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I used to be called the "Make Do Queen". Mostly by family members and a few friends. When our kids were little we were always broke. We rarely had enough money to spend on anything extra. I was good at being the Make Do Queen.

I guess I need to explain something first. Have you ever known someone who seems like they always have enough, but not too much? Someone who knew how to streatch a dollar until it squeeked. If they didn't have it they could do without it?
You know that aunt of your who doesn't even own a mixer but always has a fresh cake made up when you visit? She uses a spoon or fork. I am sure of this because that is what I use. I never saw the need for fancy devices. I never needed a blender to make a shake. I make them by hand. I never gave that up. They are better that way. A make do king or queen is a person who doesn't need a lot to be happy. They manage just fine the way they are and they are happy with it. They don't need a lot of money to spend on things like small appliences. They can make a meal for 6 with only 1 pound of hamburger and some other stuff. You might look in their fridge and cabnets and find very little in there but they can whip up a meal fit for a king in a heart beat. Mostly because they have learned over the years how to make do.

ow you are probably wondering why I am bothering to write this. Well its simple. I found out today that my future daughter in law is also a make due queen. She loves her favorite pair of jeans but there is a hole in them. Now this girl has the money to go out and get several new pairs if she wants to but she isn't like that. So what does she do? She spends very little and decides to decorate her jeans. By decorating the jeans she covers the hole which was going to cause her to end up tossing them in the trash.

There needs to be more make do queens and kings in this world. This country used to be full of them. Instead of buying something new every time they turned around they went and got something they had a spiffed it up and made something new out of it. If they needed a new quilt for their bed they headed to the rag bag and started cutting out squares and got to work on that quilt so they would have a new blanket. If a cups handle broke off they glued it back together and kept on using it. If their shirt got a stain on it they would paint over it or sew something on top of the stain and keep wearing it. They made do and saved up their hard earned money for something. And then when they went to buy something they bought something of quality.

My mother once saw two dressers on the side of the road. She went up to the house and asked the people there if she could have them or buy them. They gave them to her. These were very high quality old dressers but they needed some work done to them. Nothing hard. In no time she stripped the ugly paint off them and sanded them down and stained them and then she added a coat of clear coat to them. Those dressers are in her house still today. She found them on the side of the road about 30 years ago and they are in just as good of condition as they were when she refninshed them.

The make do kings and queens of yesterday are the original recyclers. They would have something and find a use for it when its original use was over. They always seemed to come up with what they wanted or needed by simply making do.

You can do this too. There are countless books in the library on how do this sort of thing. Look in the craft section and start with the books on making treasures from trash. There are tons of websites dedicated to this sort of thing as well.