Our Thrifty Fun

We at LWA have been in “moving mode” for a month or so now.

oh there’s a lot that we want to write about on our “moving from the suburbs to the city experience”:
change-growth-home-challenge-creativity-people-diversity-needs-letting go-working hard…….

but for today I just wanted to share some of our “thrifty fun” ideas.

Whether rich or poor, we are committed to using monies wisely, trying to recycle, repurpose, DIY, work hard with our own hands and live on less. This takes us a wonderful world of creative and collaborative people, which is super inspiring. For me it feels “healthy” and somehow “right”. I even discover more creativity inside of my own self when in this space.

In the past month we have:

-taken our old poker table..and made it into Spencer’s desk, using only a saw, screwdriver, strong arms and our secret tool: industrial velcro !

-took an old piece of barnwood that we found and made it into a table with: sandpaper, wipe on polyurethane, random pieces of .25 cent wood from ikea’s clearance section, hairpin legs from hairpinlegs.com, power driver and secret tool: gorilla glue.

-painted and painted with $1.00 quarts and $5.00 gallons of “oops” paint from home depot. If you ever visit, I hope you like my red front door and green back door.

–still working on making our tree stump into a side table, a handy item that will hold memories of the teen boys learning to split wood.

–also in the works is Spencer’s office “think wall” painted with dry erase paint. will be cool.

We buy everything off of craig’s list. we meet some great people there. yes, there are always scammers to sift through, but after that wall we find good people working hard to make a home, just like us. often, helping people requires a long reach, stretch or bend. to stretch our self for the sake of another is good for us too.

most of our own stuff we give away or large items sell at a deal. working with so many folks in need keeps us in a cycle of giving which never ceases to melt and mold my heart. we have watched so many people take what was “garbage” and gratefully and creatively make it new.

one mom took these super large quilted brightly colored furniture pads and made them into bed spreads for her kids in her trailer home, a bag of tshirts she took to make into bedding and pillow cases. a dad who lost his job took our work lights to do car repair at night for extra money. his wife took all of our books and vhs tapes to help herself learn english, her son joyfully took our old golf clubs to teach himself the sport, her daughters took my old yarn, jewelry and stationery. we learned that the stuff no one wants can be recycled. scrap metal folks work super hard collecting old appliances and metals for a few bucks.

…….go, give something sitting in your storage away to another……..

smiles give more than money ever can.

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yesterday my son and i got our hair cut from salon students for free, and gave a good tip of course; we are thrifty but not cheap. serving me are people working hard to learn a trade. salonapprentice.com is a place where students who are offering services while learning place ads. craigs list has some too. big cities do better than rural areas. we are located in chicago…hair student heavan.

afterwards we picked up a 400.00 Crate and Barrel like new desk for 100.00 from a helpful and charming couple who are moving to Spain.

chicago is rich in stores to help with thrifty finds, here are a tiny few:

if you like anthropolgie’s cool vintage jewelry, but not the price tag or would rather recycle check out : VINTAGE UNDERGROUND in chicago’s wicker park on north avenue. 10.00 vintage jewelry heavan. i took super cool clip on earrings ($6.00, picture above) and converted them to a french wire for pierced ears…with pliers, french wires from old earrings and in just ten seconds was done. Fun staff working the floor. They also had old globes, old typewriters, books, shoes, hats, mirrors, hanging lamps and more.

PANDORA’S BOX in wilmette, illinois (just north of the city) was super fun. Searching for a vintage picture frame with my son, we found this charming old house / shop/ filled with vintage books, tables, rugs, mirrors, candle holders, lamps, pictures, chairs, shelves and odds and ends. Super creative and fun owner added much joy to our time at Pandora’s Box. We found a cool frame for his cool old map of france and a cool book. Think he is going back to get the 20.00 old wooden pink chair.

After Pandora’s we stopped by ROOST in Chicago’s Andersonville on Clark street. Super cool vintage for home and kitchen stuff fills the place. Jake got a butter knifes, a yellow stripe short sleeve sweater and a cool book. Roost has lots of old kitchenware, chairs, industrial tables, globes, typewriters and a lot of science lab stuff like glass beakers to repurpose as vases and whatever. They made cool hanging lampshades from old baskets and necklaces from string and nuts ( hex nuts, like nuts and bolts). Cool, creative owner……..of course.

um, go next door and get a ham sandwich. if your not hungry… get one for later or for your friend.

The real fun part of our thrifty days comes with the thoughts shared in conversation sparked by the people we met or the atmosphere they created. Over just 2 days my sons and i talked about: lifes needs and wants, college and studies, living with moderation, personal- local and global change, blessings, how much money makes life good or bad, managing money, valuing people, taking notice of people, becoming your own self, balancing personal strengths, the bible as literature and in differing perspectives, teaching others…and more. together we worked at moving stuff and making stuff for our new home. we ate new foods and met new nice people as well as crabby people. i was encouraged and learned a lot just by observing my sons and others, in actions where no words were spoken.

every moment every person can create

I am inspired by creative people and challenged by my own kids in the midst of the challenges brought to me by my thrifty moving days.

Tags: change, growth, moving, people, thrift