Frugal Foodie

Last Wednesday when the grocery ads came out, I did my scrounging to see what we needed and what was on sale. I was also trying to buy stuff ahead as far as Thanksgiving. Plus, DH was running out of soda and I was hoping to score a decent deal. Last spring there was a buy 2 get 2 free of 12 packs of his favorite kind and there it was this week. He doesn't drink a ton of it, but likes a can every so often and we have room to store it. All in all, I did a deal on English muffins of buy one, get one free, and other things on sale and saved over $34 on things we either needed or planned to have for upcoming meals. This puts us at having saved over $225 in coupons since July. Not a bad deal. We need to buy a couple more things for our meal and the quantity will depend on how many are coming. We will be spending more than $4 per person (sorry Walmart, can't beat your deal), but I like fresh things like celery. But at least I felt like I'm saving some money while buying the things we want and will use. 

I do 7 grocery apps. Two I don't get much from, but every so often I score a little on them and I figure it's better than nothing. I just cashed out another app for $10 and DH wanted some batteries from Amazon so they are basically free. Yay! 

Boer's Head had a settlement and I got $26 from that. I see Amazon is going to have settlement sign ups in December so I hope we can sign up for that. Sorry they have to do that, but if we're deserving, then we should get our piece of the pie, so to speak.

Our Thanksgiving won't be huge and boisterious. We put out an invite for people from our church who might need a place to eat and we are having two of our three families coming. When we see the need out there for so many who are struggling, we realize we are very blessed to have plenty of food and a nice home, and a little extra for things. Hope it is the same in your lives as well. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and have much to be grateful for.

A few months ago I said I was creating a spreadsheet that listed how much I saved using coupons on stuff we would normally buy anyway. I had started in July so it isn't a full year, but as of today, we are up to $144.58. Fortunately DH is on board with using coupons and finding stuff on sale. I was commenting about how much grocery prices have increased...the brand of toilet paper we use was around $7 a year ago for a package...it's now over $11. Coffee has increased at least $4 for the same package. I'm sure everyone is seeing the same thing. So, the coupons are sort of helping with the extra increases. 

It's been a bit since I've last blogged. It has taken me some time to read other's posts because of it. Life has been busy. Between trying to get things done outside and then an "assignment," I've been staying busy. Perhaps not out of trouble, but busy.

With a garden comes the clean up. First pulled up the last of the onions, and then the tomato plants. We tilled it up and put fertilizer on it so things can rest over winter. We are enlarging the garden some since we felt like this one was a little crowded. It wasn't perfect, but we did realize some great vegetables this year and hopefully next year will be even better. I have saved some tomato and watermelon seeds and hope I can start the plants in the spring. 

Sadly I had to also pull up some of our flowers. I am trying to get starts from some of them so hopefully they can winter inside and I'll have them for the spring to plant and not spend the money to buy new. I also planted some Crocus, Daffodil, Tulips, and Alium bulbs for the front flower garden. That garden is a work in progress. It has lilies, Iris, and other  flowering plants that come up every year, but before they come out, I wanted spring flowers. I planted some daffodils and tulips last fall and it was nice to see them this spring. It's a large garden so buying enough to fill in would be very expensive. So the plan it to do some each fall. I have repotted some of our flowers and hopefully can keep them going inside so I can set them out in the spring. It would save us money if this works out. 

We have a small garden next to our pole barn. I planted Oregano and Thyme there a couple of years ago and they come up each year. I wanted to start strawberries there as well, but one plant died and the other still is living, so hopefully we can add to that next spring. Again, a work in progress. I did plant garlic in that area this fall. Before that, we filled in the area with some top soil since it was eroding away from the foundation and I tilled it and then put in a landscape border so it looks a little more orderly. DH had the landscape border so the only cost was the pegs which aren't super expensive. 

Our sunflowers did great and I cut off the heads before pulling the stalks out of the ground. I let them dry and saved a bunch of seeds for planting next year. The rest I mixed with wild bird seed. I saw a video on growing sunflowers that we decided to watch. I learned two things, the closer together you plant the sunflowers, the smaller they are, and ifyou want to see blossoms throughout the summer, you need to plant seeds at different times. My own caveat would be I didn't need to know how to turn it into a business. 

Our small local library has these craft nights. One was macrame keychains. I've not done macrame before. It was interesting to learn, but I can say I don't think I'll be doing it again. The nice thing about the library stuff is they provide everything. It's a great social program. They have crochet night once a month and this month it was a pattern to make a pumpkin or candy corn. Most of the people are just learning, so they only chose one. I have crocheted before so I did the pumpkin while I was there and then brought the pattern home for the candy corn and I now have two fall decorations.

The other thing I did was I attended a terrarium class. This was something I had to pay for, but it was cool. The couple who led it explained the water cycle, and had all the things, and gave us step by step instructions. So far, the terrarium is doing great!

I decided to crochet bookmarks for the ladies in our ladies' Bible study class so I have been working on that. I finished the last one last night. I had the crochet thread already and of course the crochet hooks so this was a no cost idea. 

Now, on to my "assignment." Our church has worked hard the past three years so pay off our mortgage early. We did it in about 3 years. We are having a mortgage burning after church at the end of this month after service. Then a potluck. One of the ladies asked me to come up with stuff for a history table. I went through things and made a timeline to put on the wall and then created a slide show besides. Yeah, I'm anal and an overachiever. But hopefully people will enjoy these as well as the other documents and photos that will be out. And other than my time, it was again a no cost project. 

My spending hasn't been bad lately for any of these projects. I'm hoping to save money this spring by having some of the plants either I've had starts of, or are overwintering, or will plant the seeds. But boy, am I tired!

Happy first day of fall! After suffering through extremely hot and humid temperatures, we are finally receiving some rain, rain we haven't seen in almost a month and a half. It's deary out today and sort of cooler, so it feels like fall.

Since the end of July, I've been keeping a running tab on how much I've saved using coupons, digital and paper. I'm not counting mark downs, just coupons. I hit just a few cents over $74 this weekend. This is for stuff we normally buy, but I'm trying to pair the coupons for either keeping the pantry/fridge/freezer stocked or something we would use for every day. I guess that's not bad. Sadly, most of the things we buy, I can't find coupons for.

I try to give blood every few months. I received a $15 gift card for Amazon for doing so last month. It isn't why I donate, but it was a nice benefit.  I do a bunch of receipt apps and just got to a $20 gift card for Amazon as well. We live in rural America so DH often orders things off of Amazon that are not available locally, or even 30 minutes away. I consider it found money.  Again a lot of things we buy do not give us bonus points. 

