Monday Message

"As we do our very best, we can be confident that ‘the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail.’ We shall enjoy greater wisdom, security, peace of mind, and personal well-being. We shall be prepared, and because we are prepared, we ‘shall not fear.‘"  (Bishop Keith B. McMullin)

I think we too need to be thankful. Be sure to thank Heavenly Father for every blessing.

We are on this journey of hard times and you are following along with us. We have a market in our small town that I happened into this week to find boxes for mailing gifts. I was blessed to be there when they were setting out bananas. They give them free when they start to turn, other stores in the area only slightly mark them down. There were a lot so I brought home boxes and a huge bag of bananas. We will eat them till it is time to freeze them and make banana bread. They all will get used. This is a blessing and I was thankful for it. Yes, it will be some work but I have always said if Heavenly Father sends food to me, I will work hard to put it up. I might dry some as well.

I have been hurting lots more of late with the fibromyalgia so it makes everything takes so much longer and hurt so much more.

Months and months ago I bought a video on weaving for five dollars, this has helped me in learning this skill. I have been working on getting the loom warped up.

Building skills is very important to stretch our funds and to continue learning. The video was on huge sale, it costs way more but saving money on sale plus being the very thing I needed to learn is wonderful.

The fiber I am using was free, that is why I'm using those colors. One problem was the center cream section was half the thickness and I knew that would mean trouble but from the video I learned I could use two threads for one thread and now they are working perfect.

So I am learning on the skills I am trying to improve for the very little amount of five dollars. It isn’t like I could afford a class or even more videos if there ever were any more for that price but I have the cone fibers from a huge yarn haul from years ago, all different kinds. So I thought this video would help me learn how to weave with these different fibers and it does but it ended up being oh so much more…another blessing I am thankful for.

A huge blessing is to be content with what you have. We might have hard times but making do with what you have is a very good thing. Knowing how to sew and knit and crochet and cook from scratch, it all makes our money stretch a lot further. So keep working on your skills.  

I am reminded of an article I read about a woman who learned to tat. She worked hard at perfecting this skill. You are probably thinking what good could that be? Well in the end she had to support her family and it was tatting that was what saved them.  Also, the pioneers would tat, calling it poor man’s lace. They could carry it in their pockets. They used this skill to make their homes prettier, even dugouts. So don’t rule out anything. Learn the skills that will bless your family.

Being frugal is a skill. Learn this skill and see how your family will be blessed.

I was noting in the store flyer the price of four lbs of sugar was $1.69.  I was going to the  restroom at a gas station that sells food too. I walked by and noted the same amount of the same brand of sugar for $3.99. This is a huge difference in price. Oh, and the flyer was from the store right across the street. So you cross two lanes of traffic and you saved $2.30.  

So it is about knowing prices. Shop your sales and use common sense. The gas station is wanting you to notice they have sugar and you won’t need to go to the store, just get it there and save time. Okay, that saves five minutes that it would take to cross the road.  By the way, there was one bag on the shelf.  Now if you had sugar in storage you could do one better, wait till the store has it on sale for $1.19, that comes around often.

Study being frugal and apply it to your life.

I know it is the holiday season but what a good time to learn to live within your means.

https://zenhabits.net/the-cheapskate-guide-50-tips-for-frugal-living/ - lots of great ideas here, well worth looking through.  

We cut cable years ago and haven’t looked back. We use Roku, you can order and pay for channels but we only have Netflix. It covers the two TVs. The rest we watch for free because we did not want the bills from the different channels as it would defeat what we were trying to do. No cable bill is fantastic plus we get BYU channel for free and can get conference. Years ago when we did have cable it did not offer this… Another huge blessing.

We cut each other’s hair, such a savings! At a church women’s meeting long before we had kids they had a mini class on hair cutting and I learned to cut my husband’s hair. That was when he wore it longer now he just likes it very short. He has always cut my hair, in fact he just cut it this week for me.

In this pic, I was showing a recipe from this cookbook for a contest. The food in here is all frugal and is why I use it.

When is enough enough? Think about that for a while. I have just done weeks of deep cleaning so stuff isn’t the answer. I donated to our local pantry and friends.

If you have trouble getting rid of things, give to a friend telling them that if they don’t want it, pass it on or toss it. And once you do this you do not take it back.

Organize the supplies you keep.

The first section you see my knitting books gathered after many years.

Next you see free books - I like cozy mysteries.

Next is a shelf of basket making supplies, most given to me from basket makers getting out of making them.

There is a rug loom I am working on and sheets I have ready to weave.

The spinning wheel is near the roving.

I make my cards, so you see the desk where I sit and make cards.

So what you decide to keep you should organize it.

Keep working on gathering storage and the skills and organize the supplies

Keep Christmas within your means, this is the challenge!