I can't decide which I dislike more - the days when life is just one damn thing after another, or the days when life is just the same damn things over and over and over ...
Now, I'm not talking about my job, which is pretty much a combination of those two kinds of days. I knew it would be like that when I went in, and there's enough variety to keep it interesting, and I'm pretty darn good at it.
I'm talking about the time I don't spend at work. The hours spent in the arms of my loving family. The hours that went pretty much like this, every two minutes, all weekend long:
Mom, I need you to ...
Where's the damn ...
Mrow ...
Honey, can you come out here and ...
Why isn't there any ...
MROW!
Which is why I didn't get back here to post over the weekend. Honestly, a five-minute stretch without anyone wanting anything would have done wonders for me!
There's a good chance that some time in the next few days I'll be posting big signs all over the house that say, in large red caps:
THERE IS NO TOILET PAPER FAIRY.
THE MAID QUIT. DO IT YOURSELF.
DON'T PUT THAT DOWN, PUT IT AWAY.
I went to work yesterday morning secure in the belief that at least there I could pretty much know what to expect and get some actual work done ... Not so much. The phones just would not stop, the problems popped up like mushrooms after a rainy night, and the whole day's work was done in ninety-second increments between phone calls and frantic e-mails. By the time I got home last night, all I managed before I fell over was getting changed and stuffing a sandwich in my face. Today was a little better, but I'm not holding my breath for tomorrow.
On the home front, I just keep chipping away at things. Every time I walk into a room - any room - I look for one thing that needs doing, and do it. Wastebasket full - empty it. Cat bowl empty - fill it. Something out of place - put it away. Something missing - go find it. You get the picture. At the end of the day it doesn't seem as though I've done much, but by the end of the week there's a noticeable difference. Works for me.
I've booked a vacation week mid-September to have the old furnace hauled away and the new one installed. I'm optimistic about having most of the cleanup done before then - or at least enough of it that nothing will impede the installation process. The real hurdle will be getting the Big Guy's cooperation; he won't do anything during the week because he "worked hard all day" (so did I, son) and he won't do anything on the weekends because he "needs to get the truck running to haul all the crap away". Sigh.
Since this is a three-payday month, I'm also pushing the idea that the single-glazed living room window can be replaced this month - or at least, before October. I've even offered to use the third paycheque to pay professional installers. Of course, Big Guy is no end offended by this ... he and his buddy G replaced all the other windows in the house, and did a fine job. But the truth is, if I left it to him to install this one, I'd be waiting until about this time next year for him to "get around to it". Not to mention that his favourite time of year for big projects involving exposing the whole house to outdoor temperatures is ... the week before Christmas. I can't figure it out. Last winter, he decided on December 21st to paint the kitchen ... doors & windows wide open for days, during the coldest week in the recorded history of this area. Granted, December 2009 was not his fault - we'd had it on good authority that the roof could wait until April, which turned out not to be the case, and we had roofers up there ripping everything back to the bare rafters and replacing it all, right up through December 23rd. December 2008, he refused to put up the Christmas tree until the living room was painted ... I'm scared to even think about what he might pick as the pre-Christmas project this year. Probably the damn window.
And something that warms my thrifty little heart:
March 2010, after paying a $900 annual water & sewer bill, I decided to take advantage of the city's free water meter program, and had one installed. May 2011, I got the quarterly metered water & sewer bill ... and found that since were were no longer paying the city's "flat rate" but only paying for what we used, we still had - ta daa! - almost $300 credit. I got the August bill today - and we still have a $22 credit. I'm a very happy water-conserving camper tonight!
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The Return Of Randomness
I haven't posted for a while, for several reasons.
1) The death of our beloved pet hit me very hard. She was such an important part of our lives for eighteen years, and we are still devastated and heartbroken. It's only in the last couple of days I've been able to talk about her without weeping ... and kind words about her from others are still enough to set off the tears.
2) I'm finally starting to recover from what I thought was just a nasty cold but turned out to be a serious bout of bronchitis. It started to fade, then came roaring back, and left me with no energy to do anything except go to work, come home, and lie down. I've finally stopped coughing, but I still get tired much faster than I'm used to.
3) In spite of everything else, I still had to go to work every day; we are an office of 5, only one of whom could have covered for me. She was out of province (business), which meant that instead of taking sick days, I was there far more hours than usual covering for her.
