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The arrival of vernal equinox has caught me in an unusually industrious mood. I'm sure it's amusing to my mountain man dad to observe as his oldest daughter turns into a can-stocking, deer-eatin', tomato-plantin', secondhand clothes horse. Truthfully, I fear very little in reguard to all the doomsday depression talk pumped into the American consciousness via satallite 24 hours a day. My husband and I rent a house, own two paid-for cars, and are currently a two-income household with health insurance, life insurance, and a little stashed back. At this point in time, I'm glad that we have little else to fret over. God has blessed us so much by not blessing us with too much. Although we're headless-chicken busy much of the time, we still have the opportunity to enjoy what we've been given. I couldn't imagine what our life -- or our relationship -- would be like if we were up to our nose holes in loan or credit card payments.
I feel doubly blessed to have had parents who taught me that "if you can't afford to buy it now, you probably don't need it". E-mailing with my dad back and forth last week, he shared another one with me that he seemed surprised that I already knew (I think I picked it up from a Countryside & Small Stock Journal magazine he had loaned me): "Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."
Now don't misunderstand me -- I'm hardly Granny Clampett, out shootin', weavin' & wildcraftin' , but I would like to learn to run my household even more resourcefully than I do. I'm looking for more than simple Better Homes & Gardens solutions. I'd like to see my energy bill cut in half. I'd like to spend half of what I do in groceries (which averages about $100 every two weeks) and still be able to provide extra helpings at the table when company's over in the evening. I'd like not to look like a ragamuffin because I can't fit into last year's clothes, yet can't scrape up enough to buy new ones (I'm probably a little too proud of myself for being clever enough to consign last year's size 4's and 6's in order to earn enough for this year's size 8's. The size switch should keep me humble enough. Sigh.) I've even taken on a piano student -- her fees help pay for those little extra things around the house you don't know you need until they suddenly break or wear out.
I'm curious -- what are my fellow statesiders doing to tighten their belts, if at all?
