Upcycle Transformations

My parents were Depression Kids; born in the early 1930’s. My maternal grandfather took several pay cuts but cherished his employer who kept him employed during those tough times. My mother would retell stories from those days of visitors who came to the house seeking a meal in exchange for performing some light duty chores. As a young child she vividly remembered one stranger who ate his meal alone on the porch; when she asked my grandfather why he would not eat with the family, my grandfather replied that he was simply too ashamed to do so. Those were desperate times that lacked today’s social safety nets, and folks had to make do. And so, they did, perhaps with some humility that would have been harder to find just a decade earlier. Seems that kind of humility is nowhere to be found today.

I think some of my frugality and creativity came from my mother and in turn, from her childhood experiences during that era. She was crafty, not afraid of hard work, good with her hands, and as a child she grew up in times where you had to Make Do. Even in our comfortable suburban setting during the 60’s and 70’s she controlled our household finances frugally. Lots of clothes were handed down, socks were darned, coupons were clipped, vegetable gardens were grown, chairs were reupholstered, and nothing went to waste. Things were recycled before there was even a word for it. Old habits may die hard, but they can also be passed forward a generation or two.

For most of my young adult life I relied almost exclusively on the used goods market for all my household needs, and I became very proficient at used goods procurement. Around the same time that the internet was starting to take off, I began developing an ever-growing social circle; meeting new people and establishing contacts who worked in many different occupations. This networking allowed me to develop a small but effective list of like-minded people with diverse skills and expertise, many of whom were willing to barter, trade, or collaborate their skill sets on projects. The recent advent of e-mail allowed mass communication, and pre-www online bulletin board sites facilitated buying and selling used goods locally, over and above the traditional want ads in print media. These pursuits formed the groundwork for being able to meet most of my consumer needs at a significantly reduced cost, plus there was the bonus of getting others to buy into the plan. This was the foundation of what I termed “Guerrilla Economics”.

So, over the years I continued to develop and refine my approach. It eventually led to bigger and bigger projects, mostly in the home improvement category. Even as the projects grew in size, duration, and complexity, I managed to break them down into reasonable sized subtasks and always tried to push the boundary a little with respect to free-sourcing material. I figured, if I’m not paying myself for the labor component, why pay retail prices – or pay anything at all if possible, for the material components? And if I can actually add additional value to my residential property – value that also appreciates free of capital gains tax when I sell – then why not try to eliminate the sales taxes too? It all part of the philosophy I call “the Art of Upcycling”. It’s not just about the money saved, it’s also about the challenge, the adventure, the struggles, the triumphs, and ultimately the satisfaction and pride of a job well done along a journey of slowly but deliberately turning one man’s trash into another man’s treasure.

Mont Cayamant

The Art of Upcycling and Guerilla Economics