Monday Message

"You do not need to go into debt, may I add, to obtain a year’s supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each pay-check." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Definitely don't go into debt.

I have mentioned many times when you get your groceries, pick up something extra like a jar of peanut butter or a bag of flour or even a box of Jell-o. Over time this will add up and before you know it...you won't HAVE to go to the grocery. When you are tired you will be able to open the cupboard to fix supper and go the next day.

Remember to use, replace, and add. Use means rotate, using the oldest first. For example, if you use a can of green beans, write on your list a can of green beans and then add a pick up item to add to your storage like a bag of rice or beans, whatever you pick.

There will come into your life times when you will not be able to add to your storage and you will need to use it to get through a rough time...that is after all why we do this. And when things improve, start again to build.

So make a list of what you eat. What ingredients go into making them?

http://igetready.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/EVERYTHING-UNDER-THE-SUN.pdf - I have this printed out and in my food storage binder.

If you are just starting this is the place to do it. She has great ideas and measures it all down to a teaspoon of salt, it is amazing. She has great recipes as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOLuIApyNPc - here she is giving a seminar on food storage.

I would encourage you to watch all her YouTube videos. It would be the best on food storage you will find.

Here are two pie making tools I got long before the pandemic happened at my thrift store. The red tool I almost went on by, as I have a pizza cutter that looks similar but I picked it up and noticed it was different and since it was very cheap I picked it up. I quite like how it does the edge of the pie while cutting off the excess crust.

The other you can see in the picture, you roll on the dough then slightly pull on the dough as I show here.

Think about what gadgets you have, pull them out and play with them. Also, can you use them for other things?

We were able to get our vaccine shot. It was painless. I was still waiting for the shot when she was putting on the bandaid - amazing! I always feel the flu shot and of course the needle looked so long on TV but it really was great.

Even though getting vaccinated we must still take safety measures.

We have been getting winter storm after winter storm. I am thinking that groundhog is getting no blanket this year!

We must all continue to be safe and do what we are told are safe practices is what Gus and Missy have to say... P.S. they are glad they aren't that groundhog.

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)

I always think of the story of the fat cows and the lean cows in the scriptures and how many years they had a famine but Joseph warned and helped to store up ahead… I sure hope we will not have a famine for seven years in our time but how many of us thought Covid-19 would not last this long? I know I sure didn't. It looks to be going on quite a while yet.

I would point out that we all must try to be as frugal as we can be during these times.

Don't waste anything. Learn to be frugal, use your searching skills to find more ways to be frugal and how to stretch what income you have. Turn to the first depression to see how they managed. What skills did they have to have? What skills do we need to have to get through our times?

They are saying don't spend a lot of time in a grocery store now. I saw something on the news that showed a lot of people NOT wearing masks…if we all don't do better than that it will prolong this and the virus will continue to grow and mutate.

I made four more masks for us last night.

Winter will soon give way to spring and people will want to be getting out again. We just have to do the right things to be safe and to keep others safe.

I am ready for winter to end. This picture is of the big storm we got, the snowfall was over a foot! I am not a fan of that much snow.

From this booklet I made from one batch of bread, rolls, and these hotdog buns. (Get the recipes HERE).

I continue to try and build skills right along with you.

I am trying to better my skill of tatting, to do this I have some shuttles wound and in this basket to learn different patterns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiVwzga-nyY - this will show someone tatting. My mother-in-law first taught me to tat but not till I saw it on the internet did i fully understand how to tat. So I wanted to show this to let you know you can learn how to do things, just look for free classes they are out there.

https://www.prudentpennypincher.com/super-cheap-recipes/ - this has lots of recipes from different sites.

https://www.themoneyprinciple.co.uk/52-practical-frugal-living-tips/ - there are helpful tips here.

Gus and Missy say please stay safe!

Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Right now we all need to pull together to help each other more than ever.

It looks like we will be at war with this virus for a while yet. So we need to do our part to keep ourselves and others safe. I know it is so very hard but we can do hard things, right?

We need to keep praying for all that are suffering with it or affected in any way by it. And for the healthcare workers. And do this for all around the world.

https://yoursiteneedsme.com/37-diy-coronavirus-tutorials-cloth-face-masks-face-shields-face-coverings-covid-19/ - This is a fantastic site that has masks and face shields you can make.

We need - let me say that again - WE NEED to find fun at home...a lot of us have been staying in our homes now for a year.

Add to that we are in winter where I live. So I feel we need to find fun! As we know that we have extra work to do so we will need to make time for fun things to enjoy. I think I could and have moved from room to room and something needs doing, we could do that all day every day noticing this needs doing or that and you are tired by the end of the day, too tired to have some fun. This has a wearing effect. We need to find fun things to recharge our personal batteries.

