When my Polish frugal grandparents did spend money

Growing up on that side, I was the youngest of three grandchildren. Gifts were modest, but they were well-thought out and carefully arranged. In addition to birthdays and the December holidays there were always little things for other days like Valentine's day or St. Patrick's day.

When I was in my high school years, my grandmother has passed away and my cousin was getting close to graduating from the university. As she neared graduation, my grandfather got it into his head that to honor my grandmother's memory--as well as to be practical--he would give my cousin 500 USD for interview clothing. Here she was coming out of a four year degree program, maxed to the gills financially--although well-educated--and he was sure that she's be OK once she got a paycheck or two, but she needed to look her best to get that job.

My cousin and I were younger, but not to be forgotten. While my eldest cousin got the immediate cash, my grandfather searched around at local banks for find the one offering the best rates on 5 year cds, as both the middle cousin and I were more than five years aways from graduating from any university, so our equivalent 500 dollar gifts were deposited into cds for us to gain interest.

Upon receiving the gift, the background of the reason (my cousin's graduation) was explained. And the additional footnote I received with mine was: this is in honor of your grandmother, you're to save it until you graduate from the university, use it to buy interview clothes to get that job, as she'd want you to look nice. The five years will be up on this while you are in university, so you can use it for books or fees if you have to, but the best thing would be to put it into a 2 year cd so that it's ready for you as you finish.

It's probably imporant to note that my Polish grandparents were the first-born children of Poles who had recently emigrated to America. They grew up in North Philly speaking only Polish at home back when it was a Polish part of Philly and went immediately to work in manual jobs upon graduating high school. (I found their SSN applications in my genealogy research). Their entire working lives were factory situations, so the thought that went into this gift cannot be underestimated. It wasn't a matter of not spending money, it was a matter of knowing when one should spend money, and to plan it wisely.