Hand-Me-Ups

A week ago, my daughter-in-law stopped by on her way to donate some clothing to a local thrift store. She had one item in particular that made her think of me, this Columbia Sportswear fleece jacket. I've seen her wear it a couple of times. However, she said she never felt that it fit her very well.

In late December, I thought I really should have asked for a new fleece jacket for Christmas, as my current one is quite worn. It was truly serendipitous that my daughter-in-law offered me this very thing I needed and about which I had been thinking.    

A lot of my husband's and my successful financial management and the quality of our day to day life is due to our openness in accepting other people's cast-offs, be it clothing, furniture, food, and even a car. If someone has offered us something that they no longer wanted or needed, we accepted and found a way to use the item or pass it on to someone else.

About 75% of our furniture came from other family members. The car we recently sold to a salvage company was my late in-law's former car. You may remember the trays of food that we were often given following volunteer work at our church's fund-raising luncheons. I've happily accepted hand-me-down clothing from my sister, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, my grandmother, and my stepmom. Accepting other folks' no-longer-wanteds has meant that we could live a higher quality of life on a smaller income.

This time, the needed clothing item came from the generation beneath me, my lovely daughter-in-law. It's a hand-me-up. It's the very thing I needed right now. Despite expressing my gratitude at the time, I'm not sure my daughter-in-law understands how much I appreciate this.

There's a bonus to cheerfully accepting other's cast-offs. These family members think of you first when giving something away the next time. And you never know what great stuff they'll be wanting to unload in the future.

How do you feel about offers of hand-me-downs or hand-me-ups as an adult? Do you feel obligated to accept or keep items long-term? Have you ever regretted accepting or turning down a hand-me-down offer? 

Mid-January State of the Pantry and Fridge

One of the things I love about mid-January is the manageability of our food storage. While these spaces are by no means lean, I can actually find what I need easily again.

Earlier this week, I took a few minutes to take inventory and tidy up the shelves and compartments of both the pantry and fridge. I deliberately skipped grocery shopping for about 10 days so our stock would dwindle enough to quickly do this work.

I'll need to grocery shop again over the weekend, but I won't be buying as much as I did November through December. That's a win for tidy food storage as well as my wallet.

Meals we've gotten out of a leaner fridge, freezer, and pantry this week:

• chicken pot pie, using a chicken breast, garden carrots, celery, potatoes and herbs, topped with pie pastry, and a side of watermelon pickles
• homemade pizza, beet salad (canned beets in dressing), lettuce and avocado tossed salad
• chicken stir fry, sesame noodles, homemade egg rolls (my daughter was ambitious that night)
• pot roast and gravy (from the freezer, last week's cooking) over cubed stale bread, roasted yams, apple wedges
• frozen fish sticks (with homemade tartar sauce), roasted garden potatoes, roasted yams, sautéed frozen garden Brussel sprout leaves and onions
• vegetable-beef soup (garden vegetables from the freezer, pantry, and fridge), cheese biscuits
• bean burritos, carrot sticks, sautéed misc. garden greens from the freezer

In addition to a tidier fridge, we've been making room in the freezer, too. I hope to get the small freezer emptied later this winter so that I can defrost it.

My digestion thanks me for the return to more basic meals after a long holiday period of goodies and rich food.

How do you feel when you open your fridge or pantry in January and it's not as full as it was during the holidays? Does this spark creativity in your cooking? Perhaps a sigh of relief? Does it prompt a bit of anxiety over having less? Or something else? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Have a great weekend, friends!