Musings - and Strawberry Shortcake

I often forget that once upon a time I wrote a weekly column online. My life took so many twists & turns that it seems like another person altogether put those words on the page. Today I was reminded when I visited a polling site that asked for my URL. Oh, yeah, I thought... I have one of those.

It's not that I've stopped living La Vida Frugal. Far from it. I'm simply wrapped in the 'busy-ness' of business and daily life.

Perhaps now that I've remembered this blog thing, I'll trade some of my busy time for the chance to share my thoughts and recipes once more.

In the meantime, the strawberries are ripe. We planted 25 plants along our driveway in what was once a flower bed. Three years later we average 5 gallons of berries a season. If that's not frugal, I don't know what is.

Shortcake anyone? Inexpensive and easy to make, but it doesn't look like it! You can always substitute whatever berries or fruits are in season.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

4 Cups ripe strawberries, sliced
1/4 Cup sugar
2 Cups Self Rising Flour
1/2 Cup Lard ( yes, LARD! oh, alright, use shortening if you must - but lard makes it better tasting)
2/3 Cup milk
1/4 Cup sugar
Non-dairy Whipped topping, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 F. Sprinkle sliced strawberries with 1/4 Cup sugar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and lard with a pastry cutter or two forks used in criss-cross fashion. The mixture should look like rough cornmeal.
Add milk and sugar. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Drop by large spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (You should get about 6 biscuits)

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Split warm cakes in half. Fill with strawberries and a dollop of whipped topping. Put top in place. Add more berries and whipped topping.

Fall

I love Fall. It's my favorite season. And I know I'm kinda rushing it from a weather and calendar standpoint. But the students have returned to school, the NFL has started pre-season play, and I can open the windows at night again without melting into a puddle. So I'm going to go with it.

Fall means FOOTBALL. I'm very fond of college football in particular. HOKIE football. But I'll watch almost any college game. I reinstalled my satellite tv this week to watch it. (Not very frugal I admit, but since I no longer smoke I had to keep at least *one* vice...)

Fall also means COMFORT FOOD. I put half a pork loin in the crock pot this morning with a bottle of barbecue sauce. We're going to watch a middle school football game this evening and I didn't want to fall victim to the late-night dinner drive-thru syndrome. Supper will be waiting when we get home and it should be cool enough to eat. If not, we'll have dinner 'al fresco', (which is Italian for "cooler outside than in the house")

Fall means HARVEST. I'm picking and canning and drying and freezing (and eating!) wonderfully fresh vegetables and fruits. I have grown to really appreciate the beauty of a jar of jelly or beans. Not only for the sustenance that it represents but as an almost artistic testament of the miracle of nature combined with effort. Besides, it tastes soooo good in the middle of winter!

Fall means REST (sort of). The pace at my workplace slows down a lot in Fall. True I'm canning and Thom is hunting and we're still quite busy. But it's a quieter, less frenetic busy time. And the feeling of accomplishment at days end seems richer somehow.

As the leaves begin to fall and the days get shorter, I hope you'll find reasons to love this time of year too.

Christmas Comes Early - When you're Frugal

Over at the All You Challenge Blog we're alternating between good-natured grousing about the delay in announcing the winner and chatting about Christmas presents. I started a big long entry about it and decided I'd post it here instead.

I know some people who are cost-conscious and generally frugal - until the red and green wrapping paper shows up. Then they'll drop thousands of dollars without blinking an eye.

I don't get it.

Some years my kids had presents piled three feet high. Some years they got a big gift and several small ones. But my average cost per kid over the years is under $100.

So here are a few ideas for keeping the Spirit of Christmas while keeping the reality of a budget.

1) DO keep the Spirit of Christmas.
It is only in the last couple generations that having a tree surrounded by gifts seems to be the point of the celebration. Whether you practice a particular faith or not, the Christmas Season is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our love for one another. It doesn't cost a thing to tell someone you care.

2) DO be honest.
Tell your family and friends (early and often!) that you have a budget for the Holidays. This is especially important if you have family or friends that exchange costly gifts. By speaking up and being clear about your decision, you can prevent some hurt feelings later. Considering the current economy, don't be surprised if some people jump on board with you.

