Saving Buttons

Tom was a "red head" in his younger days and has always had trouble sunburning.  During the summer, he wears a hat, sunscreen and long sleeved shirts to cover his arms. 

I've written a couple of blog entries about his hats:

http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2010/03/hats.html

http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2012/11/dirty-hat.html

So, I felt it only fair that I include one about his shirts as well.  Here is a picture of one of his shirts that has outlived its usefulness.

This picture does not do it justice.  The collar is frayed.  It contains several rips and holes and it is stained.   Being the frugal person that I am, I still hate to throw an item of clothing away.  But, alas, it eventually has to be done.

However, before I tossed the shirt in the trash, I cut the buttons off and saved them.  Have you ever counted the number of buttons on a man's shirt?  Well, here is a picture of the ones I cut off of this shirt.

There are a couple of different sizes, but all total there are 18 buttons! 

I put the buttons in a large jar.  Over the years, I have amassed an amazing collection of different kinds of buttons.  And, whenever we have a piece of clothing that has lost a button, I can usually find a suitable replacement in my "button" jar.  

I have also found that the button jar serves as a source of entertainment to keep grandchildren out of trouble for a little while.