I was just sitting here,

[Curmudgeoness]

sewing the satin border back on my blanket. And it came to my mind that this is so frugal as to be obsessive.....why don't I just buy a new blanket. I can afford a new blanket (I think, although I have not priced them in forever).

I realized that this is a mindset. This is just how frugal people live, and it doesn't occur to us to just run to the store for a new item. We just pull out the needle and thread, or the hammer and nails. It does not cross me mind (until just now) not to mend something that is fine except for a little wear.

And that is just how we roll.

What have you done lately that makes you proud to have saved an item (as well as saving you money)?

[enough]

1. I think this mindset is a form of reverence for reality. The blanket exists,

it is made of good materials, having lasted over time. You are participating in that.

The throw-away-buy-new mindset is a form of disrespect for the reality of the physical world.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I like that.

But I am not sure that I put that much thought or philosophy into my actions. I wish that I could claim reverence for items, but I can't....too bad, that is so noble.

[Demeter]

2. You know very well that you cannot BUY that blanket, nowadays

You can buy something much less valuable, for a lot more money than it's worth, but it will not have the value of your present blanket. It probably won't have a satin border, either.

Quality is the first thing to go, when an economy collapses, as ours has. I wish I could find appliances that, instead of having stainless steel outsides, had cast iron insides, not the easily broken plastic innards that make planned obsolescence so obscene.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I believe you hit on it.

I know that I will never find the same quality. In fact, I remember a velour blanket that I bought years ago, and it was nice, but one time I washed it, and all the velour just fell off in gobs and massive amounts of lint. It was a good blanket while it lasted, but it didn't last long. That was 20 years ago, and this blanket I mended was old then.

[Kali]

3. I am frugal, but also lazy

so if the satin has come really loose I would just remove it (and save it for something else) and use the blanket without a border

[Curmudgeoness]

6. I should have thought of that.

Actually, I am lazy too, but to be honest, it did not look very good under the satin. It was ragged looking, but it still looks so nice with that border.

[mopinko]

7. beat me to it.

laziness is extremely frugal.

[Le Taz Hot]

8. I macramed my trellises.

I could have just gone and bought trellises but nooooo . . . I had the Espoused One put up metal frames and, instead of just putting up twine in a square pattern (vertical and horizontal) I decided to get creative. I'm pretty sure I have the only macramed trellises in the neighborhood.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. OMG, what a cool idea!!!!!!!!

I love this one. I haven't macramed since the 60's or 70's, but I remember it was easy enough to do, and I know I still have my book on all the knots.

Hmmmmmm.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Just be sure to use twine that won't rot

Otherwise they won't last very long.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Hemp.

Expensive as hell because we have to IMPORT IT but, it's really easy to work with and it holds a knot really well. When I get around to it, I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them. At the moment I'm harvesting oranges and oranges and more oranges.

[TexasBushwhacker]

14. Hemp is great for macrame indoors, but it will only last a year or so outdoors

Even nylon (polypropeline) or olefin will breakdown outside from sunlight eventually, but it will last longer than hemp or jute.

[Le Taz Hot]

15. I put the first one up about 3 years ago

and it's still looking pretty good. I can't macramé with nylon as nylon doesn't hold the knots. Besides, I don't mind re-doing them every few years -- it gives me a chance to re-design and change the looks.

[IrishAyes]

17. Besides, just think how pretty those trellises are even before the plants take over.

[cbayer]

9. I get some kind of weird joy out of throwing away something that

is entirely used up.

I know that I have gotten everything I can out of it and I love that I have the opportunity to replace it with something that will work.

That goes for things from food, to clothing, to household product to tools to just about everything.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Are you saying

that my blanket was entirely used up and I should have replaced it???? Nope. It wasn't used up yet.

I'm with you about entirely using things up, but I am laughing at myself here.....thinking of the flannel pajamas that I were so thin that the back tore out all the way from the neck to the waist. Now THAT is totally used up, you would think. But I cut it up and am now using it for cleaning rags. I can't give up!



I guess there is no joy for me in throwing things away.....ever.

[cbayer]

16. No, no. Not saying that at all!

If you were able to breath some additional life into it, it was not at all used up.

I did the same thing with a beloved bathrobe that was completely falling apart. During some particularly brutal weather, I cut it up to use to stop the lines from chafing. It was sad to cut it up but nice to be able to use it.

[justhanginon]

20. Speaking of weird joy, after I retired

I took some of my dress shirts and made them into kites. It was a thrill to see them soaring free after years of wearing them to work day in and day out. I didn't wear ties but they would have made great tails.
I try to reuse or repurpose everything. This can lead to quite a disorganized garage with racks of "stuff that I can use that for something, I think I better save it".

[cbayer]

21. That brought a huge smile to my face.

What a great idea!! I wish I had done that with some of my work clothes.

[IrishAyes]

18. Been frugal all my life. When my mother sent me out to the garden to gather something for dinner, I

always took a little jar with holes in the lid for a 'hotel' for the insects I'd gather as well. Those were my pets. Mom always told me they were gone the next morning because the bug fairy came to rescue them while I slept.

Know how I make winter bathrobes? From the fancy throws I bought the previous spring on sale for around $2-3 apiece. I fold them in half, and at the center of the fold I cut a slit through the middle third to fit over my head. The I make two tight stitches about 10" below the fold on either edge to give my arms plenty of room but keep the material from shifting around too much. $3, a pair of scissors, and a few quick hand stitches, there's your robe/poncho. I could attach a snug hood except I'm usually wearing a hoodie and sweat pants as well; what do I need with two hoods?

I could write a book. 5 years ago, several blocks from home, I was walking along and saw a 5'x5' picture window set out at the curb on trash day. It's double paned with beveled edges and has a wide, heavy wooden frame. I had to walk that thing home a few inches at a time, one corner, then the other, etc. My ambition, now that I have an affordable but expert handyman, is to do a watercolor of the Grand Canyon in opaque paints before having an opening cut for the window on the north side of the house where it really needs a window.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. Being frugal is a blessing, really.

My parents grew up during the Depression, and they were from the poorest families to begin with, so they taught us all about being frugal and not wasting things. It has been easier to live through the really hard times in my life when pinching pennies really meant something. And it is so much easier for me to save money when I live on so little compared to the people who I work with. They spend all that they make and would be devastated by an emergency in their lives.

As to those throws on sale after the season is over.....I got some of those chenille throws really cheap and made curtains out of them. No sewing at all, just clips that slip onto curtain rods and one of them thrown over the top of the curtain rod as a valance. This came to me because I was pricing new curtains and they were impossibly expensive....there had to be another way.

It is a blessing, I tell you.