How my genius roommate changed my perspective

Reminds me of the story of Zhuangzi, the Chinese philosopher, on how one thing can be used in very different ways:

There was once a man from Song who was skilled at making ointment for chapped hands. For generations, his family had made their living by washing raw silk. A traveler happened to hear of it and offered to purchase the formula for a hundred catties of gold. The man called his family into conference and said, ‘For generations we’ve made our living washing silk and never earned more than a few pieces gold. Now we can sell our formula and earn a hundred catties of gold in an instant. Let’s give it to him!’ Once the traveler had the formula, he went to the court of Wu to persuade the king to use it in dealing with his troublesome neighbor state of Yue. The king put him in command of his forces to engage Yue’s navy in a midwinter river battle and the forces of Yue were routed. The King of Wu carved a slice from his newly gained territory and rewarded the traveler with a fief. The traveler and the silk washer were alike in possessing the formula of preventing chapped hands; one used it to gain a fief, the other to wash silk – it was in the use of the thing that they differed." [1]

[1] https://factsanddetails.com/china/cat3/sub10/entry-5581.html

This is amazing. My dad is like this, very resourceful with very less and creative with the limited resources he has as hand, and has lived/survived through life like this.

But there is a problem now. As a family, thanks to the incomes of the kids, have enough to survive (and thrive), but he continues with his efficiency-only approach, instead of the just-buy-it approach.

- So, we see plastic bottle based plant pots all over our house, instead of normal clay or terracotta plant pots, which look a bit better.

- We see DIY style visible piping and hosing to achieve drainage around the house where required, instead of hiring a professional plumber to have hidden piping (which would cost more)

- You come home one day and there is spray paint smell everywhere because of yet another (although very useful) project, and that paint causing asthma related problems to the kids (his grandkids) - Etc.

And now I am confused. I am not sure to tell him to stop (and kill one of his interests in living life) or to etl him continue (while the rest of the family continues being majorly inconvenienced).

Note that, we are a subcontinental family, and living in a joint-family is very common, and moving out is not an option for me (it will kill him more than asking him to stop).

(Also, while writing this it was very helpful. I think while writing this, I have decided that I will let him continue, as my inconveniences are much slight compared to the damage it will do him and his, I guess its called "agency")

Funny it's been re-posted as new though, I wonder if the author is the original one ....

You assume everyone is innately inclined to improve his/her living space in this way in frugal situation? That's not true. There are plenty of poor families which don't do that (for various reasons such as WAF explained in this forum).

It's common in student dorms because it's kind of tradition, students learn to do it from one another. Still it can be surprising to freshmen if they haven't encountered it before.

That doesn't sound fair. I don't think the army would have been successful with the ointment alone. Ointment doesn't make you a competent army commander. You can make the same argument with most things - food, a warm cloak, knowledge about the weather.. all those things that make survival and even comfort possible.