It was sure a lot more fun and satisfying to fix up this old mirror than it would have been to buy one online. And yes, the antique dresser was a curbside find.
- Dinner out without ever having to worry about the bill.
- This season’s hip new clothing without the slightest inclination to look at the price tag.
- A turnkey house where your only project is where to place your gorgeous furniture?
Sounds great, right?
Nope.
As dreamlike as it sounds to have access to everything you want at your fingertips, I feel like the reality of a limited budget sparks creativity and imagination that would otherwise lay dormant.
Because the cost of taking four adults out for dinner, (Yup, teenage boys eat as much, if not much, much more than an adult) is staggering, so I end up having to cook at home. However, this doesn’t translate into frozen Costco lasagnas, as I like to prepare what I actually enjoy eating.
Take last night as an example. I’ve been craving Vietnamese salad rolls all week, (probably due to the fact that I spent an afternoon cleaning one of my mother’s guest cottages, and basking in the aromas of the divine Jade Teahouse and Patisserie, the *best* restaurant, Vietnamese or otherwise in town.) So instead of wallowing in the sentiment of “Poor me,” I found a recipe online and whipped up a huge batch of salad rolls for the family. And no, they were not as pretty as Jade’s, but for the first time in my life I got to gorge on a delicacy, which before had always been an appetizer.
Such a luxury, and frankly, pretty damned satisfying. And now, I have a new skill! Some might even go so far as to call it self improvement.
The harsh reality of not being able to buy the things you want, whether it’s a certain type of food, a decor item or the services of a professional can force you into learning new skills. And then, if your financial situation takes a nosedive, you already know how to fend for yourself. But you know . . . in style.
It’s a good thing that I wasn’t born an heiress. What a travesty that would have been. 😉
Agree, disagree? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s so true. Just look at the Q in Star Trek.
Yes!
Katy
I had exactly the same thoughts. I am *such* a Star Trek nerd!
And now I love this tribe even more….live long and prosper, yall
I totally agree!!!
We make raw spring rolls often–I assume it’s the same thing. What did you put in yours? We use whatever veggies we have around the house (cabbage, celery, cucumber, scallions, carrots, etc.) and sometimes just stop there or sometimes add chicken or even lunch meat. I know I’ve had shrimp in them in actual Vietnamese restaurants, but we don’t usually have any…
We put in rice “vermicelli” noodles, either shrimp or chicken; carrots, bean sprouts and cilantro. Next time I’ll include lettuce, but somehow didn’t this time.
The dipping sauce had lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, chili garlic sauce, sugar and water.
Delish!
Katy
Oh, yeah. Haven’t used noodles or bean sprouts in a while–will have to get back to that. Your sauce sounds delicious! Sesame/peanut sauce is pretty good, too.
fresh basil is also good. big fat leaves that you can see from the outside… very pretty.
This recipe included basil, but I was trying to keep it budget-friendly. And basil in January? Not so impressive.
Katy
I’m going to have to try the sauce from the recipe you posted – we make salad rolls all the time, but my sauce recipe is a bit lacking.
I agree 110% with your post. I sometimes laugh to myself how proud certain people are of their incredible taste when their living room was designed by an interior decorator and everything was purchased brand new at a high end department store. Where is the skill in that?
Exactly. Where’s in the fun in that?!
Katy
I needed this today. We’ve been cutting way back since the new year to pay off debt and I’ve been wallowing a bit this weekend. Just washed a huge load of dishes, brought about by cooking and baking all weekend. My back aches – but I haven’t spent a cent. Thank you for the perspective!
Isn’t that the greatest feeling? Truthfully, I never cook or bake “all weekend” or even all day because of back problems, but making extras when I do cook and/or bake and freezing them makes me feel like a pioneer lady with a full larder (or whatever they had).
And then you get to eat it!
I’ve been feeling this way recently, and it kind of surprised me. I was fantasizing about winning Publishers Clearinghouse, and I realized that as hard as it can be to stick to a budget and make do, it feels really good to feel my mind and abilities stretch. Winning 50 million dollars wouldn’t do that, and would probably add more stress to my life rather than reduce it. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
I totally agree that it’s more satisfying and creative to make do instead of running out to buy new stuff.