I try to stay out of thrift stores because I'm often tempted to buy things I don't need, but I was on a mission to replace mixing bowls. The ones that were here had those cracks on the inside that bacteria can grow in. When I divorced, I didn't take everything out of the kitchen so I really wanted decent mixing bowls. I cook and bake a lot. I found a set that were clear for $20. Vintage, but safe! As a result, I was motivated to clean out some cabinets and reorganized a few things to get rid of the other mixing bowls. Hopefully it will make me a little more efficient.

I often use my Discover card to pay for things. I am getting a little over $100 back after a few  months. That will go into savings. 

As we head into the last quarter of the year, do you think you did enough to save money? I'm not talking about things that were out of your control, but just everyday things that helped you save? 

Yesterday we went to Hobby Lobby so I could buy some yarn and some orange paint. Our craft store choices are limited here in Central Illinois, so I shop where I can. I was shocked at all the Christmas out at Hobby Lobby. I would bet almost half of the store. DH wondered if they ordered stuff ahead of the tariffs so they had plenty. 

Needless to say, we didn't buy any Christmas decorations; we have plenty already. But, I wanted some orange paint for my fall project.

One of my goals this year with the garden was to plant pumpkins so I could decorate with them this fall. Well, one lone, small pumpkin isn't going to cut it. Oh, well. And being frugal, I didn't really want to spend money on anything else for outside. Then it came to me...why not make use of all the metal cans and plastic lidded containers I've been saving? So, two bottles of paint later, I'm working on these items to make them into pumpkins. We have plenty of twigs and sticks for stems. I did "splurge" and spend 25 cents on some green felt to make leaves. Hopefully these will turn out decently and I can use them for a few years. I'm hoping that I'm not only keeping these items out of the landfill, but also reusing a few things we have.

One of my newer hobbies is making candles. I made a couple a few weeks ago and burnt one of them and yesterday, pulled the wick out of it and melted what was left and added wax to it to make another candle. These are not fancy or huge, just something fun to do and enjoy. 

I was thinking yesterday while looking at all the Christmas and fall decor at Hobby Lobby, how I pleasure is pulling out the indoor decorations I have and most were bought at thrift stores. I wonder if some people buy new every year, hence the overstocked shelves at so many stores. I did go crazy this year and make some new pumpkins...DH bought a pool noodle to put in the garage so we didn't hit and chip the paint on the car door. He cut off a small section, so I cut it into pieces and used some leftover yarn to make "pumpkins" by winding yarn around them, again using some small sticks for stems, and some brown ribbon I had to tie a bow. 

Do you decorate for fall?

I'm beyond pleased that I am able to see the blogs and actually blog again! Thanks admin!

John Denver in his song, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" starts out with "life on the farm is kind of laid back..." Well, I'm not exactly sure how accurate that is, unless he means it is less stress than corporate life. I know there is a never ending cycle of things to do, but I am not complaining.

Last week I did a bunch of work in the gardens. The Rosemary I planted just didn't do very well because another plant overshadowed it and it didn't get much sun. I dug it up and potted it and brought it into the house. Hopefully I can keep it going over the winter and then replant it elsewhere next spring. I also did the same with the Sage. I cut Oregano and Thyme and washed and then stripped the stems of leaves and have two platters (one each) to dry on the sunporch so I'll have dried herbs for cooking. I then cut back the plants for the winter, although later this week it is supposed to get very hot (90s). 

DH and I had planted sunflowers last May, but they didn't come up. I had some seeds left so I planted them in a different area and lo and behold they came up. My plan is to let them dry and then keep seeds to plant next spring. I also hope to have extra seeds to put in the bird feeder.

I pulled up the cucumber plants after picking the last of the cucumbers and made my last batch of sweet pickles. The pantry is looking fuller. 

We went to a local orchard and bought a bushel of seconds of locally grown apples. I made a pie and then processed the rest to make and can apple pie filling, applesauce, and apple jelly. Again, most of this is for the pantry, but some of the jelly will be gifts. I have used all of the half pint and pint jars I own, but it sure is a nice sight seeing all these full jars of goodness.

Now I'm concentrating on getting things ready for winter as far as outside. I started on the herb garden as I said before. I am working on the flower garden and will be cutting back those plants that need it to come back stronger in the spring. I also hope to add to the garden with more tulip bulbs and daffodil bulbs. I planted some last year, but realize this is a work in progress, as are the flower gardens. I intend to add to them as time and money allow. 

I started a compost pile and that needs some attention. The soil here is very clay like and not very rich. I like the idea of recycling things like vegetable and fruit scraps as well as grass and leaves. I'm hoping to have rich compost next year so add to the gardens.

Speaking of gardens, the vegetable garden was both a success and a failure. We didn't get many bell peppers, but we did get 5 watermelons. We have one lone pumpkin. But we had a bounty of cucumbers which we ate both raw and I pickled as well as gave some away. The tomatoes did great. And we have had three growths of green onions. I'm waiting for the second batch of peas to mature. I got quite a bit of lettuce and radishes in the early summer.  The garlic did great and I processed that as well as saving some to replant. I planted potatoes for the first time using some potatoes that had "sprouted" so basically trash and we got a few nice sized potatoes.  I know social media has had posts about you don't save money if you garden, but I think you do, depending if you actually use what your grow. We have eaten so much of what we planted and although it cost money initially, if we priced it out on buying what we have had in the grocery, we would have spent more plus we got some exercise doing all this work. Additionally, we enjoyed the planning and look forward to enlarging our garden and make better use of the land. 

Hummingbird Hills has become pickle palace! Our two cucumber plants have gone wild and besides eating them now, I have made sweet pickles, bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, and sweet relish. My pantry is filling up and hopefully there is enough to share during the holidays with family. 

DH and I have already had serious talks about the garden for next year. We started a compost pile, but it won't be ready for when we tear up the garden and pull the plants. We don't think we want to plant much more, but would like ot make the garden a little bigger just for ease of getting around it. 

I had hoped to get enough tomatoes to can a few jars, but not sure if that is going to happen. At least we are getting fresh tomatoes. We've had extreme heat and little rain, so it's been a hot job watering and even if the plants want water, those pesky weeds can grow no matter what. 

We picked our second watermelon. The first one was around 27 pounds. I think this one is close. 

We planted sunflowers at the end of May and they didn't come up so I planted some in July just to see if the seeds were bad. I planted them in a different place and they all came up. I'm hoping we get some nice blooms before it gets cold so I can harvest the seeds for next year. 

One of the goals this year was to plant more butterfly and hummingbird friendly flowers. I hope that worked and my observation skills are spot on. I've seen more butterflies this year than last year and we have a couple of hummingbirds who seem to be visiting frequently. 

We have been eating a lot of stuff from the garden which means we aren't buying as much at the grocery store. That has helped with the grocery budget. 

A lot has been going on so I didn't know what else to title this than Potpourri.

