A written spending plan or spreadsheet keeps the urge to spend at bay. If I stay with the pre-determined "plan"; it takes away the stress. (especially for Christmas Shopping)
It's hard to get by without a job--society just about assumes that everyone has one. A willingness to work helps (lots of people find work that isn't tied to a job). A willingness to live at a very low standard of living helps. Having some capital helps a lot.
Still, I think you've got it exactly right--I'm talking about people not being tied to a job, not suggesting that they shouldn't have one. There are plenty of good jobs out there. There are jobs where the work is interesting, jobs where the work is important, jobs where the work helps people. A job where the work is challenging enough to be interesting but not so hard as to be frustrating (or at least, not frustrating all the time) can be great. I just want people to be able to choose one like that, rather than having to choose the one that pays the most. And I want people to be free to quit a job, rather than feeling like they're forced to tough it out because they fear poverty (or losing their insurance) more than they hate their job.
Still, some people can't tolerate regular jobs--and some people who'd very much like one can't find one. I wrote a 4-part series on getting by without a job. It starts here: Getting By Without a Job, part 1--losing a job.
Thanks for the tips. People tend to forget that not all nutrients are available to the body. In fact, some nutrients reduce the bioavailability of other nutrients.
Thanks for the additional info and links. I guess I misunderstood, thinking that you were saying all debt makes us a slave to debt. Debt well within our financial means does not makes us slaves to it. I'm new to the site and look forward to learning as much as I can!
Like others who have posted here, I tried many times over many years to live a minimalist lifestyle that allowed me not to be tied to a job. Not many people can make it work. I have a friend who has always lived this way, and recently had to tell her as gently as I could that constantly begging money from her (ever-dwindling list of) friends is not okay. It's a beautiful dream -- live simple and free. I wish it were obtainable for more people.
There's nothing wrong with digging ditches or picking up garbage. It's work that's worth doing. Like any work that's worth doing, there will be some people who want to do some amount of it. If some people think we need more such work done than there are people really want to do, they always have the option to raise the wages high enough to draw in more people.
And, yes, to a great extent the debt slave/wage slave trap is one that people choose for themselves. I don't want to say that people shouldn't have that choice. I merely object to the way it's taken as a given in today's society.
I want to educate people about the alternatives, so they can at least consider other choices. I'd also like to encourage anyone responable for advising young folks to make sure that the alternatives are presented as valid choices. I don't think your average 17-year-old is making a fully informed decision when he or she signs up to pay back tens of thousands of dollars of student loans.
That's the reason I think writing for Wise Bread is work worth doing.
Believe me, I understand perfectly. I pay very nearly as much for health insurance as I do for rent, and yet still have to worry that getting sick could make it completely unaffordable--or that it could be retroactively taken away if it turns out I made a mistake on my insurance application.
In the United States, health insurance is right up there with debt as a factor that forces people to to take jobs rather than do whatever work calls to them. I wrote a post about it called Not Free to Be Poor.
Correct on comment #21! A good deal is a good car at a fair price. If it is too good then there is surely something wrong with the car. Pay a few bucks more for a nice vehicle and you will surely be happy in the long run.
@ lvlln: The author never used the word "Communism" and I doubt he would advocate that. But never miss the opportunity to throw in a clever quote. Whatever.
@ Stacey Marcos: Very good points. It is not a simple thing we are discussing here and you grasp the complexity.
@ That Guy: Very intersting!
@ Philip: I had suspected that you are wise and this post (and your blog's name) proves it. I think it's deceptively brilliant and it follows my own philosophy, so that makes me brilliant too. ;-)
The reason some people can't understand what you just wrote is because they think it's conspiratorial. You don't need a conspiracy to create a crushing system. All it takes is "interest alignment" by the rich and powerful. It's the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules."
The Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggeman has an interesting interpretation of the Ten Commandments as a serious and viable alternative to this sort of wage and debt slavery; it's worth seeking out the DVD of his lecture on this - it applies in very human ways beyond any sort of religious fundamentalism (and in fact calls the notion of fundamentalism into question quite cleverly).
The gist of his reading is as follows:
1. God is not useful - that is, God will not co-sign human endeavors, including oppression and manipulation in God's name.
2. Taking one day out of the production/consumption routine is a powerful and subversive thing; it's also a healthy thing.
3. The guidelines following these (honoring parents, not coveting, etc.) are a framework for setting up a society that lives closely together and is interwoven but is not competitive or driven by easily-manipulated appetites.
