Anyone that follows my page on Facebook knows that I am married to a Navy Combat Veteran. It has opened my eyes to a lot of things that I never really had thought of before. Things that veterans live everyday.....issues they have etc. I, like many people want to help and I have toyed with doing a Non Profit Organization or with starting up a business and a percentage of the sales go to making care packages for a Shelter near us for homeless veterans as well as the Transition House that helps get veterans back on their feet and back into society.
Then I thought of just doing what I can on my own, with bake sales, garage sales and maybe a spaghetti supper here and there throughout the year. Between the 2 places I mentioned we are talking of about 60 people at all times. I want to help all through the year making care packages when I can and giving them to the organizations and at Christmas I want to make stockings for each one of those veterans filled with toiletries, socks, gloves, books, candy etc. I know that I won't be able to afford to do 60 stockings this year but I will do what I can. It may be a couple boxes of goodies for each place, I will see what I can do.
Now, I will never ask for monetary donations BUT if you have coupons that you don't use that are manufacturer's coupons and would like to help, please let me know. The more coupons I have the more I can get to fill their stockings and boxes throughout the year. I would also appreciate if any of you have any Christmas stockings that you are not using and would like to help. Every little bit helps and I hope by next year to be more organized with my timing and do sales during the summer and be at the Parade on the 4th of July etc and be able to give at least 3 times a year to each place.
So if you have coupons or stockings that you would like to donate, you can send me a message here or on my FB page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Country-Girls-Life/283459515033277#!/.
Thanks for your time of reading this! It means a lot to me and as I said before, every little bit helps.
With the economy the way it is there are so many people going back to the basics, finding ways to cut corners, spending less and then there are the people that have been doing that forever. I am kinda in the middle. I grew up in the country, the youngest of 6 kids, we had a farm which we raised chickens, pigs, had dairy cows and we had a sawmill. Yes, times were busy for sure! We also had a HUGE garden which my mother canned and froze things from along with having enough potatoes to keep in cold storage over the winter. It brings back great memories of my parents when I think of those days. It wasn't easy for anyone. We all had our chores and we worked together to make it work.
I remember one year we had so much milk and you would get fined if you were over your quota so we made butter in one of the old fashioned churns. I wasn't that old at that time and I didn't really realize how wonderful knowing how to do that was. It was fun to me, to help out, to churn, to pack the butter in dishes.....ahh the good ole days!
Wait???? Good ole days??? That wasn't all that long ago but I think a lot of people are getting back to some of those ways and being as self sufficient as possible. A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck or on fixed incomes and just can't afford the luxury of buying new all the time or buying brand names. For me, I never was that person to begin with. We weren't poor growing up but we certainly weren't rich (at least as far as money goes), we were rich in family values, morals and integrity and we were respectful. I miss those days, I miss my parents...but I know they are looking down on me and the rest of my family and smiling.
There are so many things that people are doing to save money or to be more self sufficient, like raising your own meat, having a garden, making your own dish soaps and detergents, beauty products etc...you get my point. Some people are doing it to save money and some people out of neccessity. I love making my own laundry soap and cleaners. I can't ever see going back to store bought. The ones I make are very easy and very cheap to make.
Other ways to save money: Buy store brand items. I know, I know, store brands aren't as good as name brands.....WRONG! I prefer store brands on many things and I do buy name brands but normally only if I have a coupon that makes the article cheaper than buying the store brand. It is all personal preference but even if I had an endless supply of money I would still by store brands on pretty much everything.
Buy at thrift stores...Goodwill...Salvation Army etc. We shop for most of our clothes etc at thrift stores and a lot of the time they have things that are new with the tags on them. On Monday's (the one we go to) has 50% off of EVERYTHING...how can you beat that. I have bought my husband a NIKE winter coat for 4$, yep 4$, now that is when I will buy name brands the added bonus is that a lot of these places help charities out so not only are you saving money you are helping others as well.
Entertainment: Instead of spending $$$ on cable, use an antenna and a converter box, you will have the main channels and no costs per month. Go to the Library and get movies to watch, the one near us, you can borrow 10 DVD's at a time for 2 weeks.
Instead of spending 3$ a day on that coffee out, make a pot at home. If you need it on the go, get a cup so you can take it with you on your commute. 3$ a day adds up at the end of the year.
