We've had such a fun week here. Let me tell you about it! 1. Chicks: out of nine eggs, three of them that went into the incubator were fertile. And all three of them hatched, praise God! Since there are only three chicks this year, I'm keeping them in a cardboard box in our kitchen. The warming plate I bought last week came, and it's amazing. I can actually sleep at night not worrying about if the chicks are too hot or too cold, and I also don't worry about our kitchen burning down. We have a small amount of feed left from last year's chicks—about a gallon. So I'm trying to waste as little as possible, with hopes that we won't have to buy more. Rather than using a regular feed dispenser, I'm using a 1/4 pint jar with a parmesan cheese container lid screwed on top. You can see in the picture how there is just enough room for two heads to fit in there. This year I've spent about $130.00 on chick supplies, with the incubator and warming plate. But I know the warming plate will pay for itself in three years, and hopefully the incubator will work long enough to break even. Chicks cost about $2.50 at our local farm store, so this time our incubator only saved $7.50... let's say $8.00 with taxes thrown in. And I'm not sure how much electricity it cost to run. If I save $5.00 every time I use the incubator (value of the chicks minus electricity costs), it will take 11 uses or hatchings to break even. I don't know if it will last 11 hatchings, so my plan is to (hopefully) pick more fertile eggs and hatch ducks, quail or other high-dollar birds. For example, hatching three $5.00 ducks will save $15.00 instead of $8.00. I hope there will be some savings involved in incubating chicks every year, but the main reason I bought the incubator was to ensure my ability to produce birds in case of shortage or unavailability. Chicks are worth far more than a couple of dollars when you can't find them anywhere!! 2. Terra-cotta pots: Walmart finally had some clay pots in stock!!! I would have loved to find some pots for free (and I will definitely keep looking), but I was just happy to find them. I also bought trays for the bottom of each pot. Next time I'm there I will buy more trays for the three pots that I already have. The cost per pot (with tray) was as follows: Large pot: $16.89 Medium pot: $6.10 Small pot: $2.88 You can see that the large pot cost over twice as much as the medium one. That being said, the large one is over twice as large! I will use the large pots for indoor trees like my fig tree and citrus (Lord willing). The medium size ones will be for regular houseplants like snake plant, anthurium, etc. And the smallest pots I bought (which were not the smallest ones at Walmart) will be used for fresh herbs, indoor and outdoor. My hope is to fill some with herbs that aren't winter-hardy, like tarragon and lemon verbena. I will also keep some empty in the summer so I can plant basil and thyme in them during the winter. Eventually I want to replace all of my plastic pots with clay or ceramic pots. Plastic deteriorates in the sun, but it's also lighter to move. Some of my largest plants are in plastic pots and I will probably keep them there until the plastic deteriorates. Walmart doesn't have plain clay pots that big, so I will probably need to invest $50.00 or more into especially large pots, which will likely need coasters to move around. Sigh. But we will take one step at a time here. 3. Garden: I harvested cilantro this week. I also spent a couple of hours chopping up storage onions for the freezer, weeding out onions that have sprouted, and putting the rest of them in the fridge. I have a whole drawer of onions now! I also have several gallon-size bags of cubed squash in the freezer, to which I will probably add more gallon bags of parsnips. I thought for sure that I would be able to use 12 square feet of parsnips this spring, but we had an especially busy time in March where we were gone for meals or I fixed simpler meals like sandwiches. Someday when I get my life together, those busy weeks won't throw me off so much. It's one thing to plan a meal that doesn't happen. It's another thing to plan a garden for that meal, grow the food for it, and then end up not eating it. Feels like such a waste! Next year I will still plant extra parsnips for spring, but I will try to figure out some potluck-friendly dishes to make with the garden produce. Anyhow, there are still parsnips out there, but I know they'll start to get woody in a couple of weeks as they go to seed. So I will be digging out the remaining plants. If we can't eat them, I'll freeze them. 4. Figure: I get so tired of sharing these screenshots, but I know they're helping me stay accountable to my goal. There was a .4 lb. weight gain and 0.1% body fat increase from last week, but I'm still doing no sugar six days per week, exercising every day, and intermittent fasting. I will continue to put in place good habits, work on healthier meals, and we'll see what happens.
