Mindful Mending

“True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense with the new pair of gloves; mend the old dress: live on plainer food if need be; so that, under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, there will be a margin in favor of the income.” P.T.Barnum

The above quote by P T Barnum of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame, reflects RUDE’s outlook on frugal living.  We love to mend and make do.  And also to REmake something unique and new to us.

To add our stamp on things that were once owned by others, and then discarded for us to find and treasure, brings us joy.  But why treasure stuff?  Well for us, its more about the resources, time and effort that goes into making things.  We acknowledge the final object is the sum of all the parts of a making process, and we honour these parts by REinvention and REuse of the object.

I [Karen] was recently inspired by my fellow blogger and mender Agatha Lee from Green Issues by Agy when she held A Darn Good Mending Cafe in Singapore.  A fun name for a mending cafe.

In this photo below, I have sashiko mended the crotch of a secondhand pair of jeans REscued from landfill.  For me, mending is a mindful and peaceful process.  It creates flow and has a frugal purpose, which makes for simple living joyfulness.