My last post was I would start keeping track of how much I saved using coupons, digital or paper. This week Kroger has a special on Quilted Northern Toilet paper, the digital coupon was $5.99 for a 9 roll package. It's normally over $8.49 at Kroger and at other stores, it is $9.99. I bought some a few months ago when they had it down to $5.99, but we just opened our last package the other day, so I was hoping they would be running a special. They did, and they had a limit of 5. The kicker is I had an addition $2 off a package that was on the digital coupons  a couple of weeks ago, so that made it $3.99 a package. I had a few other things on sale with coupons, so my coupon savings this week was $22.49 and a total over the past two weeks is $25.09. 

My husband has been calling me his prairie woman because I do things he thinks prairie women do. We planted a garden and the bulk of the responsibility is mine, but we do share some of the labor. Our cucumbers have been coming on which is a blessing. I've made the refrigerator cucumbers and onions with vinegar and sugar that we keep a jar of going all the time, and I've made a lot of cucumber dill pasta salad to eat with our lunches. But my first project was to make sweet relish. I had to buy bell peppers for that, but had some onions I had planted and have made 3 pint jars and 3 half pints thus far. I've made sweet pickles and bread and butter pickles too. I had to purchase more half pint jars but there is a reason behind all this. Our plan is to give a jar of each to each one of DH's kids and their families as part of their Christmas presents. I picked wild black raspberries and made jam and I have enough to gift each one a half pint jelly jar of it. The berries weren't as robust as last year because we had very hot temperatures and little rainfall during the time the berries were starting to blossom and then ripen. But it's free fruit and I'll take advantage of it. Plus, I'm adding to my own pantry. 

We planted some tomato plants and one called "Early Girl" is producing small, but delicious tomatoes. I started a small herb garden by the side of the pole barn and although the strawberry plants I planted, well, all but one died, but then there was this other plant that came up. It's a volunteer heirloom tomato plant. They are small little bulb shaped tomatoes, but hey, free food is free food, right? 

I planted a bunch of watermelon seeds and was discouraged that only one plant came up originally. Well, that plant has been a powerhouse because it is taking over the garden. I planted some more seeds and have another plant that is following in the other's plant steps, because they are reaching out. We picked our first watermelon this week; it was almost 27 pounds. We have another one that is growing long and a small one that has started. So, that is exciting. We may be sick of watermelon by this fall if they all grow so big, but at least it is healthy. 

My husband has a woodworking machine called a CNC machine. He's learning to use it, and has a laser on it. I found these small cutting boards at Dollar Tree that are made of bamboo. Bamboo is considered a good wood since it is easily sustainable and if someone doesn't want to use it as a cutting board, they could be used as a decoration. So, we decided to experiment with them. I've designed different things and DH figured out the program and made these beautiful board designs. Again, we will be giving these to the kids as part of the family Christmas gift. But we also made some for other folks. 

I made a solar oven the other day with a shoebox, but my experiment didn't work well with it. I need to find a better recipe, but figure I might as well use what I can as far as solar. We have solar panels where we live. DH is a retired electrical engineer and installed them himself. Since he has an electric vehicle, he put more up last year and I helped with that. But if you are interested in solar panels don't believe the sales folks who claim you won't have an electric bill. Do your research. 

It's been busy here, but it's been a good busy. We've spent some money on materials, but overall, we feel we have saved some money as well. Hopefully the kids appreciate the pickles and jam and the cutting boards. We plan to give them a gift card to a meat market as well as their family gift, but wanted them to feel like they have other stuff too. I kind of like thinking we are doing our Christmas shopping early. 

Do y'all remember the Extreme Couponing shows from the past where folks would have their notebooks of coupons and plan a big trip and get cartloads of groceries for very little? I enjoyed watching them and I looked on YouTube and there are a few there. I was always amazed at how their built their stockpiles on so very little. But then, I always wondered, how they really did it. 

Our local paper had pathetic coupons. I learned that there were different coupons packages the papers could buy and of course our local one bought the cheapest which was basically a couple of coupons for the grocery and mostly ads. The Chicago Tribune had better coupons, but the paper was a lot more too. 

Then there was the fact none of our local grocery stores would double the coupons. So, I resigned myself to never being able to make such great deals, but I still liked the idea of it. Plus, I don't need 50 boxes of cereal or jugs of laundry detergent in my pantry, garage, or basement or wherever I could store it. 

Years ago in the book, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," the author made a comment about one of the characters. Flossie was a minor character and amongst all the characters in this tome, they were all basically working poor. But Flossie had a hobby, and that was to dress up every Saturday night and enter a contest and if she won, she would receive a silky, colorful parasol. The parasols were useless, but she displayed them proudly and the author as the narrator stated that people who are poor, like to display things they collect. So, I sort of wonder if that is the case with those extreme couponers...they liked to display all their products. I remember a couple talked about doing a shop where they would donate the stuff to a charity which was great, but most were just wanting to add to their stockpile. I wonder if they ever used everything before some of it went bad.

Well, I digress. I spent a few minutes this morning writing some sites to ask for coupons. I do the digital coupons at the stores that offer them. I no longer get a printed copy of the paper so no coupons there. Rarely does the store have those little things that offer you coupons on the shelves. But I have no problem writing companies and asking. Earlier this year Land O'Lakes and Folgers sent me coupons and I used them. Land O'Lakes actually sent 4 coupons, two of which were for products I don't buy, so I put them on the shelf next to the items for someone else to take advantage of. Hopefully someone used them and saved a little bit. 

I was discussing the saving money and couponing with DH and he said I should start keeping track of what I save with coupons and see just how much it adds up to. I was thinking that might be a good project. There are a lot of products I don't buy that coupons are offered for and I'm not going to purchase the item just because of the coupon. I remember some friends who would get coupons emailed to them by a couple of businesses and they would rush to go the store or restaurant to use them since they received them, even though they weren't planning on going and really didn't anything from the product. I'm sure the businesses were glad, but not sure how financially responsible they are.

So, my challenge is to start keeping track of how much I save with coupons. There will be times I save more than others. Right now I'm not buying a ton of stuff because we are using what we have from the garden of what's in the freezer. But I think it will be a worthwhile project just to see if it is worth the time and trouble. What do you think?

I normally don't comment much on politics, but today I was taking a break from some housework and the White House press secretary was on the news talking about all the wondrous things that have happened since DT has taken office. This isn't a quote, but something along the lines of groceries are cheaper, gas is cheaper, and so on and so forth. I don't know about you, dear readers, but I'm not seeing a big reduction in the price of groceries. Gas fluctuates, but it isn't like it has come down all that much. I lost a lot of money in retirement savings because some of it is invested in the stock market. I started making some of it back, finally, but it's not like I'm getting rich. I'm dreading the trip to the grocery store and if we eat out, it seems like everyone has raised their prices because their prices have gone up as well. So, do you feel you are better off?

