the house, the yard, the cars were all nice. She insisted that wrapping paper was carefully opened on present to be reused. She was a teacher and kept homework assignments, school books, etc. to reuse. She washed plastic wear and Ziploc bags. A wonderful woman with some odd quirks. My wife's grandparents were mostly the opposite of cheap. The bought new cars every few years, new furniture every few years and handed down the few year old cars and furniture to their kids/ grandkids. However, there was one odd "cheap" quirk. In the visitor room, the room just inside the front entrance the furniture was kept with plastic on it. The grandkids were never allowed in this room. I think the great depression created 2 distinct groups of those that lived through it based on observing my elders. Those that were misers, extreme on the reuse, repair, wear it out scale and those that were insistent on having everything new, just because they could.