The Virtue Of Cheapness

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

STRANGER THAN FICTION
by Jeneen R. Garcia
published in April 2002


I wrote this for Earth Day, April 22, which also happens to be my Lola Coring's birthday. She's turning 89 in a few days, and she's celebrating it in Davao for the first time (more on that in a forthcoming--i hope, if/when i have enough time--blog entry or photo album). I just found it cool that now I have two groovy lolas associated with Earth Day :D

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The things you inherit from grandmothers.

My lola's name was Generosa. She was thrifty, frugal, cheap to the point of stinginess.

She kept everything—letters, designer shoes and bags, and cash from every decade—in an aparador she had rescued all the way from Cavite where she lived before WWII hit. She insisted on saving things for a rainy day till she forgot all about them.

If not for me and my brothers poking around in her drawers, precious antiques would have stayed buried under piles of unremarkable memories. Among the treasures we discovered were one-peso bills, stamps circa the 1930's and authentic French perfumes that now only smelled of alcohol.

One of my aunts who worked in the States used to send toys, linen and other stuff for my cousin in Davao. Being the miser my lola was, she would immediately lock up each arrival, still unopened, in a baul. She believed it was better for something to be safely stored than used and eventually damaged.

When my lola died, everyone got a set of 26-year old brand new bed sheets. We unearthed uniquely designed gift wrappers still rolled up, yards of natural fiber cloth, and quaint umbrellas my lolo had once upon a time brought home from Japan. By then, of course, my cousin had outgrown his perfectly preserved toys.

Thanks to my lola, we now have solid proof they don't make things like they used to.

She didn't just keep new things, either. She ordered the household help to save every plastic bag, jar, newspaper and metal scrap that entered our doors for recycling. She decreed that all faucets be tightly closed, all lights turned off when leaving the room, and no fan used unnecessarily.

Even in her 70's, my lola stubbornly walked to the movie theaters because she felt it a waste of money to take the jeep. She was into recycling and energy conservation long before environmentalism became in.

Until now, the sound of leaky faucets grates on my ears. I cannot stand watching someone brush her teeth with the water running. I walk or take the cheapest commute whenever possible. Everywhere I go—at the dorm, in the office—I have a mini-recycling plant with drawers reserved for used paper and shopping bags.

And guess what? I majored in Environmental Science in college and now work with an environment group. Too bad my lola didn't live long enough to see me graduate.

As we celebrate Earth Day on April 22, please say a prayer for my Lola Generosa, the dakilang kuripot, the original Planeteer.