Thrifty Thursday: I'm Going to Finish Strong!

 

Friday:  One of the perks of having Amazon Prime is the ability to watch movies here and there that strike our fancy.  We've watched three in the past 24 hours.  One I can't tell you the name of and don't really want to look up because it was just odd.  It was meant to be a 'western' but modern day.  It was about a lonely spinster woman somewhere in the prairie west of Iowa (which was a five-week trip from where they were)  and a stranger she literally picked up from hanging who took three women who had gone insane back to Iowa where they would be shipped back to their families.  

Coffee Chat: When February Is Here

 

Hello dears, 

Do come in and join me for a coffee chat.  I've promised myself that I shall do these far more often and spend a wee bit less time on all things frugal and homemaking, because, frankly, I bore me.  And I do not want to bore you, lovely readers.

We'll have coffee in these pretty little cups. Or tea if you like.  Let us have a good bit of chatter. For music today, listen to this...I am a sucker for Andy Williams.  I have been listening to him  (by choice!) since I was in junior high school.

Ten Random Things About Me

 

There are a few things about me that I don't think I've ever shared with you before.  Not one of these is important for you to know but I thought it would be a fun post to share because it's not my usual sort of thing.

This post may contain Amazon Associate Affiliate links.  

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Farewell February

 

I am a little surprised that February ends this week.  It usually feels like a long month, but I guess our busyness this month kept it from feeling like it was dragging by.  It's been a good month, full of pleasant things and lots of productive work.  It's been a good month.  I'm hoping to finish strong.

There are daffodils blooming.  I have loads of plants but only a few have put out blooms.  I am reminded all over again that daffodils are one of my favorite flowers and I surely need more of them!  Note to self: come fall buy more daffodils and get them planted.

Work:  

This week I'm going to do a 'dual' week of work.  Typically, Zone 5 for me is porches, patio and shed.  Zone 5 for FlyLady is the Living Room.  I'm not going to follow her plan for the end of this month.  I'm going to stick to my usual zone namely because I have three outdoor spaces and they are suffering for lack of attention.  It's about to be heavy duty pollen season.  This will be the last time I can really get outdoors and do much of anything until this season is past us.  

Indoors I want to continue to get the guest room and guest bath squared away.  I haven't decided just how I want to arrange the room at present.  I moved the toy box into that room when we were doing the renovations and needed the 'camp kitchen' in the living room and we never moved it back to the living room.  The kids seem to enjoy playing in that room and I think John appreciates that less toys make their way into the main living area. 

Make out a more comprehensive shopping list for the new month.

Can.

These things and managing childcare (Sam has two appointments, plus Josh has an after-school program to attend) and our own appointments and errands that we need to attend to.  Our car must go in for maintenance/oil change this week.  We're past due on that.

There are copious limbs and sticks in the yard and I want to begin picking them up.  I don't have to get it all done at once, but I thought a little at a time would make the task less tedious.  Then the yard will be mower ready for John next month.  

Get some bit of information written up for the girl doing the cemetery project.  She had given me a list of folks to work on and I've done nothing.  Shame on me.  I'll get busy on that this week.  

Kitchen:

I want to make bread and rolls this week.  I would also like to make some Mennonite Cinnamon Bread.  The recipe makes two loaves, so I'd have one for now and one for later.

I want to do a pantry/freezer inventory this week.  I know I'm making big plans for my week, but I know that after these two months of trying to use older items that it's time to see what we have and what needs to be restocked.  I'm getting quite low on some pantry basics like diced tomatoes and green beans.  I'd like to have a list of things I need to be look for in March when our grocery budget is refreshed.

And I want to use that canner!  One thing I am low on is something I could easily restock: dried beans.  I have pounds of them and It would be very handy to have a few jars of home canned beans on the pantry shelves.

Meals:

  

I started a list in December of meals I thought I'd like to make over these winter months.  It was only a list of about twenty meals, but I doubt I've made half of them.  I don't know that I'll make all of them before winter is over, but it's been a handy little list when I am out of inspiration.

I have some spinach to use up this week.  I want to make sure to plan that into a meal.

out for lunch.  We brought home leftovers.

leftovers.  Lunch leftovers, Chicken Divan leftovers, enough Roast and Rice to make burritos for a meal...We've got prepared items in the freezer that I feel I need to use.  Soups, entrees, etc.  So, this week meals will come from those older items.  I'll share meals as the week goes on, but for the last part of the Pantry Freezer challenge it seems a good idea to plan to use the older items in the freezer.

Personal/Leisure:

The things I don't get done in a week or month of planning...It seriously does bother me.  So due to that you'll note that most of what is listed here this week within this post are things I have mentioned before.  This week I want to 'catch up' and get more of the things I didn't do, done.  I want to finish February with things done, and yes, that includes 'fun' things, too!

Mani/Pedi.

Watch Chocolat.

Mani/Pedi.

Play in my Wardrobe.

Get out alone...easy enough.  I have a Chiropractic appt this week.

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Darn!

 

Saturday:  Today John volunteered his services.  I go along to act as a sound person and sit on the sidelines.  When his task was done, we did our usual: we ordered a pizza and came home.  

It sounds like today wasn't anything much, but it was fine.  I enjoyed watching and praying over people, listening to a friend give a rather good sermon, enjoying John's great music and having pleasant journeys to the venue and back home.  We had a meal that cost me no effort beyond going in to pick it up.  We spent the bulk of the day relaxing once we were home and it was nice.

Thrifty Thursday: Oops! I'm Late!

Thursday:  What a busy day today turned out to be and a day of spending.  All but one item bought today was covered by our budget.  

So today we ordered glasses.  John told me this morning that glasses shouldn't come from our main account; we'd take that cost from the savings.  I agree.  New glasses are a necessity but it's a cost that is hard to plan for.  We don't buy new glasses once a year nor do they cost the same thing each time.  

We picked up my prescriptions.  I do not have health insurance that covers prescription medications, but I do set aside a portion of my monthly budget to cover those costs. 

Resetting My Homemaking Routine

 

After posting yesterday I thought long and hard about my schedule, how I'm using it, what my future looks like (at the moment...we all know that changes on the whim of others' schedules), and what I hope to accomplish each day and week, I thought I'd try to get my head sorted out and I might as well write a post while I do just that.

