Use it up - Wear it out - Make it do!
It's the credo that your parents or grandparents lived by. Posters from the World War II era screamed it at careless consumers and those without money to consume.
Now, as more Americans have been swept into what some have dubbed the nation's "Great Recession" - and many more worry that it is only a matter of time - this mantra of frugality is once again becoming a way of life: a call to thrift echoing beyond foreclosed homes and growing unemployment lines. From home maintenance to sewing to gardening, people across the nation are increasingly taking cost-savings measures into their own hands.
"We are getting the real do-it-yourselfers now," said Debbie Hernandez, who has headed Home Depot's do-it-yourself clinics in Glendale, Ariz., for 13 years. "I hear a lot of people saying that at one time, maybe last year or the year before, they would have hired it out. But now, they want to do it themselves because times are tougher, and the information is there for the taking."
Home Depot offers clinics in painting, tiling, toilets and cabinet glazing. During the past year, stores around the country have reported larger classes, especially in do-it-herself home repair, according to Tia Robinson, a spokeswoman for Home Depot.
"Everything is tight," said Brian Arnett, whose ill-timed purchase of a condo in Reston, Va., this summer left him strapped for cash. "I'm doing stuff to save money that I never thought of before."
For the 25-year-old IT technician, who is currently paying off about $50,000 in student loans, that includes opening the blinds instead of turning on the lights, shortening showers, cutting coupons and, on a recent Saturday morning, attending a do-it-yourself plumbing class at a local high school.
"I feel like I'm such a dork now," Arnett said. "I know that if I cut out $5 worth of coupons every Sunday, I've more than paid for the Sunday [newspaper]."
Arnett is far from alone in his efforts to save a little dough.
From Virginia to California, continuing and adult education programs are also enrolling more students in their home, auto and bike repair courses.
Arnett's weekend plumbing class in Fairfax, Va., had to be expanded this year to accommodate an increased interest in leaky faucets, stubborn toilets and problem pipes.
"To take this class is only $75. To have a plumber just walk through your door is at least $90," said Jackie Hertz, 61, who also got up early on Saturday morning to learn some of the finer points of home plumbing.
