We've become a generation of consumers ... and less and less producers. The economy is in the tank ... and big gov. is encouraging people to spend, spend, spend. To me, this does not feel right (the spending part). I think there are too many factors involved to be brief here ... but the treadmill spending of the past several decades has come to an abrupt halt. During this time of uncertainty is an opportunity to make do with what you have, re-purpose items that would otherwise be tossed in the landfill, and think outside the box. Our forefathers had to get by with very few staples ... and yet they survived. This month I hope to focus on a few steps to shrink your grocery bill.

Today's money saver tip:

Cut back on your use of paper towels

My kids were the biggest offenders in wasting paper towels. How did I get them to use less? I put away the paper towel holder on the kitchen counter and replaced it with a two-ring fingertip towel holder. Each day I stock it with two clean wash cloths. At one time we used about 1-2 rolls of paper towels a week ... now a roll lasts us about three months. Another big waste was using them in the microwave oven to cook bacon. How about cooking bacon in a cast iron skillet?

Washing windows and mirrors.

This was another area that paper towels were used. Recycling your newspaper really does work well and is lint free. Before you use the paper, take a full sheet and rip it in half along the crease, then crumple it up a bit. It takes about thirty seconds or so to start absorbing the window cleaner, but once the paper is a tiny bit damp, it works wonders. You will have to wash your hands or wear cleaning gloves due to the newsprint. I toss the damp paper into the compost bin. You could also use non printed newspaper ... the type used for packing moving boxes. One box would last several years.

Here is a list of products we no longer buy:

• window cleaner
• toilet bowl cleaner
• pre-moistened cleaning wipes
• tub/sink cleaner
• floor cleaner (Pinesol/Mr. Clean)
• furniture polish
• disposable dusting products
• disposable floor cleaning mops/pads (swiffer)
• fabric softener/dryer sheets
• laundry detergent
• bath soap
• plug in type air fresheners
  

This coming month I will post some tried and true recipes you can make for pennies. You probably have most of the ingredients sitting on your pantry shelf.

Now don't think we're all covered in dirt that I've included 'laundry detergent and bath soap' to my list of products we don't purchase ... these are easy and fun to make ... stay tuned ... or do some research and find a simple recipe to replace your store bought product ... you really will save money and know what's in your cleaning arsenal.

In paper towels alone, we're saving a minimum of $60-75 a year.

An Irish Blessing .... for ye garden.

May the frost never afflict your spuds.
May the leaves of your cabbage always be free from worms.
May the crows never pick your haystack.
If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

Trash to treasure gardening :)

Progress is happening in the portable greenhouse set up in my dining room. The French door provides light to all of the shelves in the unit. You can see here how the newspaper pots turned out holding some beefsteak tomato plants.

With the cost of water, soap, and power ... I've been cutting back on washing as many loads of laundry each week. I used to wash about 12 loads a week. Now I'm down to seven. How'd I do it? First, I really had to get after a grown adult child about using one or two clean towels a day. Now she gets one per week. Next, I have been 'pre-drying' damp towels by simply hanging them in the laundry room ... then tossing into the hamper until I have a full load. Washing just one or two loads most days makes the work less demanding on the weekend. To further cut back on electricity, I partially dry everything for 10 minutes in the dryer and hang them to finish drying. Hubby and a friend are helping to install some clothes lines in the laundry room. Plus with the purchase of a rolling laundry rack, it makes it much easier to dry clothes this way in the winter.

My 'oven' proofed seeds have sprouted. First popped up the marigolds. The beefsteak tomatoes are just emerging. A few petunias are sprouting as well. I have taken off the lid of the paper egg carton and placed the marigolds under a lamp for 'sunshine' and a little warmth. With some birthday money I picked up a patio sized 'greenhouse' with about four shelves and a plastic zippered covering. It needs to be assembled. the shelves are far enough apart to grow stacked trays of lettuce all summer long without using the cover. By placing the growing trays on the shelves, water should trickle down from the first tray and water everything growing on the lower trays.

Photo: style of greenhouse purchased at sprawlmart for $38

Here is the link for the 'newspaper seed starting pots'.

http://www.ehow.com/video_1745_create-seed-starting.html

Recycling for the garden. I've been collecting odds and ends to use for the garden. Empty toilet/paper towel tubes, plastic take home salad containers, paper egg cartons, yogurt cups, and dryer lint to name a few. Also the compost bin is filling up with veggie and fruit scraps, along with said lint, and strips of newspaper. In another day, this bin will be finding a dumping off spot in the back forty under a tree that has some dirt poking through the snow. The top two pictures show my tomato, petunia, and marigold seeds that I've planted using household 'trash'. I also discovered that my oven's lowest setting for proofing yeast bread makes to perfect temperature for germinating seeds (75-85 F) ... so don't be alarmed seeing my starter trays in the oven :). Let's just hope I don't forget about them and accidentally turn the oven on ;) After they sprout and get a bit bigger, the plan is to make little biodegradable pots from newspaper to plant them in while they continue to grow indoors.

Bottom photo: indoor compost bin. this gets dumped in a old kitchen waste basket mixed with newspapers just out the back door and later dumped again onto bare soil.