The many alternatives--the many ways to live large on a small budget--are exactly what Wise Bread is all about.
My own take on it is that if I live cheaply enough, I can do choose whatever work I want (rather than having to choose whatever earns the most). You can take that to an extreme (the eking of which we both speak), but you don't have to--there's an awful lot of middle ground. I go on at some length on the strategies and tactics here: What I've Been Trying to Say.
GT0163C
I was on Ebay last night with the same question in my mind. For around $6 a piece, you stand to make a bit of cash on the deal.
I already have one's I already purchased long ago. But I would see no problem with someone else going the ebay route. I don't see much of an ethics problem. Sending in fake dvds, that would be unethical.
They are very connected for me. I try my best to be mindful of purchases during those times - I don't mind paying for convenience but I want to make sure that I pay attention and really need or want what I am buying.
Though the ideal of everyone doing what they enjoy is wonderful in concept, it would be the downfall of organized society. There will always be ditches to dig or garbage to pick up. These jobs need to get done. But people being people, there will always be someone forced to do it.
I agree debt slavery is wrong. It is an artifact of an optimistic society that perpetually sees tomorrow as a better day. That mindless march toward consumerism carries a snappy beat that few can resist.
As you all know from the great articles on Wise Bread...
Living within your means is the key to unlocking one's shackles. Whether you are doing the job you love or the job you hate, how you spend that money is the deciding factor.
Unfortunately, there will always be those who decide to screw themselves time and time again. Those that choose the shackles. Then there are those who are forced into them. There is no getting around it. They will be digging the ditches.
You touch on an important point, health insurance and it's huge cost to those of us who want to be self-employed. I was a "wage slave" for many years because my family needed the health benefits! We would have happily paid for insurance, but were too afraid that the insurance would skyrocket all of a sudden or not be there when we needed it because self-employed insurance plans tend to be garbage.
Right now we are just doing COBRA from my old job, but I am scared of what we will do when that runs out, if we will even qualify for anything since my husband has high blood pressure. Getting decent health insurance is the one thing that can really throw a monkey wrench in the "escape the wage slave" plan.
And, BTW, I am not just some deadbeat trying to get a free ride off government. We pay about $1500 a month for insurance now, which is crazy but that's a story for another day. I just want to know that when I need to make a claim, I am not going to be denied for some scam reason.
After having lost my job, I am struggling with getting another job like the one I had (at a lower salary) which I hated and finding something I like which would require me to sell my house and live somewhere a lot cheaper. When I was working I had no time to do the things I wanted and thought I might do them once I retire. Now that I am not working I am enjoying doing those things I have been putting off, and even regretting not doing some of them when I was a bit younger. I am not looking forward to working again, but realize that it is a necessity in order to afford to keep living. I actually hate that everyone assumes I want a job that will make me once again a slave to the corporate machine.
It is so true. We figured out a while ago that it was still worth it to be frugal even though we make good money. My husband makes about $150k a year (and I am not bragging about it, since we are anonymous!) but we live like we make about half that. It is hard for people to understand sometimes, I am sure that others think his business doesn't do well since we don't dress fancy or have cool cars, but we have a lot of peace. And, I was able to recently quit my well paying (but very unfulfilling) office job to stay home with my kids, which in this economy is almost a revolutionary act!
It is the most freeing feeling in the world not to panic when he doesn't get work for a while, or if something breaks down in the house to just be able to pay for it and fix it!
I understand not everyone makes a ton of money, but many of us can live below our means. I grew up on my widowed parent's social security checks, so I know what it's like to live with little. If you make $50k, you can live like you make $40k. You just have to be brave enough to not worry about what others think about how successful you look.
If you go out, you see advertising telling you how to fell, what to do, etc.
When you were a kid, nobody ever told you how to be happy, yet you most likely were, because you lived in the moment, and you have small quantity of external stimulus.
Now it is different, and when you start acting upon the external stimulus, you forget the internal part, and when you remember it, then you stress out...
So, stop the external stimulus, and act on your internal mind, which very likely will tell you that family and friends are the important part of your life... Everything else can be obtained thru faith in the universe. Someone will help you, someone will tell you the right direction to solve some of your problems, someone will remind you of your inner child, and when that happens, you will feel complete and things will flow your way...