I really do like the idea of a set day to do certain tasks, but the old adage of Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday just doesn't apply to my life.  However, I do know that having a set daily routine of tasks (Rising, Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening, Pre-Bed) was really helpful in the past.    It was something I learned while doing Fly Lady 25 years ago and it was helpful when I was having a day when if it was a disaster, I still got something done because I could focus on the few tasks that were especially allotted to that time of day.  I'd let the habit drop but I'd re-incorporated it solely out of the need to go through each day with a four-year-old in the house and honestly it was a huge help. 

I've kept up with those daily routines (and the home blessing which I prefer to do twice a week), because I found them so beneficial.  But there are others that I really would like to add in.  For instance, one of the things I was meant to do yesterday (Tuesday) was to stop and think about next week's menu.  I generally plan my menu for the next week on Friday, but I can see that planning on Tuesday for the coming week would mean that I have a better idea of what I might need if we have something special coming up and be able to shop ahead for anything that was absolutely necessary to those plans.  

Now that I'm signed up for daily emails all over again, I have all the Fly Lady routines at my fingertips and it's a helpful reminder to me why I thought certain routines were worth using and keeping in my own homemaking.  

While I felt it was important at the time I first joined 25 years ago to do everything she suggested, over the years I let some of those things go because I had them under control.  However, I am a big believer in 'going back to the basics' at some point in every routine, recipe, study that I do.  This helps me to get my foothold once more on a path that I might have wandered from.  

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon scanning through the site, printing out the routines because I felt they would be especially helpful to me and then resetting my Home notebook.  Fly Lady calls it a "control journal" but I choose to keep certain things in this Home Notebook, which I keep near my chair in the living room and others in a separate notebook in my desk in our room where I can keep sensitive information more private.  I do use my Home Notebook at some point in every single day, but I see that I could use it more often and more wisely, so it felt good to take time to revamp that.  

What I learned today as I read and scanned is that I'm not as far off as I'd thought I might be with what I do.  I vary a little in when I do things.  My zones are sometimes all over the place.  This next month I'll try working by her schedule and see how, after two- or three-months of practice, it suits me in my home.   

My biggest fear was that I wouldn't have time to write or garden each day, that I'd find myself working in the house all of the time and I'd become a slave to my home.  If I stick to her plan, I won't!  I'll have plenty of time to step back each day and do other things.  That was a huge relief.  I like that she makes decluttering a part of everyday, at least here in February.  I'll follow along for the rest of this month with her plan, even though I did declutter heavily last month.  It's one task I feel it can't hurt to keep ahead on.  

Whatever Fly Lady was once upon a time, she has expanded and improved over the 25 odd years since I last used her plans to get my own home under control. I received far fewer emails than I'd thought I might on Monday.  One of those was meant for Tuesday, so that I'd know what was ahead.  One email was solely for the purpose of promoting one of her products.  You can buy cleaning items and Control Journals and all such from her now.  Back in the original days, you made your own, which I chose to do on Monday.  That's the nice thing about working with her.  You do not have to have her products in order to get things done and do them well.  The end result, with or without spending any money will be the same.  She also has her own vlog which will be helpful to those of you who like to watch or listen and learn.

Today is just day one of this for me, but I'll keep you posted in the daily diary about how things go.  

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Homemaking in the New Old-Fashioned Way

 

I was inspired this morning by reading a post by Jennifer at Elephantz.  She mentioned a memory of her Nan using a Millet broom to sweep the floors and how she herself went off on a search for one.

My mind went beyond the broom and on to looking at how homemaking looks in my home, and what I remember it looking like in my grandmothers' homes.  In fact, I'll reach back just a wee bit further to my great grandmothers' homes because I knew two of them and had them in my life until my teens (Grandmama S.) and well into my 20's (Big Mama).  Granny nor Grandmother were 'thoroughly modern' the way Mama was.  Yet all five women had one thing in common: they each kept a neat and clean home that was always company ready.

Now I have to say that Mama was a better surface homemaker than Granny.  And I'm better under the surface than Mama ever thought about being...but none of us three live up to the standard that Grandmother or the great grandmothers set.  Not one of us.

Well, my home looks neat enough.  But lately I've been looking at it with a more critical eye.  There's always something that isn't quite as it ought to be.  I wondered, what is the difference in the way I keep home and the way they kept home?  I realized that it was because they kept house in the old fashioned way.

It wasn't just about what broom they might have used, nor just what their era of homemaking looked like.  They just kept house differently period and a lot of that had to do with their mindset.  I thought I'd make out a list to see how my homemaking parallelled theirs and how I might do mine a little differently. 

1. Keeping House was their JOB.  When I was a new homemaker, I really did think housekeeping was something that I could do as I felt like it.  It was a huge struggle later when I had children, and more and more need to do things like laundry and tidying and cleaning on a more regular basis that I realized that housekeeping was made harder by my attitude.  I tended to clean in big bursts.  And when I cleaned, I'd waste hours on the minutia of cleaning drawers and grout and baseboards because it had been so neglected that it ALL had to be done.  Of course, I was exhausted after one of those bouts and I'd let it slide all over again.  That was a pattern I kept up for a long time.

Then I got a full-time job outside the home and the house suffered for it even more than my previously neglectful way of homemaking.  Cleaning was relegated to the need (oh gracious company is coming!) or the odd day off. 

When I came home later to be a full-time homemaker, I'd made up my mind that my home was my full-time job.  And boy did I work!  First, I had to catch up from all those years of get by homemaking, though I'd been better in the latter part of working outside the home.  There were still lots of jobs that I'd not had time or energy to even think of tackling.   

I wish I'd realized earlier in life that housekeeping isn't optional.  It is a job and it deserves the sort of attention one would expect to give any other job in life.

2. They had the right tools to work with.  Tools are the 'trick of the trade' aren't they?  No matter what era you might live in, homemaking can be more difficult or easier based on the tools you have.  Some tools, like washers and dryers and electric/gas stoves and hot water heaters, (and running water for that matter) made life a lot easier for every homemaker.  Some tools: brooms, sponges, cleaning cloths, soaps and cleansers may have changed materials or contents that may make work a bit easier but still require one main tool that we all forget.  It's called elbow grease.  Seriously, our labor is the most important tool of all when it comes to homemaking, and you'd better believe our great grandmothers and grandmothers had that in plenty!

