June Frugals

Rosarugosa, Oh I didn't mean to give the impression I had given up ALL of my magazines. I just cancelled the 3 that really don't fit my life anymore. I let them in each month out of habit. Then 3 months of back issues would just sit taking up space.

I still have more than enough coming in. Okay maybe I have too many, but like you, I do enjoy my magazines. ;)

I think I have to follow your advice and pass the rest on to the library. Saving all the "special ones" is what causes my clutter.

On the frugal front, I visited my aunt today. She and I sat and talked for over 2 hours. She is 90 and vividly remembers the Depression, WWII, and living in a third floor walk-up that had to be heated with coal carried up from the cellar.

Boy my life is easy today. And if I remember even a third of her frugal hints, I'll have those repairs paid for in no time.

I won't go to heating with coal, though. I still remember my Grandma carrying those buckets of coal up 3 flights of stairs!

June 3
---load of wash going and one in the dryer and dishwasher running...we are on "Time of use meters" now...
not sure if I have whined about this before...I haved whined about it a lot....lol
Years back when it was first talked about I was all for it because they sold it as a way to save building more electric plants and
people would save money by trying to use less electricity during the weekday/daytime hours. But, what has happened is
the best time of use is now even higher priced then what we paid a year ago and the mid and high times are 3 & 4 cents an kwh more.
So we are doing all washing, drying, dishwasher (and yes I am rack drying when I can but the house is too damp in the summer for that) during the lowest time. I am so glad our stove/heat/ and water tank are gas, and all of our applainces are "Engery Star". But, there is electricity that still needs to be used from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Okay I am done whining....
--$ sale at No Frills got some really good buys and still only spent $26.00
--using up a bag of course road salt that has been sitting aroung for many, many years to kill off some weeds.
Thats it for now.
p.s. does anyone know how to soften up or break up a container of the newer ice melt. One container I have must have got wet and
is hard as a rock. Not sure what to do with it.
An

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Originally Posted by danna

does anyone know how to soften up or break up a container of the newer ice melt.
An

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are you still hoping to be able to use it, or just to be able to dispose of it? I'd think it would be shot and should just be pitched as in, supposing you can lift it. Would be curious to hear any other theories on this!

Kelli would love to use it if at all possible but, thinking I will have to just pitch in (I think I can lift but not sure the garbage guys will appreciate me...hehe)....lesson for all would be to keep in a dry place
not on front steps. Also, curious to hear if there are any other ideas out there???

While making the "refried" beans for our church's event yesterday morning, I took the time to prep a bunch of veggies in the fridge. I also turned the remaining bean cooking liquid into a great vegetable soup, using up a few things in our fridge and freezer.

This was an exceptional batch of beans, and I've made many before. I used 1# pinto beans, 1 medium onion, and 1 green bell pepper. Cook beans with a little salt, some cumin seeds, and a few bay leaves. Chop the veggies and roast (no oil needed, just spread on baking pans) at 400 until the pieces have lost much of their moisture, and then puree with the cooked beans using some of the bean cooking liquid. Season to taste with salt, cumin, oregano.

So far June has not been the most frugal of months... But I can report that when we took my mom out to dinner last night 2 of the 3 ordered from the blue plate special menu ($25 for an appetizer, an entree, and dessert -- not bad at this particular restaurant) and then we used the remainder of a gift card to pay for half of the bill. It was a nice way to treat my mom for coming to help us with our gardening.

End-of-year teacher gift time. Last year, DD and I seeded herb gardens for her 2 primary teachers. They loved the idea. We planned to do that again this year but for some reason the seeds did not have a good enough germination rate. So... I was thinking of an alternative, and came up with homemade jam from our organic garden. Strawberry-rhubarb because that's what's in season right now. I dug in my least-used cabinet (over the fridge) and came out with 6, 8oz canning jars that have been gathering dust. I needed to buy some new lids, the tongs to pick up jars, pectin, and a lid lifter (total about $8). Picked and processed the jam today, and it is very, very flavorful and a beautiful deep red. Got about 7 half pints. We'll take some to give as gifts on our upcoming roadtrip.

This was my first experience making jam so it was a little stressful trying to read the instructions and do several unfamiliar things at once, but next time will be much easier.

Question for you veteran jam makers: I used the "low or no-sugar pectin." Yet the instructions still call for a lot of sugar. I know that the sugar with the regular pectin is part of the preservation, but they have an alternate recipe that uses artificial sweetener. So can you just reduce the sugar as much as you like - is that sugared recipe just a guideline for this kind of pectin?

I finally--finally!!!--figured out how to download books from Project Gutenberg to my Nook. Turns out it's easy and there are tons of great classics as well as lesser known but fascinating books available there. ALL FREE. This will help a lot with my "no new book purchases" strategy--I get tired of schlepping back and forth to the library and end of buying ebooks, which can really add up.

Hi there friends!

Well done to loosechickens for ditching the cable TV! I got rid of my cable a few weeks ago (after many months of 'deliberating')... it's amazing how fast you adapt to life witout the 'methodone metronome'... Moreover, it's the number one time-waster for me...

I've been enjoying reading all the posts... I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whow has a hard time giving up certain little indulgences.... I'm making progress though, and that's what's important... One of the trickiest things about simplifying, for me, is reining in my day-to-day expenditure... I can draw a line under the unnecessary luxury puchases easily enough, but I've found that it's the 'inconsequential' day-to-day items - the muffin with coffee, the extra portion of whatever when I'm grocery shopping - that really does the most damage to my long-term finances... This month I'm keeping a detailed record of my spending so as to get a clearer picture. For quite some time I've always kept a record of my spending in basic categories - groceries, toiletries, entertainment etc - but I think I need to get a more precise item-by-item record in order to plan better and develop a more effective system for reducing my outgoings... I hope what i'll find out from this little venture won't be too scary! Either way, it's better to be clear about things...

Thanks everyone for your posts... keep them coming!

Hugs,
Luke

Rosemary,

From what I understand, you can't really mess around with the sugar ratios on jam. The "low sugar" pectins are, at best, a good example of truth in advertising in the sense that you need to understand the context in order to appreciate the "truth." They are only low in sugar compared to the regular pectin, not compared, for example, to low sugar jams that are made commercially.

I have been amazed and appalled at the amount of sugar in jam but I still make it because I love the tradition of it, and the beauty of the colours in the jar. I remember that jam was just about the only way to have fruit in winter in earlier times, and that the sugar would have made it quite a treat, like candy.

There are certainly super cooks here on the boards that may have different experiences.

With respect to frugals...well, I am optimistically reading the thread. Don't know how frugal this month will be but it HAS to be better than last. I have gotten seriously off track with tracking my spending and I think back to tracking is the first place I have to go. That and shifting my view to savings as a hobby rather than anything else.

I did avoid the grocery store yesterday, making dinner out of what we had, but I think there is only a day or so more of that available here. We are out of bread and eggs, for example. But I can do a much better job of prepping food ahead and that will help with time as well as with money.