had a glorified dish drainer.  To which she replied, “I like knowing my dishes are clean!”  Did I mention that pious voice? 

 

1 Comment »

1. 

   Let me know if she is missing any of the Swanson Chicken Pot Pie aluminum pie tin series. Specializing in aluminum saving, Mom in Iowa has some rare 1959s in storage. Free to you…goin’ on Ebay next week.

   Comment by pms — January 27, 2009 @ 10:42 am

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