Monday Message

"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)

Still sick here, hubby is as well. It is sooo much harder to do things when you are sick. Missy is taking care of us though.

Last night I couldn't sleep as we had high winds, so painful. I got up and hemmed two pairs of pants and made this taggie to go with the baby socks I just finished.

My plan is to build skills on my knitting machine.

Here are some of the notes I will be reviewing...

Last week you might remember my restoring the sponge bars. Next is to do some reviewing of notes I took long ago.

What skill are you wanting to develop? We would love to hear. Leave us a comment below!

Soon it will be time to start seeds for the garden. So anxious to be well enough to do those seeds soon. I am on day ten of a cold flu that is to be seven to ten days long hmmmm... I think I just don't spring back so fast any more.

I think we all see we need to be actively working on stocking the pantry and developing new skills.

Skills I think are good to work at....

Canning

Dehydrating

Vacuum sealing dry foods - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2017/08/monday-message_28.html 

Making bread items - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2015/03/monday-message_16.html 

Gardening - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2015/04/monday-message_20.html  

Sewing, knitting and crocheting - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2019/12/monday-message_9.html

These are just a few skills. There are so many, but these are a good place to start. I, too, keep working at improving my skills. Life gets busy, I know, but the more we build, the more frugally we can live.

https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2018/03/monday-message_19.html

https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2018/11/monday-message.html

There are many things packed in these blog posts.

We will soon be coming up on yard sale season, so be on the look out for items that can help you, like canners, jars, dehydrators, food sealers, bread machines, sewing machines...anything that can help you save money and help you with your skills. Look for fabric, sewing notions and supplies, yarn and knitting and crocheting supplies. Keep your eyes open for books that can help you build these skills and recipe books that will help you have recipes for cooking from scratch. Yard sales are cheapest but then frequent thrift stores. Don't rule out clothing for the family...especially school clothes and winter coats because kids grow fast. Don't forget to look for gift giving and Christmas gifts too.

Missy says do all these things and be careful of germs.

Monday Message

"Most of us cannot afford to store a year’s supply of luxury items, but find it more practical to store staples that might keep us from starving in case of emergency." (James E. Faust)

Well I have been sick all week with a cold I caught at church. Suffice it to say I will have to be wearing a mask from now on. My immune system is just not as good as it once was. I guess I have to accept that. Even before Covid it was bad but now seems very much worse. I tested negative for Covid so that is good at least. So pushing through this week doing just what I have to. I did move my knitting machines into a better spot the day before I got sick, which should have been my warning it was coming. I seem to do moving of furniture the day before I get sick, I think it must be a burst of energy I get to help with getting sick but I don't recognize it and get projects done.

Some of you may have noticed Gus's pic, he is watching over us. 

At least I got it tended. I also restored three sponge bars for the one knitting machine.

I hate being sick. I'm a very bad patient I think as I don't like to rest that much. But I pushed through my "have to do things" the rest of the week.

Soon as I feel up to it I will have to start seed for the garden.

Have you been working out your garden for this year?

https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/15-money-saving-tips-from-a-frugal-gardener/ - she has great ideas.

https://www.almanac.com/content/starting-seeds-indoors - here is a great site on why and how to start seeds indoors.

It is a huge cost saving thing to do.

http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2018/11/monday-message.html - here is a past post with scratch cooking, this is helpful to our budgets.

Today while really feeling lousy and worried tomorrow will be lousy as well, I did a big crockpot of chili and made a loaf of bread.

My Chili:

1 lb of browned and drained hamburger *but if you don't eat hamburger you can omit, lots of times I have made it without and it is great either way*

Four cans of tomato soup, I have used tomato sauce at times as well.

1 can of drained dark kidney beans (you can use any)

A good size pinch of granulated garlic (you can use any)

1 1/2 Tbsp dried onions (you can use any) I am not feeling good enough to use anything but dried today

2 to 3 Tbsp of chili powder

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of pepper

I just let it stay on low in the crockpot all day

So I have been adding the bread mix to switch it up. I always add a handful of oats, in addition to that I have added a handful of five grain cereal which is fantastic. Today I added those things plus about a fourth cup chopped pecans. Find out all the things you can do with this versatile bread recipe here - https://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2019/08/monday-message.html

By doing these things today it will provide meals for a few days and I can rest more.

https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/30-items-can-make-home-save-money/ - I just love her site.

https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/15-creative-ways-to-fight-inflation-in-the-kitchen/

https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/ - spend some time going through her site, I really love it.

What do you do when you are under the weather?

I have been watching podcasts on dying and weaving and I have been knitting baby socks as a gift, trying to get them done at the same time. I have been knitting from the yarn cake one sock from the outside yarn, the other from the inside yarn.

Missy says she thinks when you are under the weather stay in your bag but then she loves her bag think she loves me to be not far away so we are doing lots of resting.  She is well I am not but Missy says keep working at being frugal.