Easily said and while I agree with it 100%, I'm afraid my life has proven otherwise! I quit a job to do what I loved - and love, love, love it, I did! Self employment is another type of struggle and when I finally pulled the plug 15 years later, I had accumulated about $12k in debt from the months when I survived with no income. I self financed the biz but single, no husband to bail me out and pay the mortgage, exorbitant health insurance... what else was supposed to happen when clients were no where to be found or they had money snafus and couldn't pay? I got a job with the sole intent of deleting my debt, the plan was to be out of debt in 2-3 years. Then I could be free to do something new and adventurous. Great idea, at first, til that job laid me off. I lived on fumes for months, collecting unemployment but am proud that I didn't use my credit cards. Then I got another job. Worked for 11 months and continued paying on the debts at the rate of $800 per month. Made such good $$ and lived so frugally that I also put $5k in the bank for emergencies. And got laid off from that one this past winter. Thing is, now, despite my 15 years of biz ownership and vast experience, i don't have a degree so I'm getting nowhere in this job search. Its an easy and obvious filter and employers are using it. So, after 9 months of unemployment (and still not touching the cc, though half my emergency fund is gone), I realized I had no choice but to go to school and get the $%$#^%! piece of paper that is required for nearly every job I apply for.
So, here I am TRYING LIKE HELL to get out of debt but life, and this economy, see it another way. I'm about to accumulate more debt. Granted, I'm doing a state uni route, getting as much credit as I can for work experience, and going after every cent of grant and scholarship money I can - but since unemployment is about to run out, what AM I going to live on in the meantime? Enter more debt. It sucks. It blows. I'm the case study for living frugally, living simply, following your dreams and getting out of debt and so it goes.
I completely agree with the article, however I've never heard a good alternative to becoming a "debt slave". The fact of the matter is that stuff costs money and we have to work to get money. I can see a single person living in a crappy apartment working for a while to save up enough to not work for a few months and travel or do whatever, but eventually, the money is going to run out. A person could buy some land, grow their own food and be farily self-sufficient, but you need money to buy the land in the first place. The only real alternative I can think of is working part time or for a non-profit or something and eek out a meager existance. If you're happy with that lifestyle, good for you. To me it always seems like a choice between work a crappy job and have money to have fun outside of it or have a great job (or no job) but have no money to have fun outside of it.
When I am stressed I try to avoid temptations to spend money needlessly. My husband and I also have an "allowance" that we are free to spend on ourselves however we choose each month. This helps with feeling like the other one is spending too much on personal stuff and it also means that if I want to buy a new outfit to help my stress level I know whether I can fit it into my allowance or not.
This is really interesting. I've heard something similar regarding the military, which is make sure kids in lower economic groups aren't able to get a decent education so they don't have many choices when it comes time to look for work, therefore they join the military out of desperation.
I've never thought about applying this to our economy. But it does make sense in a way. Society does seem to push the idea of getting a college education, own a home, having a family as the ideal.
Funny though in Japan and some other countries having debt isn't as common, yet they also get stuck in the same rut. There it's everyone needs to live in Tokyo to have a good job, property is extremely expensive yet it's considered a good thing to own, and sending your kids to the best schools is extremely desirable.
It's hard to break out of those social "norms". Maybe showing more people who are successful without following them is one way.
And yes, "ordinary" people do seem to push them, often without knowing it. Kind of creepy.
In our house, before we buy anything, we'll always look about to see if we have anything that would do the job.
Some of our creative discoveries have been...
curtain rods made from copper pipe--left-over from a plumbing repair (also PVC);
broken wine glasses became planters in the garden or window box (the broken stems were firmly pushed into the ground, cups planted with herbs);
sprouted onions and ginger root transform into fresh chives for use in salads, soups and other recipes (you can use the broken wine glasses as bulb vases -- as mentioned above);
Discarded garments became fabric ribbons and gift bags. These are used in lieu of paper for holiday gift-giving (washed and pressed beforehand) and used from year-to-year.
~~~~~~~
The cultural shift that seems to be occurring is lovely to behold and quite freeing. Frugality is fun! It also holds the (sometimes hidden) power to inspire creativity, knowledge and appreciation for what we have.
Thanks so much for the great topic and for all the inspiring ideas that have been shared!
As an unemployment support network we're very grateful for the tips -- thanks so much!
-GD
The 405 Club: $405/week for unemployment, but rich in talent!
http://the405club.com
Hulu already took down all but the first 5 episodes of Firefly. I'm not sure which betrayal is worse.
