use it up, wear it out...

...make it do, or do without

A common refrain from my childhood. My grandparents came up in the great depression, and it strongly influenced both their approach to...consumption? I guess? as well as my mom's. Add to that, while I wasn't poor growing up, we definitely weren't well-off, at least not when I was a little kid to pre-teen.

I remember my mom r e l i g i o u s l y (heh) reading the frugal zealot, back when it came only in book form. We had a garden, so we could can things and save money on groceries. I don't think I actually bought new clothes until I was...a teenager? probably? because we got hand-me-downs and went to goodwill.

Anyway. I've been thinking a lot about all that lately. While my parents reasons for being frugal were very.......Informed by their religiosity, which kind of made me take a huge step away from it for a long time, I'm finding now that i can still follow the "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" mentality without following the xtian fundamentalism that my parents wove through it.

I've been playing a lot of Coral Island recently (a stardew-like set on an island, with a big focus on caring for the environment and recycling and stuff like that. 10/10 do recommend if you like farming sims), and it's inspired me to really take a look at how I can try to be less wasteful again. I'm perfectly capable of sewing and knitting and cooking and generally being crafty - I just stopped doing it all (not just bc of spite, ADHD and generally bad mental health also didn't help).

Idk. this is kind of rambly, but I guess tldr I miss a lot of the homestead-y type stuff I grew up with and I'm mad that I live alone and work 9-5 and am constantly exhausted amd can't do things like have a garden and can foods and make fun crafty things out of my recycleables anymore. (I mean I can, but like. what am I gonna give up for it? sleep? the laundromat? a grocery trip? time with my friends?) ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ I guess I'll just....see what I can do. I buy a lot of canned foods (bc ADHD) so maybe I'll see if I can do something with the cans instead of just chucking them. it's a start?

antsinspace

I struggle with buying new things even when my stuff is dead dead, but less from a 'fix it up' sense and more from a 'going outside is hard and money is terrifying, so I'm just gonna not wear that torn tshirt and I'll fix it eventually' kinda deal, but then I don't fix it because I'm disabled and even existing takes too much energy. My supply of actually wearable clothes is at an all time low :'D

I did have the very stereotypical 'fell over in jeans, scraped my knee up real bad and tore the fabric' thing a while back though, and I covered it in a bit of fabric and embroidered a really cool flower over it. Still one of my favourite pieces of clothing.

Visible mends and adding to clothes makes me feel really good... but I only tend to do them when it feels like there's a story behind it. Clothes just being 10 years old? ehh, even if I fix them they'll just tear again later.

And then I don't buy more clothes. Why do I do this to myself.

beefox

im very much in this mindset also; i try throw nothing away. just this last week my partner was being sad they may have to get a new laptop because it was randomly turning off when they moved it around, so on the weekend i came over and spent the day opening it up, cleaning it out, and resetting all the wiring so that they didn't have to get a new one or even pay for repairs! (such a good laptop to repair to, no hidden screws, everything very clear on doing)

i also almost always completely wear through my clothes, i don't have a large wardrobe and typically only buy stuff when i can no longer repair some clothes.

if i can make it or repair it i do so, i also especially love visible repair, clear signs that it is loved

mechanicalmagpie

that's awesome that you were able to fix the computer! heck yeah.

I followed the visible mending subreddit back when I was on reddit, and there were so many awesome repairs on there. I want to try to get into doing more visible mends on my clothing. I tend to save things for a while thinking I'll get around to repairing them and then I don't and they just languish in the fabric box for years and by then I don't fit the thing anymore lol

threkk

I share the feeling of wanting to do more "real stuff", but being crushed by life.

What about putting some plants in the empty cans? With a bit of soil, you can grow some herbs.

mechanicalmagpie

I was considering that! unfortunately, I have whatever the opposite of a green thumb is. I've killed pretty much every plant I've ever had T_T. but yeah, I've been wanting some fresh herbs so I might give it a go anyway! <3

threkk

You can also eat them before they die! :D