In lieu of our regular Monday post, I’m posting a day early and wishing everyone a Happy Mother’s Day! Usually, I send my mom some flowers and take the family out for dim sum. This year, I’m forgoing the flowers and taking the everyone out for a slightly more expensive dinner at a Japanese tapas bar in Vancouver called Suika (check it out if you haven’t ever been there!).
When I was younger, I didn’t give my mother enough credit. She has always been a stay-at-home mom and even while growing up, I was disdainful of the idea of staying at home and keeping house. But now that I’m a bit older, I’ve come to realize that she has instilled at least a few frugal traits in me:
Cooking at home is always more delicious than fast food. I hardly ever had fast food while growing up. McDonalds was a “treat” once in a blue moon. I’m grateful for that because it introduced me to a variety of foods and gave me an appreciation for cooking.
Growing your own food is fun. My family has always had a garden. When I first moved out, I wasn’t able to have a stellar garden, but in recent years, I have been getting my vegetable patch going and it’s been great! There’s nothing like home grown tomatoes…
If you take care of something, you don’t have to replace it. My parents have literally had the same couch, the same table, the same cutlery, etc, for AGES. Now, they haven’t made the best spending decisions, but once they buy something, they do take good care of it. As a result, they don’t tend to replace items very often. I take this same approach to my belongings and try to make them last as long as possible.
I have never really been close to my mom but I am grateful that she’s been there for me throughout my life. I hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day! Now, I’m off to enjoy some Japanese tapas!
