Wasting Is Such A Waste!
You know I’ve been advocating frugality and not wasting what we have. I just read my niece’s blog where she saved $60 from a grocery bill that would have been $160 without her coupons. Way to go Sammy!
I grew up in the post Depression era when frugality wasn’t a choice. We didn’t waste anything at our house. Mom mended Levi’s, shirts, towels, and even darned socks. (Darning socks is NOT swearing at them, it is weaving thread back and forth across the holes to make them wearable again.) She had a little round wooden ball called a darning egg that she put inside the sock as she worked the threads back and forth and it all sat in a basket at the side of her chair so she could pick it up when she sat down to rest. That is something I’ve never done but may try my hand at.
Everything we ate was made from scratch and rarely did left over food get thrown away. Even more rare was a plate full of food left sitting on the table after a meal. Delicious meals were created with “left overs”. Our garbage disposal in those days were the dogs and pigs. Even the peelings and scraps were put to good use.
We didn’t have closets full of clothes that ended up scattered on the floor and mixed in with the dirty clothes without having been worn. We had one Sunday outfit, two or three school sets, and our play clothes were the old clothes from the year before. We also had a set of work clothes for when we helped with the animals or gardens. We wore them until they were actually dirty. I remember Mom insisting that Dad let her wash his coveralls that he worked outside in. He would say, “They don’t stand up alone yet so they don’t need washing.” I loved “hand me downs” from the cousins and I remember trying hard to squeeze my chubby little foot into my cousin, Carole’s, very narrow shoes because I wanted to wear them so much. We in turn handed down to our cousins and friends.
Many of my generation remember President David O. McKay’s little saying, “Use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without.” I have my own personal saying: “Wasting is such a waste.”
My husband just commented the other night… I wonder if our son will grow up in a depression. The things we could learn from our grandparents about surviving…. We’re just glad we don’t have a mortgage or any money in the stock market right now. I guess it’s the right time to be “poor”.
It is definitely a time to be going back to some of the basics. I feel like I have made a lot of steps the past few years, but I have a lot more to make.
I’ve always wondered how to darn socks. I knew the weaving part. The part I don’t understand is how to begin and end without a knot or something in the thread to keep it in place. Or do you begin someplace then go backwards and over the hole and vice versa. Sorta makes sense. I have these wonderful socks made in a remote part of India and the heels are worn out. I’d love to reweave and continue to use them as they’re so warm and cozy!