You may have noticed that I've rearranged my sidebar items. I realized that I really hardly ever spend money on anything I don't need. The cough medicine, for instance, turned out to be the only way I could get even three or four hours of sleep per night, and certainly I never would have made it through a single day at work without it. So I've removed it from the (renamed) "Extra Spending" list. You'll see, though, that I've added my annual purchase of coffee direct from the plantation in Costa Rica. Yes, it looks expensive ... but I don't drink it every day; it's my only real "treat" and believe me, I'll make that twenty pounds of (in my opinion) the world's best coffee go a long way. I'll also be giving some as birthday or Yule gifts to a select few who appreciate it as much as I do, and sharing it with fellow coffee lovers on movie nights. Break that annual expenditure down to $13.25 a month for personal treats and gifts, and it's eminently affordable within our current budget.
I've also decided to keep track of what I've labeled "Serendipitous Income" - money from unexpected or unplanned sources. On-line surveys, coupon and club card savings, deposit containers found and redeemed, that kind of thing. I will include any overtime I get paid for, because I don't go to work planning to stay late. I will not, however, include my tax refund when it comes in, because I did plan for it, and have plans for where it will go. The overtime from May alone will cover my new passport and my coffee order, and still leave over $200 to go into savings.
Project update: there isn't one, really. The sweater is put together at last, but the darning in of loose ends has still to be done, and the workroom organizing is on hold until I'm healthy enough to haul boxes around without wheezing. For the same reason, the basement-clearing project is also on "pause" - though whenever I go down to do laundry, or tend to the litterbox (yes, we still have one cat), or get something from the freezer, I'll try to remember to do one thing towards the cleanup, even if it's just putting away an empty canning jar or two. Baby steps.
Spring gardening hasn't even started yet; we've had a month of low temperatures, sunny weekdays, and rainy weekends - frustrating, since weekends are the only time we have for garden/yard work. But we'll get there eventually. My fruit trees all blossomed nicely, and I'm hoping there were enough dry days for the bees to pollinate well and so get us a good crop. We don't expect any cherries or pears for a couple more years, but the black currants, plums and apples - we hope - should do well. I don't know if the growing season will be long enough, or warm and dry enough, for a decent tomato crop. The herbs will go in containers this year and with luck I'll find a way to keep the squirrels from nibbling them all down to nothing again. Rhubarb always does well - I don't think we could kill it with napalm - and I'd like to put in some raspberry canes.
The coupon insert in this morning's paper had several good two-for-one offers on laundry detergent, (recyclable) plastic food storage containers, and other household basics. An hour after clipping the coupons, I found out that a very dear friend and her husband are both out of work and really struggling financially right now. So I will use the coupons this week, and set what I buy aside for my friend. And I'll raid my stockpile of toiletries as well, and add some of our homemade jams and pickles from last fall. I know she won't be offended; we've helped each other out like that countless times over the years. For us, that's always been a really big part of what friendship is about - being there for each other. I'm only sorry I can't do more, and sorry that it's not later in the year so I could take her apples and plums and tomatoes too!
Now I think I'll go do some mending. That pile has to get smaller eventually!
1) The death of our beloved pet hit me very hard. She was such an important part of our lives for eighteen years, and we are still devastated and heartbroken. It's only in the last couple of days I've been able to talk about her without weeping ... and kind words about her from others are still enough to set off the tears.
2) I'm finally starting to recover from what I thought was just a nasty cold but turned out to be a serious bout of bronchitis. It started to fade, then came roaring back, and left me with no energy to do anything except go to work, come home, and lie down. I've finally stopped coughing, but I still get tired much faster than I'm used to.
3) In spite of everything else, I still had to go to work every day; we are an office of 5, only one of whom could have covered for me. She was out of province (business), which meant that instead of taking sick days, I was there far more hours than usual covering for her.
You may have noticed that I've rearranged my sidebar items. I realized that I really hardly ever spend money on anything I don't need. The cough medicine, for instance, turned out to be the only way I could get even three or four hours of sleep per night, and certainly I never would have made it through a single day at work without it. So I've removed it from the (renamed) "Extra Spending" list. You'll see, though, that I've added my annual purchase of coffee direct from the plantation in Costa Rica. Yes, it looks expensive ... but I don't drink it every day; it's my only real "treat" and believe me, I'll make that twenty pounds of (in my opinion) the world's best coffee go a long way. I'll also be giving some as birthday or Yule gifts to a select few who appreciate it as much as I do, and sharing it with fellow coffee lovers on movie nights. Break that annual expenditure down to $13.25 a month for personal treats and gifts, and it's eminently affordable within our current budget.
