Homemade Gifts

When I first learned to knit, I did it because I simply wanted to know how.  My mother is a crocheter, from a long line of crocheters, so I've known how to do that since I was a child.  But knitting, now THAT was fancy.  I taught myself completely and totally by watching videos on this website.

Anyway, I'd had these crazy ideas of saving us money by knitting sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves, etc. instead of buying them.  Needless to say, I was disappointed to discover how much yarn costs.  Especially "good" yarn.  And not to mention all the accessories like knitting needles, cabling needles, stitch markers, and pattern books.  Holy crap.  Knitting for everyday, household or family use is NOT cost-effective.

So I took it up simply as a hobby.  Something I could do with whatever extra time I had, and whatever money here or there we could afford to waste on keeping me occupied.  I also discovered that sweaters take a LONG time to knit, and I just plain don't have the patience to make them.  So, I knitted about four billion dishcloths, hats, and scarves.  They got used, sure, but it wasn't very satisfying, and it certainly wasn't justifiable as far as the cost, so I pretty much stopped knitting.

Then Christmas came along, and we were broke, and I was sitting around with a ginormous stash of leftover yarn.  I decided to make winter hats for my parents as Christmas gifts.  It was time-consuming, but I knitted during my evening television time and in the mornings during the kids' schoolwork, and got 'er done.  The result?  Two beautiful, hand-knitted hats, for less than $20 worth of yarn.

That's when it occurred to me that knitting or crocheting a gift really IS a money-saver.  No, if I bought them hats, I wouldn't have spent as much as the yarn costs, BUT there's no way I'd just buy a hat for a gift and call it good.  Store-bought hats are cheap and I'd feel like a jerk if that was all I gave someone.  So, realistically, had I gone out and bought gifts for my parents, I could have spent tons of money on ... what?  Just stuff, mostly.  Stuff they may or may not use.  Stuff they likely don't really need to have.  But here was this hand-made item that they appreciated so much more than the store-bought equivalent, and more than any alternative store-bought stuff I may have purchased instead, AND it was actually useful to them.  Every time they wear that hat, they'll be thinking of how I made that especially for them, with hours and hours of my time.  The appreciation for the gift is satisfying to me, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty if I only spent 5 bucks on materials.  It really IS cost-effective to make homemade gifts, when compared to how much you'd spend on an average birthday or Christmas gift for a loved one.

If you know how to knit, or are planning to learn, here's a website full of free knitting patterns.
If you crochet, or are planning to learn, here's another one for crochet patterns.
If you don't know how to do either of those things, and have no intention to learn them whatsoever, here's one with gobs of other homemade gift ideas.

For Christmas and birthdays, consider a homemade gift.  It really does save money, and the time you spent making it means so much more to the recipient than the 10 minutes you'd spend buying them something at the mall.

Living with less...

Almost every day, I encounter people trying to live with less.  Less money to pay bills and put food on the table.  Less time to spend with family, cook, do home projects.  Less chemicals in their homes and bodies.  Less space to live in.  Less impact on the planet.  Rarely do we hear someone complaining about how difficult it is to adjust to having more.  Well, children, maybe.  Fleas.  Laundry.  The real struggle is trying to maintain a life you'd consider normal or acceptable, with less resources.

When I first started making a real effort to live on less money, it was out of complete necessity.  My husband had changed jobs to work for Voldemort (i.e. The Boss Who Shall Not Be Named), and suddenly we were struggling to feed a family of five, pay bills, and put gas in the car, on one paycheck of about $300/week.  It was bad.  It was really, really bad.  Unfortunately, the best advice I could find on shaving living expenses and cutting food costs amounted to:  Make coffee at home instead of buying Starbucks; Cancel the gym membership and buy an elliptical instead; Shop the sales at grocery stores; Cook at home instead of dining out...

DUH!  From my perspective, people who could afford daily Starbucks, gym memberships, and regular dinners at restaurants were RICH compared to me.  Why did they need help saving money, and were they really so stupid that they never considered cancelling their gym membership until a magazine article told them to?  Those articles were absolutely no help to me, and I'll bet there are a great many more people looking for frugal living options because they NEED them than the magazine editors could even imagine.

What I'm hoping to accomplish here is to offer REAL and PRACTICAL solutions for living with less.  I want the Random Reader to understand that I've fed my family from the Food Pantry and food stamps.  Before my husband left Voldemort, I'd shaved our family food budget to under $75/week.  We have a lot more wiggle room now (thank heavens), but I remain on a Quest for Less.  I want to share my hard-earned knowledge so others can avoid a lot of my own struggles, but I also want to learn from others.  I'll post my tips and thoughts, as well as anything great I happen upon elsewhere.  Please feel free to comment or email with your own ideas too.  While I don't believe you can never be too rich or too thin, I DO think you can never live with too little.  Well, love, maybe.  Air.  Chocolate...