He thought it might be ’some sort of twill’. Several of us recognized immediately that what he had was not twill but I thought that perhaps a little bit of information on what twill is…and ain’t..might be useful.

The picture at the top is a twill that is probably the most accessible and well known to all of us – and that is denim. I put the pen in the picture to draw your attention to the twill weave effect, which goes diagonally on the goods. That picture was taken straight down the leg of an old pair of blue jeans, so although the ’straight of the grain’ is vertical, you can see that the twill effect runs diagonally.

The definition, per wiki: “Twill is a type of fabric woven with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs.It is made by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads and then under two or more warp threads and so on, with a “step” or offset between rows to create the characteristic diagonal pattern. Because of this structure, twills generally drape well. Examples of twill fabric are chino, drill, denim, gabardine, tweed and serge.” Twill

The one thing this definition does not mention (strangely enough) is that this structure does something else for fabrics: It makes them extremely “hard wearing”. Look at that list and what many times these fabrics are used for:
Chino: Men’s work pants and hot weather military uniforms.
Drill: Men’s work clothing where an element of protection is required; also used as coverings on items that have to take heat such as ironing board pads. Usually light colored or natural and all-cotton.
Denim: The original American work clothing: blue jeans. The original fabric came in a dual fiber form: the dark blue was cotton and the white or natural was actually wool. You can still get ‘wool denim’ clothing and fabrics from time to time and it is a fabric that the Australian Wool Board has promoted (for obvious reasons).
Gabardine: The number of various fibers that this material can be made from are legion, but it remains that this fabric is used for nicer levels of office clothing such as suits for men and women.
Serge: This fabric is not as popular in men’s suits as it once was but was considered very hard wearing; one weakness was that it had to be pressed from the back through a press cloth. The fibers in the weave are so numerous that pressing from the front caused shine.
Tweed: The best use of this form of twill is in outerwear as the fibers in the weave are relatively coarse.

So, what was the fabric that the blogger got? It certainly had a pattern of parallel ribs on it, but the direction was horizontal to the straight grain of the goods. I just made a skirt (thank you; I couldn’t find a navy pencil skirt in my size any place. I had to make one for myself) out of the same type of fabric, though mine is a mixture of cotton and silk. This weave is called “faille” and can be found in many different fibers. The ribs are more pronounced than in a twill (besides the direction being totally different) and this gives the fabric entirely different qualities in terms of draping, durability and so on. In general, it is seen as a dressier fabric than twills are and is generally not used in items such as pants, where durability in the seat and inner leg areas is a concern.

So, from a ‘bang for your buck’ aspect, what’s your best choice? Well, for rough outdoor work clothing, denim and drill can’t be beaten. For suits with slacks, gabardine is best (and even better if you get it in ‘worsted wool’ or a ‘worsted wool blend’ as the worsted processing produces fibers with a hard finish, which makes the fabric even more durable). For women’s suits and dresses, gabardine is a very good choice as gabardine (especially in lighter weights) has a very nice drape but will also tailor well. For outerwear, heavier gabardines and tweeds are very good choices. Remember – hold up the fabric in the item up to the light and move one hand up and down so that the light plays across the face of the fabric and you’ll be able to see the diagonal rib effect. That way, you’ll know you have a true twill.

This is one of those roads to Economic Hell — we invariably end up with a closet full of stuff that doesn’t go with anything else and spend too much time staring into it hoping for inspiration. And then, we get disgusted and send bags full of stuff to local charities, having wasted our money. A couple of years ago, this changed for me when I stumbled upon something called SWAP.

