Hi everyone! Here are a few thrifty things that I did this week:
1. We helped at a food pantry distribution. After the distribution was over, everyone could take some of what was left. We brought home a box of produce, meat, dairy, and some packaged foods like breakfast cereal. 2. I dried two bags of apples from the food distribution, plus quite a few tomatoes from my garden and some other miscellaneous produce I had lying around, like some bananas that were starting to turn brown. I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of that thrift store dehydrator. 3. I made pesto with basil from the garden. 4. Tomorrow will be the first of many frosts, so I brought in all of the tomatoes, butternut squash, watermelon, beans, cucumbers, and anything else out there that I thought might freeze. I picked five ripe bell peppers, but there are still many smaller peppers that I think will grow big enough to pick if I cover them a few more nights. 5. After a long break, I've resumed the Fascinating Womanhood study that I bought a month or two ago. 6. I finished reading Where There Is No Doctor, as well as the book I told you about last week: Merchant of Sonoma. I made copies from WTIND; some medical charts and reference pages to use in our family health notebook. I began listening to The Conservative Heart by Arthur Brooks. So far it is very good, and appropriate, as it was written before the 2016 presidential debates. Oh, the debate. I hope the next ones aren't as painful to watch. 7. I made yeast rolls for a meal we had this week. Compared to sourdough, making regular bread is a breeze, and it tastes amazing! I think that's about all for this week! At least all I can remember. Til next time, ~Prudence~
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Hello everyone! I've had a great week so far. We celebrated my birthday, which is always fun. 1. I recieved a gift certificate to our local nursery, and used it to buy a goji berry bush (25% off!), as well as six packets of seed that I'll be able to use next year, or even possibly this winter. There was still $4.00 left on the card after I was done. When we were at the nursery I saw exactly two citrus plants with blossoms that I badly wanted, but they were $40.00 each and my gift card was only for $29.00. I have tried growing smaller citrus trees at home, but have never been able to get them to blossom, and to date they have all died. 2. I went to a produce auction and was able to purchase 15 butternut squash for $0.60 each. The normal price around here is usually about $2.00 per squash. Looking back, I probably should have bought more squash of different varieties, as it will store easy and was very cheap. I did grow butternut squash this year, but it was not even half the amount that I bought, plus my homegrown squash turned out very small. 3. We had a hard frost over the weekend, and I was able to cover most of my delicate plants and thus preserve them. That will allow me to harvest several more peppers and tomatoes. 4. I used some birthday money to buy the book pictured above; Merchant of Sonoma. I paid a couple of dollars more at the WS outlet store than I would have on Amazon, but I've been wanting to read this particular book for several years and never have because I couldn't find it for free. My birthday was a good excuse to buy it. I've only had the book for a few days now, and I'm almost done with it. The hardback format and thick paper makes it look like a long read, but it's not. Each chapter usually includes some pictures and recipes, which also pad out the story. It is very interesting and a good book overall. I don't think Williams-Sonoma is now what it once was, simply because of globalization and the prevalence of factory-produced goods. I've owned some good WS merchandise and some bad WS merchandise. Some was used and some was purchased at the outlet store, which is typically about 40% off sticker price. Obviously shopping at the outlet store is not the same experience as shopping at their regular retail stores. The displays aren't nearly as nice, which (according to the book) was one of the huge elements that set WS apart from other kitchenware stores. The other thing that set them apart was their high-quality products. As I mentioned before, though, globalization has changed much of that; individuals can now buy things straight from France rather than retailers going on buying trips and then shipping everything back to the U.S. and selling it through a store. One thing I still like about WS though is their style; simple, classic design elements. Of course they do sell some "gaudy" holiday plates, napkins, etc. But the non-themed items are usually something I would love to have in my kitchen. 5. I added some things to our emergency supplies/pantry. I'm now into planning for January-March of 2021, so I bought things that I thought might sell out again; toilet paper, ramen, canned meats. I also bought some seeds and elephant garlic for the garden. I've heard that there may be a shortage on seeds due to inclement weather, wildfires, and more people gardening, so I've been trying to buy now rather than in January. Some other things I bought were an emergency candle, eye drops, petroleum jelly, thread and glow sticks. This is my third pack of glow sticks that I've bought from the Dollar Tree. While not as good as a flashlight, they don't require batteries and make a good "night light" or safe light source for children during a power outage. 