"We urge all Latter-day Saints to be prudent in their planning, to be conservative in their living, and to avoid excessive or unnecessary debt." President Thomas S. Monson, October 2008 Priesthood Session, General Conference
I have been thinking this would be good to have as a topic this week. I am still under the weather blowing my nose boooo…grateful for lotion filled kleenex.
My husband has other shoes but he has this pair that are more comfortable, more comfortable he said than any shoe ever so he kept wearing them even when they looked like this…
I picked it up one day this week and looked at it. I thought it maybe was laced with leather strip but no it was a string type fiber and I thought ok, I got this. I pulled out some black linen type thread then I got out a yarn needle, an awl a beeswax candle, a pair of pliers and scissors. I cut my string then ran it through the bottom of the beeswax candle several times. This was to strengthen the string and make it waterproof. Then I sewed up the shoe using the obvious holes. Three, though, were going through double layers of leather so I used the awl and pliers to pull the needle through.
I tied it off and he will get more wear out of his favorite shoes - he was surprised.
I will point out I had all these things on hand...
-Beeswax candle is a decoration I had
-Fiber from my weaving basket of fiber
-The yarn needle from my knitting bag
-Awl from my basket making tools
-Pliers from tool box
-Scissors I have for many things, the pair I used was from weaving bench.
-My knowledge…from sewing I learned the beeswax thing and sewing and basket making for the actual lacing. Knitting skills for how to easily thread that yarn needle.
Even feeling rotten it was something I could do sitting down.
So see, you do things all the time from skills you have learned without thinking. It is good to have skills on which to draw, so keep working on your skills.
This was one of my frugal things I did this week. Here are some frugal ideas…
https://www.sisterswithasystem.com/blog/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-or-do-without-other-frugal-principles-to-live-by
https://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com/2013/06/forty-ways-to-use-it-up-wear-it-out.html
http://www.providentplan.com/601/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-or-do-without/
http://www.morningalliance.com/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-or-do-without/
http://www.makeitcoats.com/us/sewing-life-skills-mending-101/ - I stuck this here as a reminder to build supplies and skills
We were driving in a town where there was a homeless lady walking, her pants were ripped along her bottom part of her seat and down about eight inches. I often wish I would see her again, I would hand her a sewing kit. How many people have the most basic of sewing kits? How many people do not…? Do you have thread, needles and scissors maybe some buttons? Can you imagine not being able to mend your family’s clothes? Even having someone else do your mending is costly.
http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2016/07/monday-message_18.html - the story in here about the oranges has stuck with me ever since I heard it. I think we don’t think it will ever be us. But if you have had to go without anything it is not hard to see that it is possible. I think of all the people in the hurricanes and forest fires having nothing, it is very sad and it will take so long to get their lives going again. My daughter was telling me one lady is living in a tent and is about to have a baby, can you imagine how hard that is for her and all the others?
You might say how would a sewing kit help? Having sewing supplies on hand will make it helpful to help I wish I had had one in my car for the lady we saw. Think how much this lady would have wanted that orange and how very little there is in a travel size sewing kit.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+reuse+yarn+from+sweater&docid=608016528321350358&mid=210BB90DA508F70D1BDB210BB90DA508F70D1BDB&view=detail&FORM=VIREHT
I love this gal. Did you even know you could do this?
So if you want to learn to knit or crochet but yarn is too much this could be an option. Yarn is expensive, I have seen it in person for thirty five dollars a skein. Yes, it isn’t the Walmart kind it was several years ago now that I saw that.
The gal above shows you what kind of sweater is a good choice. You may even have one you do not like hanging in your closet or see one from the thrift store.
I know many knitters are going to thrift stores to do this very thing to get the good yarns.
http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2014/10/monday-message_20.html - here Gus is showing us unraveling a sweater.
Keep building your supplies, building skills, living frugally and helping those in need.
“Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others.”
Preparing every needful thing is a huge responsibility and it is ever important that we not put it off. It cannot be done in a day or even a week. We can work steady and within our means, it will add up and when you get to a certain point you will just be replacing what you use provided you are rotating.
Yesterday about four our internet went out and it made me think I needed to remind you that if you are totally relying on the internet for everything you really need to have hard copies of things. If you think that you are not that dependent on the internet stop using it for even one night. I found myself wanting to do a search and was almost typing it in before remembering the internet was out. My husband wanted to find a word definition, now we have dictionaries in hard copy but it turns out they're very outdated. Plus, emailing family and friends was down…
So these are just small examples. I think if you sit and ponder you can see where you might be affected but really try not using it for one night and you will see how dependent you and your family are on this…and what to do as a back up. Can you imagine if the internet went down all at once all around the world? Some of us remember life before it but some it’s all they know.
I am still under the weather. I hope that you got your sick plan set in place. I have been pushing through what needs doing but slowly and with lots of Kleenex. I did have to do an errand and on the way I saw this stool by the highway they set out with their garbage, so I turned around for a closer look. I thought it would be perfect for when I am spinning. It is very sturdy and it was covered with heavy frost. I put it in the car and went back as they had stuff that had gone into the highway lane. I moved it off the highway as this was on a hill. I washed the stool up when I got home and put this little rug on it. As I thought, it is perfect to sit on and spin.
I took the ornaments I knitted and put them in the wooden bowl and put on the shelf underneath.
Wishing I felt better. But happy with my frugal find for the week. It made having to run the errand well worth it.
