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Being frugal probably started with my Scottish ancestors. I wasn't married long when I discovered that my husband's paychecks were much smaller in the winter. He drove through the Okanagan and brought me a lot of produce. I was canning before I was 20. A good size garden helped once we had children. I sewed most of their clothes as well as my own. One learns much by taking apart used garments to remake as other things. Worn sheets have good edges and make excellent pillow slips, crib sheets and tea towels.
When things were really rough for me, after the children were grown and my husband gone, I learned even more. My job hours were cut and I felt that house payments were vital. Laundromats are costly so I only took bedding to it, the rest I washed in the tub with a scrub board. You wouldn't believe how clean clothes get. I still do white socks sometimes. Everything was hung to dry, outside in summer and on a rack in winter.
When I became too ill to work at one point, I cancelled the TV cable and parked the car for most of a year. I loaded up on books in the summer at garage sales and traded with friends. So much better than going bankrupt and losing sleep over unpaid bills. We really must learn to stretch money and sometimes do without if we are to survive without a heavy debt load.
Siris from Northern Canada
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