"But it still works!"

[early morning]

As a teenager I learned how to "turn" shirt collars

thinkgreen, thanks for the memory! my grandmother taught me how to turn collars early on. And how to shorten a cuff by just a tad, so that the worn/frayed line was hidden inside the cuff. She made all of Granddads work shirts, she said men's shirts were the easiest things to make. I beg to differ - I found them a PIA. Once I discovered yard sales with their frequent stacks of barely worn clothing, I never looked back!

DH reminded me of another make do that's still going strong after 35 years - when we bought this house, the realtor pointed out the old white 1940's style cabinets with one of the under-sink doors hanging by one hinge, and said - well, you'll need to remodel the kitchen.... those cupboards are old, and you can't fix that door! (the hinge had split out the wood and couldn't be re-attached). Well, there wasn't any sense in that logic - we took the door off, flipped it end for end and attached the hinges to the good wood of the latch side. The door latch is well above the split out spot where the hinge had been, and works fine. A coat of paint (well, several, by now!), new pulls (flea market, 50 cent each) and a new laminate counter top from a big box ($85, closeout). The rest of the kitchen is a disaster, but the cabinets look and work fine, lol.

[thinkgreen]

Thanks early morning I forgot about "renewing" the cuffs too. I just turn them inside about a quarter inch and sew them. This creates a new cuff edge that looks brand new.

We also have watering cans that a neighbor had put at the curb. I spoke to her and she said they leaked at the top and showed me the gap the water came through. Well, they are plastic watering cans so I got out the hot glue gun and sealed the cracks with glue. I think that was five or six years ago and the glue is still holding. In fact I just gave one of them away to a friend who had no watering can and they were delighted with it.