My immigrant family was, ever resourceful, ever willing to skimp to save money. These were the habits that formed the basis of my adult spending habits, always looking for the best deals and ways to make more money.
This Is How We Do It (this is how we dooiiiit)
Never Buy Drinks – Drinks have the biggest markup when you go out to restaurants or any entertainment venues. Bring your own, or drink from water fountains. I don't think we ever bought drinks, even when we were thirsty.
Bring Your Own Everything – We brought our own popcorn to movie theaters so we didn't have to pay astronomical popcorn prices at the local dollar theater.
Clip coupons – Ad circulars and those valpack coupons are practically free money!
Check your receipts – Everyone messes up once in awhile, even your friendly grocery store cashier. Especially on all those sale items you buy. Check every line item, and go back to get those 50 cents.
Always Use Your Time To Save Money – The rule about checking your receipt and going back for 50 cents? ‘nough said.
Only Buy On Sale – If there was a sale you'd bet we'd be stocking up. Suddenly there would be 12 ears of corn in the fridge because they only cost $2 total.
Bend Age Rules For Smaller Sized Kids – Bring a child to an all you can eat buffet that’s free for kids under 10. If your kid is over 10, as long as he/she looks like he could pass, pretend the child is under 10. The moral justification was that these things should be measured by size, weight, or appetite somehow instead of age.
Scrape every bit of food off every plate or pot – Licking your plate also applies to licking your pot in an immigrant family. For example depending on how you've cooked your rice, you may have a layer stuck to the bottom. You would either use some elbow grease and scrape this off, or soak it in water until it loosens, and then eat that mushy rice.
Hoard, Reuse, Recycle – Minimalism is not really in Chinese vocabulary. Not in the sense that you're splurging on everything, but in the sense that everything is kept. Weekly ad circulars you get in the mail become scrap paper to clean up messes (say you're peeling an apple and want a spot to gather the peel). Tofu cartons are repurposed as containers. Quaker Oats tins make great airtight containers. Vanity has no say as long as it's useful.
Eat every part of your food – Sometimes when cutting vegetables, you may toss the stem, say of broccoli. That's precious food right there, cook every bit you can!
Use All White Spaces On Paper – My mom often takes random envelopes she gets in the mail and writes notes on them. The same obviously goes for any junk mail you receive. Use every inch of white space!
Tear paper towels in sizes rounded to the nearest square inch – Quarter sheet tear offs on paper towel rolls are generally still too big, unless you have a spill the size of that towel. Our paper towel rolls always looked like somebody had bit a small chunk out of it, and every square inch was smashed into the mess until it folded upon itself completely stained in whatever it was mopping up.
Don't Buy What You Can Make Yourself – This applies to food, house supplies, anything you can think of. Why would you ever $15 for a burger at a restaurant? That's rolled up ground meat slapped in a bun, good sir.
Rich Kid, Poor Kid
There you have it, poor kid growing up that lived fairly middle class thanks to a good credit score and outside support. I can already see my own kid shedding these habits. The question is if she will be any poorer from it.