3)DON'T be pressured to change your plans.
If friends or family are critical of your decision, respectfully 'agree to disagree'. If they push you, kindly but firmly refuse to discuss it further.

4) DON'T be a Scrooge.
Give generously of your time, your good cheer, your friendship and your love. Volunteer at a women's shelter, food bank or animal shelter. Let someone else have the closest parking space. Smile and look your cashier in the eye at the grocery store. Offer to babysit for your friend so she can do some errands. Write your husband a love letter.

5) DO be realistic. If you don't knit, don't plan to make sweaters for your entire family this Christmas. Keep material costs in mind when making homemade gifts. Purchasing fruit to make jam, for instance, may not be a wise financial move if you also have to buy all the otehr supplies neccesary for canning.

6) DO think outside the box. Shop yard sales, thrift stores, back-to-school sales and clearance sections. Keep your eyes open for good deals all year long.

7) DON'T lose your Christmas stockpile! I only mention this because every year I find a bag of goodies that I bought in May - two days AFTER Christmas.

8) DO give yourself a gift. The gift of patience with yourself. You can't do it all and you aren't supposed to. There is no such thing as the 'perfect' Christmas. Unless maybe it's the one where you enjoyed the company of your loved ones and still had an available balance in your checking account on the 26th of December...

Happy Holidays!

Why I can't write recipes...

Okay, here's what happened:

I had some overgrown zucchini and always wanted to try stuffed zucchini. I'd looked at a few recipes but never had anything reach out and grab me. So...

a small head of cabbage (from the garden) chopped fine
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 lb ground venison
1/2 a jar of pizza sauce
about 1 cup hot dog chili left from a cookout
1/4 green pepper (it was stuck in the fridge door looking sad)
4 or 5 black olives (last of a can in the fridge), chopped
1 carrot, shredded (they were very tired)
a healthy shake of cajun seasoning
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese
And enough rice to kinda hold it together (maybe 2 cups???)

I stuffed all that into a zucchini that I cut in half lengthwise, hollowed out and sprayed with olive oil.

I baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes, then sprinkled more cheese on top (operating on the theory that if you put enough cheese on anything , it'll taste better!) and stuck it back in the oven long enough to melt the cheese topping.

It was really tasty. But, as I explained to my husband, it wasn't likely I'd have that combination of items again.

So....

Last Saturday I did it again but this time I used:

1/2 lb breakfast sausage
pieces of three differnt kinds of onion, chopped
1/2 head cabbage, chopped fine
the insides of the zucchini chopped fine
a package of sliced portabella mushrooms that had seen better days, bigger chunks
2 T (or so) buffalo wing sauce
1 carrot shredded (much nicer on this time!)
4 oz "pizza" blend cheese
a couple cups rice
A healthy shake of chicken jambalaya spice (it was the firs tthing I grabbed...)

Put it all in the hollow zuke, baked at 350, and when I took it out the first time I put a couple slices of provolone cheese on top.

It was equally delicious.

THEN -

I had a ton of the mixture left, so for dinner last night I added:

1 lb ground venison that needed to be cooked
1 t chili powder
1 can pinto beans, just because I wanted beans in it
1/4 can Hunt's spaghetti sauce (my daughter used the other half)
1/4 cup or so of hot taco sauce from a jar

Got that all hot, put some shredded cheddar on the center of a flour tortilla, put a heaping spoon of the stuffing on that and rolled up burrito style. Repeat 6 times.

The 'missing' 1/4 can of spaghetti sauce was mixed with a little more taco sauce then some was poured in the bottom of a baking dish. The burritos were next, followed by the remaining sauce, more shredded cheese and voila!

Into the oven at 350 for maybe 20-30 minutes (all is cooked, we're just getting hot at this point)

Serve with sour cream on top.

Awesomely good!

THEN....

I had a ton of the filling left over.

And here we are.

I will probably either mix it with a binder (think sour cream or canned soup or something like that), add some veggies, and bake as a casserole with *still* more cheese on top.

OR I could layer it between the last three tortillas (lasagna style - with maybe some slices of zucchini) and bake - with cheese of course.

