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)

This is needed more than ever.

Prices are still up and don't look to be coming down anytime soon.

We need to stretch things even further, so that might be one skill to develop sooner rather than later.

https://www.checkcity.com/personal-finance/frugal-living-tips - here are some ideas.

https://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/money/frugal-living - okay, interesting tip on dishwasher being cheaper than hand washing dishes.

I know we all have tightened our belts a lot but we might just have to tighten it more.

https://themillennialmoneywoman.com/frugal-living-tips/ - more tips that are helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Xpv0mXgV8 - I think we mostly do these things but this was a good video.

The hard part for families now is back to school...

https://www.thesimplifydaily.com/budget/money-management/saving/back-to-school-9-different-ways-to-do-it-frugally-and-happily-44487590 - I like that they said secondhand was not second class. I have a niece that was very popular in school. She put her clothes together from Goodwill. She always looked adorable, still does. Goes to show you clothes that cost a lot more not the way to go in these times. We are not stunting our children's growth because we bought used things. Our children always had used things. I would yard sale all year for what they would need and both our kids love thrifting even now as grown ups.

With produce coming in from gardens, we need to preserve the extra to use to stretch what we have.

https://www.thepurposefulpantry.com/dehydrate-cherry-tomatoes/ - this is a great link, she has lots of useful information on dehydrating.

Before the pandemic my sister gave me some of these little tomatoes I saved seed and every year I plant them and they grow. How I do that is I squish the guts out onto a napkin, label it and let them dry out on the counter then put them in a baggie for the next season. When it's time for planting, I tear off a piece of napkin with seed on it and plant it - napkin and all, it is like seed tape.

I have this ready to go. It will be a hat for winter and as soon as gardening is over with, that is what I will do. If winter is as cold as summer has been hot, we will need warm things to wear outside.

I organized my tatting in this container I had. I put stuff in that will be projects. This is easy to take upstairs or downstairs, makes it handy for me.

I have been organizing my waffle iron collection. Some are to the left of the tall shelf and not in the picture.

They each do different things. At the bottom of tall shelf, that is a panini press but is a cousin of the others. Most of them came from thrift shops, even the panini press, gathered over the years.

I feel like thrift stores and yard sales have been such a blessing in my life and I agree with that secondhand comment. There is nothing wrong with getting used things. I always thought every time I got clothes for back to school that once the kids wear the knew ones they are used, so we utilized this option for many years and still do. Another tool in living frugally.

Missy says be content with what you have and be sure you have a brown grocery bag (her favorite thing).

Tippy Longstockings says prices continue to be shockingly high and we all need to stretch things at this time.

Monday Message

"Our bishops storehouses are not intended to stock enough commodities to care for all the members of the Church. Storehouses are only established to care for the poor and the needy. For this reason, members of the Church have been instructed to personally store a year’s supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. By following this counsel, most members will be prepared and able to care for themselves and their family members, and be able to share with others as may be needed." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

Things just keep happening weather-wise with destruction and loss of life which is so sad. We need to be in a position to be able to help whenever we can, even if a prayer is all we have.

I urge you to keep working on your storage and skill building.

We finally got a little rain this week but still very drought-like. The garden acts like late fall. I have chopped and froze green peppers...

I saved the seed from the green peppers. I will use them next year. I also have green beans.

I made another batch of salsa.

I have been dehydrating the rest of my tomatoes. Some will be made into powder, others will be used broken up in soups and bread.

So it all is keeping me busy.

How are you nice people doing with your gardens?

With the hottest part of the season yet ahead of us, Mary Ann sent this recipe - https://www.justataste.com/peanut-butter-frozen-yogurt-pops-recipe/ yum!

I love this gal - https://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/how-to-build-an-old-fashioned-frugal-pantry/

Keep working on your skill building.

I finished dress number three.

This fabric was from freecycle. I almost did not make this as there wasn't enough fabric, but I had to get very creative and it all worked out. I love it. I want to try this pattern with cotton fabric to see how it turns out.

I make short sleeves as in winter I wear cardigans so I get year-round wear.

Missy says try to learn a skill that would be helpful to your family and perhaps include the family so all of you learn together for a family night.

Tippy Longstockings says put a few extra cans of food in you cart while shopping because winter is coming.

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 have been thinking a lot about frugality this week. You remember I talked about our health insurance cost was going up? Well it has, so I have been thinking of ways to be more frugal to weather that cost.  One way was I went through my recipes and pulled my most frugal recipes, then made my list so that is a good place to start.

Also while looking for frugal recipes, here is one I found to try this week - https://cosmopolitancornbread.com/creamy-chicken-noodle-casserole/

So be looking through your recipes. When the kids were little I only tried one new recipe a week and had to be sure we had other meals we liked on hand in case we did not like it.

I thought I would show you how those strawberry seeds are doing. I was so glad to see it worked. I hope I can keep them alive now. If they grow they will join the few I had that made it in the strawberry bed.

I made salsa from the tomatoes, so far this is my plan for the tomatoes. We are eating them fresh as well.

I put the skins that I remove from the tomatoes in the dehydrator to make tomato powder.

This can be added to any soups or things you make that you would like a little more in.

This means very little waste, kind of like free food if you will.