5. I've been working on a rocking chair remodel for some time now, and finally finished it. I found the rocking chair for free, painted it white, and the next step was to make a cushion to hide the missing piece in the back. Well, we finally just bought a $20.00 full-chair cushion and it works. The shape isn't quite right, but it's very comfortable and the fabric on it is nice and summery. How is that thrifty? Well, it's thrifty when you figure not that I paid $20.00 for a single-season cushion, but that the cushion has the potential to work for all seasons! All I have to do is make a slipcover for it, and we can have a "different" cushion for fall, winter and spring. The cushion is nice and sturdy, covers the back AND bottom of the chair, and will last for a long time. I'm pretty happy about it. 6. I ripped some audio CDs onto my computer. Our preschooler LOVES playing music on her thrift-store CD player, and I like the idea of using music as part of a homeschool curriculum. Several years ago I got rid of all of my CDs. People don't use CDs anymore, so I thought our music consumption would be mostly digital via my phone or our smart TV. Well, that works great until the internet goes out, or until a child wants to listen to music independently. Now I'm back to ripping and burning CDs. Right now we're just listening to whole CDs of hymns, bluegrass, harp music, etc., but eventually I want to make assortment CDs that have many different genres and songs, themed to the season or to what we're learning about. That's about all for this week. I hope you're all enjoying spring! ~Prudence~
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Hi everyone! I hope you had a great week. Spring has truly SPRUNG here in the midwest. Here are a few frugal things that are happening. Flowers: several perennial flowers that I planted in past years are coming into bloom. In the front I have some beautiful double-blossomed daffodils that I planted last year. The forsythia bush that I planted five years ago is finally blooming at full capacity. It's particularly special to me. At the house I grew up in, there was a genuine hitching post by the driveway, hidden by a big overgrown forsythia. As children, my sister and I would pretend it was our "fort", and hide underneath its branches. Before my parents sold the house, I dug up a little piece of the bush and planted it at our current home. It took a full year to even grow leaves... I thought it had died! But the second year it grew a few leaves, and the third year it grew a lot of leaves. The fourth year it grew some flowers, and this year it is full of flowers. Not only does the plant have special memories, but it was free to me and will produce flowers every year now. Figure: I'm happy to announce that I did make some progress toward my weight goal this week. I weighed in at 138.8 pounds, with a loss of 1.4 lbs and a body fat percentage loss of 0.5%. I've continued to weigh myself at least a couple of times every week, and this week my weight spiked to 140.6 on Saturday and got to its lowest point this morning, Thursday.
The intermittent fasting has become almost easy for me now, but not eating sweets still takes a lot of discipline. But it's not just sugar that takes discipline. I've realized that I just enjoy eating. Chewing, tasting, swallowing. I like it. Yesterday for lunch I had half of a hamburger (it was a restaurant hamburger, so it wasn't small) and a pint of cooked squash. I was kind of full, but I still wanted to eat more, so I ate a few leftover fries from my daughter's plate. Before dinner I ate two cheese sticks, and then for dinner I had a ham and turkey wrap and a tall glass of jamaica (hu-MI-cuh) tea. I was full, but I still wanted to eat. There was so much more food left! For the last week I've been eyeing some blueberry bagels, and I just haven't had a chance to eat them. I thought about eating them last night, but I really was full. There are so many foods that I want to eat, just for the sake of eating them. Instead, I ate what amounted to a quarter of a sandwich from my daughter's plate. It made me feel like I wasn't shorting myself out on extra food, even though I was already full. I seem to have this "thing" where I need to eat until I'm full, plus a little extra, "just in case" I get hungry later, or to finish off food that is still left, as if it's my job or something. In the coming weeks I'm going to practice telling myself that I don't need to eat food just because it is there, and that more food will always be available. I wonder if I wasn't making progress with intermittent fasting because I had a food shortage mentality: "My food window is only 8 hours, so now I have to eat three meals in the time it takes to eat one meal!" and then sometimes I would think that because I was only eating two meals, that I "deserved" a snack