If it were winter I'd thin it with beef or chicken broth and make soup. If there was soup left, I might add more rice and a binder (as mentioned above) to make (yet another) casserole.

Who knows, the last of the casserole might even find its way back into a zucchini...

And THAT'S why I can't write recipes!

ALL YOU Challenge Wrap up

So, there's been no announcement on who won the challenge but it has been very cool to be a finalist. Like so much of life, the excitement is waning and I'm on to new and pressing tasks. Like canning.

I looked out my window this morning and noticed that 80% of the tomatoes are ripe.

Woohoo

I'm trying to remember that I love the actual process of canning, and I *definitely* love the results. But the thought of going out there was more than I could consider without my first cup of coffee.

Besides, it's Tuesday. I have to work the rest of the week. The grass needs mowing. The corn is ready too. (Don't even get me started about the zucchini) And I've already lost a few cukes, one cantaloupe and a sugar baby watermelon.

I need a vacation so I can get it all done. And my long weekend is 10 days away.

Wow, I'm whining. I'm doing that thing I hate other people doing. That thing I'm so smug about when I'm hanging clothes on the line or watering the garden with collected rainwater. "I don't whine, I just get it done" I tell myself while I'm lugging the baskets around or rearranging the shelves to hold this year's preserved harvest.

SO, I'm gonna quit whining and tell you that I found a great recipe for zucchini pineapple and zucchini cream that tastes like lemon curd. And I finally bought a new gauge for my pressure canner so I can do canned beans this year.

And I'm gonna tell you that being a finalist in the All You Challenge is still pretty darn exciting!

How cancelling my cable helped me quit smoking

Okay, I'm always sounding super-frugal in my posts and on my old website. But throughout the years I've always smoked and always had cable or satellite tv. They were my two luxuries that stayed with me no matter what. In fact they were two things I felt I couldn't do without. After all, I've smoked for over 30 years. And there's nothing on TV unless you have dozens of channels, right?

Then came 2008. Some long-term debt, higher prices at the gas pump, grocery store and everywhere else and now it's tough to make the ends meet without struggling.

So, I decided the satellite had to go. I called and cancelled

(okay, okay, I didn't exactly cancel. I had it turned off until September. Did you know you can do this??? Seriously, the cable is off until college football season comes back. Then I have to seriously rethink whether or not my addiction to Saturday football is worth the money... But we'll burn that bridge when we come to it.)

As I was saying, I've had cable or satellite since I had my first apartment. How in the world was I gonna live without it?!? I couldn't imagine NOT having all those channels to choose from. The mere though made me nauseous.

And then the day came......

..................................................................................................

And nothing happened.

The world didn't end. We ended up watching mostly the same shows at night. We got up off our lazy buns and walked around the block most nights and weekends. We worked in the yard more this Spring (bonus better garden!).

But we missed very little TV. *sigh* Another case where fear of the unknown was worse than reality.

Fast forward a month or so and I'm reading a book about stopping smoking. ("The Easyway to Stop Smoking", by the way). Bought it for a buck at the thrift store. I was thinking "no way can I quit - I can't imagine NOT smoking"

Turns out, the same thing applied to stopping smoking. It's been over a month. I just stopped one day. And I don't miss it. I love having the extra money.

Very often it's worse to imagine being without than it is to genuinely be without.

Last year I couldn't imagine not using a dryer. I haven't turned mine on in over a year.

Last summer I couldn't imagine a way to keep the water feature full without using the hose (and paying for the water). Now I have a rainwater reclamation system that's trash-picked and hand built (more on that later, I promise!)

Last January I couldn't imagine life without 72 channels of television.

For 30 years, I couldn't imagine dinner without a cigarette afterward.

What could you be free of when next we meet????

Just imagine.......

*updated August 2009 - still not smoking!*

Ma Field's Rules for Living Poor

This series is for my son who is living on his own for the first time.

You don't have much right now, but if you follow these guidelines you will always have enough - and before you know it you'll have more than enough.

