Grandma was the thriftiest one of all

The other day, I posted a video from a bank hosting a contest on the most unique way to save money. The ad was very funny and the ketchup ad reminded me of my grandmother. Grandma was a character all right, but she had honorable intentions.

Grandma was a Hungarian immigrant. Her family came here via Ellis Island when she was four and in her words they were “the poorest of the poor.” They lived in a basement of a tenement on New York’s Upper East Side and didn’t have money for extras such as toilet paper. I suppose that’s why she was so thrifty long after she didn’t need to be thrifty anymore. You see, Grandma knew how to save money, and save she did. She opened her own card and gift shop in Queens, New York, a place that holds fond memories for me. Grandma also read everything she could on the stock market and did very well with her investments.

Even though she wasn’t hurting for money, Grandma did things that made all of us chuckle. For instance, she once bought a banana tree. she spent $65 plus tax and shipping for a small twig that was to grow into a tree that would save her a fortune on her astronomical banana bill. Well the twig lasted about a week outside in the tropical Queens air and Grandma wasn’t happy at all. She kept threatening to write a letter to the banana tree company, but never did.

Grandma also pocketed little condiment packs from diners and restaurants. She did it so often she didn’t buy condiments because she had enough little packs to see her through. Except for sugar, Grandma stopped filching sugar because my brother told her it was because of people like her that the price of coffee was so high.

The Great Butter Patty Incident of 1999

The most famous example of Grandma’s thriftiness was probably the great butter patty incident of 1999. Grandma was in her early 90’s then and received meals on wheels every week day. With each meal, she received some form of bread and a butter patty. The thing is, Grandma’s diet didn’t allow for butter and her thriftiness wouldn’t allow for her to waste. So everyday she would put these butter patties in a butter dish.

One day our family was having dinner together at Grandma’s and we needed butter for our rolls. My sister lifted the lid on the butter dish and there was about 60 of these butter patties all melting into each other. We all looked at each other. 60 butter patties meant some of those were pretty darn old. It looked like a butter dish shaped blob of fat with all the little cardboard bottoms sliding out from the bottom of each patty. Though Grandma was insulted, we all pretty much passed on the butter that evening.

Grandma passed away in 2000 and I still think of her often. Sometimes when my husband and I talking about things we can do to cut corners we’ll bring up Grandma and her thriftiness. We laugh but it’s always with affection. Sometimes it’s good to take a look at where we came from, many of the lessons learned way back when can surely be put into practice now. Except for butter patties. Don’t save your butter patties.