SWAP stands for ‘Sewing With A Plan’. For non-sewers, we can also substitute another ‘s’ word for sewing, “Shopping With a Plan”. Although the whole thing started with a series of articles in an Australian sewing magazine, “Stitches”, in North America, the person to be given primary credit for turning this rather homely idea into a movement is the former owner of a Canadian fabric store named Julie Timmel (who has since retired), who ran a series of SWAP contests which proved so popular that it’s taken on legs and life of its own and now resides with another group of people entirely. Here are the original two posts that Julie Timmel ran discussing the concept:

SWAP1
SWAP2

Now, I admit that I have never ever done a SWAP; what I did (and what turns this into something that even non-sewers can take advantage of in terms of wardrobe and spending management) was to take out everything in my closet, spread it out and starting putting things that went together..together. Things that did not go with anything else became…orphans and I had to decide if they were so special or could be made into such an important contributor to the wardrobe that I would keep them. Anything that did not make that cut got contributed to a community clothing closet.

At the top are two items that I fell in love with. The skirt is really more of a turquoise or teal color and the jacket is more lemon. Both of these were bought on the ‘bargain’, “I love the color”, ‘gotta have it” bases. The best I could do with the yellow jacket for a long time was to pair it with navy blue slacks or a skirt. I had nothing else that would go. The teal skirt eventually got paired with a summer-weight aqua/teal jacket that got worn to death. They never really felt as if they were ‘pulling their weight’ in the closet. I had an enormous number of pieces of black clothing (which is the fashion cop-out since you can dress with a blinding hangover and still get it right if everything in the closet is black – no challenge there) but wanted to put more color into my wardrobe. I don’t work in an especially formal office in any case and I really do like to have some fun with color – I have one of those complexions that just looks deathly in black and I feel I look healthier with some color going on.

So, I made the decision to move the wardrobe on an incremental basis away from black and more toward these colors. This is really where being able to sew helps tremendously because I can never, ever find exactly what I want in the stores. Either it is the right color but the wrong size; or the right shape and size and the colors are all wrong. Especially now with the internet, sewists can pretty much find whatever they are looking for, in whatever fiber they want it.

Partial solution in the photograph: I found some wonderful knit in a white/yellow/brown/turquoise, which I made into a top and matching skirt. Now, I had matches for the teal skirt and the yellow jacket and I could use the top and the skirt together as a dress or each piece independently (though when I do that, I wash both together so that if there is any fading, it happens to both simultaneously). I also found a brown velveteen jacket that I purchased. I recently had a family event to go to and decided to expand that collection by making a turquoise wool gabardine dress and a silk tweed jacket that has several different colors of brown, beige and turquoise in it. I also got enough of that tweed to make a matching skirt so that I have a nice suit that is not black. What is also not seen in this photograph is a tan twill jacket that I made so that I have a brown jacket for summer.

Where do I go from here with this collection? Well, I don’t go off and buy anything. I sat down with this and asked myself this: Do I need anything else for the spring/summer/fall that can be part of this? If I did, where would I go?

If I were going shopping, what I would do with this collection at this point for summer would be to be on the lookout (either thrifting or hard core bargain shopping, which right now is pretty productive) for a couple of pieces to do more work with that silk jacket – another dress or a skirt or nice pair of slacks in brown or tan. That is it. Now, I don’t know what’s in the stores now and whether or not I could even find a dress in beige or a summer weight fabric in turquoise and beiges can be ‘iffy’ since the beige in this jacket is rather more toward the tan end rather than the grey end of beige. If I were a shopper, what I would do is put this list on my trusty “Look for” 3×5 card in my wallet and when I found something in a good hardwearing fabric and made well, at a decent price, I’d get it. But, having that list written down would be how I would manage this – I would have no ‘need’ for anything else and would have my ‘hunting assignment’ already set out for me. No need to go looking at or for anything else. I think that removes a lot of temptation once you have written it down like that.

As a sewer, though, the world is my oyster. What I’d look for to complete this list would be stretch cotton twill in the right colors and make a dress and skirt to go with that jacket. I already have the matching fabric so there is my sewing schedule for the summer already made out for myself. What I’d then have for that jacket is this:

Jacket and turquoise wool dress – fall/winter
Jacket and beige dress – spring/summer/fall
Jacket and matching skirt – spring/summer/fall suit
Jacket and beige skirt – spring/summer/fall

If I choose the right beige, I will also be able to wear the skirt and the dress with the brown velveteen jacket. And I’ll be able to wear the white/yellow/brown/turquoise knit top with both skirts as well. And the dresses can be worn on their own.

