The " Make Due" Mindset

I just had a conversation with my mom and she said " You'll just have to make due." about ten times. I haven't ever been so struck with the reoccurence of this phrase until this morning. My whole life, I've been sort of the black sheep (only in my opinion though, maybe I just want to be the black sheep?) of my family. I've always desired to get things done and not be so laid back about everything. I've often viewed this laid-backedness as sheer passivism. That's not the case though, I've now come to realize that my parents have a mindset. The "Make-Due" mindset.
What does this mindset mean? I believe that somewhere along the line, my mother and father got comfortable with the just getting by attitude. Not wanting finer better things. When does making due over take you so that you no longer realize that there's something beyond that "due"? Let me tell you the exact conversation that got my mind turning on this. For the past 6 monthes I haven't had a mop to clean the bathroom floor with. The bathroom floor gets so disguisting, so often times, I've had to get down on all fours and scrub the floor with a wash rag or hand towel...not fun. Plus the fumes from the cleaner are so strong that I fight passing out everytime! So I really want to get one of those neat Swiffer wet jet things. We use one at work and it's so nice, plus it smells good too. Not toxic or pukish, like the cleaner we currently use.
So when I told my mom about what I'd been plotting to do, buy a Swiffer, she said..."Well you'll just have to make due with what you have." Like I hadn't already been quote " making due" unquote for 6 monthes prior. My question is when do you not "make due" any longer? Do you just wake up one day and say " Hey, I'm not going to make due in this way, this way, or this way any longer." Or, do you realize that you need things changed and set out to change them? In my opinion the "make due" mindset is a cop out for not changing.
If there's no drive for improvement, for better, you might as well not exist. By no means do I mean this literally, I know that those are hard words, but God didn't call us here to just exist. He calls us to live for Christ. If this is true, than Christ didn't just "make due," He was excellent and not defeated. Not defeated by current circumstances or financial problems. Christ is responsible for the drive inside of us all for more, for better, for excellence. I just don't see where being content with a "make-due" life fits in.