Do you make do?

[SRSLADE]

Thinkin' about that today...what it means to make do? I know we heat our water with wood because we can. We garden because we can. We can because we can.We store,we freeze etc etc... Today we took an old cabbage,a couple carrots,4 onions and a sausage stewed for several hours, a batch of biscuits, a little butter and you have a meal for six!We did'nt need to do this, it's just that it makes a hell of a meal! If you need to, that's makin do! A little of this and a little of that can make a great meal.Maybe throw in some love,a little bread and butter and stand back!!! you've made do!!!

[lmrose]

Making -do to me means I substitute and use what I have on hand ,when I don't really have what is required, to do the task what ever it is.

[Jokarva]

My dad (youngest of 18 raised very poor in AL) was the king of making do....I get more like him every day. If we need something, if something is wearing out, if I haven't been to the store for a couple weeks - I'll find some way to make do. DH....not so much.

[emdeengee]

All the time. Make do and mend was a very common concept during the depression and war years. Today it is just reclaimed as reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, rethink and repurpose. The concept of environmental awareness. It is also applicable to common sense frugality and living a simpler, healthier life. All of these can be interdependent.

[simi-steading]

I sure do... I made do just this past weekend.. I had an area washed out across an access road on my property... I didn't have a pick ax at the farm, so I dug with a crow bar through the gravel... then I used an old piece of drill pipe that was laying in the creek to make the culvert with..

A few weeks ago, my machine shed wall was rotted and falling down.. I found a bunch of old wood and used that.. I also wanted some light in there, so I used a pair of old shower doors as part of the wall to let light in..

[Grumpy old man]

I am the king of pack rats and re purpose everything I can! I refuse to throw away anything that still has a purpose .If I have dry space to put it it's staying !

[Miss Kay]

Many years ago, I lived in an old trailer with no air conditioning in the south and it was so hot that my candles melted but I made do. There were times when I had no gas money to get to work but I made do. Some times the lights would get shut off but I made do. There were many times that I needed to go to the doctor but I couldn't so I made do. I had many examples of making do so one day I decided never again. I found a way to put myself through college and worked harder than most students and boy did it pay off. I no longer make do. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy gardening or canning etc. but it means I get to do those in style instead of making do. I personally never want to be backed in a corner where I have to make do again. God willing I won't either!

[biggkidd]

I think we make do mostly because we can! Not everyone has learned this ability. This is not a good thing. Those who don't know how to make do could be in for vary tough times. If things keep going like they are in the world many wont make it. Some people think we are just to cheep to buy this and that. Why buy when most of what you need can be made from discarded items laying around? Yes it does take some planning and thought, but thats why we have the ability to plan and think. Most people think we are nuts for living the way we do. But if the world around us comes to a screeching halt we will still live pretty good. Way better than most as we have practice. If the world continues on as is thats good too. But if it doesn't how many friends and family will we be able to teach? Better yet will they be willing / able to learn in time to keep from starving or worse.

There is still a lot I know I don't know how to do. But I learn a little each day. I think the simple things in life like (don't laugh) socks and other things with elastic will be hard to replace. IDK

Its not a matter of having to make do its the ability to make do!

Good topic

Larry
A World Away

[Grumpy old man]

Like biggkidd said the thing that worries me the most are the people who have no idea about "making do" and will all expect others to care and provide for them as that is their nature .

[simi-steading]

Oh.. building me a wood shed.. I went and cut down some trees to use as posts... old wall boards as the side planks, and I got some old ratty tin roofing to put over it.. It ain't pretty, but it will do the job, and it didn't cost me a fortune in new lumber. I got maybe $20 in screws and a couple dollars in gas for the saw..

[FarmboyBill]

Yup. like Simi I wanted a wood shed, and made one the side of out of pallets. That let air in for drying the wood. Had old tin. Tarred the previous nail holes, the ones I could reuse and made do.
I never throw old bolts away. I have a can that I keep and use them for different dia punches. I never throw cord, shoe laces away. Seldom use them, BUT when I want one IO have it. Never throw old used oil away, but keep it in plastic jugs. Have a couple cans of old spark plugs of a doz different sizes. Replaced today, the handles of my push plow, and my one wheeled gas garden tractor. One handle out of the 4 was good. I saved it for a spare. The handles of the push plow I had made out of 2 X 6 and cut them with a saw, and rounded the handle ends with a grinder. It finally fell over and the handle broke off. I used to save cords off of broke appliances. Found I seldom used them, so quit that.

[badlander]

The older I get the more I try to make do. Not because I necessarily have to but because I enjoy the challenge. There's no sense of satisfaction in having everything handed to you. For me the satisfaction comes in discovering you can 'make do'. Like when I find an old corral is made from oak planks so I sand and cut them into trim boards to frame out windows instead of rushing to Menards for lumber. I could have done that but where is the satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment.