Triple play.

(If you are interested in where Sewing With A Plan is going now, see “6th Annual SWAP Contest” at
Stitchers Guild )

Learn to do one thing really well. Make that a bunch of times…and then learn to make another thing really well and make THAT a bunch of times.

Example One: Men’s shirts. I make men’s shirts for the DH as an act of love (ok, I admit it), but also because he has a sort of shoebox shaped body and the tails are just not long enough. Men’s shirts, from a sewing and design aspect are like Japanese pen and ink drawings: the buffet of design opportunities is pretty narrow. The items that are usually seen when the man wears it with a suit or sportcoat are the collar, the cuffs and the band (and even then, with a tie an observer doesn’t get to see much, actually) . The only other place to do anything is the yoke in the back and the chest pocket and even then, there is this really thin line between “Oh, that’s nifty” and “Oh, you’re subbing for The Tumbleweed Boys” this evening?” THE item that separates a shirt that looks really good and professional and one that does not is the placket in the sleeve where the cuff opening is. I’ve made a bunch of shirts for the DH and I STILL have to open up David Paige Coffin’s book, Shirtmaking: Developing Skills for Fine Sewing to the section on this. Every…single….time. I literally have the book open on my ironing board while I’m flipping the pieces around, ironing them, pinning them and so on. I figure after three or four more shirts, I might feel slightly more competent. I’m a whole lot better at sewing up these shirts now, so I use my time in a more efficient way.

David Page Coffin’s Shirtmaking Book

Example Two: The TNT. For those of you who are not ‘sewists’ (that’s what we’re calling ourselves these days), “TNT” is not going to have a whole lot of meaning. It stands for ‘Tried and True’ and refers to a pattern that someone has gone to the trouble to work out all the fitting issues with, and then has made numerous times, in various permutations, until frankly they could cut it out, in the dark with only the light from the weeny bulb in the sewing machine to do it by ..and sew it the same way and still come out with something that looks fantastic. The two dresses above are the start of a TNT for me. The pattern is McCalls 5701. McCalls 5701

This dress is described as: Pullover dresses …have side front panel and pockets, back pleats and self faced bands; dress A has contrast bands; dress B has optional jewel trim; length for dresses is 2″ above mid-knee.
If you go to the link and then scroll down so that you see the line drawing of the front and back views you will see this is not a terribly complicated dress but it does have several redeeming qualities that have endeared it to me:

1) No zipper. Aunt Toby has, over the years, conquered many of her sewing fears: buttons and buttonholes, lapels, boning. She still hates putting in zippers. This dress has no zippers.
2) It’s got some seam interest in the front AND usable pockets.
3) It’s got some action going on in the back. There is actually too much fabric for someone as short as Aunt Toby is, so I’ve modified it but it is still interesting coming…and going.

What I can do to make this into a true TNT:
1) Redraft the pattern piece for the back and take all that extra fabric out.
2) Put a seam in the front that mimics the seam in the upper back that is in the back
3) Take out the pockets completely and just continue those seam lines that are in the front right down to the hemline.

My inspiration for making the commitment to a TNT is a wonderful sewing blogger with a great site called Diary of a Sewing Fanatic

Carolyn is the absolute queen of the TNT – actually, that is wrong. She is the Mozart and Beethoven of the TNT. Her ability to riff theme and variations on one pattern is truly phenomenal.

Carolyn’s TNT Dress, Episode I
Carolyn’s TNT Dress, Episode II

She saves a ton of time and money by using a pattern that she is extremely familiar with. She knows exactly how much fabric is necessary to do this pattern – no ‘well, just in case, I’ll get another half yard.” She knows exactly how much time this is going to take her to do it, lined and unlined. She knows how this pattern is going to behave if she makes it in various kinds of fabrics. She’s been ‘married’ to this pattern for ten years.

