I remember as a little girl asking my mom to sew me a dress "because then we don't have to pay for it," and her explaining to me that fabric isn't free, and it's not even cheaper than clothes anymore. I was so disappointed and bewildered. Today, I'm still disappointed.

She also taught me how to make bread and I asked her if it was cheaper than store bread, so we sat down with grocery store receipts with the price of flour etc. and worked out that our recipe came to about $0.50/loaf (in ~2007). We didn't factor in the cost of labor, heating gas, electricity for the bread machine, etc. but it was one thing we enjoyed knowing costed less than even the cheapest bread at the store.

I still make bread, but am afraid to do the math again.