6. Our city had their annual "junk days", where people put their junk out on the curb. Pickers and passers-by can look through everything and take it, if they want to, and after a week the garbage company will haul everything away. I found several useful things: -A rocking chair for our porch. It will need to be painted and fixed up a bit with new dowels, some pillows, etc., but I think it was a great deal, for being free. -A child-sized armchair. I cleaned it up already, and now it just needs some more stuffing and a paint job to be usable. -Several pots and hanging baskets that I will use for my indoor winter garden this year. -A few local history books, in addition to a book on cutting gardens and another thick book about plant propagation. 7. I've begun planning for a winter garden in our basement, and set up a produce storage area in our garage. You can see my storage area below: The tall shelving unit is actually a repurposed fodder tray unit, which is why the shelving is tiltled a bit. The smaller shelf is one that I found at junk days (it has all of my $0.60 squashes on it). Here are some of the ways I plan on using this area:
-Winter storage for garlic, onions, potatoes, and other things. I may also put hickory nuts or dry beans (still in the shell) here. -Ripening area for tomatoes and pears. Rather than canning my 5 gallons+ of pears, I've chosen to only can some, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. When I want to use some, I will bring them out into the garage to ripen, and then use them fresh. I just fill like this is a better use of my time than canning all of them, plus fresh pears don't have the added sugar and limited use that canned pears do. Plus, this method of "preservation" won't require any canning lids! My hope, ultimately, is that this storage area will allow me to spend more time gardening and less time preserving and eating mushy preserved food. This year has been ideal to work toward that goal, since additional freezers and canning lids are hard to come by. I will talk about the winter garden more next week, after I make some needed purchases and get started with some of the plants. Have a blessed week! ~Prudence~ Hello everyone! I have been very busy over the past week or so and have some things to share.
1. I canned pears and tomatoes. Canning pears takes SO much time! 2. I harvested about 2/3 of the pears from our pear tree. The ones I didn't harvest were pears that I couldn't reach with a ladder. I put most of the fruit I picked into the fridge, and I will gradually bring it out to ripen so I'm able to can it or use it fresh. I'm hoping to have fresh pears this way at least until Christmas. 3. We had an inexpensive birthday celebration for our toddler. I made four wooden peg dolls for her and my husband built a dollhouse. I did purchase some Safari LTD animals (afl. link) for her, which cost $28.00. The animals cost a lot of money ($2.00-$8.00 each), but what makes the price outrageous is the $10.00 shipping. The company makes it a better deal for those who spend more money. Orders over $50.00 get free shipping. They give you "points" for subscribing to their social media sites, placing orders, etc., but you can only spend the points with a minimum purchase; to use a $10.00 off voucher, for example, you have to spend $65.00. I don't think most people have an extra $50.00 laying around to spend on toys, but if you want to get the best deal per animal, that's how to do it. I should really write up a whole post about this, since you can also get certain animals at craft stores, with a coupon, etc. As I was writing this post, I looked up the total for my order and realized that I had only received three of the four animals that I ordered, bring the total cost per (received) animal over $9.00! Yikes! I contacted the company about this. Hopefully they will send the last animal and that will bring the total cost per animal down to $7.00. In the future I might consider saving up the $50.00 to spend all at once so I can buy animals at their actual listed price. Sigh. In addition to the two inexpensive/free gifts, I also decorated with balloons and streamers left over from other parties. I made a cake with an $0.88 cake mix and let our toddler decorate it with leftover Easter candy that I bought on sale (don't worry, it was still good!). We did spend quite a bit of money on chips, veggie trays and ice cream for 15 guests (all family). This is something I can improve on in future years, for sure. It will just require some extra planning on my part. I am going to make a "birthday box" for future birthdays; a place to store birthday-specific decorations, candles, etc. I may also put in a "to-do" or "to-buy" list so I can get everything ready ahead of time and utilize sales and cheaper stores, rather than buy everything last minute like I did this time (and several times prior). 