1. NEVER SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY!!! This is the heart of living well (and within your limits). Every paycheck, take a chunk right off the top to put in savings. 15% is good, more is better, 10% is the minimum. This will be the start of your emergency fund.
Start saving with your very first check. Then it will be an easy habit to keep.

2. See rule #1 - yes, it's that important.

4. PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Prioritize your bills to reflect your needs both present and future.
That means put the money into savings right away. THEN pay your rent. THEN pay your electric bill.

3. NO CREDIT CARDS! If you can't afford to pay for it now, you can't afford it, period. NO PAYDAY LOANS OR CASH ADVANCES EVER!!!! This is legalized loan sharking and it should be outlawed in my opinion.
Remember that the emergency fund is only for necessities. Save up to buy more expensive items. (This is extra money you save for a specific purpose, NOT your emergency fund. Put it in a separate account if you can't keep it separate in your mind)

6. STAY OUT OF THE STORE! Don't shop as a sport or hobby. Only go when you need something. Know what you need. Get it and get out. We'll talk more about shopping in a later blog.

7. PRACTICE THE RULE OF THREE: Wait at least 3 days before making a purchase, have at least 3 reasons for needing it and at least 3 reasons that nothing else will do.

8. WHEN IN DOUBT, DO WITHOUT. If you aren't sure you should, you probably shouldn't. (This is good advice throughout life, by the way)

9. DON'T BUY NEW. At this stage in life, there are very few things that need to be purchased new. Come to think of it, at ANY stage of life there are few things that need to be purchased new.

10. LIVE FINANCIALLY AT 50%. LIVE THE REST ON THE EDGE. Youth is a time to take risks and think outside the box - just not where your money is concerned.

How do YOU trim costs?

I have a few rather odd ways to save money. They don't work for everyone so they hardly qualify as tips. But it got me thinkin' about the "odd" stuff we as frugal fanatics do to shave a few cents here and there. It's those oddball little things that give ammunition to spendthrifts who claim we're all crazy cheapskates. So I figured, What the heck, let's give 'em some good ammo....

I'll share a few of mine and I hope you'll be motivated to give us your "craziest" tightwad tip...

• I don't cut my hair. No, really, I haven't been to a salon in five years. My coworker cut about 4" off my hair yesterday and, other than trimming my own bangs, that's the first haircut I've had since Fall 2002. (in case you're wondering, it's down past my waist).
• I use my office's kitchen to make jelly and can food in the summer. My boss lets me have free use of the full kitchen and the blessed air conditioning. It's the only time I get to use a dishwasher!
• Speaking of canning, I pick wild berries and have my own apple tree. I glean blueberries from my in-laws after they are finished with their bushes. One year my husband Thom was working at another location that had a peach tree. Free peaches! yipee!!
• I also refuse to use pectin because the recipes call for more sugar. The yield is higher, but my fruit is free so yield is less important than the cost of other ingredients and materials.
• Yes, I reuse aluminum foil. And plastic butter dishes. And zipper baggies, depending on what was in them. (I never reuse a baggie that has had meat or poultry in it. I'd rather spend the dime than get sick!)
• I wash the heavy plastic forks, knives and spoons you buy for cookouts. One set usually lasts me all summer.
• I'll take a pork chop or one piece of chicken leftover from a meal and make soup. Then I'll add rice or pasta and make a casserole. My personal record is 7 meals from one small chicken. By the end, we were calling it "essence of chicken" soup!

So there you have it. A few things that seem perfectly sensible to me that have made some of my more luxury-minded friends wrinkle their noses in disapproval. I know you've all got some good ones out there, so let's hear 'em.

... and if you can figure out a good use for already-used kitty litter, I'm listening...

Post your comments here, or visit me at my Yahoo Group

Still at the Washboard

Just a few brief notes on the laundry detergent:

After sitting for a week in the bucket, it separated and was chunky. I was worried that it wouldn't work, or that it would leave oily spots on my clothes. After a little more experimentation here's what I discovered:

* stirring it helps some but it won't stay mixed.

*Pouring the detergent into the tub as it fills with water BEFORE putting in the clothes keeps the spots from attaching themselves to your clothes.

*Warm water melts the clumps very quickly. But cold water washing didn't leave any chunks or oily spots either.