3.They had a routine.  Their routines might have looked different than mine, but jobs were assigned a place in the week.    For Big Mama and Grandma, that routine was more of the truly old-fashioned sort: Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Baking on Saturday and all the other tasks fell in between.   It was necessary for them to do things in this way because they both began housekeeping in an era when washing was done with washboard, wringer, wash and rinse pots, an open fire, and clotheslines.  It was truly an all-day task and therefore it was done once a week and only once a week.   Even when they had the wringer type washing machines, it was detailed and involved having to add wash and rinse waters, and then wringing out the clothing in order to hang.  

I'm grateful for the modern-day convenience of an automatic washing machine.  It's a matter of minutes in my day to run a load of wash.  I don't have to set aside a whole day for just the one task.  I do relegate my sheets and towels to one day, though. 

Another time saver I'm grateful for: the dryer (though we only use it about 50% of the time), and the advent of permanent-press clothing (little to no need to iron anything except 100% cotton clothing).

However, I do adhere to a routine.   Sundays after church, I like to sort out the fridge so I can plan leftovers or items that need to be used into the week's meal plans.  On Mondays I re-set my home after a weekend of less housework. I bake on Friday (the same day I do my heavy washing).  This is the day I do some heavier housekeeping.  I will clean bathrooms and vacuum floors and change sheets. 

I want to add further to my routine.  I don't keep my floors clean the way my grandmothers did.  I don't always sweep every day, especially the kitchen and entries and porches and I really ought to.  My grandmothers all had a set day to mop floors.  I don't mop once a week and I really do want to do that.  I'd like to dust weekly, a task I loathe doing but which would improve the overall look of my home, and which frankly would only take a few minutes more to do.   If I incorporated these things into my routine, then I could truly use the Zone work I do for deeper cleaning tasks and less for catching up on things I missed throughout the month!  That would certainly result in a cleaner home.     

I might not vacuum every single day but here of late we're not vacuuming nearly enough.  And I do say 'we' because generally it's John who does the laundry and the vacuuming, by choice, not by my demand.  We definitely need to be doing it a little more often.

4. They utilized help.  While I don't recall anyone in my family having a maid or servants, they did use what they had: husbands and children.  Husbands understood there were lots of heavier tasks they could do to ease the homemaker's way.   Children were truly 'trained up in the way they should go', too. Everyone chipped in and helped.   My brothers and I were trained to help as well.  I wanted my kids to help a bit around the house, but John came into our lives and said, "That division of labor is unfair...Everyone can help you a lot more," and then he saw to it that everyone understood their jobs, and everyone did them.

There came a time in my life when I had no further help aside from John.  Children leave home...and come back I've found, but that's another story!   But I have a vacuum which makes cleaning carpets easy peasy.  And an automatic washing machine, a slow cooker, a mixer, a bread machine, a gas stove, an electric fridge, and a clothes dryer.  I'm grateful for each appliance that saves me time and is such a help.  Laine always called these 'maidservants' and they are!   

Yes, homemaking still takes labor and effort.   So far, there are no machines that will automatically mop or dust or clean bathroom fixtures, but the other items save enough time that I can easily concentrate on those that take effort.

5.  They kept home seasonally.  This one can be divided into two separate but equally true facts.

(a)I said I wanted to keep a neat and tidy house. Even so, I don't always keep up, especially if I have a small child underfoot.  For one thing, children are not naturally tidy.  For another, they themselves require a schedule that often interrupts a homemaking schedule.  If they don't feel good, you can pretty well bet that you're going to get the barest minimum of things done because they are going to want to be snuggled and coddled.  If they want to help, you're going to have more cleaning rather than less to do.  When I was keeping Caleb full-time, I had to be prepared to give myself a LOT of grace and just let some tasks be done 'good enough'.   Trying to do things excellently often meant I created unnecessary stress for myself and others in the household.  

Yes, I took time when I had spare days to 'catch up' as much as I could but in the end, I had to remember that while my grandmothers' were excellent housekeepers, I don't remember seeing them doing deep cleaning.  I know it got done because their homes showed it but when they had me and my brothers it was just the basic tasks I recall them working at.

It's not just small children that change how you will keep home.  The number of people in a home makes a difference as well.  Now that it's just John and I once more, there's less need to tidy each day.  We do less laundry.  Once a task is done it lasts longer than when there are four people in the house.

So that's one type of season.  

(b)  They literally cleaned according to the season.  There's good reason why we older women grew up with the idea of a Spring and Fall cleaning that involved taking the house apart and putting it together again with everything within it clean as a new pin.  

Notice that the fall and spring cleanings bookend summer.  

On a farm, Summer was one of the busiest seasons of the year with gardening and preserving added in to the other routine homemaking tasks.  And in the days pre-Air Conditioning, if windows were open then a home naturally got dustier. 

In winter, there were two things that figured prominently: stoves and fireplaces were in constant use and needed to be cleaned routinely, which was an added task that increased in cold months.  The cold weather also was the season for butchering and getting meats cured or smoked or canned.   And it is, in the South at least, a rainier season than any of the others.  

With windows and doors closed for months at a time, the house began to take on the aromas of smoke, meals, and the air just got stale.  One wanted that clean fresh smell come spring, at least as soon as pollen season let up!

Here's where things have changed dramatically through the years.  I barely garden.  Not enough to call it a thing other than a hobby.  And I do not butcher my meat.  I walk into a grocery and buy most of what I want in any season of the year.    I have Air conditioning and my house is closed up most of the year.  I'm spoiled.  I confess it freely.

As I've gotten older, I have found that a deep seasonal cleaning is too much for one person.  Back in great grandmother's day, it was nothing to have daughters or sisters, or both show up and everyone set to cleaning a house.  You returned the favor of that extra labor by going to their homes to help them.  I don't have that resource available.  Even with all the modern appliances and conveniences, it's a LOT.  We don't tackle the full house from top to bottom, front to back the way our ancestors did.  

The whole purpose of my original plan to work in chosen zone areas for a week each month was to do deep cleaning in each room of my home in such a way that I never needed to dissemble my entire home and do seasonal cleaning twice annually.  When we recently had the master bathroom and the kitchen renovated, I got a small taste of the 'deep cleaning' part, and I realized that I have missed my own purpose. 

Now I'm going to step back and re-examine what I do each week and plan to start keeping my home in a different way, with an eye towards being more like my great grandmothers where the end result is concerned!

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The Homemaker Plans Her Week: At Home Week

The hectic days of February are past me.   This week is mine to fully claim for my home and I'm looking forward to it.  The days behind me are a complete blur and that's the truth.  We've had a different sort of month with many appointments and places we needed to be and added in activities, but now we're settling down to a more acceptable pace.  I enjoyed the busyness that was different than my usual busyness, but I do miss being at home!  Do you feel the same?