When I was a kid, my parents gave me a piggy bank to teach me how saving a little adds up. So, I've always sort of had a bank of some sort to save coins. I no longer have a "piggy bank" but rather a Mason jar. It was getting full, mostly pennies, and I decided to cash it in and put the money into our savings account. 

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished or something like that. Our bank no longer has a coin counter, so I was told I had to roll the pennies. But they were stingy with the wrappers. I had some "silver," but not a ton. I counted out everything and took the wrapped pennies and the other coins and was told all the coins had to be in rolls. 

Seriously? I had $2 in quarters, $1.20 in nickels, and a little over $6 in dimes. The wrappers stated I needed $10 in quarters and $2 in nickels, and $5 in dimes. So, I don't have enough of anything to wrap besides the dimes. This is just ridiculous. It's not like I'm bringing a huge bottle of coins in (think those big bottles of bottled water.) It wasn't like they had customers in line waiting for the tellers either. I was the only person in the bank at that time besides the employees. 

So, the pennies and dimes are wrapped and will be taken back to the bank at some point. I put the rest of the change in my purse and will use it for a small purchase somewhere. Sort of defeats my purpose of "saving" money.

I realize we are moving to a more cashless society, but talk about frustration on my part. Does that mean once we are cashless, we will need less tellers? At the rate our bank is going, they have cut back drastically already. We are lucky to have two tellers, and one mans the drive up window, usually another person who directs you to a teller or a personal banker or can help solve mini problems, and a personal banker. And this is a big, well known bank name. 

Yet, more businesses are charging a fee for using your credit card and encourage one to pay in cash. Talk about a dichotomy! 

Some of the frugal sites I follow on Facebook have been touting "No Buy July." 

I'm just wondering if any of you are thinking of participating? It seems like we are keeping our spending down so far since prices continue to rise and to be honest, we are a little worried with the state of economy. We've been doing a lot of using what we have around here and making do. 

Like most of the Midwest and part of the east coast, we've had extremely hot temperatures. But it was June and the sun was out. We had have a lot to do around the homestead.

Besides working on the garden (weeds grow no matter what the weather it seems), we've been working on fixing stuff or updating it. DH had an old wooden glider in the pole barn that was  in rough shape. The wood was still good, but it needed some TLC. So, he worked on fixing the mechanical parts, and then we sanded it and painted it. It took more paint than we anticipated because it hadn't been painted in years, but it looks decent and is a nice place to sit. The paint was far cheaper than buying something new.

On the back deck there is a wooden two seat thing with a table inbetween. It too needed some TLC. So, more sanding and more painting. This time we got the paint on sale so that helped. But it looks a lot better and isn't it amazing how a coat of paint refreshes stuff?

My other painting project has been these metal decorative (but functional) bird houses. They were rusting. They've been out in the weather for 10 years. DH's late wife bought them. So, more paint. I ran out yesterday so I had to wait until we were headed for town to get some more, but hopefully will finish them this week. 

DH had a problem with a bathroom faucet and so with a little know how (his) and some help from me, he took the faucet off, apart, cleaned what needed to be cleaned, and reinstalled. Other than time and his know how, this was not an expensive fix. 

DH's late wife had this machine called a Silhouette which is like a Cricut. I've never used one, but have been learning. Dollar Tree had vinyl on sale for 25 cents, so we bought a few boxes so I could experiment. It's an older machine, but seems to be working great. I made a decoration for our mailbox. It is a wreath made of dog prints and then put our last name's initial in the middle. That was fun and I've since made something to decorate some glasses. I like learning new things.

Last spring I read about growing potatoes. I've never done that, nor has DH. In fact my folks never did that while I was growing up. So, I had some potatoes that had sprouted, so I planted some. I had some grow bags and then I planted some in the ground. The grow bags didn't grow very well. But the ones in the ground did. I have enough for about two meals. Not a bad deal and now I know how to do it, I plan to plant some next spring in the ground. 

We picked our first cucumber yesterday. With the lettuce and a green onion, we had some of our fixings for our salad of lunch. 

A local orchard had their grand opening with peaches so we went there and bought some. They weren't quite ripe, but they are now. They are delicious! I plan to make some peach preservers, a peach crumble, and we will eat the rest as a treat. I'm keeping an eye on our wild black raspberries. I picked some last year and made jam. 

My to do list never seems to be getting any shorter, but it's all good. I realize how very blessed I am. 

Hmm? You wonder, where's Hummingbird Hills Homestead. Well, located in Central Illinois. It's our little patch of land. My husband's late wife dubbed it Hummingbird Hills and I added the Homestead part. It's been a busy week here trying to keep on top of stuff and then we have had the extreme heat.

Work on the vegetable garden is ongoing. We fenced around it, but apparently bunnies or something still figured out a way to get in and proceeded to munch on a few of our vegetables. Not all our seeds germinated which was a disappointment. But, things are starting to grow. I've replanted a few things. We enjoyed a couple of ripe tomatoes...a bit early, but a nice treat. We've had lettuce and radishes and green onions so far. The radishes are finished, unfortuantely, they were super. The green beans have started over since something ate all the tender leaves off of them. I had started two celery plants from the bottom of a stalk and whatever ate them as well as two bell pepper plants so it has been work trying to figure out how to keep things from being eaten.

I resorted to cutting the top and bottom off of juice bottles to put around some of the plants. Not pretty, but hopefully effective. I restarted another celery plant and hopefully it will get a chance to mature. I replanted some things that didn't come up, hoping it was the weird weather we had earlier. One cucumber plant is really going to town, so I'm hopeful we will get lots of cucumbers. I like to make relish besides eating the cucumbers raw. 

Sadly the weeds have been abundant. I've been working on filling in this flower bed with lots of perennials, but ther eis this invasive vine that I pull it up and the next day it reappears, even if I got the roots. I told DH it would make a great horror movie if this thing got really huge; it could take over a city in a matter of days! 

In good news, I bought a box of wildflower seeds at a Dollar General this spring hoping they would come up since they are supposed to be flowers that hummingbirds and butterflies like. It seemed like it took forever, but the plants are up and there are even some blooms! 

We've had some other projects going on here as well. But with the extreme heat, we are not overdoing it. I'm watching the wild black raspberries because I'm thinking they will be ripening at some point. I made jam with them last year and would like to do the same this year. 

I read an interesting book that I checked out from the library. It's called "The Feast Nearby." It from 2011 about a lady who was divorced and lost her job and moved to what was to be a vacation cabin which became her home. She talked about living on very little, foraging, bartering, and canning. The author's name is Robin Mathers and she worked for the Chicago Tribune before losing her job. She included recipes. She is way more resourceful than I am, sad to say. But it was an interesting read. One thing she talked about was supporting the business people around her such as farms. 

Well, guess I should get on my work clothes and get busy!

