Generation X

GenX: the last couponers?

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

I remember my mother giving me a blue Velcro coupon organizer in my twenties (a little portable folder with dividers for keeping various types of paper coupons—food, toileteries, etc.) She would also cut out and give me coupons for various things she thought I used. It was very thoughtful.

I don’t know what happened to that organizer. At one point, I remember thinking coupons were such a hassle. Half the time, my coupons had expired by the time I got around to pulling one out. All that effort and kerfuffling at the register just to save 50 cents.

I think I had abandoned paper coupons by the time I had my own family at age 30. And I’m pretty sure my millennial/GenZ kids have never once cut out a paper coupon.

Now of course, we have endless customer loyalty programs and accompanying rewards points, electronic coupons, discount codes, promo codes, etc.

I honestly don’t know if my kids have the time and motivation to take advantage of those types of savings programs.

But I do! I will sit in my car and hit the plus sign next to every single savings offer before I go into a CVS, just in case I buy something that applies.

Beware the senior citizen with time on her hands!

According to CVS, I have saved over $3,500 since joining their free “ExtraCare” program in 2016.

The satisfaction of seeing the total bill tick down after hitting “redeem all coupons” at the soulless self-checkout reminds me of the feeling of getting a 100% on your weekly spelling quiz. There’s really no intelligence involved. It’s all preparation, and you were prepared.

The Old Recipe Box

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite recipe?
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I think my generation may be the last one to have recipe boxes. I got my mine as a wedding shower gift in the early 1990s. I still use it – all the time.

For those who don’t know, recipe boxes are small, rectangular boxes with hinged lids. They can be wood, metal or plastic. When you flip up the lid, you see they are stuffed with index cards sorted into various categories with pre-printed dividers: Appetizers & Snacks, Soups & Sauces, Meat & Fish, etc.

In the olden days (before the internet), if you liked a dish your friend made, you would ask her for the recipe and she’d write it out for you (by hand) on a lined recipe card. What an act of love! The recipe card would have her name on it somewhere. For example, many recipe cards were pre-printed with the words “From the Kitchen of” at the top.

I’ve scanned and transferred some recipes to my computer, but they’re always hard to find when you need them. Plus, who wants their laptop on the counter while they’re cooking? The recipe box really was an ingeneous invention.

Here’s one of my favorite recipe cards from my mother. This very simple recipe for rice pudding was her mother’s. It’s a great thing to do with leftover white rice.

The Double Name

~ MaryG ~ Leave a comment

Where did your name come from?

I was given a double name, like many other girls in my largely Catholic suburban Massachusetts hometown. It was very common in the 60s and 70s. We had a Mary Kay, a Mary Ellen, and a Mary Sue just on my tiny street. (My mother’s name is Sue, so at least mine made sense.)

In fifth grade, the teacher asked us to write our names on placards on our desks so that he could learn them. I wrote Mary so big that I had no room for Sue. He started calling me Mary and I just went with it and eventually dropped the Sue. It’s still my middle name though, which I like because it honors my mother.

Given that my last name is very difficult to spell and pronounce, I’m fine with having a boring, common first name that nearly everyone gets right off the bat.

“Mary Sue” in the 70s in our neighborhood full of girls with double names

Related posts:

Mary had a little lamb

Mary the badass