or something sugary in between those meals. Not going to lie, sometimes I feel gypped because I only get to eat two meals. Then I feel gypped because I'm too full to eat all of the things I wanted to eat in a day. There is just so much good food to eat and not enough time or stomach capacity to eat it all. The thought that I've been encouraging myself with lately is: "Being fit costs so much, it's not even something money can buy." Self discipline is actually a type of wealth, and sometimes I picture myself "spending" big amounts of it, like I'm some kind of rich self-discipline banker and no amount of discipline can bankrupt me because I'm so wealthy that way. Normal people practice the normal self discipline of waking up every morning to go to work, bathing themselves and not supersizing at McDonalds every day. Folks poor in discipline sleep in every day, slack off on personal grooming and can never say no to processed food... especially a LOT of processed food. Poor people love buffets. People who have a lot of discipline-wealth, however, can get up a little earlier, do a little more personal grooming than the average person, and they can ALWAYS say no to food. I love a good buffet, so I still have a long way to go. But as I continue to use this analogy in my mind, I hope it will change my thinking and make it easier to say "no" to food. Garden: I planted parsnips, spinach, radishes and turnips in the garden this week. I also transplanted some strawberries. Books: I started reading Dolly Freed's Possum Living. Although half of the suggestions aren't pertinent to me or practical to our lifestyle, there are so many suggestions in the book that it's still well worth reading. I've taken a lot of notes so far. Chickens: I bought a warmer plate to use with our chicks this year in order to replace the heat lamp we've used in the past. The warmer plate cost about $50.00, but it will save $20.00 per year in electricity costs, it's better for the chicks, and less of a fire hazard. That's it for this Thrifty Thursday! I hope it's helped or inspired you in some way. Be blessed, ~Prudence~ Food: You can see from the picture above that we have a sprinkling of homestead food coming in! I'm harvesting parsnips from the garden (that is, from last year's garden), and we are collecting eggs galore. I've been selling a dozen per week to my sister-in-law, which helps offset the cost of feed. We will likely be eating some spinach this month as it grows to maturity in the garden. I've been cleaning out the pantry some, as well. Using up some of our dried and canned foods, and using the rest of the winter squash from 2020 as they quickly deteriorate into moldy uselessness. I threw out three of the four spaghetti squash (something I just never used) and a few butternut squashes. I froze what I couldn't use of the butternut squash, so there is just one spaghetti squash and one small butternut left to eat fresh. Figure: I've been trying to lose some weight in the last several weeks. I would love to get down to 132-135 from 140. So far I've been intermittent fasting 8 hours on, 16 hours off. I've also reinstituted "Sugar Saturday", which means that all of the other days are no-sugar. That is SO much harder than the fasting, but in the past it has worked well to slim down a few pounds. As you can see below (and if you compare with this January post) I haven't made much progress. In fact, my body fat percentage has gone up 0.1% for all of my efforts. Sigh.
One thing that's been holding me back is that I don't weigh myself on the last half of my cycle, as I'm not sure how the Renpho scale would affect any potential pregnancies. But the last several years have been barren in that regards, so this time I've just decided to weigh myself several times per week rather than once a month like I had been doing. It encourages me to keep trying if I can see where I'm at more often. Laser hair removal: I purchased an IPL laser hair removal device from Amazon to see if I can make any progress in that department. I've NEVER been happy with shaving. I tried an epilator for a few years, but it was so, so painful. I eventually went back to shaving, which is time-consuming, pricey and not very effective for my dark hairs and pale legs. Before I bought the device I looked into getting the laser hair removal done at a clinic (which I believe is a slightly different process), but it was far too pricey. We're talking $3000-$4000 for legs and underarms. I'm hoping the $90.00 device will give me smooth, hair-free legs at last. I've tried it once so far, and the process is easy and not very painful at all compared to the epilator. That's about it for this update! I have a bit more to share, but not much more time to write. Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I know I'm a day late for Thrifty Thursday. But, oh well.