I love to repurpose things, and always have. I love rearranging things to give them a new spotlight in a room. Besides for being frugal, it’s like a meditation for my mind. I’m looking forward to some fun rearranging in my son’s old room–he is moving out in February. First I will purge whatever is left in his closet, and then take it from there. My goal is to create a writing room with a lot less stuff in it!
Yes, I agree, and I love being thrifty. I have no use for normal stores, for the most part.
I do have just one tiny little comment, though. Where you wrote, “The harsh reality of not being able to buy the things you want” fails to take into account those who choose to live this way even though they don’t have to. Being creative and thrifty can indeed be a lifestyle choice rather than something ‘has’ to do. There are many, too, who start out having to be thrifty, find out how much more fun and satisfying it is, and never change, even when the income increases. I dare to guess that is many of us.
I love this post! Last weekend, I set up a potting bench on my deck using an antique butcher block from my parents’ garage. A few antique boxes, aluminum buckets, terra cota pots, greens cut from the old Christmas tree and a grapevine wreath (all items already in my garage) pull the whole thing together. I love to gather inspiration from library books and recreate the looks at home using antiques I already have. It’s so satisfying to look out the window at this hopeful scene as I wait for spring!
So VERY TRUE. Since buying our homestead we’ve learned how to build barns, weld, and all kinds of other things. We’ve saved vast sums of money AND we have the satisfaction of knowing we did the work ourselves.
This post makes me Snoopy-dance happy! My husband and I lived a very spendy lifestyle before I quit my job to stay at home with our little. Looking back? It was kinda gross. Repurposing requires so much more creativity than whipping out a credit card, and for us the satisfaction is so much greater! That being said, anyone have ideas on how to gussy up old tires as garden planters?
Steph, Christopher Lowell’s website has instructions for making tire planters.
Steph, I also saw it at cozybliss.com….search for tire planter. Last summer, I used tires laying flat on the ground…not pretty, but functional. I filled the tire part with mulch, then filled the center with top soil and compost….worked great!
I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t learned from an early age to repurpose and reuse, make or make do. It has opened up so many interests, activities, and friendships for me.
Right now I’m pruning the trees in the yard and taking the thicker branches and letting them season. Why? Because I’m going to cut them into 1/2 inch rounds and use those to tile a rustic kind of penny tile look for my kitchen backsplash.
That sounds so cool! You’ll have to send over a photo when the project is completed!
Katy
My husband just flew down my girlfriend of 40 years from up North. She lives frugally because she has to, but I’d say about 90% of her apartment is decorated with curbside finds (plus the 3 piece entertainment center that I gave her about 15 years ago – that I purchased in 1981). She also proudly showed me her leather jacket for $3.99 (the lining had been scorched by someone trying to iron it). It’s amazing what she’s done with her place. Unfortunately, I live in a development, which such finds are not available, but her visit at least is spurring me on to Goodwill and thrift stores! Love that dresser in your photo too!
I keep hoping this will help The Hubs become more creative. Instead, he just goes out to eat instead of finding ways to use what we have. Maybe he’ll accidentally “misplace” his debit card and will finally be forced to learn how to deal with what we’ve got (because seriously, our pantry, fridge, and freezer are packed..but lo, “there’s nothing to eat!”).
I spent my whole life watching my parents, make, make do, create, and generally not spend money. It was then a challenge to me to do the same. Besides, when we first married, we had little money. I just enjoy the challenge of thrift. Besides, my belongings are unique to my home. I get compliments, so I must be doing it right. I love that dresser!
Thanks. A couple of the drawers need to be reglued, so I have a plan to glue to drawer a day, (while watching evening TV) until it’s all completed.
Katy
Oh my gosh! A thought has sprung to mind! My dresser drawers have needed regluing since I got the dresser at Goodwill some five years ago, and I just yesterday unearthed some still-good wood glue during a round of pre-move decluttering!
Easy home improvement project time! I love easy fixes!
I definitely agree! Plus, the idea of saving for something, or searching long and hard for something you want at a thrift store makes it all the sweeter when you finally get it, even if it is new. You really appreciate that new TV because you didn’t buy it spontaneously, but saved for it. It makes it worth the wait, I think.