I'm hoping to share more "fun" stuff later this weekend. My life kinda got away from me the last two weeks. Keep saving 'til then!

More Tales from the Washline

The great homemade laundry detergent experiment has begun!

After minutes of exhaustive web research, I melded two recipes to get what I thought was the best-cleaning option (with items on hand). Here's what I used and how it went:

1 Cup ordinary baking soda
1 Cup Sodium Carbonate (also called "washing soda")***
2 Gallons hot water
1 trial-size bar Dial Spring Fresh soap

I filled a 5-gallon bucket with the hot water, stirred in the baking soda and washing soda, then grated the soap directly into the bucket.

I used a hand-crank cheese grater that you normally use to grate Parmesan cheese. It worked very well and only took a minute to clean with an old toothbrush. (So far our Parmesan cheese doesn't taste "spring fresh" so I guess I got all the soap out!)

I stirred the bucket until most of the visible flakes of soap were melted. It created a larger amount of suds than I expected, but the feel of the mixture was quite reminiscent of laundry detergent. Because I used a scented bar of soap, I was concerned that it would smell strong in the finished wash, but decided to give it a chance.

THE TEST:

I had enough everyday clothing to make two medium loads. I decided that I would waste water on two smallish loads (I normally only wash full loads) for the sake of "science".

As luck would have it, I had two of Thom's work shirts in the laundry, so I put one in the "homemade" pile and one in the control pile.

I washed with the homemade detergent first. In cold water with my normal cycle. I used about 3/4 Cup for the load.

It didn't foam much (as advertised), but you could still smell the distinctive odor of the soap. Once the load was done, I noticed that the scent had diminished dramatically.

I hung the clothes on the line and then washed the "control" load. I used my normal amount of Purex Free and Clear, about 1/2 Cup. We hung that load on the line and waited anxiously for the results.

Thom made a small change to one of the shirts so he could tell them apart. He handed me both shirts for inspection.

There was no discernible scent - neither dirt nor perfume - just a clean laundry smell. Visually both shirts appeared clean. There was no mark on the sleeve of either shirt (where Thom wipes the sweat from his forehead, leaving big oily dirt stains).

Conclusion: It works! At least as well as Purex Free and Clear, for the purposes of my everyday laundry.

Changes I would make in future batches:

• Use a less perfumed soap. It's very strong in the bucket even tho the clothes didn't dry with that scent. I might consider scenting it myself with lilac, vanilla or a similar natural scent.
• I would dry out the soap in the closet before grating it to get a finer grain. It would dissolve a little easier that way. To be fair, it only took about 5 minutes of stirring to get the freshly-opened soap to dissolve.
• I will try one bucket with no baking soda. It seemed it would be more odor-controlling, but I may be wasting baking soda for nothing!

I doubt I'll add borax, because of the additional cost and because most of my clothing doesn't get that dirty. I can use more detergent if necessary, or pretreat serious stains before washing.

Speaking of cost, mine breaks down this way:

Baking Soda .17

Washing Soda FREE***

Soap FREE (it was a trial size sample I got in the mail)

Water .12

Total cost for two gallons: .29

Total cost for two gallons Purex: 2.50 +tax (buy one/get one free at CVS)

To sum up, homemade laundry soap works for me. I hope you'll consider trying it for yourself if you haven't already. If you have thoughts (or recipes) to share, you can do it at Frugal Finesse Yahoo Group

*** My washing soda was free because I work at a community which uses Sodium Carbonte in the pool filtering system. Since sodium carbonate comes to us in 40 pound bags, they graciously gave me a few cups.

If you decide to make detergent regularly, check with your local pool supply company and see if it is cheaper to buy from them, rather than buying labelled washing soda from the store.

It Ain't Easy Being ... um... Frugal

As I stood under the awning of our office drinking coffee laced with gourmet creamer ($2.99), out of my new "Army Mom" coffee mug ($5.95) and smoking a cigarette ($2.75 +future health costs), it occurred to me that I might be throwing big rocks from my glass house.

What I mean is, you only get to read what I want you to read. I can make it seem that I'm a green-living frugal fanatic. And I am.

