Gonna get organized again

I have a quote stuck in my head but I can't remember where I heard it or read it.  The quote goes something like this..... When a person doesn't have time to get things done, they compensate by collecting the supplies instead.  I don't think it's an exact quote but close enough. 

For a frugal minded person this quote is troublesome.  Watching the shows "Hoarders" and "Hoarders, Buried Alive" doesn't help my thinking either.  If you haven't watched either of those shows you really should.  Some of the shows will gross you out with creepy crawlies and stinky gross stuff like mounds of adult diapers or science experiments all over the house.  There is some useful information on the shows if you take the time to really listen to the organizers and therapists ideas. 

Now about me.  I am a DIY, re purpose, discount bin buyer, craft maker, quilter, wanna be artist, type person.  I save things for DIY projects.  For example, instead of throwing this dish cloth away because it's starting to ravel apart,

I take it completely apart, save the string, and when I have time, I make the dish cloth again.  The only difference in remaking an old cloth and making a completely new dish cloth is the string.  I could buy more string IF I had the funds.  The frugal person in me says don't use money for string because the old string is still usable.  

Here's another example.  Plastic bags.

I fold them into plastic bag origami.  Later, when I have time, I plan to cut them into strips for plarn.  Plarn is plastic yarn.  In that pile of plarn I see several colorful rugs or table covers or something else useful.  I also have old vcr tapes and cassette tapes wound into balls of plarn ready to use.  The frugal person in me says don't pay hard earned money for rugs or table covers when I can make them myself for free.

Here's another example,

Cardboard.  Whenever I have time, I will use this cardboard in making my cardboard furniture.  Many of these pieces have already been marked with an outline for cutting the pieces just waiting for me to find the time to put it all together.  You might see just a pile of cardboard but I see a breakfast bar, a quilting thread cabinet, chairs for visitors to sit on,  a spice jar cabinet, lamps, desk.... etc.  The frugal minded person in me says why spend money I can't afford to spend on custom made furniture when I can make it myself almost free. 

I have a quilting fabric stash, machine quilting template and tool stash, artist paint/pencil/paper supply stash, left over t-shirt fabric for making undergarments stash,  fabric dyeing supplies stash, rug making fabric and plarn stash, food storage stash, etc.  Everything a frugal minded, DIY, crafter, quilter, rug maker, wanna be artist could possibly need.  You get the idea?

Anyone who has been reading my blogs for a while knows I've often talked about my house looking like a garage.  I don't have storage space anywhere.  No garage, no basement, no outside shed, no attic space for storing stuff.  Everything must find a home inside my house.

Add to the saving of stuff to be frugal is the fact I don't have a car.  It's not like I can wake up one morning and tell myself.... today I'm gonna make a cardboard cabinet;  get into the car to find what I need to make it; then throw away what's left over after it's finished.  OR wake up and say.... today I'm going to make a rugs; then get into the car to go buy scrap fabric and old vcr tapes at the thrift store.   OR wake up and say..... today I'm gonna make bras and underwear then go to a fabric store to buy fabrics. 

I get ideas for things to make then take weeks or months gathering the supplies to actually make them.  I plan purchases around discount bin shopping on the infrequent trips I chauffeur my SIL for her shopping day.  I put out a request for my friends to save things for me that I can use to make items I need or simply want to create.... like cardboard or upholstery samples or baby food containers.  I start gathering stuff months before I actually start making things from it. 

Then there is my working schedule.  Quilting gives me money to buy the things I cannot make myself.  If I don't quilt, I don't have money to buy food or pay for utilities.  Machine quilting is not something I can load a quilt on the machine then push a button for it to get done.  It takes ME sitting there moving the machine to earn a few dollars each day.  If I'm at the machine, I'm not creating the stuff I spent so many weeks and months gathering supplies for.  Pretty soon a room that was completely empty only 4 months ago now looks like this.

To be continued......