This was planned over a year ago, but DH and I took a cruise to some of the countries on the Baltic sea. This was his third cruise and my second. We paid for everything associated with the actual cruise ahead of time so no big surprises. 

I've been to England, but no where else in Europe. DH has never been overseas. It was both exciting and scary for us. We started in Stockholm. We did spend money there going through the ABBA museum and a museum for a Swedish sailing vessel that was made in the 1600s and went down 15 minutes into its maiden voyage. And of course our meals while there. But other than that, once we were on the ship, our meals were taken care of. We did pack some granola bars and carried those on excursions and a bottle of water to save money.

It was both exciting and scary to hear the guides in some of these countries talk about how they were under Russian rule and how much better life is, even if things are getting more expensive. There was some fear in their voices as they quietly discussed what is happening in Ukraine and how they are also fearful that it could happen there. Most were old enough to be around before 1991 and their country getting their freedom, so they don't want a repeat.

It was an amazing trip. I'm Christian and I love old churches and cathedrals and we went through quite a few. In Poland, one cathedral even did a short organ recital for our excursion group. The food on the ship was fantastic and I'll admit it, I over ate. 

Was it money well spent? In my mind, yes. Did we have the money to spend? Yes, we've been saving it just for this purpose. So, it was big spending, but now back to trying to save. 

Forty two years ago today (May 21), I graduated from college. I was exhausted, but excited. I had worked my tail off and graduated with no school debt. I did without things while in school, looked for ways to save money, and worked a lot. Would I say it was worth it? Definitely yes. I graduated with a teaching degree and although I didn't go into teaching right away, it did become my profession and I went on to get my master's and then hours beyond my master's so I could be at the top of the salary schedule when it was time to retire. A friend from college and I always celebrate our anniversary and talk about where we came from and where we are now. 

Do I believe having my college degree made a difference in my earning? I believe it did. If I planned to  stay in the little city where I grew up, it was one of the better jobs. Our city used to be major blue collar, but so many factories either shuttered or moved away. 

I was thinking today that I also learned a lot out of school. I just came from the garden where  I picked radishes I had planted. It was nice seeing the lettuce coming up, as well are the green onions, green beans, and peas. My Papa taught me about gardening. When we lived in the country, we always had a small garden to supplement. Am I a master gardener? Heck no. But I'm trying things. I have some potatoes planted that have come up from potatoes that started to get eyes and I have two celery ends that I have planted that I hope to get more celery from, in addition to buying seeds and a few plants. 

In addition to this, I've learned a lot reading blogs and forums on this site. Today's lunch was basically using a lot of things we had. I had a couple of potatoes, a sweet potato, a bell pepper, an onion, some mushrooms, and some broccoli as well as some chicken breasts. I roasted them all together to make a decent lunch with olive oil and herbs and spices. The grandson wasn't thrilled, but he's learning sometimes you don't get what you want all the time. It was filling and nutritious and even better there are leftovers for hubby and me! 

Forty two years ago I knew that I didn't know it all. And all these years later, I still don't. I'm still learning. But I'm gratified that my learning has provided a decent living and is helping me continue to save money and live a good life. 

Each Wednesday, Kroger does an ad for the week's specials plus the digital coupons. We were headed to the town where Kroger is and since we had a couple more errands to run, decided to make a stop for a few of the loss leaders. One of the things on sale was Folger's Coffee. There was a digital coupon for $7.99 whereas the regular price would be $12.99. DH caught me on my knees reaching to the back of the bottom shelf to get one of the last few cans. The ad said "as long as supplies last." There were very few left, so I might have one of the lucky ones. My dear husband laughed and said I'd do a lot to save money and when I pointed out how much, he said he'd get on his knees to to get one if need be!

Seriously, I know many of us have been trying to cut grocery costs and it is getting more and more difficult. I peruse ads, look for digital coupons, and use 6-7 grocery apps. One app never seems to have much that we buy; another sometimes does, but it is hit and miss. Just for 4 bananas, coffee, toilet paper (saved $1.50 on it), radishes, and a box of pasta that was on sale for 99 cents, we still spent over $20. 

On Facebook there has been a couple of posts on a couple frugal sites where someone shows ( I think it is the same person) all these photos how they have stocked their pantry by setting aside an extra $20 a week to buy stuff. If they have, I say all power to them, but not exactly sure how they are doing that on $20 a week. In one photo there are over 20 boxes of cereal. This person said they caught them on sale, but even so, cereal is expensive. They had shelf after shelf of canned goods and the same with paper products. Either they have better sales or are they are a better shopper than I am.

Anyway, thought I'd give you a chuckle thinking about my being on my knees!

Bet that title make you scratch your head! 

But, I did have to spend some money so I could save some. The little town we live near has a small, but active library. Unfortunately since we live on the outskirts of town, we don't pay library tax which means I couldn't get a library card unless I paid the equivalent of what we would pay in taxes to the library. I contemplated it before taking the plunge. I didn't want to get the card and then feel like it wasn't worth the cost.

This little library is pretty busy as far as activities. I've taken advantage of a couple of craft nights which had everything included. Another one is coming up this week with stamping kitchen towels. That sounds like fun. We've also sat in on "True Crime Night" where the library director gives research on true crimes. 

I've missed being able to check out books and since it is part of the system of interlibrary loan, even though the library itself is small, I can still get books from other libraries.

So, I spent the money to get the card and according to the little receipt, I've already "saved" money by checking out books. I have gotten some nonfiction how to books plus some mysteries. I believe having a library card is being frugal since I will use it. 

So, I spent money to save some! Books are expensive!

After a long day on my feet, I'm taking a little rest and decided to check the blogs. Glad to see a few more people wrote a blog. 

The past couple of weeks have been ones of working in the yard. On Easter we are invited to purchase an Easter lily and can designate it as a remebrance or a thanksgiving. We bought two since they were $8 and after Easter service, brought them home and used them as table decorations for the two tables we had for our Easter dinner and our family coming. I then planted them in the front garden near the ones we planted last year that are starting to come up. Yesterday when I went to church to fill the altar candles  and attend ladies' Bible study, one of the ladies was going to get rid of the leftover ones so I snagged two more. It rained yesterday and today so I need to wait to plant them. I know I won't see them bloom again this year, but that's OK. I figure it is a good way to reuse the plants and with the two free ones, it's something else nice to have in the garden. 

Sadly I have spent money on some plants to put in the front flower garden, and then also bought two plants for a smaller flower garden at the back of the house. We are trying to make it a pollinator garden to attract butterflies and bees. I read where you could put different sized rocks in a bird bath and it helps the butterflies and bees get a drink, so I did that. Some of the rocks were ones I dug out of the ground when I mowed. There are lots of rocks in the land around here. DH had said we could buy a bag of rocks, but I figured I might as well use what we had. I'm sure the butterflies and bees won't mind. We also bought a "bee house" to put out in the pollinator garden. It is scary reading how many honey bees we've lost in this country.

