Has this recession made you get more skills, wish you had more skills, look into

I am needing to uncover the sewing machine. It is buried.

Yeah, if you already have tons of skills, you only may need to brush up. I think many people, the older they are, the more skills they already have! Thanks for bringing up that point. Another entire category. Actually, circle knitting is an expansion and brush up of the 4 nail or 4 staple bobbin type knitting I did as a kid. Thanks and take care.

I remember doing that as a kid too, haven't gotten back to it, tried it with wire - wire knitting they called it, but I wasn't impressed

I best responsed your because it's the ideal response to this recession, you have all your bases covered, congrats to you.

You're welcome. I sometimes wonder why I get the best response. Most times I can see why, but not always. Take care.

Thanks so much for the best response. It is great to have someone tell me why they chose my answer as a best response. I believe you are the first person to do that.

I had heard about the pledge and I think that is a very good idea. Also, good luck with your company. People don't realize how much heat you lose from the bottom of the door. Even with weather stripping, you can feel cold air come in. Your door stops will help to save a lot of wasted energy. Speaking of herbs, I like to make the "beanies" (that's my nickname) for the bags filled with rice or dried beans and you add herbs to the mixture. You heat them in the microwave for a minute and you get relief for muscle or back pain. They are popular at the craft shows too and are easy to make. Heating in the microwave doesn't use much energy and are safer than heating pads which can burn you if you aren't careful.

That is all very wonderful! Home Ec. has been eliminated in most schools up here. Most people buy clothes from thrift stores. Metal and Woodworking shops have expanded. We're in the Adirondack area, so Adirondack Furniture and tourist stuff is in extremely high demand. I went to one adirondack show/sales and as soon as people unloaded items, people were buying them. So you had to stand by trucks to see anything, nothing even got to the sale tents. It was crazy. They're high end starting at hundreds of dollars. But if you buy a Well-Made Adirondack Bed, you will never need another bed in your life (and maybe your kid's life either-unless you get termites or wood ants). Plus every one is one of a kid. Some people are taking the homemade or craftmade pledges that are around now see www.etsy.com for one such pledge and one of many craft places that people can put their items. I don't care how good a restaurant, there are many foods that I can make better. Once in a while, they make better, but a good cook can beat most restaurants at most things and it's time people remembered/revisited that. Glad you're helping the next generation. If it hadn't been for my Father, my Brothers wouldn't have skills above and beyond what was taught in High School and that's what gets them jobs, plus one is a natural trouble shooter and the other is a natural artist and sometimes problem solver. Right now I'm working for an herb company and learning how to make draft stops for the bottom of doors, balsom pillows for scenting drawers, etc. Life is good!

That was supposed to be one of a kind, not one of a kid.

That sounds really, really cool. There is such a place in Vermont and a similar type of place up here. The one in VT is run by a woman and her family. The Market Barn here has a different vendor in each "stall" that has been remade to be a store section. So that person who runs that just sells for other people.

Yes, I'm learning how to combine trips and use as little mileage as possible, too. I am trying to buy more with little money,too.

Will probably keep us from getting Alzheimer's too.

Ya, it really pays off in the end and the brain works helps.

I wish I had money to do the buy,sell property thing. I work for a woman who knows all that stuff, she's cool!.

I should have been more specific, she knows all the herb stuff. There usually is one person in each area (or more) who is willing to teach that for a price. I used to pay for wild food/medicine walks and now she pays me to pick the stuff I was taught about years ago. Since I can identify stuff that's different and the same, when one plant grows into another area, I can still pick the right stuff. She's hired other people, but they can't do what I do. Sometimes I stuff pillows like the rest, but I'm her harvester unless we have a lot and she does it too and/or calls her children to come help.

That's a great skill to possess. How I wish I have all the skills. Since I live in the tropical island, there is no way to run out of herbs growing in the wild. It's just that I dont know so many things. I think the dogs and cats are much smarter than me. They know how to go around and eat the herbs to cure their sickness. Many people here rely on the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner to prescribe the herbs. Since those herbs are sun-dried, they cost so many times more. If I have the skill to pick the herbs, I think I call sell to the chinese medicine hall.