I watch a podcast… Craft House Magic - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY2WS1_3gA33Z_PJZX3qKCA This gal is in the UK, she makes these beautiful project bags. Alas, purchasing one and having it shipped to me in the US is not in my budget at all but when watching her before Christmas she was showing herself making a bag, I then heard her say if you want to make your own you could purchase the pattern, so that was affordable and I did.

This was fun for me to make. I did a pretty decent job, I wouldn't want to do it for a living but she does...she also does a lot of things I do, so I find her very inspirational.

Sometimes reading is what relaxes us - www.freeread.com I have mentioned this site before but free fits my budget very well. There’s children's books, cookbooks, I like mysteries, knitting, canning, dehydrating, sewing books - these are just a few that I get but there are so many. They put up pages and pages and pages with different ones each day. I know I sound like a commercial for them but with everyone's budgets so threadbare right now free is good. They are ebooks to read on your devices, I have even noticed books that can help you with homeschooling.

In the last Monday Message I gave you a site with a video to do a no-knead bread and I thought you would like to see what I made from the video. Yum! I made one loaf of bread and two hard rolls. This was yummy so go back to last week's Monday Message and watch that and give it a try.

The main thing is to work on something fun everyday to recharge.

Work on exercise as well. Gus decided he is not a fan of the treadmill, he wasn't hurt but having the ground move beneath his feet was not for him.

If you like to knit Missy says she can take over your knitting bag as well...

Gus and Missy both say now is the perfect time for taking up synchronized napping!

Monday Message

"Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to ‘prepare every needful thing’ (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors, and support bishops as they care for others." (All is Safely Gathered In pamphlet)

We have been told this will get worse before it gets better. What can we do till then? Wear masks, wash our hands, and keep social distancing.

I think wearing masks will be with us for quite a while...

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-make-cloth-face-covering.html - this is the easiest pattern to make but there are others, just search, but this is a good start.

Missy says we need to tighten our belts!

The stimulus will help but we will still need to tighten our belts and some don't have any belts left so we will need to tighten up our budgets. This means now isn't the time for those extras. I know some will say, what extras? It has been none of those for a long time now. I mention this to help you to stretch what you have.

Those who need to use food pantries, use them and get things that will stretch further foods like the basics, canned fruits & veggies, beans, rice, peanut butter and jelly, etc.

You get the idea. There are some restrictions and not a lot of choices so make what you do get stretch the furthest and if you get food stamps make those items go the furthest as well. Like you may want soda but think what could I get for that money? More meals. Use some to get basic items flour, yeast, shortening, salt, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar and baking powder… This way when the bread runs out at your house you could make more and you could make cookies instead of buying ready made ones freeing up more funds for other needed items...oatmeal instead of cold cereal or rice with sugar and cinnamon, pancake mix complete - if you run out of eggs and milk you only need to add water. Make sure you have eggs for protein… I think you get the idea, it is all about the basics. Storing those will make it so you can stretch the rest.

This will help with other bills.

Collect recipes that don't take a lot of ingredients. Groceries are going up in price.

Did you know you can use pasta sauce for pizza sauce as well as lasagna and for spaghetti, so purchase pasta sauce and drop pizza sauce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbr6uYIjL4M - this will help you make a great no-knead bread that you could have with soup. She even uses it for pizza crust. Sometimes it is better to watch how then to just read how, she is great.

Get some great and easy homemade bread machine recipes in my friend Liza's cookbook, check it out in this post - http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2019/08/monday-message.html

We had a blizzard here this week so I thought we needed a nice green picture to remind us spring will come.

I also wanted to remind you that we should be thinking and planning our gardens.

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/extension_curall/119/ - I wanted to include this once again. I  keep a jar of this on the counter at all times, it is the best ever. It takes as long to make as it does to cook a can of soup. Yes, I did time it. It’s much cheaper and you know what is in it.

https://chickensintheroad.com/?s=Hamburger+helper - this is less expensive and yummy.

These are my two favorite sites. I have both recipes printed and have them in a binder.

Gus says to keep working hard at being safe!

Monday Message

"More than ever before, we need to learn and apply the principles of economic self-reliance. We do not know when the crisis involving sickness or unemployment may affect our own circumstances. We do know that the Lord has decreed global calamities for the future and has warned and forewarned us to be prepared."(President Ezra Taft Benson)

I thought 2020 covered this with all that and more.

This new year will continue on with the pandemic for at least the first six months so we need to continue doing the safe things we learned. When we were told to wear masks, it was to keep you and others safe. We need to continue to listen to the CDC and others who know the best what we need to do. It is not stomping on your rights, it is to keep you alive so you can have rights.