To a point.

I'm also a pedicure fanatic. And I take showers that last too long. I buy some of my clothes new (albeit on sale - well, usually on sale). I have a shoe "problem" that borders on an addiction. I have a room full of crafting supplies that I rarely use because they are so disorganized.

In fact, I am so frequently disorganized that I have bought at least three pairs of tweezers in the last 12 months. And don't get me started on hair bands and scissors...

I share these non-tightwad truths with you for two reasons:

1. So you will see that I'm a real person trying real ways to save money and live comfortably at the same time.
2. To remind you that no one is perfect when it comes to living frugally/simply/greenly.

**Editor's note: If you are perfect please do not post a comment to that effect. You'll only make everyone - including me - feel rotten. Bad karma, don't do it!

Like so many things in life, your heart may be in the right place before the rest of you gets there. And you will get there. Slowly and surely.

Ease yourself into living simply. Make conscious decisions about the money you spend and the material goods you choose to have in your life. Cast off the things that don't make you fabulously happy. Then , if you still need to cut back, peel off the next layer.

Just remember that some of us have a lot of layers. Be gentle with yourself. And others.

This blog reminds me as I remind you - We can all do more.

I'll do better tomorrow. And if I ever make it to "perfect" frugality, you'll be the first to know...

The Heat is On!

Here in my corner of the world, the temperature is expected to reach the mid-80s for the next several days. While evenings and nights are comfortable, it's still hot at dinner time. Here are a few easy ideas to help you stay cool on hot summer days:

• Cook in quantity and use over several meals. It takes about the same amount of time/heat to cook two roasts, two chickens, two pork loins, etc. If you have a smaller family, divide a single cut of meat in half, or roast a chicken with a pork loin. Keep up with cooking times and be sure to season pieces differently to add variety.

• Plan meals that require little cooking. Opt for a quick stir-fry or light pasta sauce.

• Cook on the grill to keep the heat outside. (Consider eating out there, too. Take advantage of shade and cool breezes.)

• Use your microwave, crockpot, rice cooker and indoor grill to prepare meals without turning on the stove. They require less energy and create less heat.

• Watch the weather and choose the hottest day of the week to serve a no-cook meal. Toss up a dinner-size salad with garden greens and leftover chicken. Finish off with a popsicle to tickle your inner child!

• Practice good timing. If time permits, eat dinner an hour later. (Be sure to leave ample time between dinner and bed, tho.) Or cook dinner early in the morning before it gets hot.

• "Swap" meals. Have your cooked meal at lunch and sandwiches at dinner.

Any one of these choices will help put a chill on your desire to hit the drive-thru. Stay cool!

***Coming soon I'll offer some specific recipes using these ideas. If you'd like to share some of your own, you can do that right here at the Frugal Finesse Yahoo Group.***

Tales from the Wash Line

So I mentioned I'm hanging all my laundry on the line these days, and I'm working on a rainwater capture system to be able to wash some clothes with free water. I figured why not make my own laundry detergent while I'm at it...

Quick hop onto Google for a recipe... there are a bunch of 'em! I can hardly believe my luck at finding several recipes, for both powder and liquid laundry soap, on the Recipezaar website. This site is very helpful as there are lots of reviews. I can see who changed what ingredients, and how happy most people are with liquid vs powder.

It seems most recipes use the same base ingredients. I'm planning to use the most basic (read: least expensive) recipe and work from there.

Here's the first recipe I'm going to use (this one came from tipnut.com):


Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

2 gallons hot water
1 bar soap, grated
2 C baking soda

Heat grated soap over low heat until melted. Pour melted soap into a large (5 gallon) bucket. Stir until well blended. Add baking soda and stir until dissolved.

Use 1/2 cup to 1 cup per load of clothing.



It seems Fels Naptha soap is the most favored soap ingredient. However, I have about 8 bars of Dove soap that I got free in a coupon/cash back double-play, so I think I'll try one of those first.

Most recipes call for washing soda, which is a completely different thing from baking soda. But baking soda is cheap and on-hand, so I'm going to go for it. My costs for this recipe is under $1, so not much to lose if I'm not pleased with the results. Sure beats paying $2.50 a bottle or more.

