My friend, while reading this blog, came up with this question:
"How long have you been crafty? Have you always been like this, was your mom a crafty person, or did it just happen when you became a mom?"Here is my answer..... (for the
short answer, scroll to the bottom of this post.....for the
long answer, read on!)
Well, my mom did sew a little bit (she made me some matching clothes for my dolls and me, new easter dresses, etc)...I guess in a way she taught me to sew. BUT, she is
VERY 'follow the directions' and I am
NOT. I haven't used a pattern in ages.
When Drew was a baby we had
NO money....seriously, we had an annual income of $18,000 one year. And we lived in this house, with these bills, with two cars, Tony was in school full time and working part time and I was at home with Drew. So I
HAD to get crafty. I made most all of Drew's clothes for a couple years. Basically anything that we didn't get for free I would make. And even when I made stuff, it was from free fabric (hand me down clothes became free fabric!) and I also started making more of the things that Tony and I used.
I started cooking everything from scratch (well, slowly...I didn't start making crackers and homemade pasta on the first day!). And then when I was pregnany with Reid I
REALLY wanted to learn to knit....so I did! Then I found (after a couple years) that GOOD yarn was
REALLY expensive. So I wanted to learn to spin. But in keeping with my frugalness, a spinning wheel has not made it home yet (for the nice price of $500-600!!!!!). Tony suprised me on Mothers' Day a few years back, and took me to the
Shepherd's Harvest Sheep and Wool Festival in Washington County, and I bought a drop spindle, some fiber (fancy word for wool fluff), and learned to spin my own yarn. It would certainly go FASTER if I had a wheel, but I'm okay with this for now. I don't really have a place for a wheel anyway.
Fast forward to now........
We have a higher income now, but also more expenses. Cost of living has gone up a TON,
Drew is in Tae Kwon Do, and we are feeding twice as many people. BUT.....we can only do it because of the things I make. We buy food almost entirely organic, shopping nearly exclusively for food at our Co-Op (
Valley Natural Foods) or the Farmer's Market (in season). I think about our food choices constantly, and I'm not exaggerating.
We also just don't shop. We don't buy things we don't need, and we think carefully about the word need. For example, shoes: My kids each have (at any given time) 1 pair of shoes and one pair of boots that fit (rain boots or snow boots). We have come upon some hand-me-down shoes, and those are great for the backyard fort building, etc. But they don't have 'dress' shoes, etc. Just the basic athletic shoes. And we don't buy them super expensive shoes. I know that some people will take issue with it, saying that it's really important for kids feet to develop well in good shoes, blah,blah,blah. I don't agree, and that's ok.
Honestly, I think the research supports that feet develop and maintain health best when they are bare....that's a whole 'nother post. Tony and I also have one pair of shoes per season.
Well, he and I have a 'little' bit more than that, but our feet aren't growing, and we keep our shoes for decades....seriously. So, the fact that we don't buy shoes puts that much more money into something we care about....quality food for example. OK....so that was a L.O.N.G. explanation about us not shopping. What I was
going to say about not shopping, was that I MAKE many of the things that we would otherwise shop for. And when you need to make it, and you're also busy, it helps you to re-evaluate whether you really need it or not.
A good example might be pants. I can whip out a pair of pants for a kid age 4 or younger in about 30 minutes. Good, functional, cute pants. And kids seem to need a fair number of pants. Now for
ME, a pair of pants is not something I really want to make. I
COULD, but I'd rather not. So when I see a pair of pants at the store, I think to myself, "I
like those. I
want those. I don't
TOTALLY NEED those, but I'd like to have them....I
could make them. I
should make them. If I
really want them, I'll make them. I have some fabric big enough to make them. That will take me a week of spare time to make. I don't really want to spend a whole week making pants. I don't really need them....I'm not even sure I
WANT them!".......
SEE?Now, on the other hand....
We use cloth diapers.
Prefolds, to be exact....those are the regular old rectangular diapers, like your mom, your grandma, and great-grandma used. Many of them I have made. Of the ones we have purchased, all were used. As they started to wear out, I found that really it was just that they were getting thin. Well, I can make them thick again by sewing another layer to them, which is why we stick to the plain-old prefold. I can 'beef-up' a dozen worn-out diapers with $4 of nice hemp fleece. Ta-Dah! Another year of diapers for $4!
Same goes for wipes. We use regular washcloths for baby's bottom, with a fancy wipe solution.....I'll give you the recipe: 1 part Hydrogen, 2 parts Oxygen, or H2O, or
WATER. Straight from the tap. Well, I had some baby washcloths that I got for a shower gift with Drew. Those were nice. I needed more. WHOA are baby washcloths expensive! So, I had about 30 hooded baby towels, that we NEVER used, that I got as a hand-me-down. I cut them up, and
voila! More washcloths! So, now when something is just so worn out that it's not even suitable to donate, it becomes baby washcloths! or garage rags, or pillow stuffing (cut up into confetti!).
So, here's my big revelation......
Start thinking like your Great-Grandparents did. Don't buy it. Make it. Do Without It. At the Very Least.....THINK ABOUT IT!
