We are living in a very difficult time, where the general cost of living is soaring, heating bills are rising beyond expectations, petrol costs remain high, food prices are escalating and interest rates on loans are continuing to rise. Many ordinary families are struggling to make ends meet and are having to cut back on normal expenditure, purchasing second-hand clothes, cycling to work if possible, buying reduced food, near its sell by date, and repairing broken household items such as a dining room chair that’s got a wobbly leg, or having a TV aerial repair Stroud completed by a professional company such as steveunettaerials, which will save money on purchasing a new one. In the past, before the recent era of “Only New Will Do”, the old adage of “Make do and Mend” was very popular and many a Sunday afternoon was spent, sitting with a darning needle and thread repairing trousers with worn out knees, and mending wholly socks. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are the new mantras of today, not only about saving money but better for the environment and saving the planet too.
We are all having to be more careful with money and learn again how to be thrifty, as our parents and grandparents had to be throughout the War years and after. Knitting, sewing, crochet, cookery, woodwork are all simple crafts that were taught to children as a standard lesson in the past and now these old skills are being put into practise once again. We have in recent years been a culture of, if it’s broken, throw it away but now mending clothes and learning how to repair household items is back in fashion. Not only through necessity but because we now understand how we are harming our precious planet and how we need to cut down on disposing of rubbish and learn how to repair and mend again.
The older generation had no choice but to be practical and learn how to be hands on, they knew how to cook, mend, sew, repair simple objects and would “tinker” for hours at a time saving money by “Make Do and Mend ”. We can all learn these practical skills and save money and the planet by Reducing our waste, Re-using worn out appliances and, Recycling things that can’t be mended into other practical uses.
