Well, maybe we've lost sight of the fact that clothes are fixable, even socks. A hem comes out of a shirt, the elastic of a skirt loses its stretch or a sock gets a hole and we right away think, "get rid of it" rather than, "I'll fix it".
Even as early as the 80's, I grew up with my mom putting patches on my jeans. Why? Well, we didn't have a lot of money and we certainly didn't live on credit like people do now, so we made do with what we had.
As we know, people in the 50's did not live far outside their means. Credit was really only handed out for mortgages, but the average home only cost $22,000 in 1955. We can blame dual incomes and credit cards for a lot of inflation, I'm sure, but one fact remains -- people lived far more comfortably when they didn't throw their money away.
My challenge to you is to get a sewing machine and learn the basics. Most machines now are already programmed with certain stitches in them. So, if you find a skirt is too long, hem it. If you see a small hole in a sock, underwear or shirt, fix it. If a button falls off, don't take it to the cleaners -- put the button on! Got a stuck zipper? Go to JoAnn Fabric (or a similar store) and buy a new zipper to put on. You need a new set of sheets for your child's bed? Hit that same store, get an adorable pattern and make them yourself. Your sheets are guaranteed to be made in the USA that way (assuming you're an American reader, of course). Reclaim the skills that made our grandmothers so handy. Learn to sew! Don't squander money on replacement items when the old one is just a thread away from being almost perfect.
Learn how to sew by hand and with the machine. You'd probably save an awful lot of money just fixing old clothes and creating your own new ones!
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