We have a Dollar Tree in the small town we live near and I was surprised to see some perennial bulbs. I bought a few and planed them in the front garden. I spent $3.75 and tax. Figure if just a couple come up, I'm money ahread. Dollar General had a box of flower seeds for hummingbirds and butterflies so I spent $2 and bought that and planted them in two different areas. It is supposed to have both perennials and annuals in the seeds. I have a small area near the front steps that I planted some since the tulips are starting to die back. I found some black landscape border in the pole barn so before I planted the seeds, I put it in around the tulips and the rest of the bed, hoping that will enhance the area. 

I read online where you could plant potato starts if potatoes had started growing the eyes. I cut them up and dried them for a couple of days and planted them. I did buy grow bags because I honestly didn't want to have to dig them up in the soil. It seems like it has taken forever for anything to pop up, but I'm seeing leaves so I'm hoping my "free" potato starts do well. 

The big thing was we tilled up a small area in the very back to make a vegetable garden. I have been saving coffee grounds, tea leaves, and egg shells and DH tilled them in the soil. I planted lettuce, green onions, radishes, and carrots. I want to make sure there is no chance of frost and hope to plant peas, cucumbers, tomatoes,  and green beans. I'm hoping we do well on this garden, not only because fresh vegetables are wonderful, but hopefully it will offset the grocery bills. 

In the front flower garden was this small plaster decoration that said Cubs. My husband is a Cubs fan. Sadly, the paint had totally faded on the red part that said Cubs, and the blue circle around it was faint. I bought some red paint at Dollar Tree  and we had blue paint, so since I could not work in the yard due to rain the past couple of days, I painted the red and blue. DH is thrilled. It did revive it and better than buying new. It was nice working in the room we finished in the basement just for crafting. 

My other project today besides putting together dough for homemade sandwich bread was to clean and organize the pantry. We have a reach in pantry and I'm ashamed to admit it was a mess. I looked on Pinterest for suggestions on organization and honestly, some of those folks either don't have a lot of stuff, or are far better at organizing than I am. I did not want to buy anything, just wanted ideas. I did use some of my canning jars to put cornmeal and oatmeal in, but it helped that I took everything out and then reorganized everything. A few items found homes in better spots. Fortunately nothing in the pantry was expired, so at least I haven't let that happen. 

After baking bread and making supper, I think a relaxing evening reading a library book sounds wonderful. 

Spring is here and DH and I planned our vegetable garden. Last year we planted 3 tomato plants, some green onions, and a cucumber plant and three herbs: Oregano, Rosemary, and Thyme. Last fall I planted garlic. 

This year we are expanding our garden a little bit. DH got out the tiller and we measured out the plot based on my plans on graph paper. Yesterday we planted most of the seeds for the cool weather crops. And today it rained so it watered our newly planted seeds. I've been saving coffee grounds, tea leaves, and egg shells and those were worked into the soil for our garden. Hopefully they will help feed some of these plants as well as commercial fertilizer. 

I bought some grow bags a couple of months ago because I wanted to try and grow potatoes. I had some potatoes that were starting to get soft and grow eyes, so I read online how to prepare them to grow new potatoes. I have two grow bags and a large pot planted, as well as a few in the ground. The ones in the ground are going to town; the ones in the pot and grow bags are beginning, but aren't as large. But hopefully we'll have some potatoes this year. I tried regrowing green onions, but haven't had a lot of luck with that, but other than my time and some water, I'm not out much. 

In addition to our vegetable garden, we've been working on different other yard projects. One was to fill in some holes the dogs dug. Top soil seems to have increased in price over last year. Mulch has as well. And although seeds are not super expensive, I'm seeing an increase in price there as well. 

As we've been working on all this, we sort of wonder if we will see an uptick in people planting gardens with increasing grocery prices and possibility of empty shelves. I remember during Covid more people gardened not only for the food, but also to have something to do since so many places were shut down. What are your thoughts?

I've spent quite a bit of time working on a front flower bed. My husband's late wife started it and planted lilies, a peony, and a rosebush. I've added some other lilies. We purchased Easter lilies for church the past two years and after EAster service, we can bring the plants home. I have planted them both years. I bought a lily root at Dollar General for $2 the other day, hoping it comes up. Last fall I planted a few daffodils and tulips and they came up. My hope is to have a variety of plants that flower at different times to keep color going during the growing season. We put out our hummingbird feeder and saw our first humming bird this week. I planted some flower seeds in two different areas to hopefully help hummingbirds and pollinators. I hope to plant some sunflower seeds soon too. We found a reasonably priced "bee house" on line and it is out as well. 

So here's hoping for a successful growing year. 

In the past I've mentioned my sourdough starter, Sammy. He's around 5 years old. I started sourdough because I wanted something to do during the months we couldn't do anything or go anywhere during the Pandemic. I know I have learned a lot and have more to learn about sourdough bread, but it sure is fun.

The interesting thing is sourdough has become big. I mean, really popular. Just this past couple of weeks I've seen "classes" for showing people how to start a starter. I guess that's wonderful, but it's a skill one can learn for free. 

A friend of mine, when I offered him some starter a couple of months ago, turned me down, saying he didn't want to be bothered. He visited a family member and is suddenly interested in starting his sourdough journey. So, when I head to the city he lives in later this week, I will be sharing a little Sammy with him so he can start. Although he can start his own, mine has that good sourdough taste from years of fermenting. I'm still amazed at how 1/3 cup of fed starter and 3-4 cups of flour and some honey, extra virgin olive oil and some salt can make a delicious sandwich bread if let rise overnight. 

My loaves aren't the fancy ones with the designs. I have thought about it, but honestly, the bread I make is for every day stuff like toast and sandwiches, so we like the softer crusted stuff. Plus, I like to experiement with different types of flour, which I sometimes add to give it a different flavor and crumb. 

Guess I missed my chance to make money on teaching people to make a starter. I didn't look into the classes, but I wonder if people have to bring their own jar or if that is provided. The cost is $10. I take that back, one class offered by an extension group was ten dollars and people had to bring their own jar. But I think they learned about it and got part of a starter besides. 

So, my Pandemic hobby continues. I have baked our bread since last summer. I think I've saved money because Artisan bread is expensive. Are you doing any of the hobbies you picked up from being isolated at home during the Pandemic?

It seems like it's just doom and gloom as far as the markets. Here it is Monday, things were up and down, and when I checked my retirement accounts, I lost yet another $10,000. I know we all say to stay in it in the long run, but I'm not a youngster starting out. I've been fortunate that I haven't had to use any of this money so far. But it isn't like I'm going to make it up very quickly. I tend to worry about stuff and now I'm feeling stressed. I'm sure I'm not alone. I think we are all on edge. 