I know someone who is self taught regarding crocheting and she makes pretty items. I might be able to ask her if she can give me any hints. Also, I think e-how.com might have a video or written instructions. Yep, my grandma skills needed some brushing up since our youngest child is almost 31. Our older grandkids don't live near us so we can't see them regularly.

Have always heard crocheting is easier. I can knit but only the basic afghan. Nothing difficult.

If someone can show you or if you can watch a video, when you get some time, Grandma, sounds like a plan for you to go learn to crochet. Take care and have fun!

Sounds like you have half of it going on already! Sounds like you have plans for the crochet and knitting. So in no time, sounds like you'll have all kinds of things going on. Thanks and take care.

When I lived in Montana I loved the auction and getting the box lots. It was great getting a "grab box" and having the fun of going through it. Unfortunately here in California the box lots go for over $100+! There are tons of dealers attending the auctions so it makes it difficult to get in on any good buys now. I give our birds the stale cereal, dried bread, stale nuts and chips. Then they also get to swoop in on the left over cat food.

Before the recession, our shoe cobbler was going to retire. Now he's taken on two apprentices (kids/grandkids). He used to promise next day, now he's promising by the end of the week. We live in the North Country, shoes and boots, can't buy cheap ones, they wreck your feet, esp. farmers, loggers, outdoorsmen, etc. So repairs instead of $100 to $200 are considered important. Our auctioneers used to have one auction a week and one had one auction every other week, now they've expanded, one has an auction Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, plus his daughter came back from training and they hold auctions simultaneously. Him an estate auction and her general and box auctions. Thrift store and ebay people buy the box stuff and resell it. Might get an entire box for a dollar or 5 or 10. My Mom's friend bought a box of jewelry for 10 bucks and one ring had a real diamond worth 300$. I will check out your Etsy. Love Teddy Bears.

I have my own bread machine book and unless you have a kitchen pro book, I used recipes from books that weren't specifically for Kitchen Pro machine and they didn't turn out. So thanks, but I don't think so right now. I envy your ability with a sewing machine. People who can sew and make alterations are really doing well right now. I used to watch Aleen. I know about bread sculpture, but any left over bread goes in the freezer or to friends and relatives. IF I wait too long and it becomes hard and stiff, I break it up and give it to the birds. They have a rough time in sub-zero weather (which is coming up in a few months) up here.

I very much admire your jewelry. I like scarf and hat sets. I let the bread machine take the time. I just put the ingredients in and let it go while I do things. Otherwise, I wouldn't have time either. I'm not a big fan of Kale either. You've have to sneak it into something for me, too! Thank you for stopping by and answering my discussion. You sound very busy. Let us know how the kale chips go. Thanks and take care.

I see you have a fish on blue seaglass now. Very pretty. I like how I can just spring over to your full line from your profile page.

I love that little fish charm too! I have also used turtle, sea shell and starfish charms in the past. I keep hoping the price of silver goes down so I buy more for future pieces, but the price of silver keeps going up and up and I just can't justify the expense right now (the necklaces with the charms don't seem to sell very well online either, but they do well at shows) I love having the "Etsy-mini" in my profile because it backlinks to my shops...it's a very convenient way to promote my online shop....thanks so much for the compliments!

Yeah, some people are doing better. They finally gave out a decent amount of food stamps and some people can actually stock up on food. I'm talking about working poor. The price of food went up and then down, the food stamps went up and didn't go back down. So now I know many working (min. wage or only part-time and min. wage) that actually not only have enough food, but are looking good to go into winter if we have an emergency. They said there are no jobs, I found 3, all part-time, but I'm paying bills, so hey, I'm happy. Lots of things to make things with have gone on sale, so I can make more presents than if I were to buy something outright. Glad you're able to buy household appliances, must have been a lucrative year, we're making ours limp along. You remind me of a friend and one of my brothers. We had an ice storm. Both of them did fine. One lived on alt. power so didn't know there was an emergency and the other had all kinds of alt. things because he couldn't afford electricity. So one was just as well off during the storm and the other was better off, some people came to live at my brother's and gave him money toward living there. Each person's different situation works out for them at some point. Thanks for responding.