I'm pretty picky about my detergents, so it's not going to be easy to win me over. I won't miss the perfumy stuff, because I use unscented detergents most of the time. But I do want the clothes to look and smell clean.

Washday is Saturday. I'll let ya know...

Musings from the Interstate pt II

Okay, Starbucks is in no way frugal, but it's a dirty little secret of mine that I could drink their coffee three times a day, every day, and not get tired of it.

While on the road-trip to Georgia I got to indulge in my addiction. My validation was driving 9 hours each way we needed sustenance in the form of massive doses of very expensive caffeine.

Anyway, at the Starbucks we visited in Columbus, GA there was a large basket outside the door with large bags of used coffee grounds inside. The information on the bag suggested using these grounds in your compost pile or mixing them directly into your garden soil.

Did I mention the bags are free? How cool is that?

It's a small thing, I know. But I belong to the "every little bit helps" school of frugal/simple living. I really like the idea that the company decided to rebag the grounds and offer them to customers, instead of just tossing them in the trash.

Yes, I brought home a bag of "genuine Starbucks coffee grounds" for my compost pile. I've got plenty of coffee grounds of my own in there. A few more won't hurt.

Check your local store to see if they have bags of grounds to give away. Especially if you aren't a coffee drinker.

If you happen to be an addict like me, you might want to get someone else to pick them up for you. Too easy to slip inside for a caramel macchiato...

Musings from the Interstate

My best friend, my youngest son's girlfriend, and I drove from Virginia to Georgia last weekend to attend his graduation from Army Infantry training. As we were tooling along the highway a couple of things occurred to me. This is just one:


We went through Atlanta, GA during evening rush hour. Like many cities, there is a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. This one is HOV 2+, meaning you have to have at least two people in the vehicle to ride in the lane.

On the return trip we came through Charlotte, NC... during Friday evening rush hour... on a race weekend. Can you say traffic jam??? Charlotte also has an HOV lane.

In both cities, the HOV lane was moving much faster than the other lanes. Needless to say we were all about being in the "fast" lane.

Here's the rub....

Nearly every car we passed had just one person in it.

A huge number were SUVs. Most had the windows rolled up, probably running air conditioning. All sitting in traffic twice as long, for the priviledge of riding alone.

The MARTA public transit train passed us in Atlanta. Moving fast, but not nearly full.

The day before we left, there was supposed to be a nationwide "gas out", to force down gas prices. It spawned a great deal of debate around here about the effectiveness of a one-day boycott and the principle of supply and demand.

What it boils down to is the general population "demands" a cheap "supply". And apparently our resolve will last about 24 hours. After that we're not willing to take any action to use less gas.

We do not want to carpool.

We do not want to use public transportation.

We sure as heck don't want to drive less, or drive more fuel efficient cars.

If we were to do just one of those things, fuel consumption would go down. Demand would go down. Perhaps the price per gallon would even go down. (It worked in the 70's)

Even if prices didn't go down, our personal fuel expense would drop.

Like most people, I am occasionally guilty of running to the store for one little thing. (Sadly, we also tend to buy several other things on impulse while we're there, but that's for another day). But we cannot jump in our $60,000 hybrid SUV, drive to the market for a tomato, then complain about gas prices.

Thom and I will stop by the store on our way home from work. In our '85 Honda with the windows rolled down.

I'll complain about gas prices, but I'll know I'm doing a little more to minimize my consumption of it. That's good for my pocketbook and the environment.

And my peace of mind.

Speaking of rain...

Thom brought home three 5-gallon buckets to put water in so that we could let it sit out (to de-chlorinate) before putting it into our goldfish pond.

A couple of weeks ago Thom noticed the two drainpipes off the front porch leak a LOT when it rains hard. So he stuck two of the buckets under them to catch the runoff. The third bucket went under the edge of the gazebo's tin roof.

Voila - 15 gallons of free water.

Hmmm...

I got the water bill a few days later. I don't know if it's this way everywhere, but we pay a fee for the water, then a separate fee (which is equal to the water cost) for sewer services. To my way of thinking, I pay for the water twice. Once to get it here in the first place, then again to get rid of it.