Other than fretting, are there are things you are going to do to try to tighten your belt and spend less if prices go up? I seem like I do this anyway. I spent the money a year ago and bought a toaster oven. I use it when we want to heat something up or bake one item so we aren't heating up the oven and wasting electricity. When I do bake, I often will try and fill the oven and bake more than a couple of things. For example, I baked two loaves of brad and baked some dog treats too. I make many of our dog treats to help save money and give them healthy treats. 

I'm sure all of you are doing this too. I've read what many of you are doing to not spend as much and save as much. I think the time has come for us to start emailing our congress people. Maybe if we all make a big enough fuss, they will listen. 

Yesterday was a day I could head to a Kroger store in a nearby larger town. Since we live 40 minutes away, I try to bunch my errands so I don't make a lot of unnecessary trips and with gas prices on the rise, I especially don't want to spend more on gas and wear and tear on my car.

I had a list created. Most, not all, of my items were either on sale or I had digital coupons. I was fortunate that I found a couple of things that I wanted on clearance so I saved even more. Even so, I wound up spending almost $120 and only one item was meat. I did splurge and buy some teeth cleaning dog chews simply because the pups like them and its cheaper than getting dental work done on them. I try to write out my list based on the store layout so I don't forget stuff or make additional visits to aisles. The longer I spend in the store, the better the chance I wind up buying stuff I don't need. One item was buy one, get one free and although expensive, it was far more reasonable than regular price. 

I kept seeing some of the same people making many of the same purchases I was making -- stuff on sale, stuff on clearance, stuff with digital coupons, or items with paper coupons. According to the cash register tape, I saved over $40 and if that can be believed, that's a nice chunk of change. The gal ahead of me in check out had a full cart. But of that cart, I bet she didn't have more than 5 items at regular price. Everything was either on sale or marked down on clearance: very little snack foods, mostly fruits, vegetables, and bread.  I saw the same pattern with the older man ahead of us. Very little was regular price in his small basket. I think there is a trend developing. I think this trend is going to continue as people feel more of a squeeze as prices increase and money doesn't go as far as it did. The thing that bothers me is the people who can least afford high prices are the ones who need help and as programs are being cut, they won't get the assistance. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking as everyone suffers, the folks who were generous to donate to food banks and things like that will cut back because they will be afraid themselves.

I'm hoping if you are going to the grocery you'll report on what you are finding. I'm curious if you are seeing the same thing or doing the same thing. 

Yesterday we went to the local theatre in the small town we live in and saw a movie that was called "The Farmer's Daughter." It isn't the old movie, but a recently made one about a young woman who was once on the local TV station as a reporter, but after her brother died, she gave up her career and came home to work for her father on the farm. Fast forward a few years and her dad became very ill, and she's now running the family farm. It was a good movie and if you are interested in this sort of thing, it is on Amazon and costs $2.99 to rent. It was a movie that showed the moxie of the gal, but also how hard it is for family farm. The two directors were at the movie (it was free for the public) as well as the female farmer. It had a feel good ending so if you like this sort of thing, I encourage you to watch. 

Farmers are planners. They have to plan what they are going to plant and when and how and what can make them money. I think gardeners are as well. I'm not going to claim the title as gardener because I'm still working on it, but I do have plans. I recently planted some potatoes. I've never tried potatoes before, but I had some potatoes that sprouted "eyes" so I figured other than my labor, I'm not out a whole lot, but I am hopeful. I bought some onion sets so I hope to get some of them in the ground soon too. My radishes in the tin tray are starting to come up. I planted some lavender seeds the other day and so far, no sprouts. I'm hoping I get some started. I planted some more in egg cartons this afternoon. I'd like to start a small area of lavender because both bees and butterflies are attracted to lavender. I hope to plant some other plants that are bee and butterfly friendly as well as another small garden of wildflowers that are hummingbird friendly. I know, big plans!

Part of our plan it to plant a small vegetable garden at the back of the property. Here in Central Illinois we usually have a wet spring and then as the summer goes by, it often gets very hot and very dry. DH and I spent some time the other day making a rain barrel. We used a plastic trash can for the rain barrel itself, but built a small wooden platform for it. We finished it Friday afternoon and set it out. It rained some yesterday and then a whole bunch today so hopefully we have a good start on rain for our rain barrel. We need to till the land for the garden and I'm working on planning it. I want enough to get some good eats, but not so big that I'm married to it that I have no time to do anything but weed. I like fresh vegetables and I'd like to have enough cucumbers to make pickles and hopefully enough tomatoes to can a few. We both like green onions so I hope to do quite a few different plantings so we have plenty for the table, not to mention more radishes and hopefully a decent amount of carrots. 

Groceries continue to rise in price. I'm wondering if more people will be planning a garden of some sort to help offset the cost of eating. Although we have enough property we could raise chickens, when I was a kid we had them. People act like they aren't a lot of work, but they are. If you let them run free, you have to make sure they are roosting for the night and locked up so some predator doesn't get into the hen house and kill them and eat them. They only lay so long so it isn't like you are going to get ten years of laying from chickens. And although I helped with the butchering as a kid, I didn't do that much and I don't want to take that on now. Call me squeamish I guess. With the good, there's the bad and unless things change drastically, I'm not ready to be a chicken farmer. 

Let me preface this with, I believe in tipping those folks who provide a service such as a hair dresser or a server. I understand that the tip is actually part of their pay. 

But, and this is a big but, the tipping thing has gotten out of hand. I was looking to order some food for Easter. Food that I will pick up, heat,  and serve. I couldn't understand why the price was so expensive and there it was, at the end, a large tip tacked on. Fortunately I caught it, but good grief, why would the program do that. And who would get the tip if I left it? It's been that way for other things such as when you use a kiosk (sometimes I don't have a choice and can't go to a person and there it is...the tip option. Let's see, I'm doing the work to place the order and then leave a tip too? 

I think it has gotten out of hand, don't you?

Patient Saver's blog about trying times ... I was tempted to copy that title to mine. Again, another week of losing more money in the market than making. I know the market has ups and downs, but it seems more down and up and I don't see it getting any better.

I was watching CNBC yesterday and the CEO of Affirm was saying the economy was OK, people were still spending money. Before that, I had never heard of Affirm, but it is one of these companies partnered with Walmart that has a buy now, pay later plan. He said people are buying and they are paying their bills. Which on the surface sounds good, but it made me wonder if they are struggling or going into debt other ways.