Sounds like you're doing really cool stuff for you and your family, coffeebreak, thanks and take care.

That's nice to hear that some are making it in very unusual ways. Well, not "unusual", just not as most do. I can get along without most things, but electricity is the one thing I really want to have! But that is cool that those people do as they do. I did stock up on dry goods (expiration dates are longer!) And even bought some food items to pass along to my kids and their families. I'm a couponer too.. so I buy things that, on sale and with a coupon are pretty cheap...if I don't eat the item, I buy it for the kids that do. Like, Ball Park Hot dogs were on sale Labor Day weekend for 88¢... (about $2.50+ regular). Limit of 4... I had 2 coupons for $1.00 off 2 packs...bought 4 packs, so I got them for 38¢ each. I gave these to the grand kids and they thought I was the best grandma ever... They said that was really neat that I gave them each their "own" pack of hotdogs! It is stuff like that thave have helped me get through the high price times...

Yes, oil and brakes are very important. My husband changed the oil this last time. Learning how and Trading abilities and skills are good, too.

Playing in the stock market is like going to Las Vegas. Make sure that the money you invest in stocks is money that you can afford to lose. I have watched many stocks that were worth $100+ a share drop to less than a dollar a share and then the next thing that happens is the company closes. I have been interested in investing in penny stocks. It is the kind of investment that would be fun and if I lost the money I wouldn't be hurting too badly. Actually learning about the stock market isn't that hard. The only thing is that you do need to keep an eye on the stocks that you have invested in. If you would like, I could write up a primer for you to learn the basics...I studied stock market and investing in one of my business classes. Once you learn photography, you will get so hooked. Especially if you develop and print your own pictures. What is great about photography is that you can sell your pictures, use them to make custom greeting cards, make tee shirts from the xeroxed copies, and so much more. I studied photography in college and also in night school...it is so much fun both in the field and the dark room. Baking is a piece of cake (pardon the pun) all you need to do is to follow the recipes. One hint, and that is to read the recipe all the way through before you start. I did a lot of baking for our county fair and picked up many blue ribbons for my cookies, cakes and breads.

Thanks Loverbear, all good advice. When I search recipes on the internet, I search with words like the best, prize winning, etc. Get better recipes that way. Old time books with step-by-step instructions and some with step by step pictures are a nice way to go for new bakers and cooks, too.

There are many sites with videos where you can learn skills. www.breadworld.com has some neat baking videos. If you have the basics of photography (I don't), there is a tutorial on ebay that is a video with lots of great advice for stills, selling, and general photography. Lots of people need good pictures for their sales.

I hope you're able to help out soon. Maybe some of the other ideas in this discussion will help give you ideas. Good luck and take care.

Thanks writersdge..It very good do that. I will keep an eye on this discussion and see what I can come up. have a great day..

It's good that you know how to do all those things. They come in handy now. Esp if you're not eating out as much. Thanks and take care.

My husband reminded me that I don't know how much to mark things and getting a space and keeping it paid are problems right now. Having trouble making rummage sales work right now, don't think a thrift store is in the cards for me right now. I was really interested in a consignment shop, but the paperwork. . ..

Once it becomes automatic like brushing your teeth, it won't be so bad. Every day routine cooking is like brushing your teeth for me. But experimentation, new recipes, and baking are more fun for me. Pride in new found culinary skills is a start! Eventually you may find something you like, my husband likes barbecuing and stir frying. He'll make a berry bread once in awhile, too.

Maybe if you read the rest of the ideas here and other places, you will get some ideas. I hope this topic and some others can help you.

I think it will eventually work out. Good for you for trying. At least it shows that you are interested in learning things that could benefit your employer and that will come back to help you some day.

Can you get utube or free videos offline onto your computer? I have been searching and watching videos to try to get more skills. I don't know about sewing, but there are many baking and cooking ones. If you can check them out, you will find something you can do. Keep trying. Peace, love and good luck to you.