I can’t think of one sewer who has not fallen into the stash trap – after all, most of us fall in love with fabric even before we fall in love with a pattern. But one sure way to waste money is to whack away at pattern after pattern after pattern that just…doesn’t…work. There are a few companies that actually draft patterns well; Burda is famous for its pants for example. But all patterns can give you trouble, which is why a lot of sewers make a trial item in muslin first to work out the fit and any technical issues before they cut into the real stuff. Once you have that muslin, you can put the changes into the paper pattern and off you go. Once you’ve made something enough, you can let your imagination loose in terms of interpreting what is the latest ‘on-trend’ item from a top designer…using your TNT as a base. We all like to be in fashion (yes, I realize this is hard to believe that Aunt Toby is someone who loves ‘teh fashion’ but I do) and look well – one way to get the look AND have it fit, look smart, and save time and money is by having a TNT.

When you have a pattern that you’ve committed to – and have made several times and can see the possibilities with…ah….THAT’s a relationship that can last and can save you money in both the short term and the long haul.
(a note on those two dresses: the one on the left is made out of 100% wool gabardine and is lined; the one on the right is made from stretch cotton sateen and is not lined)

As many of you know who read my other diaries, I am someone who believes in the power of language. I believe that words and their meanings have almost a magical quality to change our thinking. Think about the phrase “Homeland Security” – think about what THAT’s done to us.

Aunt Toby is here to announce the opening salvo (remember that detergent?) in my war against any of the words starting with the letters: S-A-V. That word and all of its daughter and sons (saved, saving, savings) have basically lost complete meaning. And here is my reason why: People think that “saving money” (that is, paying less for something you are going to buy anyway, or buying something based on the discounted price) is SAVING MONEY.

What you really DID was “NOT SPEND MONEY” or, perhaps more clearly, “NOT SPEND AS MUCH MONEY.” You did not actually SAVE MONEY. That is: YOU DID NOT TAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE SPENT HAD YOU NOT GOTTEN THE DISCOUNT, AND PUT THAT MONEY IN A BANK ACCOUNT OR A JAR OR AN ENVELOPE UNDER YOUR MATTRESS OR BURIED IN A COFFEE CAN IN THE BACK YARD. In many cases, people are actually encouraged to BUY MORE and SPEND MORE when they are in that situation (the “buy two; you’ll save twice as much” issue).

There is a huge difference between:
– “not spending as much money” on an item and taking the money you did not spend on X and then going out and spending it on Y, and
– “not spending as much money” on an item and then taking that money and “socking it away.”

So, I want us to NOW replace any words that start with the letters S-A-V and replace them with other words:

Socking it away…a little old fashioned, but comes from the period when people would put extra money into a sock in their dresser drawers to save it.
Accumulating
Amassing
Collecting
Hoarding…think of yourself as Smaug – it puts a friendlier face on this word
Putting Aside
Bank, banking
Salt Away
Conserving
Storing

See how this changes your thinking, because you can no longer say, “I saved $xxx on this”; you have to say, “I’m putting $xxx aside,” or “I’ve got $xxx that I’m socking away.” It’s an entirely different mode of thinking, created by using different words…words that have specific and actionable meanings.

Now, to putting words into action: Actually finding out the difference between what you would have paid and what the item/service/whatever is actually costing you and putting it into a “socked away,” “stored” or “banked” state:

First, make sure you have one of the following available to you: a separate bank/credit union account (if you have a credit union available to you, either on an employer or community basis, you ARE a member, right? If you are NOT, then DO NOT GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200 AND DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER WITH THIS ARTICLE UNTIL YOU GET YOURSELF REGISTERED WITH THEM. AUNT TOBY IS VERY FIRM ON THIS: CREDIT UNIONS ARE GOOD THINGS)

Example 1: Buying some THING (item of clothing, appliance, etc.)
1) Do your research – where can you get the best buy?
2) What is the highest price you find vs. the lowest price? Are you going to buy from the lowest price (if “service after the sale” is not an issue for you, then this is easy)?
3) NOW, DO THIS. DO NOT QUESTION IT OR THINK ABOUT IT…JUST DO IT. SUBTRACT THE LOWEST PRICE FROM THE HIGHEST PRICE…AND EITHER WRITE A CHECK AND DEPOSIT IT INTO THIS SEPARATE ACCOUNT OR, MORE EASILY, ELECTRONICALLY TRANSFER THAT AMOUNT INTO THIS SEPARATE ACCOUNT.