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Floating Sunshine

 

Saturday:  We had a very nice day today.  We went back to church for the couples' retreat where we heard another poignantly funny sermon on marriage from Dr. Mark Rutland.  We were very blessed to get some time prior to the morning session to speak personally with Dr. Rutland about some of his books/sermons we'd read and heard in the past and to speak over points we'd found interesting the night before.   We also had time to fellowship with several other couples, people we'd typically see in church, and we enjoyed that a great deal.

After the retreat ended, we went to Lowe's where John looked at lighting (apparently...I thought he went in to look at tools, but lighting is on the way to the tool section), and he'd decided that after all the lights he'd chosen for the bathroom are not what he wants.  I'd thought they were nice and was more than willing to have them if they were his choice, but I cannot say I'm terribly sorry we aren't getting them.  I didn't hate them, just never felt strongly about them one way or the other.

We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and had a wonderful meal and good conversation.  In fact, we've talked a great deal since we went to last night's session of the retreat.

Sunday:  After church today, I was looking for John and not seeing him, I stopped to speak to another of our acquaintances.  Again, I found myself confessing that I'd made it part of my fast and one of my annual goals to give up cussing and again I was astonished to find myself with someone who confessed that they struggled with language as well!  Each time I do this, I am encouraged to continue on this journey.  The sense of shame I feel is not lessened when I slip up, but I remind myself that this undertaking is one many of my acquaintances seemingly struggle with as well.   I feel less isolated with it, which I think is what sin and guilt really does to us.  

When I finally spied John, he was sitting at a table with two cups of coffee and two doughnuts.  We had a lovely time talking with a stranger we'd just met and then I saw Sam taking the boys into children's church.  He walked in the door carrying Millie and I went over and tweaked her shoulder.  She looked up and smiled in that vague way that one does when you see someone you know but they are out of their usual context.  I felt the same in spying a security cop at the retreat in jeans and t-shirt!  Suddenly her eyes lit up and she said "Oh! Gamma!"  That made Sam and I laugh.  He sat with us a few minutes before going into church.  We waited around a little longer, waiting for Katie to reply to my text of whether or not they still wanted company today.

Caleb was at the door waiting on us when we arrived at the new house.  Katie showed me over the house which is a nice place.  It's an older Ranch type home with a generous front porch that is original to the house and plenty of room inside.  They were all busy getting things put away in proper places and apologizing for the house, but considering they moved in furniture yesterday I thought the house fairly well organized.    

We had a really nice visit with the family.  Both Caleb and Bella were overjoyed to see us. And both were sorry to see us go.  We headed home in the start of the real rain that was scheduled for our state and boy did it pour once we were home.  It kept up all evening long.  Our soup supper was certainly a welcome thing this evening.

Monday:  Rain, rain, rain.  We have had loads of rain over the past 28 hours, and we're slated to get another two hours of rain this evening.  I don't mind the rain.  This is normal for us for February, and we've had too many dry years to fuss over a bit of rain!  

It was nice to putter around the house getting it all lovely once more after our busy weekend. I love rearranging and freshening the flowers on Mondays most especially.  It gives me a great deal of pleasure.  I removed the last bloom from my Amaryllis this morning but I was pleased to find a second bud stem coming up from the bulb and so I shall likely have more blooms come the first of March.  

I decided to make Isaac's birthday cupcakes today and to get meat from the freezer to thaw for his dinner.  He loves pickles and cheeseburgers.  I'll have to run out tomorrow to get cheese and pickles, but everything else is on hand and ready for his big day tomorrow.

I kept waiting for the rain to let up, so we could go into town without getting soaked.  It did not let up! It just kept getting heavier and heavier.  I finally told John I needed to just go and do what we needed to do.  I had planned to run by the store today to pick up the two items for Isaac's party and some Valentine's cards for the children, but we settled for post office and bank.   

The ditches the county dug on our road were running heavily with rushing water.  The ones they'd failed to dig out...well it all poured across the road washing it out.  Ugh.  This has been an ongoing battle with the county roadworks department.  If the ditches aren't dug, then we lose our road.  They argue back that others who live on dirt roads want NO ditches.  I say, okay, let them not have ditches!  We just want a viable way to get in and out of our road and if it's washed out, we can't.  And while we have another exit from the other end of the road that end tends to be so deeply muddy that we play slip and slide going out it.  So, they dig a ditch on my side of the road and leave the field side of the road undug.  No one cares if they dig out that ditch, but they won't do it so there we are.  In the end, everyone who lives on our road and comes out at this end loses.

Going into town we saw that one low area along our main highway was nearly underwater, but it was due to a low ditch that had overflowed.  We had to be very careful driving to watch for water on the roadway.  The creek was already pretty high.  I wondered what it would all look like by this time tomorrow.  Even if the rain does quit this evening as predicted, water north of us still hasn't flooded into the county and it's that which is concerning.

I laughed at John trying to get into the car because there is a low area where our carport sits.  John was in water well over his ankles just getting in the driver's seat.  At the post office, it was my turn.  He'd parked in the nearest space but that turned out to be in a deep puddle.  And when he moved the car further away that spot too was in a puddle, though less deep.  I told him we'd best make up our minds that we weren't going to avoid parking in a puddle today.  In the end we made it safely home again.

As we went past the schools, I contemplated that the kids weren't getting outdoors for recesses today. John and I reminisced what our teachers allowed us to do when it was pouring rain.  Clay was at the top of the list, followed by reading, and coloring.    I wonder which of those activities the boys did today.  Then I remember that Josh's classroom has a big monitor, and they had a Lego like hide and seek game that the whole house could play and even the teacher participated in the game.  Perhaps that was their recess today.

Tuesday:  Last night for supper, I made myself some fish fillets.  I'm trying to finish off that last box I bought of frozen fish. Next time, I will just go to someplace that cooks the fish for me because it's so much better than this frozen is despite buying a 'good' brand name product.  

This morning, I was out of sorts and then John sprung a decision on me that discombobulated me entirely.  I'll share about that another day.  My mind reeled trying to figure out how all the changes that were hitting me were going to be incorporated in our lives.  I'm not saying that he's being unreasonable but the facts as I know them, and he thinks them are two very different critters.