A written spending plan or spreadsheet keeps the urge to spend at bay. If I stay with the pre-determined "plan"; it takes away the stress. (especially for Christmas Shopping)
@ Guest:
It's hard to get by without a job--society just about assumes that everyone has one. A willingness to work helps (lots of people find work that isn't tied to a job). A willingness to live at a very low standard of living helps. Having some capital helps a lot.
Still, I think you've got it exactly right--I'm talking about people not being tied to a job, not suggesting that they shouldn't have one. There are plenty of good jobs out there. There are jobs where the work is interesting, jobs where the work is important, jobs where the work helps people. A job where the work is challenging enough to be interesting but not so hard as to be frustrating (or at least, not frustrating all the time) can be great. I just want people to be able to choose one like that, rather than having to choose the one that pays the most. And I want people to be free to quit a job, rather than feeling like they're forced to tough it out because they fear poverty (or losing their insurance) more than they hate their job.
Still, some people can't tolerate regular jobs--and some people who'd very much like one can't find one. I wrote a 4-part series on getting by without a job. It starts here: Getting By Without a Job, part 1--losing a job.
Thanks for the tips. People tend to forget that not all nutrients are available to the body. In fact, some nutrients reduce the bioavailability of other nutrients.
@Philip
Thanks for the additional info and links. I guess I misunderstood, thinking that you were saying all debt makes us a slave to debt. Debt well within our financial means does not makes us slaves to it. I'm new to the site and look forward to learning as much as I can!
Like others who have posted here, I tried many times over many years to live a minimalist lifestyle that allowed me not to be tied to a job. Not many people can make it work. I have a friend who has always lived this way, and recently had to tell her as gently as I could that constantly begging money from her (ever-dwindling list of) friends is not okay. It's a beautiful dream -- live simple and free. I wish it were obtainable for more people.
@ Stacey Marcos:
There's nothing wrong with digging ditches or picking up garbage. It's work that's worth doing. Like any work that's worth doing, there will be some people who want to do some amount of it. If some people think we need more such work done than there are people really want to do, they always have the option to raise the wages high enough to draw in more people.
And, yes, to a great extent the debt slave/wage slave trap is one that people choose for themselves. I don't want to say that people shouldn't have that choice. I merely object to the way it's taken as a given in today's society.
I want to educate people about the alternatives, so they can at least consider other choices. I'd also like to encourage anyone responable for advising young folks to make sure that the alternatives are presented as valid choices. I don't think your average 17-year-old is making a fully informed decision when he or she signs up to pay back tens of thousands of dollars of student loans.
That's the reason I think writing for Wise Bread is work worth doing.
@Jay:
Believe me, I understand perfectly. I pay very nearly as much for health insurance as I do for rent, and yet still have to worry that getting sick could make it completely unaffordable--or that it could be retroactively taken away if it turns out I made a mistake on my insurance application.
In the United States, health insurance is right up there with debt as a factor that forces people to to take jobs rather than do whatever work calls to them. I wrote a post about it called Not Free to Be Poor.
Correct on comment #21! A good deal is a good car at a fair price. If it is too good then there is surely something wrong with the car. Pay a few bucks more for a nice vehicle and you will surely be happy in the long run.
@ lvlln: The author never used the word "Communism" and I doubt he would advocate that. But never miss the opportunity to throw in a clever quote. Whatever.
@ Stacey Marcos: Very good points. It is not a simple thing we are discussing here and you grasp the complexity.
@ That Guy: Very intersting!
@ Philip: I had suspected that you are wise and this post (and your blog's name) proves it. I think it's deceptively brilliant and it follows my own philosophy, so that makes me brilliant too. ;-)
The reason some people can't understand what you just wrote is because they think it's conspiratorial. You don't need a conspiracy to create a crushing system. All it takes is "interest alignment" by the rich and powerful. It's the golden rule: He who has the gold makes the rules."
The Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggeman has an interesting interpretation of the Ten Commandments as a serious and viable alternative to this sort of wage and debt slavery; it's worth seeking out the DVD of his lecture on this - it applies in very human ways beyond any sort of religious fundamentalism (and in fact calls the notion of fundamentalism into question quite cleverly).
The gist of his reading is as follows:
1. God is not useful - that is, God will not co-sign human endeavors, including oppression and manipulation in God's name.
2. Taking one day out of the production/consumption routine is a powerful and subversive thing; it's also a healthy thing.
