Here’s one thing we do to live more frugally: Make do with good rejects. Here Jess snips out a zipper from a rejected garment that we don’t really need. It’s useless as apparel, but by saving the zipper, Jess can use the zipper in another garment elsewhere and save herself $6 and a trip to the zipper store.

This is how we make it work. I can get quite a few samples of women’s clothing at my job, and with a wife six daughters that’s a handy thing. Jess is able to create some concoctions that we otherwise could not afford, because she’s handy with a sewing machine (just visible in the background) and is not afraid to make do.

Some of the samples have been intentionally mutilated to prevent their resale. The “mutilation” consists of a slit in the lower backside that’s a couple of inches wide, one that’s easily stitchable and virtually impossible to see. (It’s there if you look for it, but who’s looking for little stitched-up slits in the backside of an erstwhile $90 jacket? Not you, I hope.) Under a jacket or cardigan, Jess will wear tanks and layers that have bigger holes than that in back, and nobody’s the wiser. She looks like we actually spend money on clothing. At church on Sundays she looks like a million bucks, but the cost was actually a million dollars less than that. Time wise, it’s maybe five minutes with a needle and thread. I’d say that’s a decent trade for a smashing wardrobe.

All I can say is that if you’re married and you want a lifestyle like this, both of you have to be willing to do what it takes. We’re cheapskates, but we live well because we make do. It helps that Jess is a wizard at stuff like this (it’s a learnable skill). See that picture of Christ in the corner? That’s a cross-stitch that she did. It contains over 11,000 stitches, according to my rough calculation. And she did three of them.

You don’t have to be that kind of superhero. It’s helpful just to make do where you can.