Happy Friday: The Frugal Canoe
Sent from reader, Ashley:
Above is a picture of my husband’s VW bug and his 1970’s canoe. I wanted to share with you (and your readers if I am selected) his most frugal purchase, in hopes it will inspire others to share their stories and not be afraid to be a little frugal.
When my husband was eight years old, he desperately wanted a canoe, but his family was much too poor to afford something that cost hundreds of dollars. So, my husband started saving up his money to pay for one. When he had $35, him and his dad started knocking on doors in their neighborhood if they spied an old, uncared for canoe in the back. One man agreed to sell his canoe for $35. My husband gave him $32 in $1 bills, and then started to count out the change in his hand, mostly pennies and nickels. The man then decided $32 was enough for the canoe. The canoe had two holes in it that he could put his fist through. Him and his dad repaired those, made two paddles out of scrap wood, and voila! he had a canoe. We still use this canoe all the time, and I suspect our children will one day use it too. The canoe is over 40 years old, and it is my husband’s favorite frugal story. And the wheels on top? That is a canoe caddy he made a few years ago from an old child’s bike he got for $8 and a bed frame he found on the side of the road.
HAPPY FRIDAY! 
Do you have a funny, “Hip”, or unique photo to share?! Email us at happyfriday@hip2save(dot)com. Every Friday, I will post one photo, submitted by you and/or another Hip2Save reader, that gives us a glimpse into your frugal lifestyle or simply makes us smile. If your photo is published on Hip2Save, we’ll email you a $10 Amazon e-card!
** Check out all of the previous Happy Friday pictures here.
cute!
I love that story! I’m all for teaching children to appreciate money and how much more enjoyable things are when you’ve worked hard for them. I’m so tired of watching people buy their children whatever they want and then the children could care less about their possessions. I’m going to remember this story the next time my girls ask for something new. Thanks for sharing!
Feeling the same way lately regarding some kids literally getting whatever they want not knowing the TRUE value.
Nice! What year is the Beetle? Nice to see another still going strong. Best. Car. Ever! 🙂
Wow! I can’t believe I am Happy Friday!! I am so excited. The Beetle is a 1967, my husband loves it. He rebuilt it himself. 🙂
Great story. You could always look here for FREE boats. https://woodenboatrescue.org/
Wonderful story! Thank you for sharing.
Love that story!
What a wonderful story! It gives me the warm fuzzies!
Same here, what a sweet story! It shows that a loving family is more important than a rich family! It seems like his dad was an awesome father!
I want his car !!! I’ve tried to explain to my kids how it is to drive one of those. Something like “if you built your own car in your garage, that’s how it would drive” is the closest I can come to. So much fun to drive. that is a neat story about the canoe and how so many of us grew up too.
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing. What a great lesson for your kids.
super cute story
thanks for the share!
Terrific story and photo to go with it! I love hearing about rescuing and fixing things rather than throwing them in the trash and creating landfill headaches. It’s often cheaper to buy something new than to fix it, but here is a story where that is not the case.
Hey, That’s right by my house! Now I want my kids to have a canoe!
I used to live in Sarasota and spent lots of time at Little Manatee camping & backpacking! Fun place! 🙂
I LOVE that story! Way to go frugal husband!
I can’t believe I am Happy Friday!! Thanks guys for all the kind comments. I do love my husband’s frugality. 🙂
Your story is awesome! I love the photo, the car and I think the canoe caddy is very clever!
Our canoe has frugal origins too. We got a very nice canoe from Freecycle a couple years ago, and we only had to replace a thwart and give it a good scrubbing. My husband made a storage stand for it out of left over lumber for no out of pocket cost. And, last summer I picked up an old wagon, rusted body but with great pneumatic tires and sturdy axles, at a yard sale for $4 in order to make a caddy for it, maybe we’ll get to that project this summer…
Love this! It reminds me a little of my favorite story for my kids to read — Where the Red Fern Grows (lovely story of frugality, love, and sacrifice). I’ll be glad to show this to them that it is not just fiction.
Aw, that was one of my favorite books when I was a child!
I love the story Ashley. You have good reasons to be proud of your husband, Happy Friday! 🙂
I can remember seeing the movie with my parents at a drive-in and crying like crazy. What a wonderful story! Was divorced and my kids who are adults now, learned early on about budgeting. You want to give your kids the world, but NO doesnt kill them. Working for something makes them appreciate it and take care of it much more.
Nice! That’s so awesome that he’s still using it now!
very cute!
Was a weird day macd manager to workers that while he is there no one gets water if they ask he is tired of people getting soda instead could not beleive what i was hearing. I guess not so family friendly anymore.
aww I love this!
It is a very heartwarming story. Thank you for sharing 🙂
What a GREAT story and I’m sure a wonderful memory for your husband! Those are the kinds of memories that stick with you forever. Thanks so much for sharing!
Love the story and the picture! My first car was a 1974 Super Beetle…baby blue! I almost shed a tear when I saw this Bug! Thanks for making me happy on HAPPY FRIDAY!
I was thinking the same thing – what a great memory he will treasure of time spent with his father
Sweet story. I love it!
I worked with a woman who was a computer programmer and her hubs an architect. They were loaded. She drove a 1968 VW and as far as I know, is still driving it today. She did have some cosmetic things done to it a few years back. I remember their other vehicle was a Saab. Crazy but I so admired her for the views she took regarding commercialism. Love this story!
What a wonderful story!
such a wonderful story!
Very nice story and it takes me back to the old days. I find it interesting that some of my best memories are from times when we had no money. Did anyone ever do the chalk rock you found in the yard to make a hopscotch grid? We’d play for hours.
Love this story I wanted to share something with you all whom have kids. My children are early teenagers 13 and 14 yrs. old. They wanted everything the latest gadgest and the newest and finest tennis shoes. I couldn’t afford it on my one income family. My husband is the only one that works. I occassionaly found coupons on this site for brand names tennis shoes and would indulge them, but that is as far as it went. After some whinning from my kids and some long prayer and contemplation from us as parents; the Pastor and us as parents agreed to let them work by doing the yard work at the church. they get paid 40.00 a week if they cut grass and do landscaping. I told them this was the way they could save and buy all of their gadget. I agreed to cloth them and feed them but under our financial terms. I also made them write a list of everything they wanted to acclompish with their money and what they hope to purchased. They agreed and began working. Soon after a month they decided that having all those expensive gadgest was really not that important. They began to discern what was real and important and what was not. The brand name $100 tennis shoes for example quickly got scratched out of my sons list. The dirtbike for 200.00 another example my youngest son told me it is no longer a necessity. When they went out with their friends to say Six Flags, they put an amount that they could spent and tried not going over that. They also learned to plan ahead so that they could save their money. Latest purchase was my sons Fish Tank he saved for it and put it on lay away at a second hand store and even made a deal with the owner for a 20% discount. When they don’t work at the church they work for me I put them to cut coupon and seperate them for me. By doing this they find restaurant coupons and ask me to save it for them so they can use it when they go out with their friends. It is to us very important that they learn to be frugal and wise with their money.
This is great too. Thanks for sharing.
I really love this story too!! It is so nice to see that there are other parents who realize the importance of teaching children to appreciate what they have. I believe it is a gift you give your children when they earn things for themselves. It gives them a sense of pride.
What an inspirational story! It made me tear up!! Thank you so much for sharing. This is how we live our lives, too 🙂