How This Blog Came To Be

My desk doesn't always look like this; sometimes it is worse. Yes, the chicken is real. Here briefly, is why I decided to do this. Like many, I am disgusted by the huge and widening global divide between rich and poor. It is especially disgusting because I am not one of the wealthy! But, at this point, I have years and years of experience getting by on very little. What kick started me into sharing some of what I have learned was an episode in my local Walmart. I went in to buy a spool of thread and, in the rural area where I live, the local Walmart is literally the only place within 50 miles I can do this. Another woman was standing by the thread display. I said,

"I only need a tiny bit of thread and I am exasperated that the only size spool available is this large one."

She said, "I wonder if you can help me with a problem?"

"I will if I can."

"What kind of needle and thread do I need to sew these squares together?" She indicated her shopping cars which container several 18 inch squares that looked like some form of jute matting. "I need to sew these together to make small rugs for specific areas of my place."

"I'm an ex-librarian and I have a cone of bookbinding linen thread at home that I use, but they used to make a heavy button and craft thread. Aha! here it is. Look at it; it is much heavier than ordinary sewing thread."

"I will buy a spool."

"Check the spool yardage; you may need more than one." The measurement was a very stingy 50 yards. I recommended she buy all they had in the color she needed, which was three spools. She then wanted advice as to needles and we settled on a package of oversized darners and a package of tapestry needles.

"You need something with a large enough eye to take that heavy thread."

She thanked me, introduced herself, asked my name, and we each went our separate ways. She made my day; most of us are happy to help a neighbor if we can.

I am 78. I have been keeping house since I was 18. I have been sewing since I was 16. I have been knitting since I was 20. And, for the past 15 years I have been trying to keep my household afloat as a retiree with constantly eroding buying power. Most of us are in the same boat, but that is cold comfort. If I say so myself, I am pretty good at it, although I do recognize that one reaches a point at which ingenuity is no help and what is needed is simply more dollars.

Apart from making a monthly donation to ACLU there is not much I can do about global warming or the mess in Washington. But I can share what I know in the hopes that it will be useful to someone else out there struggling with the same problem--how to make one dollar do the work of four.

George and I could not have remained independent as long as we have except for two things: we are fortunate that we are both still healthy and active and we decided ten years ago to move to rural Arkansas which does have a very low cost of living. But I am now downsizing and packing up and will be living, at least for a time, with a daughter and her family in another state. We need to caucus and see if we can jointly come up with a plan so that we do not occupy her spare room indefinitely.