Monday Message

Making marmalade!

“We all need to build a personal ark . . . And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets in this dispensation . . . as well as the prophets of old.

“Unfortunately we don’t always heed the clear warnings of our prophets. We coast complacently along until calamity strikes, and then we panic.

“When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark. However, we do need to listen to the Lord’s spokesmen. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future.” (W. Don Ladd, October 1994 General Conference)

It is a great thing to be prepared. At the time I am writing we are to get a snow storm tomorrow earlier in the week. I was thinking we should get done all we need to do before then. So with that in my mind we got all things tended and just as we finished them the car had issues and is going in today to be fixed. We have only that car but no stress as we can hunker down. No place do we need to be, nothing needs to be done as it was all done in my preparations for the storm. If I had put it all off we would be in difficulty now.  I know this is a tiny example of being prepared but if you work at being prepared, little or big, you will be better off.

I think we all are seeing no one is in a stable job. It makes me sad that so many were not getting paid with government shutdown.  You never know what the emergency will be, there is no way to know but being as prepared as you can be will help tremendously  to weather the emergency.

The frugal things I have done this week...

We had a loaf of bread that we could not eat fast enough and leftover ham that needed to be used so I made up ham and cheese sandwiches, wrapped them in plastic wrap and then tinfoil and froze them. Either they can be taken as is or I can butter and toast them like grilled cheese.

The other thing is we were gifted two bags of oranges, we could not eat them fast enough to use them before they would go bad so I made marmalade...

The recipe I used is the one inside the Sure Jell box but it is the best I have ever had.

The last was I wanted to make pillows for the living room. We noted how high the price was on toss pillows at Walmart - $12.95 for little ugly ones. So we thought I could do better. It has been eye opening though. I got filling for pillows at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 a bag. At Walmart the same bag was $8.98. We automatically think things are cheaper at Walmart but we need to shop wisely.

I ran into this roll of fabric at Salvation Army for $5.99 as you can see the tag in the picture.

After we bought it we were in Hobby Lobby and in the mark down remnant bin there was similar fabric, not even a yard of it was $11.40 so huge savings not to mention I have lots left for other projects.

I had a birthday, another year older...

My sister gave me a sock machine, something I always wanted but never thought I would ever have one.

So I have been learning how to use it, another skill building project for me.

How are you coming on building your skills? Continue to work on your storage and your skill building and living frugally.

Monday Message

“I have paid attention to the counsel that has been given me. For years past it has been sounded in my ears, year after year, to lay up grain, so that we might have an abundance in the day of want. Perhaps the Lord would bring a partial famine on us; perhaps a famine would come upon our neighbors.” (President Brigham Young)

Hopefully you did not go into debt for the holidays.

Now you can turn your attention to building your skills. I was listening to the news and they were talking about adulting school where adults go to learn how to be adults. They said with so many adult children still living with their parents that when they finally do go out on their own they don’t know the basics. Cooking, sewing on a button, etc.

Winter days are gloomy. Learning new skills could be a good change to fight cabin fever.

http://basichomemakingskills.blogspot.com/ - she has some great info

https://acultivatednest.com/homemaking-skills-to-learn-to-make-your-life-easier/ - some great ideas too

Add to these things stopping in at thrift stores. I was able to get a really nice lamp for our living room. The lamp was seven dollars and the shade was three dollars.

And this bread book was less than a dollar. It has great step by step directions. Yes, you can get info off the internet, and I am all about that, but I am all about books too. Whichever way you choose to learn let your goal constantly be learning.

I have been in my spring cleaning mode in the early winter...

I was able to get this shelf on a great sale. It was $59 down from $75. It is very heavy and taller than I am. It was ten more dollars than the flimsy ones. It has made it so much easier to spread out on my counters.

Here are a few other pictures from around the house per request and a little bit of the winter cleaning I’m working on.

https://homesteading.com/homesteading-skills-every-homesteader-should-know/ - while we are not homesteaders per say these have useful things to learn. Scroll down through the advertising to see what they have to show that’s worth a look

Keep working on your storage. Keep working on your skills. Keep helping others and living frugally.

Monday Message

Reorganizing the stamp room. Scroll down for more pics!

“I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family. None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment may affect any of us. We have a great welfare program with facilities for such things as grain storage in various areas. It is important that we do this. But the best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley)

I have seen many who have suffered a reverse to their income and it is so sad. No one expects this to happen to them. We need to be prepared for such a reverse. Store some food and know how to fix it.

Also, having an "I can do" attitude not a feeling sorry for yourself attitude helps.

Whenever we had a bad turn of events because we had storage it helped us over those times. Plus, the kids did not know as we ate the same things and I always stored the ingredients to make our favorite chocolate cake. It helped the kids to feel things were okay and it helped us as the parents to feel things would be okay.

My Chocolate Cake

1 ½ c. boiling water
¾ c. butter
2 c. sugar

Stir together till butter is melted and sugar is dissolved

Add:

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. cocoa powder

Mix well and add…

2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend well, batter will be thin.

