How To Make Do with What You Have on Hand

You may think that you need to spend money. I say that if you have food on your table, basic kitchen equipment, a roof over your head with the electricity/gas bill paid, a stock of emergency supplies, and a week’s change of clothing, you have the vital supplies. Electronic goods and an Internet connection are something you should reduce the cost of to the bare essentials—yes, a flip phone will work for you.

Be inventive with what you do have!

• ·         Famously, you can do a great deal with duct tape and ordinary corrugated cardboard.

• ·         You certainly don’t need a computer database if you have index cards and a file box.

• ·        If you have a sewing machine and fabric, with the fundamental tools, you do not need to buy much clothing or many dry goods. HomeSew.com is a worthy source of fabric, etc. when it notifies you by opt-in email that it has placed stock on clearance (everyday, fabrics are listed in the Fabrics/Special Buys drop-down menu.)

• Keep a sorted set of metal fasteners along with some basic tools (including needle-nosed pliers and a tiny screwdriver for eyeglasses and such, as well as your hammer and a set of Allen/hex key wrenches.) You’ll also need a guide like Reader’s Digest, New Fix-It-Yourself Manual. which you can order from Better World Books.com for a song—and you won’t need to replace most items that are not as electronically complex as a late-model automobile!

·         Think before you purge!

o   If you happen to be a houseplants person, and you have broken a dish, wouldn’t the pieces make fine drainage pebbles?

o   If you happen to get a newspaper or magazine and you have a kitty, he’ll be ever so much happier with that (torn in strips) as litter than with scratchy old commercial clay.

 

o   Hold onto your most expensive items, whether gifted to you or bought out-of-pocket, if you have the room for them. One or more may solve a dilemma for you in the future! It’s cheap materials that are “tossable.”

§  For example, aluminum foil is dear already, and with the current tariff war, will only go up in price. If it’s a clean piece, save it in a dedicated bag.

© Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.