How to Make Due with What You Have

Of no fault of our own, we live in a very “disposable” society. Everywhere you look, there are ads and commercials wanting you to spend your hard-earned money on the newest (and according to them, best) products out there. But when you are on a limited budget, trying to get out of debt, or just living a more simplified lifestyle, the best rule of thumb is to Make Due; Don’t Buy New!

Think of all the things you already own. I’m sure if you look around and take an honest inventory of what you have in your home you’ll see that you really are doing better than you thought.

Keeping Up With the Jones’

If you compare yourself to the ideal family according to television, you will inevitably fall short. There is absolutely no way that your home is going to be exactly like those you see on your favorite television shows. Even the worst houses on TV are not lived in. Think about it.

If you cleaned your home once, and then NO ONE was ever in it, yep, it’d be television worthy too. Or if you had a housekeeper, maid, production staff, assistants….

Need I say more?

Make Due; Don’t Buy New

How to made due instead of buying new to save your budget and your sanity in your homemaking endeavors.

So what exactly does this wonderful mantra of mine mean?

Let me tell you the story of my two washing machines and the “Making Due” mentality that we use in our home.

Once upon a time, we purchased a washing machine. I couldn’t tell you why we bought the first one. I am assuming out of necessity, or my hubby bought it before me, or something similar. But said washer was in my laundry room. (Check out my Laundry Room update here.)

One day, mid-load, washer full of water, it ceased to function. Just stopped. No warning, no heads up, no conversation with me about how it had aches and pains and was ready to give up. He just decided he was done with his life. (Maybe it was appliance suicide. IDK.)

Gratitude for Wonderful Friends

I posted on Facebook my ~~mourning~~ frustration at the loss of my washing machine. I actually like to complain on FB (who doesn’t?) but at the same time, most of my friends are extremely helpful in these situations.

Case in point: a friend of mine had a washing machine in storage that she was happy to part with for FREE!!

She warned me it had been sitting there for a few years unused and it would need a good once over and cleaning in order for it to work But I figured it had to be better than the non-functional washing machine I was currently dealing with.

So we met her at the storage facility and loaded her up.

Stupid Locking Lids!

We get the washer home and start prepping it and low and behold the lid locking function would not let go for the life of us.

Now, if you have one of these machines (top-loader, no agitator, the lid must lock in order to cycle) you know how UGH we all felt. So we sat and thought and tried everything we could in order to get the darned thing functional again.

We Broke the Latch sigh

Ok. Now what? Thank goodness I have been in manufacturing for 20 years- appliances at that. Add in that my hubby is very handy with making things work and wiring and all that jazz.

We worked through what aspect of the console required what in order to not only latch to run, but to unlatch in order to be able to remove our clothes.

Enter a toggle switch.

When I run the washer now, I have to flip a switch in a specific way to fool the washing machine ~~brain~~ console into believing it’s locked. Maybe it’s not the most ideal situation. I have no problems with it. Teaching other people how to cope is fun. Honestly, I like being able to mess with them that the washer is smarter than they are.

Need help repairing an appliance on your own? Make sure you check out Repair Clinic to see how to save tons of money being your own repair person!

Making Due

Most of how we function in our daily lives here in my house is dependent upon this wonderful mantra of mine.

I am sure that if you think about what you have now and what you are thinking about purchasing you can find ways to save yourself money by following this mantra also.

Make Due; Don’t Buy New

Another way to look at this is by thinking back to how our grandparents lived. They may have purchased a brand new car back in the day but took very good care of it. It was treated with the utmost respect. Large-ticket items were not viewed as disposable. They knew that spending that money was in investment. They had to work very hard to be able to purchase this new car. By gum, it was going to last!

And this mentality is why collectors today have so much fun with vintage cars. You hear stories all the time about 1950’s cars being found in barns with only 10,000 miles on them.

Take care of what you have now instead of running out tomorrow and wasting money you do not need to.

Change your mindset to Make Due. You really do not need to buy new so often.