Put in a sprayed 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees till done, check after twenty minutes.

Do you have a favorite comfort food? Do you have the ingredients on hand?

Lately I have been doing organizing in the sewing/stamping room.

I am getting the Toyota all set up to make sock tubes. I will have to see how I do on that. I am learning to advance a skill.

I have this cowl all caked off and ready to start.

https://www.littlehouseliving.com/frugal-living-tips/frugally-fit - this has great information on becoming more frugal. She has great ideas.

Keep working on your frugal plans and building your storage and building your skills.

Monday Message

Our all time favorite rolls - thank you, Sister Miller! Scroll down for a link to the recipe.

“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)

I think we are seeing daily how much this is needful. We are living in a time where so many need our help, so many are hurting. Even a warm smile will help another.

Now is when we as a people start setting some goals and readjusting budgets, resolving to live more frugally and make lists of what skills we want to learn or strengthen.

Sometimes we wish we had more income without realizing we can have more by being more frugal. I know the big bad b word - budget - comes into play, if we continue to pretend it doesn’t exist we will be stuck or worse. I know it is hard to make the adjustment but it isn’t really so bad just don’t shop without knowing your balance or what yet needs to be paid.   

One thing that drives me nuts is when people just check their balance and say I am good, I have twenty dollars in the account but without consulting the true balance, the one where a bill is about to come out of the account for $19 they eagerly run out to spend it causing bigger troubles ahead. Then there are those who don’t even bother checking the balance, if the card goes through they have it, right? I call this one sticking our head in the sand. If we don’t see it coming it can’t hurt us, right? Wrong…remember one of your ends is still exposed.

It takes talking together, asking what do we need to pay and so forth.

Discipline is what we need to work on. Reminds me of one time in Aldi’s a lady saw my detailed grocery list and asked did I shop for a business? I said no, why did she think so? She pointed to my well drafted list which I had each store and what I wanted at each, sale items, then what I wanted - like flour was under the store I knew would be cheapest, etc. I explained that was how I worked out my grocery list. She said she just gets stuff then gets hollered at later. I thought how awful. Head in sand for sure. I always hope she gave it some thought what I said about how I did my list.

When we had more income I would gather all the sales flyers and start with those. If hamburger was on sale I made my menus around that. If something was on sale that would help my storage, I would plan something really frugal so I could do that. Pretty much that was how I did it.  Now with much less to spend but having storage I am first replacing it as I use it when I can and on sales. I still start with flyers, I look at those every week. Where I shop, the stores are really not far apart so I am not loyal to any of them. They have a sale, they have my attention for that item.  It would not be good on my budget to decide to get everything at that store just because of the sale of that item.  I will go to whatever stores have really good sale items, even if for just that item then go to another for a different item. This is because we don’t have much to spend. Does it mean more time? Yes. Does it mean more pain? Yes, that too I must budget.  Do I get every item on sale? Nope, only what we need and what we use. Staying in budget. I also don’t make a special trip, I wait for other errands and tie them all together. 
Am I saying you HAVE to do it my way? Nope. Do what works for you and your budget. I am sure you have more funds than I do, I have to make every dime count. Sometimes I go a whole month without shopping because I have storage that makes this possible.

http://tipnut.com/shaping-rolls/ knowing different ways to shape rolls = skill building. P.S. I love the one around the clothespin.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=different+ways+to+shape+rolls&view=detail&mid=83171507792D083110E583171507792D083110E5&FORM=VIRE - two comments here, you do not need a scale just if it says twelve just try to make twelve. Close counts and they can be different. It is okay, in fact, make them all different... a variety bread basket.

Secondly, on that last shape take your rope, dip in melted butter and then in cinnamon and sugar, you mixed together then do the knot…you will thank me later!

https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wednesday-baking-basic-rolls/ - this shows some roll shaping

https://www.thekitchn.com/a-visual-guide-how-to-shape-di-132961 - this one I wanted to have you see how she forms the roll. I call it bird in a cage, gives you excellent shape. I like to put my rolls closer together though so each roll helps its neighbor to rise higher. She put them farther apart, you get a more flatter roll.

And while I spent time showing you these - DO NOT leave out the ever wonderful cinnamon roll.

Sure, you can buy rolls. You can even buy brown and serve but they don’t smell or taste like homemade.

http://www.breadworld.com/Recipe/Brown-and-Serve-Rolls/ - did you know you could make your own brown and serve? Yep, you can! So when you make your rolls do half for supper and half you do brown and serve for a busier day.

https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/make-your-own-brown-and-serve-rolls-recipe.htm - here is another to try.

http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2014/01/sister-millers-rolls.html - my all time favorite! Sister Miller shared this with us and we thank her, not only are they the best ever they make up into kits kept in your refrigerator.

http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2016/04/monday-message_11.html - and don’t forget the orange rolls.

Making rolls are frugal and best made at home. 

Keep working on your skills, your storage, and ways to be frugal.