Are we tired of snow and cold yet??

Did you keep a journal of this past year? If not, it isn't too late to start now to journal about what has happened, how you managed, etc. This will help those who come after. We need to let them know what worked and what didn't.

What it was like sheltering at home.

What things did you have happen besides the pandemic? And how did you deal with it? For us it was the Derecho.

It has been a trying year, that much is certain.

We made cloth masks for our families.

The call came for sewists in Iowa to make masks because they were having trouble getting PPE...And we all worked hard doing that.

We learned about grocery pick-ups. We learned to have virtual church meetings.

We all learned computer skills we never knew existed.

We learned everyone goes for toilet paper in an emergency setting.

We learned about cooking from scratch.

We learned to spray parcels and wipe down groceries.

We learned how to zoom and to be together but apart.

We learned that when life is the hardest we could still do it.

We learned even when we have to skip our traditions for holidays it did not kill us and we even tried some new things.

We learned it is very easy to be a hero...by wearing masks.

But most of all we learned!

So while you will never forget, some generations from now they will want to know about it. And if it ever happens again they will learn from us.

But let us prepare for what is yet to happen, something we do not know is coming, so put ourselves in the position to be ready by having some toilet paper ahead by having food storage and other things we need ahead. We will never feel over secure again, we have lost that feeling that it can't happen to us because it has and could again happen to us. We learned there are good people, we learned that if we can do nothing at least we can pray.

If you ever watched Disney's RocketMan...we want to be like Randall and not Gary in the isolation chambers that are our homes. So if you haven't watched that movie now is the time as we are still in our homes trying to not add to the burden of our medical system.

It will take a long time to get back jobs and get back on our feet but we are stronger for it.

We need to look for a silver lining no matter how hard it is to find.

Sometimes the last mile is the longest. Missy says just hang on tight, we aren't done yet.

Monday Message

"Included in the year’s supply of basic foods should be life-sustaining foods that store well for a long time: grains (wheat, rice, corn, or other of the cereal grains); dried milk, dried fish or protein vegetables such as beans and peas and other fresh, canned, dried, or pickled fruit or vegetables; sugar or a sugar substitute such as honey; some form of fats; salt; and water. Fresh taro or sweet potato, and live pigs, chickens, or fish might be considered as a supply in some areas of the world where it is difficult to store food. Remember that regular use of whole grains is important in building a digestive tolerance for roughage." (Barbara B. Smith)

I find I don't tolerate red wheat unless I mix it with white flour. My favorite is white wheat so knowing that steered me to what I needed to store.

Now where I live being in town it would not work to have livestock but I can meat and you can buy canned meat as well.

As you store food remember if your family dislikes certain foods steer clear of them. Store what you like or you might have lima beans that no one will eat. Store only what you eat.

Learning to cook from scratch is a skill that saves us money but it also helps us in what to store as well. So if you make oatmeal bread from scratch, you would need to store flour, oatmeal, salt, sugar, shortening and yeast but with these items in storage you can make many items including oatmeal, so scratch ingredients are frugal and go farther as well.

So storing food is frugal, cooking from scratch is frugal and is a very important skill we should have. Work on having several meals that are a quick fix for days you’re worn out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jjmk5TgtFU - this is very helpful, I like this gal.

We all need to stick to our budget. If possible, live below your means. Like if you make X amount of money, live on less and bank the rest.

There are several podcasts I watch where they are picking a word for the year. If I would pick one I think kindness would be what I would pick.

A bunch of people set goals for the new year but half will fail to keep the goal so I wanted to share what a friend once said - goals are the stars to steer by, not sticks to beat ourselves with.

We need to continue to stay safe.

We wear our masks whenever we go out. We only hang with those in our bubble (like these gals who are always so cheerful).

We never ever tire of antics by these two...

I think we all should be learning skills. With a sad winter upon us, let’s learn things that bring us joy as well.

Monday Message

"Start now to create a plan if you don’t already have one, or update your present plan. Watch for best buys that will fit into your year’s supply. We are not in a situation that requires panic buying, but we do need to be careful in purchasing and rotating the storage that we’re putting away. The instability in the world today makes it imperative that we take heed of the counsel and prepare for the future." (L. Tom Perry)

As we enter 2021 we can continue with preparing. We saw what 2020 brought us and now we know what can happen and we should prepare for what we do not know that may be coming.

I can tell you that as I am writing this a big winter storm is coming, it is nice I won't have to go out in it. Makes me think I want to hibernate for the rest of winter.

What are you planning to learn this year?

Here is a picture list of what I want to do and learn more in this new year...

Gus and Missy both say it's more important than ever to do the things that will keep us safe like wearing a mask and staying home!