Brandy, I so enjoyed the details of your Colorado trip and the beautiful photos. It’s so wonderful to know that you will be able to visit your husband fairly often, get to sightsee in the area, and that you both have found vehicles that will work well for you. Wishing you and your family well on meeting your goals in the next several years!
Would love to know what you use to whiten yellowed linens. Last weekend I passed up a set of lovely white dinner napkins in an antiques store that were yellowed.
Thanks again to everyone who shares here. This community is a breath of fresh air each week!
Frugal efforts this week:
*Began rereading “Living on a Little” by Caroline French Benton. Can be read free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42803 Told from the perspective of an experienced homemaker tutoring her soon-to-be-wed sister on the best methods for feeding a family and managing a household. Filled with lots of early 1900s practical food prep and shopping ideas for that era, many of which still ring true today … planning menus using in-season foods, multiple meals from one main dish, and, a variety of simply elegant desserts on a budget (as we know, a lovely presentation makes the simplest desserts really special). Especially charming are her detailed descriptions of the kitchen layouts in her home and vacation cottage. Enjoyed it so much that I did purchase a copy that I will reread many times. I recommend it to anyone who loves home and kitchen frugality!
* Decided to wait for Fall to convert our cattle troughs into planters – I wasn’t born with a green thumb and that, combined with our consistently triple digit temps, would mean the odds aren’t currently in our favor for plants to survive.
*Last week’s comments relating to one daily driver vehicle per family is relatable for hubby and I. We sold our second daily driver vehicle as a proactive frugal measure when the pandemic first began. We’ve not had any issues with having one vehicle. It’s been easy to plan any outings and hubby works from home and we do most everything together anyway. The only time I’m a bit uneasy is when hubby stays home and I travel to the city (1+ hours away) to run errands. The thought does cross my mind that if anything were to happen mechanically, he wouldn’t be able to personally quickly “rescue” me. Blessed to have roadside assistance as an option. I just say a prayer and go on my merry way on those days.
*One blessing from our drought and consistent triple digit temps is that, for months, weather hasn’t interfered with line drying our laundry. If we do encounter a rainy season, will use our folding laundry rack and place it indoors in our small room adjacent to our attic. The space is the size of a large narrow walk-in closet where we store floor cleaning equipment, etc. It stays a bit warmer in that space year round and is perfect for drying laundry. Probably should run the dryer occasionally just to keep it maintained.
*Accepted five ripe beautiful Texas Hill Country peaches from a dear neighbor.
*Tried a cleaning solution recipe that I really like. In a spray bottle, add ½ rubbing alcohol, ½ water, 1 T Dawn dishwashing liquid, and 15 drops essential oil (I chose peppermint and next will try Tea Tree). We like a pleasant light scent in our home and this one is perfect – cleans glass, mirrors and other surfaces really well with a light lingering scent. Especially good at removing hair products from bathroom countertops.
*Listed several items for sale that we no longer use or need – two like new folding bicycles for camping, an extra bicycle, and classic vehicle parts and accessories.
*Purged holiday décor and miscellaneous household and garage items. Delivered one truck bed load of donations to local nonprofit thrift store (all sales proceeds go directly to local substance abuse rehabilitation efforts). Felt great to rid our spaces of items we don’t need/use or “may use someday” and have them go to others who actually will use them today!
*Accepted a pretty decorative candle from a sweet neighbor.
*Utility bill for last month is higher than previous, which was expected with consistent triple digit temps and August being our hottest month of the year. Continuing to take all usual measures to conserve electricity, water and natural gas. We have no other options for utility service and are not offered reduced rate hours, so watching our usage and ensuring our home is as energy efficient as possible seem to be our only options for controlling our utility expense.
*Combined all errands and necessary outings in order to conserve gasoline. Nearest sizeable town with shopping options is 20 miles away (40 miles round trip). Current lowest fuel price in our immediate area is $3.29 for regular grade. Have found the GasBuddy app to be very accurate for current fuel prices in our area.
*Obtained our membership at our local library. Our county library is super small and I’m guessing it hasn’t changed much since the 1950’s, but the staff is very kind, and they try very hard to accommodate. It’s nice to have access to Libby and library is within walking distance (doable when temps are below 100!).
*Hubby continues to perform repair and maintenance tasks that would otherwise require hiring outside help. He’s currently addressing the masonry on the stone retaining wall in our front lawn. Removing cracked mortar, cleaning and adding fresh mortar. By doing just a small section at a time over a couple of weeks, even in triple digit temps, he’s nearly completed the entire wall. Our local mason would have charged quite a bit to do this.
*He also repaired a storage cabinet in my craft area that I was certain would need to be replaced. The bottoms of each drawer had sagged, preventing the drawers from closing. He removed each of them, and glued and reinforced each drawer, making them stronger than when new. I’m so grateful he always seems to find a creative way to extend the life of items.
*Accepted the loan of a book from another neighbor, “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” – relating to a topic I was unfamiliar with – the blue-skinned people of Kentucky. Looking forward to reading it.
Wishing everyone a frugal and fun week ahead!