1. Pantry stock up: I did a big pantry stock up this week, topping up the pantry to have a year's worth of nonperishables like rice, beans, pasta, sugar and canned tomato paste. There were a few items that I don't quite have enough of, like tuna and pasta, but I will work on topping those up in the weeks and months to come. Still, I feel very happy with where I'm at in regards to the pantry. Last year my goal was to buy 6 month's worth of food, and this year I've expanded that inventory to a full year's worth. 2. Thrifting: I spent about $10.00 at the thrift store on books and sewing supplies (see the picture above). I want to restock my zipper collection this year and beef up some of my other notions. These days I buy thread whenever I see it, because good thread at Walmart or Joann's will cost a couple of dollars, but often I don't need a whole spool to complete a project. The spools I found at the secondhand store were about $0.25 each. 3. Centerpiece: I cut some forsythia and lilac branches to make an arrangement for our kitchen. I'm hoping that the leaves will at least unfurl, if not flower. In the past I've had good success with the forsythia branches flowering, and they are such a beautiful, spring-like yellow color when the whole countryside is still dull and brown. Twigs are so easy to arrange, and you can always find an abundance of them here. Of course it's nice if some bud out and flower, but even if they don't, it's still visually interesting and adds a touch of nature to your home. I was reading a piece in the Epoch Times several weeks ago about decorating with nature or nature-themed items. Studies have shown that being in nature provides a sense of calmness, lowers blood pressure and heart rate and inspires a feeling of well-being. Even when a direct connection with nature isn't available, even imagery of nature has positive benefits; so, for example, pictures of leaves, bark, snowflakes or ocean waves would have some effect. And twigs. Twigs have an effect. 4. Book: I found a biography of William McKinley at a discount store for $4.00. It seemed fitting for me to buy it, since the biography I'm working on now is Edith Roosevelt. I'm also exited to read it, given that McKinley was apparently one out of two Enneagram 2 presidents. Some day I would love to read at least one biography on each president. 5. Garden: I've been harvesting beets and parsnips from the garden, and trying to use up most of our pantry stock from last year; canned and dried produce (of which the wasn't much to start with), frozen produce, and also what's left in cold storage; a cabbage or two, onions, butternut squash and a few apples. When I first set a goal to garden year-round, I had no idea what I would do for the months between November and May, since midwestern winters can be so harsh and long-lasting. Somehow, each year I find new vegetables to grow, or new ways to keep those vegetables fresh. Last year in March, all I had was a fistful of lettuce and a couple of parsnips. This year I have enough parsnips for two per week, March-April. In addition, I have a couple of beets out there still, spinach beginning to grow, and even a bit of swiss chard that I haven't dug into yet. Last year's lack of canning lids really forced me to be creative in how I preserve or keep produce, and the results this spring are amazing. I'm still buying potatoes, but I've quit buying nearly everything else. That's all I have for this week. Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I missed last Thrifty Thursday because I was gone all weekend. But I'm back now!
I have been busy cleaning up from our trip, decluttering, and am getting ready to do a thorough spring cleaning. Here are a few things I've done since my last post: 1. Infinity scarf- I turned a regular scarf into an infinity scarf by sewing the ends together. Perhaps I just lack skill in tying regular scarves, but infinity scarves are much easier for me to pull off while doing everyday twisting, turning, and bending over activities. This winter, I've really come a long way in my goal of dressing more feminine. First I started pairing leggings with shorter skirts, then with short, summery dresses. If you add leggings, a cardigan, and possibly an infinity scarf to a warm-weather dress, it magically transforms into a winter dress. I think it was also easier to wear dresses and skirts this winter because I didn't go outside or travel much, and the leggings made it feel like I was still wearing pants, which is what I'm used to. My goal now is to wear a dress or skirt every other day. 2. Made puff pastry. I used a recipe from a book by the Culinary Institute of America, called The Professional Chef. 3. I also invested in two new chef knives and a beautiful French rolling pin this week. I have a boning and paring knife from the same company, and wanted a chef knife to round everything out. I couldn't decide between the 7 and 8 inch knife, so I bought them both. They were very expensive, totaling about $260. The thrifty part was this: in the process, I also learned a few tricks on how to make knives AND wood cooking tools last longer. You're not supposed to put them in the dishwasher (which I already knew), nor let wood-handled knives sit in water for more than a few minutes. You're also not supposed to use the knives with plastic cutting boards, and when I take them back to the store for sharpening, I need to specify that I'm left-handed. As far as the wood goes, it supposed to be conditioned every so often with cutting board oil... and apparently, wood cutting boards are supposed to be conditioned as well. News to me! I'm going to keep my plastic cutting board for onions and meat, but now I know not to use it with the high-end knives. I have one well-used, thrift store wood cutting board and also a fancy personalized cutting board that I've rarely used. Now I will probably use the fancy board a bit more, and the plastic board a bit less. One thing I've learned about buying nice things is that you take care of them better. When you spend $300.00 on three kitchen items, you're not going to let them go to pot. Those things are going to last me the rest of my life, and hopefully someone else's life!! In addition to spending the $300.00, I also spent another $10.00 on a knife sheath for the larger chef knife that wouldn't fit in my block. With any other knife I would have just thrown it in the utensil drawer, but since I paid so much for it, I was like, "What's another $10.00 to keep it nice?" I also spent $8.00 on cutting board oil for not only the rolling pin, but also my wood cutting boards and a few wooden utensils I own. When this oil is gone, I will look for a good DIY recipe rather than buying another bottle, as the ingredients were pretty straightforward. 4. Read a library book for my own book research. It's called Sass, Smarts and Stilettos, by an American-Italian woman about the Italian lifestyle. I took a whole page of notes for my book, and also some action points that I'll probably put into practice this year. It was a fun and informative read. Some parts were a bit cringe-worthy for me, but overall I'm glad I read it. 5. Started decorating for spring. I finally (finally!) got down the rest of the Christmas, Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras decorations, and began decorating for spring. I bought an olive-green, new-to-me tablecloth at a thrift store, and arranged doilies that I already had with a candle as the centerpiece. Blessings, ~Prudence~ I had a pretty thrifty week, although we were gone for some of it.
1. Buttons on dress: several weeks ago I bought a cardigan from Amazon. I bought a navy blue one and a white one. Do you know how sometimes color options are cheaper than others when ordering on Amazon? Well, both of my colors were "on sale" for $2.00 less than most of the other options. However, they both had big, gaudy red buttons going down the front. The blue sweater actually came with a pack of blue buttons, so this week I simply replaced the red buttons with blue. The white sweater, oddly enough, did not come with any extra buttons. I replaced one of the old red buttons with a mother-of-pearl button, but it was too big for my liking. So I am going to fish through some of my old buttons this week and see if I can find five matching white ones to put on the white sweater. 2. I have been trying to use a lot of eggs in our meals lately. The real problem is simply that I have too many chickens. However, the chickens I do have were mostly free. Right now the chickens are laying six eggs per day. We have eight dozen eggs in the fridge, so my goal is to use up 6+ eggs per day. I have been making quite a few devilled eggs and quiches, plus fried eggs and egg-using dessert recipes. I also made mayonnaise this week, but I made a mistake and it all separated. Better luck next time. 3. Microgreens and tester seeds: I started another batch of microgreens last week that are now ready to harvest. I also began viability testing on my garden seeds this year. Unfortunately many of the seeds I tested were just too old. However, I planted the spinach, basil and beet test seeds in dirt and they sprouted. I will transplant the spinach and basil seedlings into larger pots to be grown indoors, and I will use the beets for greens, rather than actual beets, since I don't have a pot large enough for that. 4. Currier and Ives prints. Several weeks ago I bought a Currier and Ives book at a discount store. I loved it so much that I decided to buy a second, used copy to cut prints out of for wall artwork. This week I went through the lengthy process of removing the book cover, separating al of the pages, and throwing away the pages with words. Unfortunately the prints didn't fit my thrift-store frames very well, so I may try some alternative methods of framing. 5. Reorganized a cabinet with school supplies. I will be going through How To Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with our non-reader this fall, so in the coming months I want to make sure she knows all of her letter sounds. I moved our preschool/kindergarten supplies into a cabinet in the kitchen where they will be more accessible to use every day. That's all for this week! I hope you're all staying warm. Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I had a relaxing and productive week at home.