Besides the way the world is going making do may become the norm for all of us.

[Rectifier]

Screws? You coulda spent a quarter of that on nails!

I've made do for so many years that I don't need to anymore. But I still find myself salvaging and scrounging whatever I can. There is definitely joy in finding good scrap or cheap parts.

Cheapass example: Rotted off fencepost laying on the ground? Cut off the rotten end, cut a point on it and that sucker can help hold up the cross fence in the corrals, which was taking on a pretty mean lean. Sure a new treated post would cost $2 but there's no point in throwing away a half-post that is just lying there... wood around here lasts forever and rot doesn't usually spread past the rotten spots. I have big piles of "usable scrap" wood that are mostly pretty old!

Pack rat example: Bought a brand new 40" lawn tractor dethatching rake today because it was $10 (regular almost $200!) and because it looks like a tiny flex-tine harrow. Use it in the garden to form a nice seedbed, maybe? Or for weeding the driveway gravel and smoothing it out? If not, it's a $10 tongue, axle and wheels with a little deck on top. It can become the base for a wagon, or maybe I can mount some old cultivator shovels on it and make it into a real garden cultivator. There's always a use for something like that.

[Pony]

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!"

My dear son gifted me with the book "Make Do and Mend," a compilation of bulletins printed by the British war ministry during WWII.

We could choose to not make do, but do make do because it's the wisest use of our resources. We have a goal, and we need to make every dollar s-t-r-e-t-c-h as far as we can. That gets harder to do as the dollar becomes worth less every day.

The time may be coming when those who know how to make do will be the ones who get by best.

[simi-steading]

Yeah.. I would have used nails, but I didn't have any... I had left over screws from putting in a floor.. so I used what I had....

[GrannieD]

So good to see others see this as a "help" rather than a disease..There are plenty of resources for those of us who get labeled "collectors"..Finally the new labels on doing this make it a virtue..
My brother introduced his neighbor to checking the dumpster & he has found the challenge of finding goodies great..The guy is a retired millionaire..!! Go for it ..find out what you're made of !! GrannieD

[o&itw]

The semantics of "make do" differs a bit from area to area. With us it means to "get by" in a situation, not necessarily because we don't have an alternative , but because we chose to. For instance, instead of going to town to pick up a can of gas for the tiller, we may chose make do with the hoe instead. Our decision was made on what was most conveinent, or timely, or practical.

The nice thing about that, is that when a situation leaves us no other choice, we know how to "make do" then, also.

Sometimes a challenge is fun...... and even when it isn't, the feeling of accomplishment on finding ways around obstacles, gives us confidence.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I have always had to "make do". Its either that or do without.

[farmmaid]

EVERYTHING needs to have a second life, recycled at least once. Yep, we have a ball of string, used for 40 years of building ( squaring things up and fence building). I am so sick of "things need to match", "that is old and dirty"...wash/paint it and reuse OR pass it on to someone who can use the item. Plastics is another of my peives. It does have it's place ex. hospitals but sooooooooo much waste in plastic stuff.

And, yes.............we make due a LOT....it is a way of life for us...NO WASTE! Every cent I do not spend on "new" is a cent in savings. Craig's list has been awesome for things we have "needed". If advertived free, I always give something from the garden/farm. If a family would keep track of EVERY cent spent in a week/month, there is always room to "save".

Ex: picnic (you eat anyway) instead of the movies, big bonfire- marshmellows, scavenger-hunt (feathers, nuts, flat stone etc.) Two nights, no meat......one night everything raw out of the garden....beans, peas, potatoes, lettece etc. (no cooking).

Family work projects that involve the whole family, children too. Take pride in a family project done together. Be do LOTS of bartering. Help a friend one day and he helps you a day. We barter someone mowing our lawn and we put homegrown meat in their freezer...this way we do not have to buy a mower/gas etc. Chicken for salmon (friend has a boat on ST Lawrence) and loves chicken! SOOOOOOOO many ways to "make due" .

Make a list of things you would like/need, then make a list of things you have to offer, services and material things. See if you can barter things you have to offer to your first list, you will be surprised! Time is a wonderful bartering tool, babysitting swapping. Elderly care for knitting lessons..be creative and enrich your life without spending! AND don't be affraid to ask if you really need something and no money.....lots a person can do to help themselves!!!!!!!!!

I NEVER consider we "do without" we just have alternatives either for the short haul or long term.

[MOgal]

Pony, the first time I ever heard "use it up....", it was said by a neighbor when I was a teenager. She was like a spare grandma and I have always followed that saying. She was frugal but always had money for fun things she wanted to do as a result of her frugality. She could have written a book on making do.