Being A Packrat Pays Off

I am not a immaculate homemaker. We don't have corn growing in the dust in the corners of the house, but we also have 7 pets, so some days it's a total wash as I chase hairballs around, and clean up cat vomit. We need to replace our living room furniture, as our baby kitties endlessly 'christened' it, and we can't seem to get it cleaned. Needless to say, I don't judge others for their housekeeping skills, or lack thereof.

Clutter drives me bat crap crazy, but I do have my stacks lying around. Sometimes it's nothing more than garbage that needed to be recycled a looooong time ago, but other stacks are necessary (FAFSA prep for Claire is staring me in the face. KNOCK THAT OFF!).

And then, there's my blessed hubby's stacks. And stacks. And STACKS.

We have a full garage and basement. Michael never throws anything away if he doesn't have to. While I'm not enamored of the heaps, I have been shown time and time again that keeping things can pay off big sometimes.

Case in point: I gave Michael a new, large crockpot for Christmas. Earlier this week, I accidently knocked the lid off the counter, and shattered the plastic knob. Boy, was I steamed. Crockpot replacement lids can often run as much $$$ as a crockpot!

Michael came downstairs to see what all the hollering and stomping around was about. Immediately a plan started forming in his brain. He ran out to his workbench in the garage, and came back with an extra kitchen knob, from when we remodeled the kitchen years ago. I had no idea we had extras!

He brought the knob to work, bored out the hole, scavanged up the necessary inner workings, and VOILA! A crockpot lid that once again functions in it's intended role. All for free, thanks to a resourceful husband who is handier than anything. And, never throws anything away.

By the way, I was warned that, if I dropped the lid THIS time, the heavy replacement knob would shatter the lid. In other words, be careful, wife!

In closing, I need to issue a disclaimer over yesterday's 'haircare' addition of the blog. Our mission statement is always to show folks how to do it for less, NOT to give the impression that we have it all together and are all that. We know we aren't the be all end all last word in thrift. We just want to share our experiences :)