3. The guidelines following these (honoring parents, not coveting, etc.) are a framework for setting up a society that lives closely together and is interwoven but is not competitive or driven by easily-manipulated appetites.
@Nate:
The many alternatives--the many ways to live large on a small budget--are exactly what Wise Bread is all about.
My own take on it is that if I live cheaply enough, I can do choose whatever work I want (rather than having to choose whatever earns the most). You can take that to an extreme (the eking of which we both speak), but you don't have to--there's an awful lot of middle ground. I go on at some length on the strategies and tactics here: What I've Been Trying to Say.
And, since you mention self-suffiency, you might be interested in this post as well: Self-sufficiency, Self-reliance, and freedom.
GT0163C
I was on Ebay last night with the same question in my mind. For around $6 a piece, you stand to make a bit of cash on the deal.
I already have one's I already purchased long ago. But I would see no problem with someone else going the ebay route. I don't see much of an ethics problem. Sending in fake dvds, that would be unethical.
They are very connected for me. I try my best to be mindful of purchases during those times - I don't mind paying for convenience but I want to make sure that I pay attention and really need or want what I am buying.
Though the ideal of everyone doing what they enjoy is wonderful in concept, it would be the downfall of organized society. There will always be ditches to dig or garbage to pick up. These jobs need to get done. But people being people, there will always be someone forced to do it.
I agree debt slavery is wrong. It is an artifact of an optimistic society that perpetually sees tomorrow as a better day. That mindless march toward consumerism carries a snappy beat that few can resist.
As you all know from the great articles on Wise Bread...
Living within your means is the key to unlocking one's shackles. Whether you are doing the job you love or the job you hate, how you spend that money is the deciding factor.
Unfortunately, there will always be those who decide to screw themselves time and time again. Those that choose the shackles. Then there are those who are forced into them. There is no getting around it. They will be digging the ditches.
You touch on an important point, health insurance and it's huge cost to those of us who want to be self-employed. I was a "wage slave" for many years because my family needed the health benefits! We would have happily paid for insurance, but were too afraid that the insurance would skyrocket all of a sudden or not be there when we needed it because self-employed insurance plans tend to be garbage.
Right now we are just doing COBRA from my old job, but I am scared of what we will do when that runs out, if we will even qualify for anything since my husband has high blood pressure. Getting decent health insurance is the one thing that can really throw a monkey wrench in the "escape the wage slave" plan.
And, BTW, I am not just some deadbeat trying to get a free ride off government. We pay about $1500 a month for insurance now, which is crazy but that's a story for another day. I just want to know that when I need to make a claim, I am not going to be denied for some scam reason.
After having lost my job, I am struggling with getting another job like the one I had (at a lower salary) which I hated and finding something I like which would require me to sell my house and live somewhere a lot cheaper. When I was working I had no time to do the things I wanted and thought I might do them once I retire. Now that I am not working I am enjoying doing those things I have been putting off, and even regretting not doing some of them when I was a bit younger. I am not looking forward to working again, but realize that it is a necessity in order to afford to keep living. I actually hate that everyone assumes I want a job that will make me once again a slave to the corporate machine.
It is so true. We figured out a while ago that it was still worth it to be frugal even though we make good money. My husband makes about $150k a year (and I am not bragging about it, since we are anonymous!) but we live like we make about half that. It is hard for people to understand sometimes, I am sure that others think his business doesn't do well since we don't dress fancy or have cool cars, but we have a lot of peace. And, I was able to recently quit my well paying (but very unfulfilling) office job to stay home with my kids, which in this economy is almost a revolutionary act!
It is the most freeing feeling in the world not to panic when he doesn't get work for a while, or if something breaks down in the house to just be able to pay for it and fix it!
I understand not everyone makes a ton of money, but many of us can live below our means. I grew up on my widowed parent's social security checks, so I know what it's like to live with little. If you make $50k, you can live like you make $40k. You just have to be brave enough to not worry about what others think about how successful you look.
If you go out, you see advertising telling you how to fell, what to do, etc.
When you were a kid, nobody ever told you how to be happy, yet you most likely were, because you lived in the moment, and you have small quantity of external stimulus.
Now it is different, and when you start acting upon the external stimulus, you forget the internal part, and when you remember it, then you stress out...
So, stop the external stimulus, and act on your internal mind, which very likely will tell you that family and friends are the important part of your life... Everything else can be obtained thru faith in the universe. Someone will help you, someone will tell you the right direction to solve some of your problems, someone will remind you of your inner child, and when that happens, you will feel complete and things will flow your way...
