A Measly Empty Cereal Box

When things get tight, a little ingenuity can go far. George Washington Carver, who dedicated his life to helping poor farmers prosper, found all kinds of ways to take hold of what he saw and make something out of it: from peanuts to sweet potatoes to clay. What he wrote concerning the Great Depression seems prophetic in our post September 15, 2008 world.

In Proverbs the thirteenth chapter and twenty-third verse, we have this statement: "Much food is in the tillage of the poor; but there is that which is destroyed for want of judgment." I doubt if this verse has ever had a greater significance than at the present time. We have become 99 percent money mad. The method of living at home modestly and within our income, laying a little by systematically for the proverbial rainy day which is sure to come, can almost be listed among the lost arts.

What does George Washington Carver have to do with an empty cereal box?

The proverbial lost arts.

The other day I was preparing to sew a label on a baby blanket I had crocheted for my first grand niece. My mother suggested ironing the back of it with wax paper so that the label would be secure while I wrote with permanent marker. I did not have any wax paper on hand, but I remember reading a tip from Tight Wad about recycling the liners of cereal boxes for wax paper. That little tip just saved me two whole dollars, or a whole bag of brown rice to feed my family for several meals.

I know we are coming up on a season of the year you might be dreading, especially since the funds for this year's Tickle Me Elmo are nonexistent.

NEWSFLASH!

Even thought they may not admit it, your family would rather have more of you and your time than more stuff. Why not recycle some cereal liners? Go on a walk to find the most gorgeous leaves and press them. Take those old useless crayon stubbies and shave them to make beautiful stained glass art.

Your family will thank you for it some day!