Example 2: Taking lunch from home vs. eating out
1) Do your research – how much money on a weekly basis are you spending on eating out? Check all your receipts over a month – you ARE keeping your receipts, right? We won’t consider how much going out to eat costs if you are charging these on credit cards. We’ll just take the strict meal/tip costs.
2) Divide that cost by however many days per month (we won’t get into the whole 30/31/28 thing) this is – if you only eat lunches out on weekdays, then it is 20; if we are talking all month, it’s 30 and then multiply by 5 or 7 (depending on whether you are looking at work-week eating out or everything)– voila – weekly cost.
3) Put that amount of money – real cash – into your wallet or purse in an envelope – to only be used to buy the separate ingredients you will need to make lunch. Now, if you are taking left overs from “big cooks” on the weekend, that is separate, but if, for example, you would be buying a salad every day then it looks something like this:

Salad’s out: $7.50/day x 5 days = $37.50
Now, my salads out have: mixed greens, 4 cherry tomatoes, a handful of nuts and about an ounce of cheese in them. To buy at the grocery store:
Mixed greens – 2 packages should do it = $5.00
Package of cherry tomatoes – 1 pint – has about 30 = $2.50
Cheddar cheese, 1 ounce, $3.00/pound, 5 days = $.94
Nuts, ¼ c. per salad, 5 days, $2.99/#, 4C. to a pound = $.93
Total Cost: $9.37 for the week for the salads; on a per salad basis, that is $1.87
4) So, $37.50 less $9.37 is $28.13. Take that money out of the envelope – don’t use it to buy anything else and put that money into your bank account, a big sock in your dresser drawer or whatever you want, but do not use it for another thing.
5) You might want to think about it in the same way with buying coffee/Danish/breakfast on your way to work or eating dinners out as well. But it all adds up to the same thing.

Example 3: Getting your spouse, BF, GF or SO to cut your hair.
1) We all start the same way: do your research. How much are you spending to get a hair cut now? $10? $20? $50?
2) If you offered money of any amount to your spouse, BF/GF/SO, they would probably be insulted – that does not mean you can’t do something nice for them, like bring them a cup of coffee in bed or buy them a cup of coffee later. Just figure that into the equation.
3) Take the difference between what you would have spent on the service and what it’s costing you. $20.00 minus $0 = $20.
4) Bank that – or, take them out for coffee – a nice cup of coffee locally (not Starbucks) is $1.50. If you want to go fancy, get a spritz of syrup and spend $1.75. Then, bank the difference – really do that. If you get a hair cut once a month, then you are going to accumulate a lot of money. Even if the difference is only $8.00, that is $96 a year. If it’s $18, that is $216 a year.

You can actually accumulate money if you actually put it aside. Just getting discounts on things does not “save money,” nor does “failing to spend” if you are not putting it away. Savings is an ACT – you must actually DO IT and DO IT REGULARLY. Think of this as your Financial Wellness Program – all Wellness Programs only work if a) you actually DO THEM and b) you perform them on a regular basis.

(cross posted at Oxdown Gazette)

Now that the holidays are over, it’s even more tempting. I received one today with the headline: “The one you won’t want to miss: $5.99 and UP!!!”

That’s the sort of thing that, except for the fact that I have never been able to use my store credit card to shop ON their site, would have, in the past, had me with the plastic out, clicking off item after “bargain” item. But, I have taken an entirely different philosophy about my closet these days that I would like to share. I think it works for all genders and certainly makes ME feel that I’ve got one more thing under some modicum of control.

