Frugal Measures: 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)

I don't think we have to imagine very hard on this.

The world is in some very dark times right now.

We need to work even harder to lift others and to find joy, but we must!

Eight days ago I came down with this cold-flu. Thank goodness we had our shots! I can't even imagine how much worse it would have been as this is pretty bad. I had my 70th birthday sick - not fun at all. If I could market what is coming out of my nose, I'd be rich. It is an awful lot of awful. I am HOPING by the time you read this in two weeks I will be better. It is hard to think being in something this bad. It came on very fast. So if you haven't gotten it, plan some sick meals. That has saved me so much. At this time, hubby is now also getting sick.

I would say plan some projects for when you get it but I truly haven't felt up to it, though I do have some close by.

This new year means different health insurance for us. And oh how we have to wade through woes with that like things not covered, changing to similar meds, hoping they are as good, unexpected medical bills. Thank goodness for storage as February will be a storage-only month. Again, seems we aren't alone in this. It is, I fear, going to be happening more often with these medical things that have gone way out of control.

So if you find yourself fretting getting groceries or it's spotty at best, let me tell you how I get groceries on those few times of late that I have gotten them...

Your first instinct is to get all you want to get because you went without those items. Squelch that right off the bat. When I go to get groceries in these uncertain times, I tell myself what if I can't get groceries next month (I get groceries by the month). There are things we need to have like distilled water for running medical equipment, certain over-the-counter meds like Tylenol and allergy meds - that sort of thing. By the way, my groceries include everything - food and non-food alike.

Side note - I am very thankful I had cough drops in my storage and Kleenex. So the last time I got groceries, over a third of it was non-food. Normally it isn't, but I kept saying, "but what if something happens that I can't get groceries and shopped" - that what if. And here we are with the something happened.

If I had just shopped getting easy things or only food items, I would be soooooo stressed out right now as well as being sick. Was it hard to think about groceries that way?? Yes, it was but you have to make the hard choices, we just have to do it. We have to make hard cuts to our budget. Is it fun? No, it is not fun but it is being responsible. We can do hard things!

I don't see this improving for us. The caps that were on medicine were removed by this administration so I think meds will continue to go up without warning. How do you even prepare for the unknown on a fixed income?? Hard choices - we will all have to make them.

Usually, it just isn't one thing but several that go all at once.

We are never alone. Heavenly Father is there. We need only ask for help. It isn't going to always be what we want but it will be the help we need.

Assess what we have and what we KNOW we will need. This week I was given pants in my size but a foot - no kidding - a foot too long. So as soon as I feel better, I will hem them. We will be blessed. Do I feel embarrassed? Not at all. I feel blessed. We can do these things. This is why I keep stressing to build storage and skills, And why I keep saying to learn those skills before you need them to help you get a leg up when things hit your home.

So miserable - I have made two blog posts now being sick. It is the "too sick to read" sick so I found an artist on YouTube that I enjoy watching as she teaches watercolor. I have been doing that and on one she showed a ceramic cat she made that held her watercolor brushes. So while skyping to get last week's post up and visiting with our youngest, I took a little sculpey in orange and off-white - it took very little and was what my husband's mom gave him when she passed. So I used a little and made a cat in the colors of Mr. McGuire, some of you from the very beginning will remember him - what a good cat! So I formed this cat brush holder to honor him and my mother-in-law. I picture him on her lap looking down on us and being pleased about this cat brush holder.

I am happy with it and he holds my brushes while I am working with them. So that is what you do while you are skyping and don't feel well. My husband took him out and baked him in his craft oven and here he sits, waiting for me to feel better and use him.

My husband is now getting this as well. I expect it will be a rough go of it for us. We have this rule that when one gets sick the other must wait to get sick till the other is well. So that rule isn't working this time.

Winter in my neck of the woods isn't over, so prepare before you get sick to have what you need on hand. Plus, put some leftovers in the freezer because when you are feeling lousy, it is nice to pull it out and heat it and eat it.

Hopefully you can outrun the flu but be prepared either way.