Monday Message

"A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity. Work, industry, frugality are part of the royal order of life." (Bishop Keith B. McMullin)

Work, industry, and frugality - interesting road map, don't you think? If we study on these things and apply them to our lives it would help so much.

I watched a podcast from Wisconsin where they showed the corn plants were about eight inches tall due to all the wet weather they had. Our state has shorter corn than normal as well for the same reason. He told that a round bale of hay is currently fifty dollars but is going to go up over two hundred dollars. That will mean increased food prices so having in a storage would be helpful.

So would having your skills up.  

It used to be everyone knew how to can and cook from scratch and sew etc. but we have drifted away from that knowledge with the stores having everything we need right now.

It is easy to just go in and get what you want but what if you could not get what you wanted? How hard would it be to make it or do without it?

It is scary to think how many generations it takes to lose a skill.

It never hurts to know how to do things. But it doesn't have to be a big thing that happens. It could be as simple as a plant shut down for a month or a car repair, life throws us unexpected things we sometimes have the means to tend them but what if we don't...?

If we have a smaller income then we might already be learning ways to make things stretch. We can work together or play the blame game. Since we do not know when these hard times come we need to be prepared.

https://www.littlehouseliving.com/frugal-living-tips/frugally-fit  This has fantastic tips

https://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/make-diy-tea-towels.html This shows how to make dish towels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJjB-bdzuI When my daughter was home this week with her husband she had on her favorite t-shirt. I said we could make a pattern from it so we did something like this....look for them in the future.

Once we find something that we like we can make them using different fabrics.

That is what I do with this pattern I made another out of fabric with sailboats.

When I make socks....

I use a size one circular needle that is very long. At one point for heels and toes, I use magic loop. I have looked in my area for a long circular needle in size one. Nope, no luck. And if I did it would be costly. I know I could order one but again costly, well for my budget which is a fixed income, but when my daughter was here we stopped into a thrift store and there was the very one I needed for 39 cents! I tell you this to say keep your eyes out for things you need and use. You might have gone in to the thrift store for a pan but if you don't look around you could miss what you need as well.

I know in this day and age you can get anything online but what if your income was so low you could not? Now I know that not many knit socks but if you do it is good to have supplies. I also found two skeins of sock yarn for 99 cents at the thrift store and I grabbed it. We were in a store that has some sock yarn...the price was 7.99 for a fifty gram ball (the same size I got at thrift store but for 99 cents).  I could not get it anywhere at that price not even at Hobby Lobby with the forty percent off coupon...so keep looking is what I am saying.

I think of my tight budget and I keep an eye out. This helps to stretch the budget. I don't always have funds to purchase supplies so one day I found the yarn then down the road I found the needle, I am collecting the budget friendly supplies as I go.

I'm also working on building my spinning skill to make my own sock yarn.

Think out side the box when you can...

This cow is cute as can be! He was for holding a tea light at the thrift store when I found him but now he is a yarn bowl for me to use for yarn or thread when I need him to do so. So think to yourself how can I use something different than it was intended for? I bet you have things around your house that can serve different purposes saving them from the landfill.

You never know, you could end up starting a new trend.

The point is sometimes you will be okay, no problem. Other times you might be tight or your income may turn into no income. Are you ready for bumpy times?

Do the best you can and remember help other and be kind and look for frugal ways.