do people still "borrow" sugar from neighbors? Why don't they go buy some (mom, husband)
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I see it on TV, but wonder if it happens in reality. I guess housewives used to do it before my time?
I hate neighbors bugging me for stuff, and I would never bug them for anything.
Was it just an excuse to socialize (or to be nosy and pry into your neighbor's personal life) ?
The supermarket is just down the street...
For anything else, go to Home Depot, freeloader.
It used to happen all the time because many households had only one car, and it was gone with the husband at work. So yeah, go next door and borrow a cup of sugar from a friend.
I actually had a neighbor (who I was acquainted with, loosely) send her teenage daughter over to borrow a couple eggs about ten years ago. I still think that was really strange. A couple days later, the mom came to my house with a couple eggs and "thanks"! No statement that she HAD to make this recipe to take somewhere, and then discovered her car battery was dead. Just. You know. Needed 2 eggs. We live a mile and a half from a large grocery store.
Umm, yeah, when I grew up most households had one income earner and one car. Stores were not so numerous then, either.
I don't remember anybody borrowing ingredients but it probably did happen. Maybe my parents never experienced it because they both were working, so not around for daytime drop-ins.
I do remember my Mom & the lady next door giving flour & sugar back & forth, but they also exchanged the finished products. yum yum. The older lady next door did not have transport, I think her dd brought the food. This is 50 + years ago. Different times.
I don't see this as particularly a psychology discussion, so I don't feel too bad in asking, why you would put sugar in your food? I'm a "gourmet" chef (amateur) and except for some Asian recipes (e.g. Sweet 'n Sour Chicken) I don't use sugar at all. I sometimes tease myself (is that a psychological issue?) that I mock-worry that my sugar might go stale or pass its use-by date.
I'll admit, you won't be able to do much baking without sugar for some of your recipes. And eggs? Might as well just not use flour, but then you wouldn't be able to make any baked goods without these ingredients.
I've never asked or been asked to borrow cooking ingredients by neighbors. If they asked and I had them I would gladly surrender them, and I'd rather have a debt than get repaid. Chances are I'd never call in the debt. I'd satisfy their request just to let my neighbors know I'm a good dude. I don't feel any need to be repaid for being good. The reward is in being good, not in getting repaid. That's the kind of person I am.
Seriously, I consider sugar to be a spice. Needless to say that I drink my coffee black.
To try to turn this back into a psychology discussion, it would be good to have a relationship with your neighbors that you feel close enough to borrow cooking ingredients. And back when I was a kid (think of the Leave It To Beaver Cleaver era) I'm sure my mom and our neighbors traded cooking ingredients all the time in our neighborhood.
I had a neighbor that would constantly want to borrow things: Tools, gadgets, just any little household item like duck tape, aluminum foil, rubber bands, he even asked to borrow my snorkel gear. The reason? He was a tightwad and freeloader and the stingiest person I've ever met.
It got so bad that if I saw him coming, I just wouldn't answer the door. He finally moved away and now he is someone else's problem neighbor.
Yes, I have borrowed two eggs from my next-door neighbor before when I was in the middle of making dinner and had small children in the house and didn't want to pack them up to run out in rush-hour traffic to the supermarket "down the street."
I repaid her with a dozen eggs the next day.
Fortunately, she was a generous role model for me in a lot of things and was never cold-hearted enough to call me a freeloader.
Even though it was common and neighborly, it could also be an annoyance. My mom worked full time, cooked daily, and rarely borrowed or let us do it. The lady across the street stayed home, had a car, and borrowed constantly. I remember my mom mumbling about unorganized women who weren't capable of working.
I had a neighbor that would constantly want to borrow things: Tools, gadgets, just any little household item like duck tape, aluminum foil, rubber bands, he even asked to borrow my snorkel gear. The reason? He was a tightwad and freeloader and the stingiest person I've ever met.
This reminds me, NEVER EVER loan out your sex toys! JUST NEVER!
Okay, if you are charitable, maybe just one condom. ONCE!
Just remember, the life you may prevent could grow up to become an unwanted child. We don't want that!
Just wondering, what are you doing taping down ducks? I can understand taping ducts so that they won't leak, but ducks? p.s. I can give you my poulet à l'orange recipe if you PM me... Just sayin'.
I had a neighbor that would constantly want to borrow things: Tools, gadgets, just any little household item like duck tape, aluminum foil, rubber bands, he even asked to borrow my snorkel gear. The reason? He was a tightwad and freeloader and the stingiest person I've ever met.
It got so bad that if I saw him coming, I just wouldn't answer the door. He finally moved away and now he is someone else's problem neighbor.
When we moved to one place, the seller of the house warned us not to loan anything to a certain neighbor because "he won't return it." Ha, the guy was right. We loaned a snow shovel to that neighbor when he pleaded "not ever having needed to shovel before" (what a crock...). We had two others and the loaner was a spare because we wore out shovels. Several months later, we were joking that he intended never to buy one as long as someone would "loan" him one. When one of our shovels broke, I went over and told him we needed it back. I think he was shocked someone actually asked for something back. Funniest part was I don't think he ever USED our shovel! And he had not bought one for himself after all those months.
The guy used the Poor Schoolteacher plea a lot. So often that when another neighbor mimicked the plea, we all burst out laughing. Another one stopped doing free snowplowing for him after he found out the Poor Schoolteacher had bought a second home.
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