Now that there are only three humans left in the house, the bill dropped by a few bucks. A testament to a reduction in the amount of showering and laundry, I'm sure. But I expected it to go up again because we'll be watering the garden and filling the pond all summer.

Hmmm...

Off I went to the web to look into rain barrels. Those buggers are expensive. No way to offset the cost in one summer. And we're cash poor anyway.

Hmmm...

Every time it drizzled for the last couple of weeks I got irritated. I'm "wasting" water. And money. Patience isn't my strong suit.

Still thinking. Hmmm...

Turns out, Thom's Dad has a *very* large reservoir down at his Lafeyette property. A visit to the in-laws and yep, we can have it if we want it. Super! Now if we only had a truck...

(Here's where life just catches you off guard). Best friend's husband puts himself out of the running by hitting a deer with his Chevy pickup last Monday. Thankfully he was not injured. Sadly the truck was seriously damaged, and the deer was killed.

We still need at least three barrels anyway. I've got a line on some barrels but they're 30 miles away, and still I have no truck.

At this writing, I'll be back in Roanoke in two weeks. Hopefully I can convince my boss (and best friend) to stop at the cola bottling plant to inquire after the 55-gallon barrels. They are, according to my research, ideal for the job. She has a van and I think I can get 'em up here in that.

The reservoir will probably require the in-laws truck. Which will require a little more time, a little more patience, and a little more horse-trading.

I've calculated that we could capture enough rain to keep the pond up, the garden watered, and the cold-water laundry done. All without the benefit of town water, and with little or no electricity. Well worth the time and money investment in getting the system built.

In the meantime, the buckets are standing ready at the drains and roof. Hey, 15 gallons is better than nothing...

***** DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT drink captured rainwater.*****

Chemicals from untreated water could make you very sick.

After my research, I determined that I could use rainwater from my system to water my garden, do laundry, and fill the fish pond. Filtration systems are not cost-effective for me.

***DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH and determine the safety of using rainwater for yourself!!!***

The electric bill

I have budget billing which is great. Not so great was the massive increase in our bill this year that wasn't figured into the budget billing. (I'm still mad but don't get me started!)

Along about March it became clear that I was going to have $300 or so due at the end of my budget year unless I took drastic measures.

First to go was the thermostat - down that is - to 60. We wore more socks, sat with blankets over our laps and had all the cat company we could ever want. I found myself praying for hot flashes for the first time in my life!

At night it was kinda nice. All snuggly under the comforter with the bed-dog (otherwise known as Cerbie) wedged between us. Getting *out* of the bed was not so nice. But we managed, and soon spring was upon us...

And an "unseasonable" heat wave.

Having vowed not to turn on the a/c until at least June, we sweated through a few uncomfortable days and bought a small fan to pull in the cool night air.

About the time we were congratulating ourselves on our frugality, the cold came back. *sigh*

Meanwhile, I tightened a few more notches in the electric-bill belt. I celebrated Earth Day by hanging clothes on the line out back. I haven't turned on the dryer since. (My daughter did once, and now she's promised to plan ahead and not use it either).

We already had flourescent bulbs in all our lighting. I've gotten pretty good at working in low light and traipsing through the house in the semi-dark. (Big fun when you're trying to avoid 18 cats and 2 dogs!)

Thom turned the hot water heater down another couple degrees.

We work out in the yard a little longer instead of watching a re-run of "COPS" for the zillionth time. With the good spring weather, porch-sitting is once again our favorite evening pasttime. It requires no lighting and only a little "foot power" to gently rock myself on the swing.

The good news is the electric bill is down considerably.

The bad news is the indoor thermometer stuck itself at 78 degrees all night last night. Two perilously tiny degrees from my "give-in" point of 80 degrees. I just can't sleep if it's any hotter.

Pray for rain...

Back on the soapbox

It's good to be writing again after so long an absence. And as before, it's my frugal streak that caused it all. I have so much to tell I don't even know where to begin. So I think I'll just jump in the middle and splash around a bit. If you don't see what you're looking for, be patient. If you're patient and still dont' see it, let me know.