There's a slogan about not letting stuff go to waste, something to the effect "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" or something like that. That is my go to slogan lately.
My mom died a number of years ago. She was a quilter and she had all this material she had purchased and never used. I gave it away since I don't quilt. But there are lots of jokes about people with yarn, material, etc. and how much they have stashed. Or hoarded.
I have purchased some material at thrift stores and estate sales. Not huge quantities, but some. My new goal is to use it up before I buy anymore. I believe I blogged about recovering some of my hot pads. I had enough to make a new table cloth for our dining room table. I have sewn cloth bags to use for shopping as well as one for my stuff for my knitting/crocheting group for church. I had looked at bags when we were in England and the cheapest price on a bag was over 30 pounds which was even more in American dollars. I had found some new material at a thrift store that had English symbols like the red telephone booth, and the double decker bus printed on it, and it was $1.99 for it and I paid $3 to make some handles for it. A far cry from what I would have paid, and if it gets worn out by my using it, well, I don't have to regret it.
I have also purchased some other things craft wise like towels to do counted cross stitch on. I like doing that, and I have a couple of friends who like them, so I usually work on them and give them as gifts. But, I am not allowing myself to buy anymore until I use what I have.
The only thing I'm allowing myself to buy is yarn for the hats, scarves, and dish cloths we make in the Stitches of Love group at church. I have used all the yarn I bought originally, so I bought a little more, and am almost through with it. I have been crocheting mostly scarves since we have so many who make hats. I can't make as many scarves as they do hats, but we promised hats and scarves to our Lutheran High School's Student Council for the number of kids they are adopting for CASA. The leftover yarn I make dish cloths and we are donating them to a local food pantry to put in the Christmas baskets. Nothing goes to waste when it comes to the yarn.
I did a small canning yesterday since we had some extra tomatoes. I made lavender jelly earlier since our lavender was really blooming. Some of this is for us, but I use some of it for Christmas gifts. Same with grapes...made some jelly. Some for us, some for gifts. I hate to see food go to waste.
So, are you using stuff up or wearing it out?
July 24th, 2022 at 06:33 pm 1658687632
July 24th, 2022 at 07:20 pm 1658690424
As I've been losing weight, I've been "shopping" in my closet, but when I get closer to goal, I will buy a few new outfits since image is important in my line of work.
I'm not a hoarder but it IS hard to throw things away, and right now, I'm in more of a "declutter" mode and will probably start to be more ruthless about getting rid of things than I have been previously.
July 25th, 2022 at 12:04 am 1658707487
I made an afghan for my youngest nephew using her yarn. She had a tradition of making them as high school graduation gifts (I still use mine) but he was too young to benefit. I think he was pleased with my effort.
I started two afghans during the pandemic using yarn I had leftover, but I put them down. I need to pick them up and finish them, but I have no idea what I will do with them. I have several my mother made put aside awaiting the right new home. (They weren’t right for my nephew color wise, plus I wanted his made special for him)
I did a big declutter is my house last year to incorporate things from a beach house/my mother. As someone without children, I don’t know who will deal with my lifetime accumulation of stuff. It all has meaning to me, but little of it will matter to anyone in the next generation.
I threw away stuff like my report cards - I’m not getting a Presidential library so no one will care…but I have love letters from the man I didn’t marry, and I can’t make myself toss those. I also gave away a lot of bric brac that was meaningless, but that means everything that’s left is tied to a memory.
I’m like Scarlett O’Hara - I’ll worry about that tomorrow,,,
July 27th, 2022 at 07:11 pm 1658949098
July 28th, 2022 at 10:40 pm 1659048021
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July 29th, 2022 at 01:28 am 1659058128