Today’s challenging economic times (read: recession) have provided a lot of us with a much needed wake-up call in terms of living within our means. I personally know people that have proactively downsized their homes, sold-off their boats, motorcycles, extra cars, etc., all in efforts to give themselves a cushion should financial hardship hit– if it hasn’t hit already. Families are eating in more, packing school lunches for their kids, thrifting, and sharing hand-me-downs. In dual-income homes, folks are making hard life adjustments (out of necessity in a lot of cases) should one of them lose their job.
In short, we are re-learning (the hard way, in a lot of cases) the security and peace of mind that comes from frugality and just plain ol’ good sense. We all (definitely myself included) would benefit from learning to appreciate what we have, and not be constantly looking over our shoulder at who’s pulling up at the stoplight in a faster, better whatever. We have this sick need for immediate gratification, and are constantly allowing our homes, possessions and beliefs to be devalued by the influence of the media, advertising, peer pressure, etc, We need to put our big-girl panties on and find our confidence in who we are, what we believe, and what we stand for– not in our stuff. We can’t let our stuff define us, or we have no foundation or substance to our lives.
The Selvedge Yard 