Totally agree. Any fool can spend money. It takes something more to “make something from nothing” and it is sooo much more satisfying. I’ve been in a place where I had more money than I knew what to do with it and now I live very contentedly on far less. Mind, if anyone seriously disagreed with you, would they bother reading this blog? LOL
Oh, you’d be surprised. 😉
Katy
The one thing I regret is that I didn’t travel more when I was younger. Now that my eyes aren’t so good I am not allowed to fly. Watch many travel shows on TV, though; not quite the same.
Liz,
I keep rereading your remark.
Are you the pilot?
Agreed!! I am constantly amazed when women my age (40) admit they don’t know how. to. cook. ! Or bake. Or clean. I kind feel sorry for them!
My mother was the world’s worst cook, so I really did not learn any better. Then they invented microwave ovens and freezer food, and I was happy for many years. Now, though, I want to cook and bake more. I make my own bread from scratch, and cook big meals to freeze in portion sizes, so I still nuke food for supper, only it’s home made food.
Ironically, I was the cook in my motherless home, yet all I knew how to fix were frozen and canned meals. I taught myself to cook when I got married and I only started baking 7 years later when I became a mother myself. Now, all 3 of my children are very self sufficient in the kitchen (and laundry room), and I consider this one of my best successes as a mom! It sure beats being domestically handicapped as I was! Seeing them realize the power of doing it themselves is wonderful.
I agree. It is so satisfying to make something yourself or to have solved a problem with your own creativity.
My husband gets a little discouraged that we aren’t rolling in the $$$ and I (ever the optimist) try to get him to see the great things about not having a lot of extra expendable cash. We would have never developed many skills that we have now, we just would have paid someone to do it for us or bought it. Instead we have gained skills that make us (and the planet) healthier, happier and more confident. We know how to make our own maple syrup, grow and can our own food, sew and mend our own clothing and linens, make furniture, repair cars and various mechanical implements, toilets, showers, paint, landscape…ect, ect….
I would have never learned the joy of thrift shopping & garage saleing, We would have never started making 90% of Christmas presents, which brings me (and hopefully the recipients) lots of joy. Life just so much more interesting this way. How boring to just go to the store and pick it up all the time (not that I don’t do this sometime). Frugality is the spice in my life and I am proud of it!
I took an art course years ago where the professor said that the best creativity comes from limitations. I have never forgot that idea. I think it is so true that the best outcomes come out of shear imagination with limited resources. I think it does our character good to learn to invent and recreate.
There’s a really good book called “Restore, Recycle, Repurpose” about decorating your house with a lot of found objects and such. I have checked it out at the library several times and always think about buying it, but keeping waiting to find it at a garage sale or thrift store. I may have to bite the bullet and actually purchase it new….we’ll see.!
Katy– the dresser and mirror are lovely. As is the rest of your house. To look at your photos you would think Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware. I’m always amazed and impressed by your finds. Thanks for sharing them with us. Now how do I get over my aversion to fish sauce and enjoy them spring rolls 🙂 — Hannah
A related thing that happens to me: the things I go out and buy after coveting/pondering/saving often don’t bring me as much joy in actual use as the things that find me through thrift stores, hand-me-downs, etc.
(However, I am enjoying the heck out of my new little Pyrex set and brand-new sports bra!)
I think the antique dresser is really a washstand. There is probably space for a water pitcher and/or a wash basin on the side behind a little door. We used to have one. Unfortunately I got rid of it. Usually there is a towel rack that extends up over the top. It may have gotten lost over the years
It’s pretty tall to be a washstand.
Katy
I must be a creature from another planet because I too love the thrill and creative thought processes that kick in when I am faced with a challenge that requires using little or no money. And I agree, the feeling of contentment from using my imagination is superior to spending cash, frugality trumps thoughtless consumerism every time.
Hiya, Katy.
I think I have the same dresser as you do– my sister pointed this out to me when you first posted this photo and your mirror project. Mine is a hand-me-down from my husband’s grandfather, and it has a piece on the top that yours doesn’t. I’ll send a photo if you want to see it. In any case, I’m also remodeling a (1915) craftsman bungalow and love your take on frugality. Thanks for blogging!
-Juli