Easily said and while I agree with it 100%, I'm afraid my life has proven otherwise! I quit a job to do what I loved - and love, love, love it, I did! Self employment is another type of struggle and when I finally pulled the plug 15 years later, I had accumulated about $12k in debt from the months when I survived with no income. I self financed the biz but single, no husband to bail me out and pay the mortgage, exorbitant health insurance... what else was supposed to happen when clients were no where to be found or they had money snafus and couldn't pay? I got a job with the sole intent of deleting my debt, the plan was to be out of debt in 2-3 years. Then I could be free to do something new and adventurous. Great idea, at first, til that job laid me off. I lived on fumes for months, collecting unemployment but am proud that I didn't use my credit cards. Then I got another job. Worked for 11 months and continued paying on the debts at the rate of $800 per month. Made such good $$ and lived so frugally that I also put $5k in the bank for emergencies. And got laid off from that one this past winter. Thing is, now, despite my 15 years of biz ownership and vast experience, i don't have a degree so I'm getting nowhere in this job search. Its an easy and obvious filter and employers are using it. So, after 9 months of unemployment (and still not touching the cc, though half my emergency fund is gone), I realized I had no choice but to go to school and get the $%$#^%! piece of paper that is required for nearly every job I apply for.
So, here I am TRYING LIKE HELL to get out of debt but life, and this economy, see it another way. I'm about to accumulate more debt. Granted, I'm doing a state uni route, getting as much credit as I can for work experience, and going after every cent of grant and scholarship money I can - but since unemployment is about to run out, what AM I going to live on in the meantime? Enter more debt. It sucks. It blows. I'm the case study for living frugally, living simply, following your dreams and getting out of debt and so it goes.
You tell me... what is the answer?
I completely agree with the article, however I've never heard a good alternative to becoming a "debt slave". The fact of the matter is that stuff costs money and we have to work to get money. I can see a single person living in a crappy apartment working for a while to save up enough to not work for a few months and travel or do whatever, but eventually, the money is going to run out. A person could buy some land, grow their own food and be farily self-sufficient, but you need money to buy the land in the first place. The only real alternative I can think of is working part time or for a non-profit or something and eek out a meager existance. If you're happy with that lifestyle, good for you. To me it always seems like a choice between work a crappy job and have money to have fun outside of it or have a great job (or no job) but have no money to have fun outside of it.
When I am stressed I try to avoid temptations to spend money needlessly. My husband and I also have an "allowance" that we are free to spend on ourselves however we choose each month. This helps with feeling like the other one is spending too much on personal stuff and it also means that if I want to buy a new outfit to help my stress level I know whether I can fit it into my allowance or not.
This is really interesting. I've heard something similar regarding the military, which is make sure kids in lower economic groups aren't able to get a decent education so they don't have many choices when it comes time to look for work, therefore they join the military out of desperation.
I've never thought about applying this to our economy. But it does make sense in a way. Society does seem to push the idea of getting a college education, own a home, having a family as the ideal.
Funny though in Japan and some other countries having debt isn't as common, yet they also get stuck in the same rut. There it's everyone needs to live in Tokyo to have a good job, property is extremely expensive yet it's considered a good thing to own, and sending your kids to the best schools is extremely desirable.
It's hard to break out of those social "norms". Maybe showing more people who are successful without following them is one way.
And yes, "ordinary" people do seem to push them, often without knowing it. Kind of creepy.
Great tips and suggestions!
In our house, before we buy anything, we'll always look about to see if we have anything that would do the job.
Some of our creative discoveries have been...
curtain rods made from copper pipe--left-over from a plumbing repair (also PVC);
broken wine glasses became planters in the garden or window box (the broken stems were firmly pushed into the ground, cups planted with herbs);
sprouted onions and ginger root transform into fresh chives for use in salads, soups and other recipes (you can use the broken wine glasses as bulb vases -- as mentioned above);
Discarded garments became fabric ribbons and gift bags. These are used in lieu of paper for holiday gift-giving (washed and pressed beforehand) and used from year-to-year.
~~~~~~~
The cultural shift that seems to be occurring is lovely to behold and quite freeing. Frugality is fun! It also holds the (sometimes hidden) power to inspire creativity, knowledge and appreciation for what we have.
Thanks so much for the great topic and for all the inspiring ideas that have been shared!
Warmly,
Tracey McBride