by Tricia
As a kid, my favorite show of all time was MacGyver. Besides the fact that the lead actor (Richard Dean Anderson) was a hunk, I did watch the show for inspiration.
The main theme of MacGyver, if you are unfamiliar with it, is that the main character, MacGyver, is very resourceful. He is out battling bad guys and he can make almost anything using the things around him. As kids, we would actually play a game called MacGyver where we would have a pile of odds-and-ends and try to make something useful from it. Sure, our creations weren’t that pretty but for the most part they did somewhat work.
As an adult, I do find myself trying to think like MacGyver when there is something that I need or want but I don’t want to go out and buy it already made. This past summer, my son really wanted a swing.
We found some rope in our garage and then used an old floor mat from our car for the seat. The end result was something he has had a lot of fun with. Oh yeah, I can’t forget that duct tape was an ingredient as well 😉 There are a million uses for duct tape LOL.
I find that when I create things like that, I feel good about it. I like to be resourceful and making new things out of old things. It’s fun, and it saves us money.
It’s all about creative engineering. A little know how goes a long way later on in life. Plus it leads to lucrative careers in engineering. Can’t tell you how many engineers and programmers I know are described as ‘always tinkering’ when they were kids.
I love MacGyver as well! I also learned a great deal about using items that you have on-hand from my Grandfather. He was a master at “fixing” everything!
Being resourceful is a key ingridient to saving money. As for the duct tape I got a great t-shirt over the summer on the front it had:
Duct tape is like the force, it has a light side and a dark side and holds the universe together.
Oh so true – duct tape is the cure all for everything!! 🙂