Eat in and make food from scratch: We eat out or order in once a month and it is a treat. We both love cooking and cook everything but once a month is our treat time and we may order a pizza or go somewhere but we limit that to once a month.
I am not saying NEVER buy a coffee or NEVER go to the movies but do it once every couple of months, make it a date night, go for a meal, then the movies and then have a coffee after.
There are so many other things I can say but I will leave them for future posts.
How do you save money?
Cloth VS disposable has always been something that a lot of people disagree on but I think that over the past few years people are getting more and more into cloth for diapers, baby wipes,napkins, paper towels, and even feminine hygeniene products.
Not only does this save money it also is much better for the environment as so much less is going into the landfill.
I know it may be more money up front for diapers and more work BUT to me and so many people it is worth it.
We do buy one roll of paper towels a month but mostly all we use for cleaning are rags (old socks, washcloths etc).
Also, we use cloth napkins that we bought at a garage sale that were brand new and never been used.
A lot of it comes from being thrifty or for some just the fact that it is more enviro friendly, I think for me, it is a bit of both. I like saving the money but I also like the fact that I am helping the environment.
We have diminished the use of plastic bags and only use recycled cloth bags for groceries.
I am not saying we never use plastic or disposable EVER but for sure over the past year or two we have slowed down on these things so much and we really notice a difference.
How about you? Do you buy disposables at all anymore?
To some people doing dishes is a job that they would rather not have to do! I guess I am one of the rare people that don't mind doing dishes (yes, you read it right) ....
There is quite a bit of an age difference between my siblings and I and so when I was pretty young I had to do them as one of my chores. My mother was sick most of my life and so I had more chores than other kids my age did to help out. My brothers and sisters had all moved out and were married by the time I was 12 and at that point my mother was getting worse. I pretty much started doing dishes when I was a lil kid on a step stool. I remember helping out by drying the dishes at that point but as my mother got worse and I was getting older, obviously I ended up doing them. I remember my mother winning a dishwasher when I was about 10 years old and we hated it! It was one of those that you had to bring to the sink and hook it up, not to mention rinse everything first. I didn't see the point of wasting my time doing such a thing so we used it a couple times but it wasn't something that we made a habit of using. For that matter, we put it in it's place and used it for storage of canned goods! Yep, it did serve a purpose!
So all of my life I have hand washed and dried dishes. I have a lot of fond memories in the kitchen washing dishes, especially when my aunts and uncles would come and visit and one of my aunt's would always help do the dishes...usually they would wash and I would dry and put them away. It was a great time and it was a bonding moment as well. Even though I was a kid and didn't really realize it at the time, those moments are times that I now treasure and smile when I think of them.
I am now married and still we hand wash and it is something that both of us would rather do than use a dishwasher. I have never had a dishwasher other than that one that my mother won way back when.
Over the years, I remember using all sorts of different brands of dish soap but it has been in the past year that I have discovered one that I truly adore...it is one that I make! I never would have imagined making my own dish soap but now, along with my other cleaners, I can't think of why I would ever go back to store bought.
It is a simple recipe that I will share with you. Keep in mind that the first time I made it, it was a bit too thick but it worked great. Now I make it by the gallon and save so much money doing so.
The Recipe Is:
1/2 cup of grated soap (I use aloe but you can use any really)
3 cups of boiling water
5 -10 drops of essential oils (whatever you want)
Directions: Boil the water and put in a bowl, put the grated soap in and stir til it is melted. Let set for about 20 minutes and pour in a squeeze container. Once completely cooled add the essential oils.
I get 3 cakes of aloe soap at the dollar store so for one batch of this size it costs about 25 cents.
For those of you that do use a dishwasher here is an easy recipe:
1 cup of borax
1 cup of baking soda
Mix together and use.
Either way, it is so much cheaper to make your own no matter if you hate doing dishes or not!
Do you hand wash or use a dishwasher?
I just started making mayonaise a few months ago and it is so simple to make yet so tasty! There are tons of recipes out there and the possibilities are endless as to what you can add to your basic recipe.
We have all seen the flavored mayonaises at the supermarkets and I love them but they can be pricey. So now that I started making my own, I am experimenting with all sorts of flavors.
Basic Mayo Recipe:
3/4 cup of oil
1 egg
1 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar
1 tsp of mustard
2 tsp minced garlic
In a bowl mix all ingredients together except the oil. Add the oil in a bit at a time and mix until it is the consistency of thick pudding or a cake batter. It won't be as thick as mayo yet.....put in fridge and let set for about 24 hours. Simple! Simple! Simple!