Unfortunately for both of us, my ill mood continued all day long. His wasn't been much better.  I've no clue what he's upset about but I've not only felt out of sorts mentally but physically as well.  We've snipped and snapped and been downright rude to one another. I'm not really sure why.  After tonight's family party, all I have wanted to do is go to bed.  I think I shall do just that.

The sunshine today has been most welcome by all of us, despite my sorry attitude.  But the river and the creek are very high indeed.  It's not the highest I've ever seen but it's high.

Wednesday:  Why did I set my alarm for 7am?  I've no idea, really, I haven't.  Regardless the thing woke me and after that I couldn't go back to sleep, so I got up. I decided after yesterday's ill temper, I needed to make it up to John from my side (not excusing his ill temper) and thought I'd make him pancakes which is one of his favorite breakfast meals.

After I'd eaten, cleared up the kitchen and done light housework, I tackled the big boogie bear in my life at the moment, this month's budget and a new proposed budget for 2024 because the last one went kerflooey with John's decisions of yesterday.  In the end, I couldn't do what he asked, but I did my best and then I showed him 'the facts of life' such as they are.  

I was amused when he said to me, 'If this is the way things are, how on earth would you manage if I died?'  I pointed out that contrary to popular opinion, if there was only myself to consider there were things that could be reduced or eliminated.  When he asked, "Like what?"  "Well, I wouldn't need your phone, the life insurance payment would no longer need to be made, groceries could be less, and I'd sell your car so I could remove that from the insurance and save the tag fee each year...and of course, the life insurance would pay out...so there'd be a little extra to help cover things."  The look on the man's face!   I guess it was a shock to hear that I had an idea of what I'd do.  I admit I have thought of it.  I've had friends whose husbands passed away young and I asked myself at the time, "How would I manage?"  But what he doesn't know is that I'd thought of it from both sides, about what he might need to do, too!

Finances aside, today has been a much better day for me.  I'm afraid John is still a bit in a state of shock, but he'll survive.  We puttered around the house.  I was inspired by a post I'd read this morning and had an idea for a post for next week.  John vacuumed, and I swept the kitchen really well then mopped.  I'm afraid canning is nowhere on the plans today nor for tomorrow.

Then pantry/freezer challenge has gone fairly well.  Other than convenience foods the majority of foods used have been things already on hand, partially used (such as condiments) or simply getting older than I'd like.  Now, I am finding that I am actually running out of certain things or getting low.  I've started a proper grocery list.  I've made up my mind, after looking at Aldi's latest prices to return to Aldi for the bulk of our purchases with occasional stops into Kroger for loss leaders.  John and I talked it over though and we're going to buy meats on sale at Publix, as well as the occasional great buy one get one deals.  I think by shopping at multiples of stores I can do better with my newly lowered budget.  You'll note I'm planning to lean less hard on the clearance items we've grabbed over the past few months.  I'm not planning to discontinue buying clearance items but to be more discerning with my purchases.  

Tomorrow I'll have to leave super early to keep Caleb while Katie does some medical exams.  Nothing to be concerned over just routine stuff.  She's doing quite well overall.  

John wants me to get some items for the house that are needed.  We've had a broken lampshade in the living room for months.  He's decided it's time to replace and frankly, I think it's past time.  It's been my own fault it hasn't been replaced up to now.  I simply haven't taken the time, nor insisted we take the time to go shopping for things like that.  He offered to buy me a rather pricey but oh so pretty shade.  I contemplated it, even after the price increased by $30, but in the end, it didn't come in the size I needed so I'll choose something else.

And in further decorating news...I'm off the kitchen color.  I've looked at it in all sorts of light and on a grey cloudy day I do not like the color at all.  On a sunny day, I feel I could live with it, but it's not quite what I had in mind.  The alternative color I'd chosen is a funny story in a way.  I think it's perfectly lovely.  And having taken it to the bathroom with me and held it up against the wall, I still agree.  It's exactly the color of the bathroom which is not the color I want for my kitchen!  So, I start again searching for the right color. 

Thursday:  Today we were up early to go to Katie's to take care of Caleb while Katie had her appointment.  On our way this morning we had a lovely sunrise to watch unfold.  Wow, oh wow.  If you must be early, this makes up for it!

Caleb was delighted to see us, but he's happy being there with Katie and Cody and Cody's dad and Bella more often than not.  Cody's dad is called "Not the Mama" which was meant as a joke, but Taylor and Caleb took it up right away and now everyone simply calls Gary, "Not the Mama."   It's good to see Caleb not looking anxious or being clingy.  

We had a very pleasant morning with him.  When Katie returned, she sat down and helped us place an order for our eyeglasses through an online site.  We stayed a little bit but had errands to attend to today.  One of those was to return to the bank where John had gone on Monday, the day all his plans went kaput to perform another transaction.  He warned me going in, "Be NICE...but you're on your own if she rolls your eyes at you the way she did me."  Well, I ended up with a different clerk who looked over my planned transaction, had no issues with it at all and was pleasant as could be.  I asked her when we might plan to use the funds we'd placed in savings on Monday.  She said, "I don't know why this was done this way...I wouldn't have done it if I'd been here!  But I'll see they are released tomorrow."  Night and day experience with this clerk from John's experience on Monday.

We got haircuts then went next door to the grocery to pick up groceries.  Mostly these were stock-ups and only one or two items needed for the next two weeks (cheese, lettuce, fruit, and milk).  It is my intention to make this my last trip into the grocery this month.  I'm going to do my best to make it so.  And yes, I will have come in at the lower balance of spending I'd hoped to be.  

The weather was so lovely.  Sunny and warm and springlike though it's hardly spring.  We had to wait for the windshield to defrost this morning before leaving home!  But the weather was nice.  We had picked up lunch at the deli. John opted for a sandwich, but I chose a really good salad that was wonderful.  It was called a Boar's Head Bold Chef Salad, and it had both a peppery cheese and a peppery coated meat in the salad.  We sat and ate and talked and it was as good as a picnic, truly it was.  

This afternoon here at home we relaxed for a few minutes, then I went over to Sam's after the boys got off the bus to take the three children their Valentine's gift.  Sam had a busy evening with the children getting their homework done and feeding them supper and then going to church, so I'd said I'd run over this afternoon.  We sat on the porch while the kids played in the yard.  

Sheldon, the dog, came out to see me.  He laid his head on my shoulder.  I told him hello and he wandered back into the house and just minutes later he came walking back outdoors.  He had the most pep in his step.  "What's he so happy about?"  "He's happy the door is open so he can go in and out as he pleases."  Silly dog.

