Making Do With What You Have

Last year, back in hurricane season, my family's life changed a lot. No, we don't live on the coast. No, no one was uprooted, injured, or killed in my family as a result from a hurricane. We suffered a strange fate. Our town ran out of gasoline. There were lots of towns in the south that ran out of gasoline. If you remember the headlines from last year, there was a gas shortage because oil refineries in the gulf coast, were shut down numerous times because of hurricanes. The governor as well as the press was urging people to conserve what gasoline they had in their cars and to limit trips to only those that were necessary. Gas stations all over town started running out and those that had gas were being dishonest and spiking the prices.

Because of this shortage, the income that my family relies on was affected somewhat due to cut backs, shortages, and some businesses shutting down. For a long time, I knew that something scary was on the horizon. That "scary" thing was a worsening economy. Suddenly, we had to change our standard of living. Money was tighter and it was then, that I took it upon myself to tackle this challenge head on.

Since I am a stay at home mom, I had the means and the shear necessity, to put any plans that I came up with, into action. I did a lot of thinking. I did a lot of note taking. I did a lot of planning and I'm still working on my plans.

It's funny to me that major television networks are buzzing about surviving the economy by doing such things as "depression era" cooking. I laugh because I have been doing depression era cooking for some time. Does that mean I'm ahead of the game?

We don't go out to eat anymore (boo hoo- I miss Quiznos and Chick-fil-A- honestly). I practically live in the kitchen on some days. The only thing that gives me solace is knowing that the good Lord gave me the opportunity to provide for my family and to do my job to the best of my ability. I'm learning a lot about cooking. What I'm learning more about, is substituting one ingredient for another when I'm out. Often times, because we have sacrificed and became a one car family a few years back, I am stuck at home without the means of obtaining something when I run out. It's not exactly like I can call my hubby, who might be 60 miles away, and say, "run me home some salt please". Because of these things and much more, I have thought that it might be a good idea to share some of the crazy things that I do around my house from time to time. Who knows, maybe some little idea might help someone out there in cyberland.

So, every once and awhile, I'm going to feature a "Making Do With What You Have" Monday. Don't be afraid to let me know if you have some neat tip to add as well. I'm looking forward to starting this next week.

Now, if I can only come up with something funny to start with..... Oh yeah, I know just the thing, but you will have to wait until Monday to see it.