4. I finished a lot of projects that I've been putting off. I ordered some pictures from Walmart for an album I've had in mind for months now. I returned ALL of the cans and bottles piling up in our garage (probably $40.00 worth) and I painted the upstairs hall floor. I did a faux wood finish that took three layers of paint plus one layer of varnish, and I want to put a second layer of varnish on after I get another can of it. Of course I still have a lot of house projects to finish up, but as I finish more and more of them, I feel like I can be present for everyday life; for things like cooking, cleaning, homeschooling and gardening. I'll enjoy these things far more when I'm not just "trying to get them done" so I can start hacking away at the massive pile of unfinished house projects. The massive pile has become more of a medium-sized pile. 5. And here is my favorite thrifty thing for this week! I bought the book Presidential Profiles, about each president and their Enneagram/Myers-Briggs type. This was on my to-read list for a while, but I couldn't find it at the library or on Scribd (afl. link... get 2 months free reading!). That would mean paying $5.00 or so for the ebook. Imagine my delight when I realized that I had enough Amazon promotional credits (from slow shipping rather than 2-day) to get it for free!!! So I have been reading that on my Kindle at night, rather than reading my phone. It is so interesting, and also keeps me from scrolling endlessly, which helps me sleep better. Well, that's all for today. I know it was a bit of a ramble, but between birthday and special projects, I didn't do many clear-cut thrifty things. I hope you all, too, are enjoying fall and getting a lot of things done! TTFN, ~Prudence~ Hello, friends! Today I thought I'd give you a sample of what some of my fall decor is this year, and some other thrifty ideas for decorating. First: Storage or No Storage? I think the manner in which you decorate frugally depends on how much storage you have. When my husband and I first got married, our home didn't have a basement or any closets, and it only had one spare "storage" room. I was hesitant to buy any decorations that would take up a lot of space. Instead, I made all of my decorations and discarded them when the season was over. For example, I kept one metal wreath base and simply made a wreath from what items we had; sticks, leaves, or decorative weeds like different grasses, curly dock or golden rod. I love this idea in theory, but I have skipped DIYing wreaths during many busy seasons. The second thing I did (and something I have continued to do) is decorate with ornamental gourds. You can either grow them or buy them. I started out the first year just buying them, but when the season was over I saved the seeds to plant the following year. Some ornamental gourds, like Jack-Be-Little pumpkins, are actually a type of squash that you can cook and eat. Not only are they good for decoration, therefore, but when they start to get wrinkly you can scoop out the seeds, cook the flesh, and then enjoy free food AND free seeds. One caveat; saved seeds are usually only good for one year for me, since I grow all of the ornamental squash (usually just one or two plants per type, since I have a small garden) in the same plot. That means they cross-pollinate, and after the second year they all start to look like "frankensquash". This year, for example, my Jack-Be-Littles turned out great from saved seed, but some of the other ornamental gourds turned out big, warty and monocolor. Not the prettiest to use for decoration. Next year I'll probably buy seeds and then just space them out to use over the course of two-three years. I have a small cornocopia that is my favorite to fill with small ornamental squash, pictured above. As you can see, it is well-loved. There are other small things you can buy or use up during the season that don't take up a lot of space. As you can see above, pictured with the ornamental squash are some seasonal candles. One is a small pumpkin-scented candle ($1.00), and there are two other leaf-shaped candles (free from a garage sale). When a candle is spent, you can melt down the wax and reuse for homemade candles. You can also re-use the container for a new candle. Lastly, if you don't have a lot of space to store decorations from year to year, you can use favorite fall recipes as a "decoration". One of my favorite fall recipes is pear tart. You can make it in a regular pie pan, but I love the way they look baked in single-serve tart pans. Some other things you can incorporate into your fall menu are a few different soup recipes, more hot breakfast recipes, pumpkin spice everything, apple cider, or in-season fruit based snacks like apples and peanut butter dip. If You Do Have Storage Space Last year we moved into a home with a basement, so I've started buying some decorations that are reusable. Rather than clutter up my home with extra items, I've chosen to buy decorative but useful things that I can simply switch out each season. For example, rather than keeping a set of fall dishes, I've chosen to look for fall-themed linens like dish clothes, cloth napkins or ornamental pillowcases that will store easily. For the most savings, buy these things at thrift stores or during after-season sales at the stores. Apart from linens, there are a few other fall decorations that I keep and use. I have two ceramic pumpkin candy dishes that I like to set in strategic places, and I also have some ceramic turkey items: a napkin holder, and a small decorative ceramic turkey. At some point in October I will switch out the "leaf" decorations with the "turkey" decorations. We have chosen not to celebrate Halloween, so I don't collect or make any kind of spooky decorations.
