Don't Make Work Out of Simplifying

Don't make simplifying more difficult than need be.  Learn what is needed when times get tough, but don't make life unenjoyable or intolerable.  We all have different definitions of that, so I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but rather just give some basic food for thought.  Knitting socks is something I know how to do, but if all cotton are less than a dollar a pair, and I have a dollar, I think it's insane to make them now.  I can't buy the yarn or spend the time for what I can buy right now, but . . . there is a day coming, if I am alive through that time in which I won't be able to buy or sell, then I'll be so happy to know how to knit.  I'm not hoarding yarn but I have some . . . and we have it in writing that YHWH can make shoes last 40 years, walking through the desert, so I'm guessing socks in the cold will last if they're needed.

There are certain things that I do find worth the extra work, even if cheaper is available.  Although simplifying doesn't need to be expensive, some items are long term investments and that should be considered.  As I've mentioned in Holy Homesteading, I bought a good tiller.  I spent the money on what I thought would be a good investment.  I didn't go for an inexpensive small replica, but I already knew I liked gardening and I definitely believe one of my jobs as a servant of the Most High Elohim is to maintain a real food supply, based upon creation, not laboratory experiments.  I also, however; have an old cultivator that is still in working order and a miniature burrow that can pull a small plow, if gasoline becomes unavailable.  I'm not out there in the blazing heat with a 100 year old cultivator and a scythe right now, but I'm glad to have them, if the time comes that I need them.  For now, I'm enjoying my TroyBuilt Bronco!

I'm still using an automatic washer and most of the time a dryer.  I did have a clothes line that got taken down in a building project, but is going back up, and I'm watching for a wringer washer.  If I find the wringer and still have electricity, I'll continue to be using the automatic washer, and even with a clothes line, the dryer is wonderful in January!