When I confessed about being a spend thrift yesterday, I wasn't referring to extravagant living. Just wasteful living. A mindset of I can afford to not bother with reusing and retooling (mostly in the food/household supplies area) Generally I don't buy just to buy. My wardrobe closet is not bulging at the seams, nor do I spend for all new items. Thrift and vintage stores plus garage sales have been my source to decorate and outfit my home. A few years ago we bought 'new' bedroom furniture. After looking at what was in the stores I wasn't impressed, especially with the price tags. The solution was to buy a nice wrought iron head/foot board and bargain hunt for dressers and night stands at thrift stores which we then painted off white and roughed up the finish with sandpaper, exposing little sections of 'worn' wood. The room came out great without spending too much money. The only other new item was a chase lounge purchased with one of George Bush's tax rebates to help 'stimulate' the economy. Bed linens and drapes were bargain shopped on line at Overstock.com and Country Curtains. Most accessories are items we had in storage ... a wall clock and mirror were bargains at Target and Walmart. The brass metal bed table lamps are bargain Lennox lamps from TJ Maxx. I was brave and evenutally hand painted the solid yellow brass with metallic paint in a oil rubbed bronze finish. This most likely devalued the lamps ... but I like them all the better. Existing yellow brass dresser pulls were given the same paint treatment.

True confessions: I am a recovering spend thrift. There, I said it! Recovering from a super size, Costo surplus mentality, don't think about excess waste, disposable, replaceable, barely used, replace it after a year type of living ... now reflecting on the ways my grandparents lived during and after the Great Depression ... ways that stayed with them until the end of their lives ... a resurgence of my formerly too poor to know the difference childhood is resurfacing ... and just in the nick of time with hubby's retirement, the RECESSION that has been going on for some time that may turn into a DEPRESSION, and the Lord stirring my heart and mind to prepare for the days ahead (waste not want not). It may or may not be doom and gloom just upon the horizon ... but preparedness/thrifty living is something that should NEVER go out of vogue. Now when I examine my pantry shelves and see the two dozen bags of assorted beans I pressure can them or cook and freeze for soup. Or the little bits of egg, veggie and hamburger scraps that once would go in the trash can, I add them to my dog's portion of din-din. The thought of being told, never to give pets people food is ridiculous. With the exception of such tooth sticky food as pasta, or hazard to dogs health chocolate and salmon ... the likes of sliced apples, bits of celery and chicken meat are now going to supplement the dog's food. And those zip-close bags that once got used and tossed with ease are now getting washed and dried to reuse. This week I discovered how to use my power strips to 'power down' the computer, printer, stereo, etc. to not waste standby mode electricity. Some of our mega watt kitchen bulbs have been replaced with compact fluorescent ones. The wasteful years have come to an end. Grandma's ways were best :) What have you done recently to 'power down' your waste?

I'm going to redirect this blog (once again :) to include homemaking skills along with gardening projects/ideas. In the meantime, there is a lovely blog in my sidebar called "Down To Earth" where you can find so many helpful home and garden ideas.

Update: 2/16/09 Well, all of our birds that we had in January have flown the coup. Not a one has been spotted in my back or front yard. We've had food in the feeder. They stayed while we had all of the nasty cold weather and now it's been rather nice. I did see a few Canadian Geese and one robin while in town today. Less snow and more lawn showing. Hopefully if anyone participated in the bird count, you actually had some birds to count.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Take part in this year's Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. This special event is to take place February 13-16, 2009, so mark your calendars. What a great way to spend a winter weekend with your kids or grandchildren. Grab a pair of binoculars and a camera ... follow the directions here. Stop back and let me know if you participate ... I'd love to see your photos.

Photo Credit

A new twist to container gardening. Try turning an old hard plastic wading pool into the perfect large scale container garden. Check out the directions here. There are many other urban gardening ideas that I am going to try in addition to my traditional garden ... such as using old tires, burlap bags, etc. I just happen to have an old wading pool that is seldom used. This plan may yield my salad garden freeing up more garden space for larger crops.

Photo Credit

Plotting away ...

Things I'd like to grow this spring:

sweet carrots
green onions
mesclun mix lettuce
basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, mint, cilantro
tomatoes
green beans (on poles)
pickling cukes (on poles)
yellow crooked neck squash
radish
peppers, hot/sweet

sweep peas
marigolds
geraniums

I'm itching to garden ... but must wait, and wait. So while waiting, I'm researching a few new gardening gadgets to try this coming spring. This wall of water product (through Burpee) has piqued my interest! A neighbor of mine swore by them last year. She was the only one in our area with vine ripened tomatoes. While ours didn't even begin to ripen until late September ... early October ... picked green and stored in the basement.

Snow bound.
My garden is asleep under waist high snow.
I know where a beehive is hidden in my garden wall, now covered shoulder high with snow. Everywhere I look, the frost has a grip til the sun's rays can melt and give warmth to renew.
Drip, drip, drip. I want to see all of my home's roof 'neath the snow drape.
Still snow bound.

by: Mrs. Mac
January 1, 2009
A toast to all good things learned from tending my garden this new year!