Read this whole thing and then do it, OK – Aunt Toby doesn’t want anyone to break a leg or a clavicle running up and down the stairs to do this.

This is an assignment, so go get your notebook and pen. Draw a line down the middle of a page. Go stand in front of the closet and imagine some particular event that happens to us all – sometimes several times – in a year. Pick events that frankly make you go crazy in terms of deciding what to wear. On the top of the left hand side of the page, write: Event. On the right hand side, write: Outfit. Under Event, write the first thing that comes to your mind. Here is an example:

Event
Funeral – Close Relative
Funeral – Not Related But Close
Job Interview
Wedding-winter
Wedding-summer

Stare into the closet and ask yourself the following question: What do I have there that is appropriate for the occasion?

While everyone does NOT have tickets to President and Mrs. Obama’s Inaugural Ball in a couple of weeks (if you do, Aunt Toby envies you, unless you don’t have an appropriate outfit – as you know, the Rules of Shopping say that when you need something wonderful to wear, all wonderful things disappear, POOF!), but everyone sooner or later has a funeral, a job interview or a wedding to go to as a guest.

Calling hours and funerals are usually events that are announced rather suddenly and leave us anxious in terms of dressing appropriately. Lacking time to do an adequate search and shop for appropriate attire only makes the occasion worse. A call to come in for a job interview can provide the same anxiety; usually you get a couple of days notice, but Aunt Toby once got a call first thing in the morning and was asked to show up before lunch! Weddings usually give the greatest notice but still are fraught with dressing problems.

Men are very lucky: All they need is a good dark suit (navy or medium grey will carry you through all seasons; navy and charcoal grey is great for the winter), a change of nice dress shirts, a couple of good ties, good dress shoes in black (not loafers) and dark blue or black socks. That outfit will carry them through everything on the list plus weekly attendance at your chosen house of worship. Men are very lucky.

For women, a nice blouse and medium colored or dark suit (not black or navy; looks too much like an airlines uniform) or dress (knee length, not too low in the neck, with some sort of sleeve; if you can get a matching jacket, do that) will get you through everything except for the summer wedding. A pretty tailored dress and hat will get women through that and there is the added usefulness of wearing it to work or church and shaming people who show up in blue jeans and tatty tee shirts with their coffee mugs on Sunday mornings.

Now, let’s think about that: For the guys, one outfit focused on a dark suit. For the ladies, one outfit for winter focused on a dark suit or dress and one outfit for summer focused on a tailored dress. All eventualities. All stressful times. All taken care of with one outfit – sort of like that “One Ring to Rule Them All,” right?

So, go back to the email adverts and the closet and ask yourself the important question: Do I or don’t I have that one outfit? Is there anything in those adverts that I am getting that is going to get me that outfit? What do I really NEED? Don’t be seduced by the photography or the pricing or perceived bargain-ness.

If they are showing the sort of clothing on your list, it’s time to think seriously about investing in that one outfit. If not, take the money that you would have spent doing the “click throughs” to the shopping cart and put that money away and SAVE IT.

Go visit places that have good solid clothing of this sort and watch sales (right now is a very good time – in colder areas, get all wool or nearly all wool for suits; if you live in warmer areas, look for tropical weight wools or fabrics with some wool in them – keeps wrinkles down – for suits; dressier fabrics that do no wrinkle or have to be dry cleaned for dresses). Men, if you can get an extra pair of pants with the suit, that is a great investment. If you need a pair of good black conservative pumps or tie dress shoes, the same goes for that.

As you visit, try on clothing and get comfortable with the process, put away more money. When you find the items you need, get them and put them in the closet. Think of this in the same way as buying staples for the kitchen shelf: They are there and ready for when you need them. That way, when you get the call for the job interview, or sadly, for a funeral, you can just reach in the closet, pull out your outfit and you are good to go.

