what to do when your spouse doesn't "get it"...ss that is!

[Mackay]

We have a paper towel issue too, and partly my fault as I purchase them

I'm thinking of getting some of those sham wows to put in a kitchen drawer...

anybody use them?

I have a similar product I get from a store in California, actually my brother mails them to me...that I use in the sink...sham wows are thicker I think.

 

[Homesteadmom]

My dh hardly uses paper towels at all, it is ds#'s dgf that goes thru them like crazy when she is here. I had a full roll with maybe 4-5 missing yesterday & she was here cooking my b'day supper yesterday & the roll is half gone!! Everywhere I look there are used paper towels whe she is here cooking. WE are almost out of paper napkins & I have a small supply of cloth ones in the drawer, but I will be making some more here pretty soon as we are switching over.

 

[Lu King]

My husband has been complaining a lot about using so many paper towels. I finally found out where they are going. HE is using them. He uses them once, puts them on the dresser, and then tells me he is saving them to use again.............but he never does. Right at the moment there must be about twenty paper towels on his dresser.

 

[TanksHill]

I bought my husband Sham Wows for his birthday. Then I took one of each size and put them in the kitchen. They work well, nothing I can't do with a dish towel though.

I keep paper towels on hand for when I need to wipe something up then throw it away. Yucky stuff and all, but mostly I use those white rag towels they sell in packages. There great cause a little bleach makes them spiffy again. We stopped using paper napkins several months ago. I don't miss them at all.

 

[lupinfarm]

You do it anyway LOL

My dad a) thinks SS is a joke and b) doesn't understand how or why you would do it.

We do it anyway, we have meaties, layers, vegetable garden, and sure he thinks its a huge joke but whatever.

Back to mowing down the riding ring in preparation for fencing and seeding!

 

[Beekissed]

I thought this thread is always relevant, so I gave it a boost into the present. Any thoughts?

 

[hqueen13]

I don't have this issue (gratefully) which is interesting because when we got together, neither of us had SS concepts at all, really...
I think we could work to ditch the paper towels though. He has some older tshirts that I think we could cut up, I'll have to see how that works.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I am a paper towel grinch myself.....but DH prefers to use them. So, I just make sure we have them handy for him. Otherwise, I will grab holey sports socks out of the rag bag. They make lousy rags, but wonderful disposable rags. I save them for the nastiest jobs, the ones I have to throw away after. DH is the "hole in the toe" sports sock contributer. Which is fine with me. I don't think I will ever run out.

We are living SS on the one income, but we both make concessions. I have to have my TP stash, as well as Q-tips. I never flush the TP, stopped back in 94. He, has to have his box of personal wipes. No big deal, really. We have no kids or pets. And we are cheap SS on as much as possible. So, if DH likes to have his paper towels and wipes, so be it.

 

[i_am2bz]

If they aren't born with the gene, like I was, it takes a while to learn.

DH almost died from a stroke, so doesn't take life or money particularly seriously. He would much rather "enjoy life" & not think about the future. I understand why, & often it doesn't bother me as long as he doesn't sabotage what I'm trying to do. But really, why does a person need 6 cell phones & 3 e-readers? (Yes, he's a gadget junkie.)

But, he's getting better. Like this week, he had some extra money, & bought a box of bullets for our .357. (Yippee!) And occasionally he'll buy an extra pound of coffee or can of tuna & ask me to put it in the emergancy storage. (Yesssssss!)

Luckily, he respects my opinion on most things, so when I tell him we need to do such-and-such, he usually listens. He's become a news fanatic & likes GB, so he is slowly starting to "get it."

 

[Joel_BC]

I think the whole SS thing is more in a woman's nature. We cook, clean and do the wash. We see the waste and the cost of the things being wasted. If I lived somewhere and my husband was a farmer / hunter he would probably have more SS on the mind. But for now he goes to an office 5 days a week. My husband knows our budget and knows how I handle it, but he wants nothing to do with it.

It's not always the woman who takes the lead. I was always the one who wanted to have a "core" of SS to our life. Get the basics together... the basics! Meaning? Learning and acquiring skills, learning about the particulars of soil nourishment (for better crops), figuring out how to save energy in the house, becoming knowledgable about the nuts & bolts of recycling. At the same time, my wife has always been pretty frugal - she looks for bargains in the bulk food dept and for the groceries that out climate or homestead do not supply us.

My wife likes nice clothing a bit more than I do, but both of us wear old clothes for work around the place. She's an artist and I've always encouraged her to spend money for the tools and equipment and supplies needed for her sculpture work. She's a good businesswoman, so she works very hard and effectively on the business side of art: selling the work, making connections with galleries, and so on.

For my part, although I do like having "the right tool for the job" around the place, I've always made sure I could justify the investment in a new tool. The option has usually been there to borrow more expensive tools, or borrow them from neighbors. Live within your means.

Both of us like second-hand stores, thift stores, garage sales and flea markets - but to give her credit, my wife goes to the thrift stores and garage sales a little more faithfully than I do. Because a lot of them have more clothing than anything else, and I'm not enthused about clothes.

I'm more likely to forego pleasure trips to town - and movies, plays, and such entertainments that you have to pay for in town.

Truthfully, neither one of us like debt. Naturally, our budgeting has grown from that.

A lot of my values and things that I've researched have eventually made sense and been incorporated by my wife. She recycles faithfully now, understands energy saving in the house. I guess ya have to give the women some credit.