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)

A way of life is a great way to look at it. We learn skills and use them, always pushing to improve them. The more we can do for ourselves, the more we save, or the less we have to come up with moneywise.

Look for sales and keep stocking up.

We, at this time, can see the ground - no snow, no ice, wonderful! I know we aren't done with winter but it's a nice break.

Soon I will be starting seed. You should be thinking about what you plan to grow in your garden.

I have been researching a pattern I want to do on the inkle loom. It is something pretty different so I have been researching it and eventually I will be warping it up for this project.

This is how you go about learning something - determine what you want to learn or enhance what you already know. This is the best time to learn new things because we can study anything on the computer. There are tutorials for so many things and articles on so many things. We just need to find the time to research them.

You might be thinking, how does tatting (for example) help me to be more frugal? Well, I make gifts. No matter how hard times are for us I can still make gifts so there is something to think about.

If you want to plant but do not know how - https://www.thespruce.com/growing-seeds-indoors-common-mistakes-847800 look up in your search engine, there are many things you can research.

https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar - here is a site that you type in your zip code and they will tell you when to plant your seeds indoors and out.

Being frugal...look for used things from yard sales or thrift stores or even deep in your closets.

I decided to take around the house shots of things from those very places to give you frugal ideas.

One of you commented on these boxes, mentioning shaker boxes, and that gave me an idea as I only have one, so I put it in the stack with others. It is the dark one with the handle. It has all the stuff in it to make dish scrubbies like this one...

The rest of the boxes are cheese boxes acquired for free. I do not know if cheese still comes this way but you could ask at your grocery store.

This trunk I got from freecycle I love it, it contains my genealogy and my journals.

Over the years at yard sales I would pick up rolling pins, even the basket holding them was from a yard sale.

Here's more yard sale finds or things I got free...

So through these pictures you can see I have decorated my home with very little funds and I used collections I have. So don't be afraid to use your collections.

Even the rug loom was from Goodwill.

I traded a knitting machine I had for this drum carder. So don't rule out trading for items as well.

Even little missy was free, she was born under the front porch.

Missy says so look around for ways you can be more frugal and keep stocking your pantries.

Monday Message

"Today, I emphasize a most basic principle: home production and storage. Have you ever paused to realize what would happen to your community or nation if transportation were paralyzed or if we had a war or depression? How would you and your neighbors obtain food? How long would the corner grocery store—or supermarket—sustain the needs of the community?" (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Well, this week we got another storm. For us it was an ice storm. I feel we were the lucky ones - no loss of power and no shoveling.

I did, however, need to wear my ice cleats which are very helpful as our driveway could be an ice skating rink really.

I walked out to get the mail and the mailman came at the same time. He saw me and pulled into the drive some to save me going further, wasn't that nice? I love small town living.

Again, it was so nice not having to go to the store for food on those roads. It still hasn't melted because we are so cold. This weekend is to be warmer and it will melt. Of course, by the time you read this it will all be gone.

I have finished the scarf I knit out of my own hand-spun yarn.

It was really fun to knit with my hand-spun.

I have started on the next spin.

This week's hardest job took two days of painful working. I went through and embossed each folder I have to its full size so I can figure out what I want easier and how big it will be. I do have a lot of folders gathered over many years. I put them in page protectors, this way I could see the back of them as lots have a cute different look on the back.

It was a ton of work so now this book is filled with every embossing image I have. You might notice the numbers are not in order. Each number matches that number of the folder and those are in drawers like a recipe file would be. But I chose to put like things together, like all the dot images, all the birthday images, etc. 

So if I was making a birthday card for someone, I would go to that section and pick which image I wanted then check that number on the image and go to the file, find the number (which are in order) and pull it, make the image, and return the folder to the file. This was a back breaking job. Took two days and lots of pain but now it will make it easier on me locating and using them. The file stayed the same but the pictures give the right size and better idea than before.

Then that left this binder for die cut and punches....

So that job is done, I am so glad.

I also took notes because all folders are not equal, not at all.... Some I needed to remove the bottom plate of the embossing machine, some used another plate and shims and cranking them through the machine.

Missy wanted to supervise. She played on the ironing board and watched closely.

I made chili and cinnamon rolls for the cold days of the storm. Tomorrow I will be making up more jars of bread mix as I am down to one.

I am grateful to have all the skills I have learned and to have the storage to assist me in the days we find ourselves in.

http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2018/01/monday-message_29.html - here is a past blog that holds a lot of info.

http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2017/10/monday-message.html - and also this one.

Missy leaves you with her words of wisdom... First, don't ever let your mommy dress you. Second, store one can of beans, three packages of cat treats, one bag of pasta, three packages of cat treats. And thirdly build those skills. We never know when we will need them. But seriously, don't forget to store three packages of cat treats, Missy says :p