We live in the country near a small town. We go to church in a town 40 minutes away. We either go to this town or another for hardware and stuff like that and try to hit grocery stores since our little town only has a Walmart. I had a gift certificate to a locally owned restaurant and suggested to DH we have lunch there. It's not a diner, a bit nicer than that. I hadn't been there in quite a while and I was hoping the gift certificate was good. I was shocked at how much the prices had raised. The restaurant itself used to be fairly nice -- not top of the line, but not fast food. But the vinyl on the booths was torn on every booth. We got there before noon and figured it would fill up so we wanted to get a parking place and get a seat. We left after 12:40 and it was not full. The manager came by; he remembered me from years ago and he said business has been slow. He thanked us for stopping in. Fortunately the gift certificate was still good and they honored it. We have some money left and I suggested to my husband we better go in and use it because if today was any indication, they won't be in business much longer. It makes me sad. Another small town business struggling. 

As we left, we noticed some of the other restaurants...here it is Friday at lunch time and some places had a decent amount of cars, but some had maybe one or two. Some were chains and others were locally owned. No place was packed to the rafters like it used to be. DH commented, people are cutting back. They are watching their money more carefully. We wouldn't have eaten there if I hadn't had the gift certificate. 

We had a bunch of errands and it always seems like when we do that, it is a day long event. Not always, but often. We did get what we wanted. I bought some loss leaders at the grocery and also bought three things for the pantry. We bought some things at the hardware store. I had candles to fill at church so we stopped and did that. I had fuel points that we cashed in to save 30 cents on gas; seems our gas has gone up another ten cents from the ten cents it went up last week. I'm afraid many of us are going to be spending less as we are cautious. So the plan now is to stay home tomorrow since we did so much running and spending today. And hope that next week is better as far as the economy. 

Based on the market dropping and prices increasing, do you think we bound for a recession? I keep reading and hearing that our economy seems to be ripe for one. To be honest, it is frightening because it seems like our world is topsy turvy with all the wild things coming from the news. The trade war and prices increasing and the marketing losing money doesn't seem like a good thing in the near future. Are you planning on doing anything to combat this?

I feel like we are already trying to save money. Granted, we are spending money on things, but DH and I were discussing what else we can cut back on. Which just feeds into more economic woes if enough of us do that. 

We already planned on planting a small garden. I've started a few things from seeds and have them on the sunporch. Hopefull they will sprout. I continue to make my own bread. I buy things on sale. But even so, we spent almost a hundred dollars at the grocery store yesterday and we didn't bring home a whole lot. Fortunately we can afford it, but I don't know how people who are already struggling are going to make it. 

So, what are your thoughts?

Here in Central Illinois it isn't exactly warm, but it isn't freezing either. When we don't have the usual gloomy winter days, it makes me think spring is around the corner and I'm getting excited.

We have this lovely sunporch on the back of the house. Although it is early to be planting a vegetable garden, I'm getting excited about doing so. Scratching around here, I found a metal pan and asked DH if I could use it to plant some seeds in it and have it on the porch. The porch seems warmer than the outside with the afternoon sun and the way it is built, it doesn't get super freezing cold when the weather is cool outside. So, I bit the bullet, put some potting soil in it and planted some radishes. Hopefully they will come up and we can enjoy some. I saw this dude on Facebook stating you could start strawberries by planting a small slice of a strawberry in dirt, so I did that as well in the plastic containers and those too are on the sunporch. 

We've been throwing out ideas on what we want to plant for this year. Last year we tried a few things and some where successful and some were a failure. DH had this wooden raised garden and the soil just wasn't deep enough to grow tomatoes or cucumbers because of the way it was made, the soil dried out so fast. We had some fierce, hot days so it made it tough to keep things alive. We bought one of those small raised metal garden rings too and planted tomatoes in that and they did really well. So, we bought a second one and that's the plan for this year -- 4 tomatoes in the two of them, two each. We are going to till up a spot and fence it in for other things like cucumbers, onions, and other things. I have garlic planted already and a small herb garden in a small area as well as strawberries. So hopefully we will get some good things this year. I'm hoping to preserve some of the things we have. With grocery prices we hope to have some fresh produce. I'm also hoping that the rhubarb and the black raspberries produce a lot too. 

Last fall I planted tulip bulbs and I'm looking forward to when they break through the soil. I plan to take a photo of the three spaces in case I need to fill in spots. I can plant things, but we have two dogs who like to dig so I think some of the bulbs have been moved. 

I seem to concentrate on food a lot, but since it is a necessity, I'll validate it that way. A few months ago I bit the bullet and bought a large toaster oven. I always had one to use for smaller things to bake, but when I moved out with the divorce, I didn't take the one that was at the house. I missed it. We have a perfectly good oven, but I know ovens are a big energy pull so unless I can bake more than one thing at the same time, I prefer to use a toaster oven to save on electricity. Lunch today was a casserole and heating up a vegetable, both fit in the toaster oven. As I have watched my retirement accounts decrease the past few weeks, I feel a little better knowing I'm saving a few cents here and there. It adds up as we go along. 

One thing that probably isn't frugal, but I have been crocheting little items and leaving them with a note that it is a free gift and if the person can, post a photo of it and where it was found. I crocheted bookmarks and left them in the Free Little Libraries in our small town and one person posted a photo on the Random Acts of Crochet Kindness so that was cool. I'm going to leave shamrocks this week around town. Most people who post talk about it being a day brightener. I hope it is. 

This has little to do with my post, but I can no longer post photos on my blog. Any ideas on how I can do that? I always get an HTTP 400 error. 

Today was the first time I heard the term, "Doom Spending." It is consumers spending more than they normally would for fear of rising prices due to the tariff threat. CNBC had an article about it and it said it was more than just stocking up, but people buying things they cannot afford because they fear the prices are going up. The issue is some of these people are already deep in debt and instead of working on paying down their debt, they are increasing it.

Things are uncertain and I think there is a fear that people won't be able to get things  if prices continue to rise. I can't imagine any of our SA folks succumbing to it, but I can see people rationalizing a big purchase saying they are saving money now by buying a big ticket item. 

Here is the URL for the story if you are interested: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/27/1-in-5-americans-are-doom-spending-heres-how-that-can-backfire.html

A friend shared this with me. Since many of you are commenting about how you are not happy with the current administration. As we know, money talks.

 

 

Hi,

 

The People's Union is calling for an Economic Blackout on February 28 to protest the Administration's attack on diversity in our country.

 

Here's a Newsweek article:

https://www.newsweek.com/will-nationwide-economic-blackout-work-2030187

 

Here's a summary of actions to NOT do on February 28:

 

WHEN:

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH. from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

• Do not make any purchases.

• Do not shop online, or in-store

• No Amazon

• No Walmart

• No Best Buy

   Nowhere!

• No McDonalds 

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON FOOD:

• Fast Food

• Gas

• Major Retailers

• Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF NECESSARY:

• Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary items such as 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

•If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

• Talk about it. 

• Post about it.

• Document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

• Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

• If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

• If they don't listen we make the next blackout longer. 

• This is our first action.

• Our numbers are powerful. 

• This is our first action.

• This is how we make  history. 

AGAIN,

• FEBRUARY 28TH. ✊🏾

• The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.