FRUGAL SHOWERING AS A CHILD
When I was a kid, we didn’t have showers at my grandparents.
We would have a huge tiled bathtub (you could fit a single adult in there up to their neck), that we would fill up with hot-to-warm water.
I’d sit on a little plastic chair beside the big tiled tub, over a tiled floor that had a big drain where the water would drain out and flow from the house to the street and wash away the dirt in the drains.
Anyway, the process was:
I’d throw a bucket of water on my hair and another on my body to wet myself, then soap up my hair and body.
Then I’d scoop buckets of water to rinse off my hair and body, then get out and let my sibling use up the water sitting in the bathtub.
If we wanted to be luxurious, you could actually sit IN the bathtub but it dirtied the water so we didn’t do that because it was rude to later bathers.
This meant of course, we all had to shower at around the same time so that the water would stay warm. And we also learned how to clean ourselves in about 2-3 minutes.
I guess we could do something similar now, but our bathrooms are not set up for that since we don’t have a main drain.
SAVING BUS FARE
When my mom didn’t have a license, we had to take the bus. I was around 7 at the time but kids under 5 rode for free. I clearly remember one day, we had to take the bus (all 3 kids and my harried mom) downtown for something.
We ran out of change, or tickets.. or my mom was just being cheap.
Anyway, she pulled me by the hand, handed me a huge stuffed teddy bear to hold and told me to look tired and pouty.. very young.
I got on the bus and she argued (a bit) about how I was 5! How dare he say I looked older! I was just tall for my age!
And I rode for free.
Those are all the small memories I can remember. 🙂 Just made me think about them and chuckle because things are so different now.
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year.
Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
That’s how I bathed growing up at my grandparents house as well. It was typical.
Hahahahah! “No one told me to lie!”
Yeah. Well 🙂
I just find it funny that I have a different idea of what is showering.
When my friend went back to Asia (she was born in Canada) she was like “WTF ARE THEY DOING IN THE TOILETS THERE! We’re like squatting over a HOLE in the ground!”
Hahahahahahhaa….. it was normal to me to do that so I don’t freak out over that at all but some people do.
BBC: Why do you need debt management programs? Are you talking about paying for someone to tell you what to do about your debt or they “handle” your creditors for you? In that case, I say they’re a load of crock 🙂
hi… love your blog and read it all the time… i’m wondering what you’ve heard about debt management programs… i know you’ve pretty much cleared out your debt but would you recommend it?
hahaha… Love the story about the bus fare. My Mom sorta did that. But it was only when we were older. She’d say we were 11 or JUST turned 12… So we’d pay child instead of student tickets. Ah… Parents. ~__~;
I didn’t realize it, but I showered frugally until I went away for university. We would have a big bucket or water that we would fill up in the tub, and scoop out water from that bucket with a big cup. I thought that was the way most people showered until I learned otherwise. 🙂
It’s funny. I recalled a memory last night about a time I went to brunch with my friend’s family. Children under 12 were admitted to the club for less money, and when they asked me how old I was, and I said “12”, my friend’s parents were a little annoyed with me because they had to pay more money for me.
Funny thing was, no one told me to lie!
The other funny thing was, we were attending brunch AFTER CHURCH! What happened to “thou shalt not lie?”