Now, I have used olive oil but we don't like the taste as much plus it is a lot more expensive to make, so if you are trying to do it cheaper olive oil is not the way to go. I use canola and we love it.
Also you can exchange the minced garlic for garlic powder and we love our garlic so I usually put in a bit more than what it calls for.
The first time I made it, I made it using the quantities it asked for, as we weren't sure if we were going to like it. Although, I didn't make it thick enough, the taste was amazing! So now, I quadrouple the recipe and that fits in a normal mayo jar.
There are so many things I want to add to it...I have heard of putting horseradish in and would love to try that. Instead of garlic one day I will use onion or possibly chives...so many possibilities!!!!!!
The cost for a jar of homemade using canola oil is about $1.50 - $1.75 and it tastes so good. You know what is in it and you have the satisfaction of doing it yourself. How much better can that get?
Have you ever shopped at Discount Grocery Stores? I don't mean Save-A-Lot or Aldi's (which is where we buy 95% of our groceries)....I mean the Salvage stores that sell dented cans and other items that have their packaging broken or ripped.
I love those stores and I wish we had one near us. You can find tons of cans for 1/4 of the price and there may be a bit of a dent in it, but so what? It is still good....I will draw the line though for canned tomatoes and tomato products because of the acid in the tomatoes. We had one back home and we went quite often. I know some people wouldn't be caught dead in a store like that and for others they have no choice or they just love saving money. Some of the salvage stores have meat and that I would have to say no to...but for cans there isn't a better place! Granted it is more time consuming to go to because you do have to really check everything out because you never know what is going to be there. My thinking is if the product is still fine and not opened and you have a store nearby, then why would you spend all that extra money on "perfect" cans.
We do have a store nearby that has a discount veggie and fruit bin....every morning about 30 minutes after they open they put out a huge cart of bagged up veggies and fruit. Each bag is 1$ and it may contain 2 pkgs of mushrooms, or a cauliflower, or 3 red peppers. You get my point....when I shop there, I always make sure that I go right around that time and get a bunch of veggies. Granted some may have to be used very quickly and others are fine for a good while. I like buying bananas and apples there because I bring them home and cut up the apples and freeze them for desserts...and for the bananas, we don't eat them fresh so I get them and let them turn brown and freeze them for banana bread later on.
Also at that store every morning they discount some of the meat that had a due date a couple days later....so for a couple dollars off certain pkgs you can buy them and freeze them and they will be great!
If you are on a budget this is a great way to shop and sometimes the only way. I love saving money and knowing that I can do groceries cheaper by getting discounts like this. I just wish there was a salvage store near me!
Do you shop at salvage stores or discount bins?
I don't know about ya'll but I just love hanging clothes out to dry. I remember back in the day when we had a wringer washer in the basement and I hung the clothes out. In the winter, we line dried them inside before my parents even got a dryer. Even once they had one, it wasn't used very often as it was just a lot of money to spend on electricity (my, how some things don't change).
Nothing beats the "April Freshness" of line dried towels or sheets. The first night sleeping in bed after the sheets had been dried out in the pure air was amazing. I love that smell, don't you?
Line drying also gives you that "sun bleach" and when doing the load of whites it always made things look cleaner.
You also have to think of the fact that the clothes actually last longer. How is that possible? Think of all of the lint that accumulates...that was part of your clothes at one time and another bonus of hanging clothes out is the fact that there is no shrinking. I am sure that it has happened to all of us at one point in our lives.
Dryers do have their benefits, I mean, if you are in a hurry and need your clothes right off it is more convenient for that. If you work in an office and have clothes that need to be ironed if you don't put them in the dryer, I opt for the dryer (I HATE IRONING), but as a rule, I don't buy things that need to be ironed.
Rainy days and winter months it may work well for you too. I guess it all depends on your preferences and your budget. If you like using a dryer and can afford the higher electric bill, that is your option. For me, I will use a dryer on occasion but very rare. I love having the clothes hung out to dry and in the winter or rainy days, I have a rack that I put them on or put them on hangers and hang on the shower rod. It may be a bit more work but it saves so much money and I just love it.
What do you do? Do you do a combination of both? Hang in the summer, dryer in the winter?
