Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Strengthen Those TOES!



Watching and listening to the news broadcasts every evening leaves me feeling like "Presto3" in this photo. The economy, the Big Three, unemployment, Iraq, job outlooks, banking, our military, the government, the new stimulus package...it leaves us all hanging on by our piggy-toes!

Life in our United States (and elsewhere, too, I'm afraid!) is going to change. I wonder if there will be a move towards how life used to be when our parents were children. That was a 'Make-Do' society - they had to make do with what they had, as money was hard to earn and not so easily spent on items a person could mend or repair, bake from scratch, or do without for a time or a season. America has been spoiled. Fast foods, electricity, cell phones, supermarkets, appliances - these all replaced the do-it-yourself way of being. Families used to farm (or at least have a garden), bake and cook, gather wood for cooking and heat, and because there were no phones, they knew their neighbors and looked out for one another. There was no television or video games - children played with each other outdoors, families played games after dinner dishes were washed and put away. If you think about it, there are so many things we haven't done for a very long time because of being spoiled!

I'm not saying I don't appreciate all the inventions that have made MY life easier. But I'm re-learning that although my vacuum cleaner is broken, I don't need to buy a NEW one; I can find a good used one if the one I have can't be repaired. The soles on my shoes may be worn, but the leather is still good - and there's a shoe repair the next town over that could use my business. Believe it or not, other folks are having to re-learn these same things - things that used to come naturally from their frugal up-bringing, but they somehow 'forgot' along the way on Easy Street, because of better wages, cheaper gasoline, and the abundance of affordable products in this throw-away society we have lived in.
  • Go Green,
  • Live Lean,
  • Make Do;
  • Make it Through
And whatever happens tomorrow, we'll be "OKAY"!


5 comments:

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

You are so right, I was watching a home make over show just this evening, and the couple wanted to up-grade their bedroom. They had the nicest TV stand, the designer asked them how long he's had it and if it was important to him, he said, "I've had it about 17 yrs, so yea trash it, take it to the dump, it's past it's prime" how sad, it wasn't even an old cheap made item it was quite nice, just didn't fit into her new plan designs. I have funiture that I have had for 40 yrs and my Mom had for 40 years before that.
But I fear we are going to have to go back to our make do and reuse world...lol..or some people are I never left it. My Hubby doesn't beleive in getting rid of anything that can still be used.
Thanks for calling it to our attention

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

Despite all the conveniences and all the show-off consumption of material items, are people HAPPIER now? More law-abiding? Smarter? NO!!! I don't like to see people hurting but I am hoping and HOPING that we will go "backwards" towards that redo-make-do-appreciate-it-try-harder-stiff-upper-lip attitude that made America great once upon a time.

Dismom said...

I hear ya. I actually have been enjoying the "challenge" of wear it out, use it up, re-use & mend. If I have extra meat from a roast or cooked chicken, I freeze it, and start looking for a good casserole recipe that I can use it in. I've found some really delicious dishes this way.

Anonymous said...

That is a very good posting. It reminds me of getting second hand shoes and when the soles wore thru my dad would buy rubber soles and glue and fix them up. Ma canned everything from vegetables fruit chicken that she could get her hands on. We would take our wagon and go to the market and come home with bushels of peaches and what ever was in season. I guess I never did that because I was the scrub person. cleaning dirty cans and lids. emptying washtubs of water that we cleaned the vegies in. scrubbed bushels of pickles. But I guess that is how we got thru the bad times. Dad borrowed some money to buy our house on Barnett street. It cost them 5,000 dollars and paid 60 bucks a month for it. enough of that stuff. But I did like your story.

Anonymous said...

Right you are...I'm with ya :)