I found the "Thankful" sign (pictured at the top of this post) at our local Dollar Tree for $1.00. I don't know if it will last for more than a few years, but I like the message and design, plus the price was right. I hope this has been helpful or inspiring to you! Let me know how you decorate on a budget in the comments. ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I know, I missed last week. I had to step in for one of my husband's co-workers. His National Guard unit was activated to help with one of the many rioting situations going on right now. :( I am hoping that everyone gets out of there safe and sound.
In the meantime, I'll report on a few things that I've been doing to be thrifty. 1. Harvested swiss chard, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and some ornamental gourds, as well as basil, lettuce and Bells of Ireland seed. Every year I try to become a little less dependent on the stores for seeds. I've harvested lettuce and flower seeds before, but the basil was a first this year. The packet I bought this spring only cost $0.20, but these days... you never know what might happen. Unlike many homesteaders, I've chosen not to do a lot of canning every year. Since I prefer gardening to canning, I focus on growing fresh produce for nine months out of the year and only preserving food for three months. Practically, this means I only can, dry or preserve garden produce when there is extra. You can read about that below: 2. I made lacto-fermented pickles with extra cucumbers, froze extra beans, dried extra long beans (along with some zucchini we were given) and canned four pints of diced tomatoes. I won't be making any puree or sauce this year, since it is much easier to just use a can of tomato paste and add spices. Four pints doesn't sound like a lot, but the tomatoes are just getting started and I only need 13 weeks' worth of fruit and vegetables to get through winter. I figure we'll use about two pints of diced tomatoes per week, so that's 26 jars as a goal. Four down, 22 to go! Just in case you're wondering, I am reusing lids for low-value products like tomatoes. 3. I harvested and dried elderberries, and also harvested wild cherries, mullein, yarrow, and other herbs good for cold and flu. My medical preps are looking stronger. This isn't thrifty, but I want to share: I bought a quality stethoscope ($25) and pulse oximeter ($20) last week. These tools will allow me to better monitor family members and take care of health problems at home. With the quality and availability (not to mention cost) of healthcare less than desirable, I want to have the skills and tools to DIY what I can. Obviously I won't be running a trauma unit out of our spare bedroom, but I want to be able to tell when a cold/flu illness is serious and when it's not. Just last week, my husband came home with a nasty deep cut on his arm. It was only about a half inch long, but you could see the fat and "guts" coming out underneath the skin. We poured rubbing alcohol over it to prevent infection and put a bandaid over it. Later in the week I was reading through Where There Is No Doctor, and realized that you should NOT pour alcohol over a wound, as it slows healing. And while the cut is healing and thankfully not infected, it should have had a stitch or two, rather than a bandaid. But I lacked the skills and tools to do stitches, and Hubby was not going to spend the time and money to get it looked at by a doctor. So he will probably end up with a nasty scar. Next time, I want to be prepared and able to take care of small problems like that. 4. I'm pretty much done stocking my 6-month pantry, and will go back to a regular food budget this month. I've got enough pantry goods to last until January now, so I can slow down buying food and go back to our regular $30.00 per week. Starting this month, I will just buy perishable or sale items, and start building up my January-March pantry, a few items at a time. For example, this week I added: -Several cans of tuna; $5.00. -A few boxes of pasta; $2.00. -The aforementioned jars of diced tomatoes; free. Now that the basic staples are covered, I've started going through miscellaneous baking items, condiments and spices to see if there are any gaps to be filled in the next 3-9 months. I believe this will be a less frantic process than the last couple of months have been. 5. I made an off-grid laundry system. We already line-dry most of our clothes indoors, but I needed a washer. So I used two free buckets and a $3.00 toilet plunger to make this off-grid washer. I also bought a $7.00 wash board on Amazon that was highly recommended for stains and bad dirt spots. Well, that is all the time I have for this post. I look forward to bringing you more thrifty accomplishments next week! ~Prudence~ |
About PrudenceI am a Christian homemaker who lives in the Midwest. I enjoy sewing, gardening, reading and thrifting. Archives
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