Frugality in extremis

So I go to the dump today, to take a couple of bags of shop waste and a trashcan from the garage, and I sit in line behind a Jeep Cherokee with a little old lady in it.

Our drop off stations have a raised drive through with dumpsters on each side, so you have to patiently (or not) wait in line.

Anyway, the little lady gets out of her jeep and carefully removes about 6 kitchen size garbage bags (the ones you get 40 of for 89 cents). She walks over to the rail and…..puts them on the pavement.

Then she takes the first one, patiently unties the top and looks through it carefully. She then empties it into the dumpster and then checks to see that its empty, folds it lengthwise and rolls it up. She then puts it in the cab of the truck and repeats the effort on the next bag.

Of the 6 bags, she tosses 3 after the inspections and rolls 3 up for re-use.

The show was remarkable enough that I didn’t even get bugged with the wait.

So, I pull up to throw out my stuff and I look at the attendant and he’s looking at me, and we’re both thinking the same thing.

Then he tells me that he knows the little lady and that she and her husband draw 4 pensions (plus SS)! He draws a military pension and a DOT state benefit; she draws a teacher’s benefit and something else I can’t remember. The attendant said she always does the same thing with her bags.