Bedroom: I removed a cabinet out of our bedroom closet and replaced it with a full-length mirror that we already had. After a year of thinking it over, I decided to replace the plastic hangers on my side of the closet with wooden ones. Over the past year I've kept an eye out for used wooden hangers, and they cost about $1.00 each. Since Amazon sells a set of matching wooden hangers for $1.00 a piece, I decided to go that route rather than thrifting the hangers. Was it thrifty to spend $20.00 on hangers? I'm not sure, but they sure make my thrifted clothes look more appealing! I love the "boutique" feeling they give my closet. I also purchased a duvet and duvet cover for our bed (each cost about $30.00 from Amazon). This is another change I've been contemplating for some time, now. Over the past two years, I've had a hard time with sheets. Five years ago we bought a nice set at Kohls, which lasted a long time, but it got to be pretty ragged. I replaced it with a Walmart Black Friday special, which I struggled to keep from popping off of the mattress. I even used those little sheet clips to keep the corners on, but it would still pop off. Recently, I realized that the set wasn't even 100% cotton, but 50/50 cotton and polyester. It was all this trouble that brought me to the point of switching from a traditional quilt/sheet set to a duvet cover and single fitted sheet. For the fitted sheet, I decided to take a chance on a rather expensive Boll and Branch sheet ($110.00). The upside: it fits over our mattress! Yay! That being said, I don't think it feels all that much better than the free used (100% cotton) sheet I got from my sister. We're at a point financially where the splurge isn't a big deal, but in the future I will look for more affordable 100% cotton sheets that are made for tall mattresses. Bathroom: I installed a bidet that we had in our old house. We don't use the bidet all that much (the water here is COLD!), but it will at least get some use if it's attached. LOL! I've discovered that apart from cleaning body parts, it is also useful for cleaning #2 out of our toddler's potty. In addition to the bidet install, I also set up a separate compost can in addition to the bathroom trash can. You can actually compost a lot of bathroom refuse; drain hair, toilet paper tubes, toilet tissue. Last year I figured out that it costs about $2.50 for every bag of trash that we have to throw in the dumpster. Since then, I've tried to do all I can to keep things out of the trash. I started saving all paper and burnables out of the trash, for example, and tub hair is just one more thing that can actually serve a purpose rather than fill up the dumpster. Cooking: I also tried making a few new recipes this week. One was a Bajan-style pork roast, and the other was béchamel. I've made white sauce informally before, but never the "proper" way. This recipe was out of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was excited to find that béchamel it is something I can prepare, refrigerate, and then use little by little. I will add it to my list of regular food prep and batch cooking tasks. That's it for this week! Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I'm so happy it's Thursday again.
1. I dried some cranberries (above) that had been in the fridge since before Christmas. Yikes! I think I will use them with loose-leaf tea. They are very tart without any sugar. 2. I worked to keep food costs down. So far we've spent about $25.00, and I'm hoping to not spend much more than that this week. We also used a gift certificate to pay for most of our date night meal this week. 3. I repaired two pairs of jeans and a skirt. The repairs were free because I just used scrapped denim as a patch. Lately I've been trying out a new method of patching where you put a piece of fabric behind the hole or tear, and then just stitch back and forth over the hole in the direction of the fabric grain. The seams blend in well with the fabric, and the patch is flexible and won't peel off like an iron-on patch. 4. I began a germination test for some of my seeds for this year, and also started growing some microgreens for our meals NeXT week. 5. I am working on plans to start a small "farm store" at our house. Basically, I will just be moving the produce stand and/or farmer's market booth inside a small building on our property that used to be part of our old barn. This week I cleaned out the space and my husband worked on fixing a broken window. I also moved a shelving unit in there. This year we will be selling eggs, maple syrup, strawberries, goat's milk soap, and probably a few more odds and ends. My goal is not only to sell homestead surplus out of the store, but also, in time, to make it into a community hub of sorts. Eventually hold classes or meetings out there. I'd also like to build a small lending library with books on marriage, health, self-sufficiency and homeschooling; topics that I think will be more sought out but also less available as censorship continues at breathtaking rates. We have the funds now to purchase books, or even different private newspaper subscriptions, and I think it would be great to invest in our community by sharing these things. Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! I am so happy to be back. After Christmas and a 2-week stint away from home, I feel so refreshed and ready to tackle homemaking with a new vigor. Over the past month or so I've purchased quite a few books that I'm hoping to at least get started on. I also have a few new ideas for our farmstead that I'm really ecited about. First off, we'll get started with some thrifty things: 1. Necklace organizer: you can see my new necklace holder in the photo above. I made it from a piece of driftwood that I found at the beach, along with some small nails and a piece of string. My jewelry (all of which is pretty much costume jewelry) is so much more accessible now. Even if I never wear it, I can at least see it now, and appreciate the beauty in each piece. 2. I saved some onion bottoms and a garlic bottom to grow "chives" with. All you have to do is cut the onion or garlic end off (about 1/4") and set it, root side down, in some water. 3. I cleaned up almost all of the Christmas decorations and finished up a video editing project that has been sitting around for too long. 4. I finished up a denim skirt that I had been working on. The original skirt was too small and didn't have enough room to walk in (it was kind of like a "wiggle skirt"). Instead of donating it as I had planned, I cut open the side seams and inserted a different color of denim (salvaged, of course, from an old pair of jeans) in the sides. It turned out very nice. 5. I was able to use an old trash bag I had saved. Plans for 2021 Since the election and all of that garbage is basically done (I'm not happy about it, but at least it won't occupy my mind anymore), I feel like I can move on and focus more on personal, home and homestead goals. Health: I'm hoping to decrease my body fat this year and work on improving strength. Here's where I'm at currently: All of those numbers are pretty good, but I would like to see them a deeper green, rather than just a light shade of green.
To reach the goals I've set for myself, I'm going to focus on taking daily walks and continue intermittent fasting. These things are enjoyable, or at least doable for me long term. Home: There are a few home reno projects that I want to work on this year. Namely, painting one bathroom and our bedroom. I would like to make some knock-off Beddy's bedding for our preschooler as well, and hang some wall art. Homestead: There is a little building on our property that I want to turn into a farm store. I have been a farm stand and/or farmer's market vendor for about five years now, so basically I am just going to merge all of that into one on-site business. It will basically be recreating my farmers market stand inside the building. Eventually I would love to put new flooring and shelving in there, but until the homestead pulls in more money, I will just use what we already have. There is one window in the building that needs to be fixed. In addition to that, I will need to paint a sign for the door and probably move some potted plants over there to make it look welcoming. It will be a self-serve farm store. Things I'll be selling for sure are eggs, maple syrup and strawberries. In addition to that, I will put out what soap I still have, and depending on the week I may also sell vegetables, fruit, herbs or flowers. We spent quite a bit of money on farm infrastructure in 2020, since I added a new, under-plastic strawberry bed and we acquired a steer for beef (which also required hay, fencing, and some small items). Not counting the steer and steer-related items, we ended out the year around $350-$400 loss. Most years I try to break even, but the strawberry harvest was dismal and we only made $500.00 rather than the usual $750-$1000. I think we did harvest a $350 value from the fruit, vegetables and eggs that our little farm was able to produce. I just like the idea of a financially self-sustaining farm. :) That's all I have for this week. Blessings! ~Prudence~ Hi everyone! There hasn't been much "thrift" going on here; just a lot of Christmas and family. And per the course, there has been a lot of my 2020 "word of the year" going on. In several days we'll be leaving the state for a short work-cation; half of it will be work, and we will spend a few days vacationing. Hopefully by a beach and/or some historical sites.
I got (and gave) some pretty fun Christmas gifts. I've never considered my family to be "preppers", but what can I say... it was 2020. LOL! There were more than a few books gifted (you can see one that I got above), as well as flashlights, bullets and MREs. I'm not even kidding! So I guess at least we will all be well-prepped for the new year. That's all for now! I look forward to sharing some goals and/or a reading list when we get back home. Blessings, ~Prudence~ |
About PrudenceI am a Christian homemaker who lives in the Midwest. I enjoy sewing, gardening, reading and thrifting. Archives
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