I vacuum sealed four pints of raisins. I bring this up to say I keep my vacuum sealer at the ready. It is plugged in at all times. This makes it easy to vacuum seal in minutes without having to pull it out and with fibromyalgia it saves me in less pain and energy.
Now is the time to brush up on those bread making skills. It is not too hot to bake anymore. If you are gluten free try to bake some of the gluten free breads and store what it takes to make things you can have. The same goes for people who don’t have that need, store the ingredients to make your bread.
This is showing the newer toilet paper tube which is larger around - pay more get less, seems to be an ongoing theme.
A tip about the picture at the top - I use an electric knife to slice my bread. I find that if I slice it all at once it keeps better. Even when I freeze it after slicing.
Keep working at building your storage, learning your skills, living frugally and take time to rest.
(Gordon B. Hinckley, October 2001)
“As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect.”
We have some special friends that we visited in Utah before we had kids. They took us to someone’s house to show us their food storage. I was mightily impressed. We were in the military at the time and, believe me, they don’t get paid enough. So even though we did not get paid enough, I began slowly to build a storage. I just thought it was a very sensible thing to do. I still think that way.
I thought there is no downside to having storage. I still feel that way.
I started with a couple cans of tuna. Mostly that is all I could do but our neighbors on both sides of our apt (also in military) is mainly who I started for because they would run out of food before payday and at first I had nothing but had them eat with us. After that, I made a point to have a little extra to share with them. I kept getting a little extra every time I got groceries. I just kept it up. Even now, with very little money, when I go into a store I ask myself what could I get to add for storage…?
I heard a comment from a conversation I was not a part of where someone asked someone else if she knew someone who sewed. She laughed and said good luck with that now a days. I do not know how their conversation ended but I thought it was a sad comment. If it would not have been rude I would have joined in their conversation.
It made me think of the time I was in an Amish grocery store and there was a man in front of me, he had patches on his coveralls. They were sewn with love and care, the smallest stitches I ever saw. This is why I push so hard to build our skills. Somewhere along the way the skill of mending was lost.
I think sewing skills are as important as bread making skills.
It is all under living providently.
Living within our means...
Recently, being sick, I was watching Iowa Public Television and there was a cooking show on. The cook, a famous cook, was going over a list of ingredients for what she called "simple sandwiches." My goodness so many ingredients and nothing simple about them at all.
Sometimes we think that is what we need to make things but not so. I had made the sandwich shown for Iowa State University when I worked as a cook forty some yrs ago when some of this cook's ingredients were not even a thing. The same when I watch sewing shows. They use this and that which people never had years ago and still they made their own clothes which were just as good. Is it any wonder people think they cannot afford to learn to sew?
I took sewing in school seventh, eighth, and ninth grade. Only a third of each year. This was something of a struggle. My teacher should have retired twenty years before I had her as a teacher. She was mean and very impatient. Remember the friend I mentioned in an earlier blog post that helped me at the laundromat? She quit school in seventh grade because of this very teacher.
We were to build a book of swatches. We had the world's worst sewing book ever as our textbook. In truth, I think I am a bit dyslexic but that's no excuse. Our mean teacher would tell us if we did not finish our swatches that we could not take sewing in high school. I wanted to take it in high school because I needed clothes. It came down to tailor tacking. Every day I would try to understand, it was my only swatch I could not get done. I studied it in the textbook every day. It gave a short paragraph under an illustration. I really tried.
I tried but I was too scared to approach the teacher. I finally mustered all my courage and I went to ask for help. She nastily told me to look in the book. I said I could not understand it, she said she did not know and to go look in the book. So I finally gave up and never did get it done... one swatch from having sewing in high school, it was sad.
So I went to high school, was sweethearts with my now husband, I studied hard and could have graduated early but my sweetheart wasn’t graduating early. So for half a year I had one class two days a week during the last half hour of the day. I would visit my sweetie when he had free schedule and there I was the rest of the time with nothing to do. So I went nervously in to talk with the sewing teacher who was absolutely furious when I had told her what the other teacher said and that I did not need to finish that swatch to take sewing in high school.
By then the old teacher had retired. The new teacher not only showed me how to tailor tack in just one minute. She said I could come in and she would show me how to sew things in my free time. In there she picked underwear, something she thought would be helpful as I would be getting married in a few months. She helped me to sew a dress for my sister as she was going to be my bridesmaid. It turned out very nice I wish I had been able to take it all three years.
In the picture above this was what I could not figure out from my workbook. This book is from 1947 I could have figured it out from this book but not the one we had for school. I think that was probably when some things went missing.
There were girls in high school sewing making men’s suits and shirts, oh how I watched them.
My mother-in-law is the best seamstress in all the world, she made my wedding dress which cost me $40 in materials.
This is the dress my mother-in-law made for me. I bought the materials for both dresses. I made my sister’s dress with instruction of the high school sewing teacher.
I had a helpful neighbor who sewed who helped me after we had kids. She knew I was frustrated trying to sew, she determined it was my sewing machine and I should get another so I found one used for a hundred dollars. This was a ton of money back then, still is. I got it used. The people were going to be missionaries in a country that the machine could not run on their electricity.
This is still my work horse to this day. After that I sewed my girls’ clothes and have continued to build on this skill...mind you I still probably can’t sew a man’s suit but I keep learning anyway.
So grab a skill and keep on building it and add to all your skills. Share them as you go because there may be a young person out there who needs to know how to tailor tack.