You can get more wear out of the outfit and reduce your per-wearing cost by wearing your outfits to work or religious services or to go out to dinner. But you will have an outfit. You will not have to run around trying to find something appropriate to wear, having to pay more than you had planned on, or perhaps not finding anything that fits.

This way, when you see advertisements or things in stores or magazines, you can ask yourself, “What are my clothing needs for the next six months or a year? Is what I’m seeing something on ‘my list’? Or is it something that is appealing to the eye but has little wearing value in terms of what I need and will eventually end up in the bag for the charity or the landfill?”

NOT buying stuff we don’t need is another way to save money.

(cross posted at Oxdown Gazette)

The young lady whose blog I was reading, a couple of months ago faced a financial crisis – she and her husband have one of those “modern relationship arrangements” – she pays hers; he pays his; they pay the household stuff together. So, when her credit card balance got to be the size of AIG’s bailout, she had to do some negotiating with her DH in terms of how to pay that sucker down because she couldn’t afford the minimum payment any more.

Now, this is all well and good. Her DH was kind, nice and nurturing – he took the credit card away and told her to come up with a plan. He even recognized that she could not go “cold turkey” and she came up with this: She would get $10 a week to spend however she wanted to. This did not include costs like lunches, car fare (what a homey, old fashioned term that is) and so on. This was her “play money” and she could spend it however she wanted to.

Ten dollars. $10.00. This, for a woman whose purchases had produced a credit card balance that required her to make a fairly humiliating appeal to her husband for her own personal bailout.

Now, looking at this, I said to myself, “She can go about this two ways: She can save up these weekly allowances and get herself something good and nice once a month – or, she can fritter it away on nonsense because you really can’t get anything of any value for $10.00.”

This woman proved me absolutely wrong and showed me one huge reason why we are in such a big mess at the family financial level.

Her belief, at least at first, was that her problem was the amount of money she was spending on an ongoing basis. So, she felt she was holding up her part of the deal with her DH by only spending $10.00 a week. On a quantifiable basis, she was probably correct. She detailed in her blog her adventures spending that $10.00. It makes for some very interesting reading. I’ve never seen anyone who squeezed out so much sheer stuff out of one $10.00 bill a week.

And you know how she did it? She found all the thrift stores in the area. In any given week, she was bringing home between 5 and 8 items (some small, like accessories priced at 50-cents; some somewhat larger, such as a coat she got for $8.00). Sometimes, she even had money left over from that $10.00 bill, which she rolled over to the next week so that she could buy even more.

After about a month of this, she woke up to the same thing I saw almost immediately – her problem was not spending money – she has a shopping addiction. Her only form of personal entertainment involved the hunt for and the acquisition of sheer volumes of stuff. Stuff that sat in her closet and was never worn, stuff that was worn only once or twice, stuff that she’d seen in other fashion and shopping blogs (and I don’t want to even try to estimate how many of those there are).

She isn’t the only one. I’m sure there are millions of people out there who are in the same situation, because:

1) They have a credit card, which, as we know, is seen by many as “free money.”
2) People are working more and more for less and less – they tend to treat themselves with things like shopping and eating out.
3) The concept of leisure time and what to do with it has gone through a huge change.
4) The ability to find and acquire stuff requires basically no effort – no one has to go to the store for anything anymore except perhaps for gasoline. Everything else can be ordered over the internet and delivered.

As we go deeper into America’s own personal financial hell hole, one of the things I’m going to question is – how are families going to deal with this situation? A lot of families no longer spend any time together; taking the credit cards and the car keys away from Buddy and Sis is going to be a huge change. How many families do you know who never eat together any more? Where family members retreat to their own rooms – don’t interact often; don’t have really good “getting along with others” skills, have no real feel for “being a parent” or of “being a child in a family”? How many families substitute ready access to and the providing of “stuff” to family members for actual family based activities? How many families have members who are addicted to shopping?

America’s collective “financial cold turkey” is going to be very shocking and nauseating – I’m wondering how we will all get through it.