It was just a pleasant day all around.

Friday:  I have slept so very well of late.  What a luxury to feel fully rested when I get out of bed.  

The day has just flowed.  It was a typical Friday: I stripped the bed and bath, had coffee, made breakfast and then started bread.  I re-made the bed, tackled the checkbooks (we're transitioning from one bank to another), cleaned the kitchen really well, folded clothes, divided luncheon meats into portions and froze some, made lunch.  I cleaned kitchen again, had John help me transfer some funds around, figured out the credit card statement categories...it's all just been steady puttering along.  

We've a very busy weekend ahead of us.  This weekend, we've a small group meeting, homeless outreach (mostly for John but I tag along), church, lunch with Katie for Taylor's weekend, a senior supper.  I figure by Sunday night when we return home, we're going to be pretty well done. 

For the most part, I don't even have to worry about meals.  We generally pick up pizza on these Saturdays that John volunteers and Sunday we'll only eat breakfast at home.

One thing I didn't get to this week was canning, but it wasn't fear that held me back.  I've had a much busier week than I'd planned with more days out of the house than I'd anticipated.  I've not forgotten my intentions though.  I'll be tackling this project on Monday!  

I hope your weekend is lovely and that your week has been productive.  Come tell us all about it.

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Thrifty Thursday: Another Week to Save

 

Thursday: I made bread and hamburger buns.  I made 13 buns, three smallish ones for the littlest children and the rest for the rest of us.  Not sure if that is enough or not, but it will get us started.  

John a little bit surprised when I told him to keep his hands off the buns, lol.  I'll have to make him some rolls next week and put them in the freezer so I can bring them out to go with meals.

I doctored up a boxed pasta salad mix for our lunch today.  It was really good and something I'd like to do again in the future, though I'll probably make my own, instead of using a boxed mix.  I added shredded Sundried Tomato/Basil Bellavonte cheese.  Yes it was fancy cheese.  That's one of my indulgences.  I find the smallest piece of a fancy schmancy cheese and that's my treat for the month.  This month it was the Sundried Tomato cheese.  That along with some chopped spinach, diced orange bell pepper, a bit of onion and some pepperoni made a very delicious salad for our lunch that drew raves from John.  

I took a ham bone from the freezer to thaw and put half a bag of 15 Bean Soup beans to soak overnight.  

Least expensive makeover is always cleaning and reorganizing a space.  That's what I did today in both my closest and with my dresser drawers.  

I am notoriously bad about getting rid of things that I know full well are too worn, or ill-fitting to keep but I keep and use them anyway.  Today I tossed four pairs of capris that I've meant to throw away for the past 3 years.  Now was the time.  John asked why?  Because this year when it starts to get hot, I'll be forced to buy new ones.  High time, too!

We had a discussion earlier today about finances.  John is unhappy with the bank balance.  No need to try and talk it over with him.  He was adamant that all spending be cut and immediately.  I pointed out that I needed to pay a few bills in the next few days.  He suggested we wait.  I won't.  I do try hard to do as John asks but I know full well that if I end up with a late charge then he'll be just as upset if not more.  He doesn't understand that sometimes bills come due prior to the checks coming in, especially when we have pay periods like this one with five weeks between checks.  If a bill is due the 17th and you get paid on the 14th, you'd better get that bill sent out at the very latest by the 10th, even better if you send it out by the 7th.

Friday:  I made Bbq chicken and rice for supper tonight.  The breasts I'd put in the freezer were packed three to a package.  That was bought and put up when Katie and Caleb lived here.  Too much for two.  I cooked all the chicken, but when it was done, I put one aside, with the intention of shredding it for sandwich meat over the weekend.  Must have been a good idea, because as we were eating our supper, John said, "You know would be good?  Some of this shredded for sandwiches..." and then he set a portion of his breast aside.  I set a little of mine aside too and we added that to the saved breast.

Had Millie over this morning and spent my time with her.  She didn't want the Oriental Dumplings and Eggrolls we were having for lunch today.  I asked what she'd like instead, and she said "Pizza!"  As it happened, I had a few slices from her birthday dinner, so I reheated those for her.  She ate every bite.

We were able to check our account today and the charges from the doctor's office all worked out just fine.  

Tonight, we're going out to a couples' retreat sort of thing. They are serving a light supper, so we won't eat anything before we go.  I'm always a bit confused by what 'light' means, so I'll try and have something ready here that will help us feel less hungry if it is lighter than I think a light meal might be.

Saturday:  Arrived at church last night to find that through some glitch in the system, the credit card payment on the retreat had not gone through.  John was not well pleased.  It amped up his anxiety over finances.  Fortunately, I was able to pull up the credit card statement and show him that it had not been charged, we paid with another card, and we were good to go.  It helped tremendously to be stuck at that desk because at least six more people came along who had the same thing happened.  Each incident considerably decreased John's anxieties and frustration.

I am not maligning him in sharing the above nor the earlier discussion this week. Let me remind you all that we had a week of odd and unusual financial problems.  First, I lost money that was meant to pay a bill.  Second, we were wrongly charged for a service and had to wait to see if it was truly resolved correctly.  Third, we had a hold-up in the money we were withdrawing from retirement accounts.  Not the counselor's fault nor hours.  It was an inner accounting mistake.  Fourth John was already worrying over the newly low balance (hello quarterly house insurance and auto policy renewal).  Fifth we had not yet received my new debit card in the mail, but we did receive one for HIM and could call no one before Monday morning...and we'd no clue why that was issued! And sixth we had this issue with the in-house payment for the retreat not going through and had to pay again.  I was beginning to feel more than a bit anxious over our finances myself.  I just had to hold myself together or John would really be upset at the circumstances we were facing.

We decided between us that we'd not worry about things anymore.  What could we do anyway?  Everything was out of our hands and why spoil the whole weekend.  God could handle what we couldn't at the moment.  That helped a lot.

We had breakfast at church.

John relaxed so much that he took me out to lunch after we finished the retreat this noon.  I assured him we had those funds tucked into the account, but hastily added that it was included in the balance that made him nervous.  He just said "Okay." and that was that.

It was nice to come home and relax this afternoon.  I know we had Thursday and most of Friday at home but it was a busier than usual week, we rose earlier than usual several mornings and we were well and truly tired.   We had lunch leftovers for our supper tonight.