I am getting ready to do this again. I have some tomatoes I am ripening. To speed the ripening so you have enough at once, I cover them with a dark towel. This helps them ripen faster. If I don't need them for something pending, I just let them do their thing. I find I need to pick the tomatoes when they are just starting to turn. If I don't, the insects will get them as we are so very dry here. Our grass is brown and crunchy. As I walked to the mailbox today, I glanced up and noticed all the yards are brown. I think this is why my garden feels near the end of gardening season.

It is sad to see. It has been a hot and dry year.

I have talked about vacuum sealing before. I use a canister that goes with the vacuum sealer. This makes it so I can use any jar that has a lid with a bit of rubber on the inside of lid. All jars nowadays have this in the lid.

This jar was from salsa. I put the chocolate chips inside, put on the lid, then put it in the canister. The hose that comes out of the vacuum sealer has another end that can go directly into the canister, it can also go into the attachment that fits on canning jars. I just leave my attachment for jars on the end then I take that attachment and set it over the top of canister and lock my machine and press the canister button. You can see in the picture with the canister how I have it set up. When not in use, I store this equipment inside the canister to use the next time I need it.

The vacuum sealer is loud and this is the first time that Tippy Longstockings has heard it.

She was looking at the noise it was making and wondering what that was...too cute :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ67c3Zivq0 - this gal shows how to make undies and offers a free pattern.

Between canning and putting up food, I have been putting my basement back in order. When we had to have our furnace replaced, I had to move food storage, then again when we did the water heater, well last week I put it all back in order. I did a little each day but it was a lot of work.

I am now done with that, it was a huge task.

I also am working on another dress that I can now finish.

Missy says be working on building skills. She said if she only had thumbs she would weave.

Tippy Longstockings says she thinks maybe you don't need thumbs to weave, so if you want to learn a skill jump right in and perhaps you too can make a cat coaster.

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)

When we had our furnace done I had to clear a space for them to cut long pieces of metal so I had to basically unload that area. It was a lot of work, then we had to replace the water heater. So now that hot, and I mean hot, weather is here it was time to put things back in place. Working in the basement is cool temperature wise. I have been doing a little each day. Amazing what you can do when you do a little at a time. The same is true with our storage. There is no way to do it all at once. A little at a time builds it up over time. It also is not so painful to our finances to do just a few extra things when we are in the store.

At the same time I am having to pick in the garden.

My plan is to can salsa to start with. I try to think of prices to purchase and what is more costly and that is the item I can first. Like in this case, tomatoes are now and salsa costs more than a can of tomatoes.  In some recipes I can use salsa interchangeably.

I hope you are finding places to keep cool. A heatwave is a good time to rearrange things in the basement. Remember to rotate your food, I think that is sometimes the hardest to do.

"Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do or do without." I love this saying.

We live in a time where everything seems disposable. For example when you purchase strawberries they come in a plastic container. You eat the berries then toss the container, but did you know you can take a few minutes to think of a use for that? I planted the strawberry seeds in one and I have about a dozen tiny strawberry plants growing. I have saved these to use for starting seed in the spring, but... 

https://munofore.com/awesome-ways-to-reuse-plastic-berry-containers/ - here are some fantastic ideas, I liked the ribbon and the yarn keep and loved the garland. Sometimes we just need inspiration.

https://www.almostzerowaste.com/repurposing-plastic-ideas/ - I like the milk carton scoop idea.

https://www.educatall.com/page/1061/10-things-to-do-with-berry-containers.html - such cute ideas.

https://chascrazycreations.com/recycled-plastic-containers/ - so many people have great ideas.

https://ecogreenlove.com/2014/01/09/reusing-plastic-produce-containers/ - I love the idea over the fruit, wouldn't the chipmunks (we have one here know as Neanderthal) be surprised to try and nab that.

https://remake.world/stories/style/how-to-mend-your-clothes-during-quarantine-5-easy-stitch-fixes/ 

https://www.sustainably-chic.com/blog/visible-mending-darning-clothes - these days anything goes, just like making a belt for my dress last week.

I extended the use of my dress by making this belt. I think these days any fabric would work, even a blue and white floral fabric would be cute. We can do great things.

Think of a pair of pants with a hole, you could make a pocket or make an envelope looking patch or monsters or fish, even a shark. Use your child's favorite thing (like a dinosaur), it could end up their favorite pair, you just never know.

https://www.marthastewart.com/274965/how-to-patch-a-hole-mend-a-seam-and-fix

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+mend+clothing&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS960US960&oq=how+to+mend+clothing&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l8j0i390i650.17052j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:9f326364,vid:IKlKEbkbX_M

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/22/1177552573/extend-the-life-of-your-clothes-with-visible-mending

https://chatelaine.com/style/best-purchases-editors-picks-july-2023/

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+mend+clothing&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS960US960&oq=how+to+mend+clothing&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l8j0i390i650.17052j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:eb7a4589,vid:TnxGHRlevlQ - I like this gal.

https://www.bhg.com/decorating/do-it-yourself/fabric-paper-projects/visible-mending-basics/

All of these were on mending, lots of great ideas on this topic, but I thought perhaps I would throw in an embroidery one in case knowing the different stitches would be helpful for you to tackle some fun mending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4i9EM5ats0

Missy says if we find frugal ways to do things around the house, it all helps our family with the budget and if she had thumbs she would sew.

Tippy Longstockings is showing no holes in her socks but if it happens, she knows I will mend them! She says stay cool out there!