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.