Triggered by Hawklady’s comment to my journal entry on Accounting Happiness, I’ve been musing about finding opportunities and making the most of them. I’ve been thinking alot about a character in the Lloyd Alexander book Taran Wanderer. I can’t remember the character’s name but he labeled himself as “lucky”. He and his family lived by a river. They set out nets in the river to catch anything which might float by. The character claimed that any time they had a problem the solution would come floating down the river and get caught in their nets. The title character, Taran, noted that what was really happening was that whatever the man happend to catch was put to good use.
I feel like that lately. I’m keeping a constant inventory of things we could use and a constant eye out for free solutions to problems. It is amazing what is available for little or no cost. My local branch of Freecycle.com has been wonderful for this. But I’m also looking a the resources I have here in new ways. Suddenly I’m discovering ways to repair clothing which had seemed too full of holes to be worth anything. I’m discovering the value of preventative maintinence. I’m stretching my creativity Making Do.
Most of all, I’m really enjoying this. I sometimes miss being able to walk into a store and buy brand new shiny things. But I’m discovering that I find joy in taking slightly shabby things and making them new again. I’m enjoying the challenge of fishing in the stream for things I can use. I suppose it is possible that this joy is the result of novelty, but it doesn’t feel that way. It is more the joy of finding that skills I’ve been neglecting are actually really useful. I have the joy of making things that will be useful once they are finished. (As opposed to most handicrafts where you spend bundles of money to buy the materials, hours of time to make the thing, and then have no where to put it or no one to give it to.) True handicraft is to make something you can use from items you have on hand.
Now it is time for me to get back to work. I’ve got clothes to make new.
Just because I feel obligated to do so, I just want to remind you and anyone else reading that the public library is a wonderful place and people should take full advantage of the free services offered there. 🙂
I think it’s great that you are so organized and that you’re putting in so much time and energy to make your budget stretch. I wish my family had done more of that when we were in bad financial shape.
LIbrary
My Local Library has Video Rental and has a really nice childrens and adult selection including kids and adult tv show dvd series sets. Like Card Captors, Er, Smallville just to name a few.
Yup. I’m hitting the library about once a week right now. I’ve gotten books and toys and videos and CDs. I could go once a week for the rest of my life and never run out of stuff to check out.