Sunday:  Breakfast at home this morning before we headed out to church.  Earlier in the week I'd made up several sausage biscuits and put some of them in the freezer.  Easy to thaw in the microwave and much heartier than just plain toast.

As we were living home, I slipped my hand in my jeans pocket...and found the money I'd lost!  Whew!  I made John come with me when I went to put the funds away, so there was a witness to where I'd put it.

We had lunch with Katie and family at their house.

I cooked the 15-bean soup Friday morning, then when it was sufficiently cool, I'd divided into portions and set it aside in fridge and freezer.  I reheated a portion in the crockpot this afternoon.  It was so good, perfect on a rainy February evening.

Last night, being bored with tv and computer, I went off to my room and played in my closet.  I decided to pull six blouses that I seldom wear and made-up outfits with those.  I like all of the tops, but I just don't gravitate towards them when I am getting dressed.  Now they are already set up as outfits, I'll wear them.

I have a pair of black pants that are too short.  I debated on whether I should toss or remove the hem and see if I could lengthen them.  It took about an hour to remove the stitching to let the hems down.  I tried them on and they were, unhemmed, the perfect length.  I debated whether or not they would work for me if I rehemmed with a smaller hem.  Unless I can turn under just 1/4 inch I don't think they are going to work.  I put them aside in the donation pile.  I reminded myself I have a gift card and can easily get new pants.

Monday:  At some point I made up my mind that I would NOT go into the grocery at all until after we receive our usual monthly checks.  But I'd promised to make Isaac a Strawberry cake and all of my recipes required a boxed mix.  I finally decided that was silliness.  I could easily make one on my own without a recipe, if necessary, since my favorite one is apparently missing.  And I did!  I made up the recipe based partially on common sense measurements and partly based on what I remembered about the ingredients.  The cupcakes turned out just lovely.  I had 21, so felt free to have John and I sample the smallest.

Then I did the same with the frosting.  Well, I messed up at first, but I stopped myself making an expensive mistake and started over managing to pull the frosting off very nicely.

We went out to the bank and to mail bills.  Not John's fault that I waited so long to get them in the mail.  Truth, this weekend slid right by and I didn't pay attention to the date on the calendar.  Once I realized this morning, I knew that if we had to swim to town, (it's poured rain since yesterday), I was getting those bills mailed TODAY!

I counted cheese slices tonight and set aside the number I needed for burgers tomorrow night.  Sure, as anything, this will be the night that John feels hungry, and he'll reach for cheese to satisfy that hunger.  Out of sight might not mean out of mind, but he doesn't plunder looking for food.  If it's not where he expects it, he'll go to plan B.

I made out a small list of things I need for the family party.  It's not much.

Meals today:  Grits with sausage (Italian leftover from pizza last week) and cheese, toast.

Shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches, dill pickles, French fries.

John out.  I'll scrabble through the fridge and freezer and find something.

Tuesday:  We had big plans today.  I reminded John that no matter how big his plans, he was only good for about two or three stops at most (he'd planned six and that didn't include my need to run into the grocery).   Well as it happened, we were thwarted in our plans.  I barely got him to stop at the grocery he was so disgusted with his plans crumbling.

At the grocery...well he stopped at the local store, which honestly is the equivalent of stopping at Publix where prices are concerned.  Not my choice, so I made the best of it and curbed his tendency to add into the buggy.  I bought pickles, soda and chips for the party.  I was happy to say I had nearly every other item he suggested on hand at home.  I compromised and bought a frozen entree on sale instead of stopping for lunch out as he suggested.  I ended up spending about $40.  Lunch in town will run around $25 without drinks...so yes, I saved on lunch. But I can't say I 'saved' anything more except another bit of flared tempers.  That we had enough of all day today without acquiring any more.

I went into the local dollar store and spent a whole $4 on two different things for Valentine's gifts/cards for the kiddos.  I only used about half of each so $2 for five children.  I can live with that.  I opened three different flavors of the same type of candy and mixed them up and then divided them among the five bags.  This worked out to a generous serving for each child without it being too much.  I had the candy on hand, purchased on sale during the late fall.

Meals:  Eggs and Toast

Wings, Celery, Carrots, Blue Cheese dressing.  Had the vegetables at home and made my own blue cheese dressing.  This is when I discovered that the gorgonzola cheese had gone off.  I didn't know it was even open.  A reminder to me to check out the cheese basket each week when I'm sorting out the fridge.  Thankfully I also had blue cheese on hand.

Cheeseburgers, buns, chips, pickles, soda, and cupcakes.  Isaac's birthday dinner.  Mostly a waste.  Only two out of the five children ate their burger and only two out of five ate a cupcake...sigh.  The dog and cat ate well because the kids all had to manhandle the burgers.  We had two burgers leftover. I put those into leftover buns and into the fridge for a lunch later this week.

Wednesday:  It had to happen.  We've had a bit of a struggle here in our home the past few days over various things financial and while some have worked out just fine, some were a source of contention.  John made a statement yesterday that threw me into a complete tailspin.  I admit it.  I was the one thrown into a tailspin because I am the one who 'handles' our finances.  John is the head of this household and I do as he deems it's necessary for us to do but there are things I can't make happen.  

When financial changes are afoot, I start on paper first.  I need to visually see what we're discussing doing and if it's possible.  Well, it wasn't.  I tweaked figures and tweaked figures and ultimately, I could not make what he wanted to happen work.  So, I wrote out a budget, not as he wished it to be, but as it is.   I did tweak a few figures.  No harm in that.  Then I went to John, asked for his full attention and handed him the sheet.  

Last year, when we had a hefty boost to our savings accounts, we put some extra money into our checking account, and we bought things we'd needed (good shoes and coats) and we replaced well-worn items and bought some new things to help improve our lives (freezer and Weathertech mats for the cars to help preserve the carpet).  I'd been very careful to repeatedly say, "No" to anything that was transitory.  We didn't eat out or buy silly impulsive items or get jewelry or guitars. We didn't go on shopping sprees. We made those funds work, ensuring that we'd get years of usage from what we spent.  But I had been warning him that once the kitchen and bath work was done, we'd be reverting back to the 2022 budget (with 2024 prices, yet).

John has a very good idea of what we have coming in.  He's less clear on what we have going out and has not looked at the checkbook in a good while to see how I allocated our funds.  I could do what he wanted financially, but it meant that I was swapping one type of savings for another.  I couldn't save as much as he wanted me to save in addition to what we already have as savings each month.  I felt he needed to see the visual representation of what we (I, but with his agreement) and explain why we have a bit less than last year (Hello, Part B Medicare...I see you, too, increased monthly fees...). Once he had the visual before him he was a bit shocked.  

