Tools for Money.

It takes money to make money.
That's the truth of the current economic system.
The more of a financial investment you can make,
the more you stand to gain.
If you don't have enough money to invest, you can work for someone else.
But then your investment of time profits both you and your employer.

As much as we would like to reduce our consumption,
the fact is that if we would like financial independance,
we will need to invest more than simply time and effort in order to make money.
And we must make money, in order to buy our house and pay the property taxes.
Every project we undertake requires materials and equipment.
And that compels us to consume more.

Setting up for welding has taken a fair bit of investing thus far.
Much of the equipment is used, but there were a lot of blanks to fill.
I have all of the elements needed to get started, but not without having to do some buying.
Some big items, and many small items.
Scrounging is a great way to pick up necessary tools and materials,
but that takes time and money just to runaround from place to place.
Though there will be some scrounging yet.

I console myself with the prospect of generating income for the homestead.
There is also the fact that welding is a great skill used to repair items;
thus reducing consumption.
I will have the ability to weld virtually any metal at any thickness.
Beyond repairs, I will also be capable of creating and producing goods that would otherwise need to be bought from a store.
Manufacturing is mostly done far away from us, so making our own objects helps reduce the impacts from shipping and poor labour conditions.

Of course, I can't make everything, so the buying continues despite the best of intentions.
It forces me to ask myself if this is necessary.
Well, if money was out of the equation, simplicity would preclude a great many of the steps we have taken to ensure our ability to survive within this culture.
Where to draw the line is unclear.
And that is very frustrating when trying to stamp out my own hypocrisy.

Properly cared for, the welding gear has a very long lifecycle.
I continue to use the equipment that was passed to me from my father.
And there is no reason to replace it other than the need to be able to weld a greater variety of metals, of varying sizes and shapes.
I hope that Auren will get to use this rigging, and won't have to buy as much as I have in order to ply skills.
The accumulation of skill and knowledge seems to be of equal importance to accumulating tools and equipment.
In truth, I hope that my children need more knowledge than tools.
And perhaps in the world they grow up in,
money will not be important at all.