Simplicity

A bit of internal turmoil for me, when it comes to repairing things. I was raised to place a fairly strong value on re-purposing reusing things, instead of throwing them away, or fixing them if they needed fixing. The struggle came when things accumulated because they needed to be fixed or modified so that they could be made useful again, and I lacked the time, skill or resources to finish the job. Eventually, especially if you're having to move from place to place, things can become like 'dead wood' on a tree, and end up just excess that brings decline to your quality of life. It became necessary for me to overcome the terrible guilt I felt every time I threw something away or gave up on it.

Then came my Contraptioneer. Raised with the same value, only much more committed to living by it, he patches his clothes, he glues anything and everything back together, he orders replacement parts for everything under the sun, he saves us so much money just by his simple way of maintaining things and getting all the use he can out of them.

I heard a speaker, yesterday, talking about the incredible wealth that can be built, simply by following the basic principle of never buying anything you can't pay for, using everything up completely and repairing things until they can be repaired no more. She described an Amish man who had saved over $400,000 dollars while raising 14 kids, just by following this principle. I've heard it before, so many times, but it really is a hard thing to do in an age when patches, duct tape and extra stitches are less than fashionable. It's also a challenge when it is just so much easier to pick up a new one than fix the one you have. But, really, it's kind of fun to look in a room and see this. It makes fixing things seem worth it. It makes swallowing the pride seem valuable. It makes my heart glad to be part of this amazing life we're living.

Yesterday, when he read John R Smith's journal about Candlemass, he suggested we should go to the Cottage to take down the Christmas Tree! Oh goodness, I had all but forgotten it was up! January was completely silent, no rentals. As much as I would have felt more secure having guests, it was truly a needed rest. We spent a few hours there this afternoon, and it felt great to get back in the groove.