John is not a big spender.  That is not the issue at all. He's a pretty low needs/want sort of guy when it comes to spending, but he does love to treat the children and Katie to little things all along and to give extra here or there to help a child get to camp, etc. and his ONE request when he retired was to see if I can swing enough for us to eat out once a week.  Just once a week.  The new changes in our income at present didn't allow for the savings he wanted me to generate, even if we gave up that entertainment as we dub it, but I offered to do that much if he wanted.  He simply said, "No wonder you've been working so hard to save!"  "And I'll be looking for ways to do a bit more," I told him, "just to give us some ease in this tight budget we're keeping."

I reminded him that a budget is a road map.  It's the ideal route you'll take but you never know all the detours and potholes you might encounter.  This month, for example, as we transition some things from one thing to another, will not look like next month.  We're going to have to adjust.  Other months some of the categories I tweaked may end up being higher than what I'd planned for.  I reminded him that we adjust what we can, and we absorb what we can't (meaning we'll use savings).  

"So, what you're saying is that we're living on trust..."  "For the most part, yes.  We trust things will work out as we've planned, and we trust that when they don't, we'll find a way to recover.  It's not any different than we've been living these past five years, really."  

Later Mr. Funnyman asked, "Are we having leftover burgers for lunch today?  Because darned if we can afford to waste food!"  "That's what I've been telling you all along," I told him.

Meals:  Pancakes and fried turkey Spam.

Leftover burgers, chips

Chicken with Onions, Broccoli, Leftover Rice.  I'm undecided if I mean to make a sauce to go over the chicken or not.  It's smelling mighty good as it is.  John will want bread. I have a leftover hamburger bun that will do for the two of us. later:  I put some peppery mayo on top of the thighs.  Not much, just about a teaspoon, but it helped the skin to crisp up and added a load of flavor.

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Coffee Chat for February: Now and Then

 

Come in, come in and do choose a nice hot cup of something to sip on while we have a bit of a chat.  

Things have changed all over again.  Katie has decided to look for a work from home job and decided to leave her job that had her traveling quite the distance to and from work, after making a circuit from her new home over this way to get Caleb to school or my houses.  She is currently spending her days with Caleb which seems to have made him very happy indeed. Her plan is to get him into behavioral therapy so that she can help him to learn to calm his anxiety before he starts school.  I don't know if she'll do that or not.  The move to the new house hasn't upset him nearly so much as we thought it might.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Canny

 

John and I had a busy week last week.  This week ahead will be busy enough, too.  I caught myself wasting time while I was at home this past week simply because I was weary from all the activity we had in our week.  This week I'm hoping that I can better balance my time and get a bit more done at home.  

Diary of a Homemaker: How It Went

 

Saturday:  John and I were both awake in the wee hours of early morning.  While he got up and went to the living room, I rolled over, turned on a video I've been trying to watch for three days and went right back to sleep.  I dragged myself out of a dream and glanced at the clock.  9:30.  Wow!  Considering I'd awakened at 4:30 with him, I figured that was a pretty good sleep in.  I can honestly say I felt a heap better today than I'd felt the past three days, too.  Not yet well, but not sick compared to what I had been.

Thrifty Thursday: Can I?

 

Friday:  I had Millie for a little while this morning.  We had a great time.  I got out in the yard with her and planted the garlic bulbs.  They were just starting to sprout, so I'm glad those are in the ground.  It's supposed to rain this weekend, so perhaps that will help them settle in.

John asked for breakfast for supper tonight.  I've felt just bad enough that the idea of cooking didn't suit me in the least, but a breakfast meal was easy enough to handle.  Glad I made the pancakes he requested because Caleb and Katie came in.  He ate pancakes, she ate bacon and we were all quite happy with our meal.

The Homemaker Plans Her Week: Really

 

Well...Here we are in February and I'm behind already in more ways than one.  But let me just say that January was the most ON/OFF sort of month! Make plans and they went off.  Then they are on again and then they are off and then...I hope that February, known for fickle weather, will be more settled where planning is concerned!  I've learned over the past few years to sort of roll with the flow of the ON/OFF sort of things without complaining too long and too loud.  I hope that whatever lesson I've been meant to learn from this has been learned and we can now move on...

February 2024 Goals

I am a wee bit late; I admit it.  I simply did not feel good towards the end of last week, having given in and gotten a cold.  I'm feeling much better this weekend thankfully and now that I've had my usual Sunday afternoon nap, I am ready to think about this month we've gotten started and figure out what my goals for the month might be.  

To be honest, I've not even really stopped to consider February, nor what I want to accomplish.  I was so busy in January with an up/down, on/off sort of month that I kind of lost track of myself.  This is not at all unusual for me in February.  I think I start out on such a gung ho, let's go! sort of mood in January and then I start to lose steam, especially if I find my plans are changed too frequently, which happened last month for sure.  This month should be more or less stable.  We'll see...I know too much now to trust that time is truly my own!

Diary of a Homemaker's Week: We'll See

 

Saturday:  John had made up his mind to do something 'special' today.  We've been talking about our tendency to get stuck in a rut.  We do it all of the time.  We got to the same three places to eat, and we order pretty much the same things when we go.  We drive one way home when there are dozens of routes we might take, etc.

John had it in mind to try a brand-new restaurant today, but I looked online at the menu (and prices) and suggested we save that for 'an occasion' rather than a routine date.  We talked a bit and came up with another place we've visited and enjoyed but hadn't been to in a really long time.  It was a Vietnamese restaurant known for it's Pho.  John nor I are big Pho people, but we knew they had other entrees that were delicious.

Thrifty Thursday: Lots of Wash, Rinse, Repeat

 

Friday:  A great deal of what we do to save money in our home involves repetition.  It reminds me of the old shampoo bottle instructions: Wash, Rinse, Repeat.  I always contemplated how often we were to do the 'repeat' part of the process.  When it comes to saving pennies, it's often necessary to repeat ad nauseum.  BUT it works!

Today we washed two loads of clothes and hung a portion of both loads to dry.  Were it up to me, I'd probably hang everything to dry, but John does laundry and our rules are that unless you want to do the task, hush and let the person attending to it do it their way.  I'm keeping quiet!