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.