I've also decided to keep track of what I've labeled "Serendipitous Income" - money from unexpected or unplanned sources. On-line surveys, coupon and club card savings, deposit containers found and redeemed, that kind of thing. I will include any overtime I get paid for, because I don't go to work planning to stay late. I will not, however, include my tax refund when it comes in, because I did plan for it, and have plans for where it will go. The overtime from May alone will cover my new passport and my coffee order, and still leave over $200 to go into savings.
Project update: there isn't one, really. The sweater is put together at last, but the darning in of loose ends has still to be done, and the workroom organizing is on hold until I'm healthy enough to haul boxes around without wheezing. For the same reason, the basement-clearing project is also on "pause" - though whenever I go down to do laundry, or tend to the litterbox (yes, we still have one cat), or get something from the freezer, I'll try to remember to do one thing towards the cleanup, even if it's just putting away an empty canning jar or two. Baby steps.
Spring gardening hasn't even started yet; we've had a month of low temperatures, sunny weekdays, and rainy weekends - frustrating, since weekends are the only time we have for garden/yard work. But we'll get there eventually. My fruit trees all blossomed nicely, and I'm hoping there were enough dry days for the bees to pollinate well and so get us a good crop. We don't expect any cherries or pears for a couple more years, but the black currants, plums and apples - we hope - should do well. I don't know if the growing season will be long enough, or warm and dry enough, for a decent tomato crop. The herbs will go in containers this year and with luck I'll find a way to keep the squirrels from nibbling them all down to nothing again. Rhubarb always does well - I don't think we could kill it with napalm - and I'd like to put in some raspberry canes.
The coupon insert in this morning's paper had several good two-for-one offers on laundry detergent, (recyclable) plastic food storage containers, and other household basics. An hour after clipping the coupons, I found out that a very dear friend and her husband are both out of work and really struggling financially right now. So I will use the coupons this week, and set what I buy aside for my friend. And I'll raid my stockpile of toiletries as well, and add some of our homemade jams and pickles from last fall. I know she won't be offended; we've helped each other out like that countless times over the years. For us, that's always been a really big part of what friendship is about - being there for each other. I'm only sorry I can't do more, and sorry that it's not later in the year so I could take her apples and plums and tomatoes too!
Now I think I'll go do some mending. That pile has to get smaller eventually!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Joining The "Not Buying It" Crowd
I really didn't accomplish much this week besides going to work, doing my job, and coming home to collapse. I've had a horrendous cold since early in the week. On Tuesday I was just sneezing and a little sniffly, which prompted me to wonder if I was finally developing the hay fever that the rest of the family suffers with every spring. But no ... Wednesday at work I went through one boxes of tissue in eight hours, Thursday's count was two boxes, and by Friday afternoon I'd lost count. Friday night I started to cough, and I spent Saturday on the couch hacking, wheezing, and going through a couple more boxes of tissues. (good thing I got them in bulk, on sale, with a coupon!) It's tapering off now, but I'm still exhausted enough that today I did the dishes in several installments, because after ten minutes standing in front of the sink I just had to go sit down for a while.
Big Guy did what he always does - he made a big pot of from-scratch chicken soup and kept bringing me bowls of it - lovely stuff, full of bite-sized chicken chunks, onions, celery, carrots, lots of garlic and ginger, and egg noodles. It makes me feel better, at least for a little while ... in fact, I'll be taking a thermos of soup to work for lunch tomorrow.
I spent a lot of the weekend browsing a variety of blogs, following links from one to another, and I was surprised at how many bloggers are on the "Not Buying It" bandwagon. Not because it's a novel idea - I've pretty much lived that way for most of my life - but because so many people use that particular label. Is it easier to be frugal as part of a group? Does not spending money feel more comfortable if you can see how many others aren't spending money either? I'm not putting them down for it - in fact, I can't help wondering if I'd do better at the whole saving/not spending/paying down debt thing if I followed their example.
So ... as of today, I'm going to actually track every cent I spend, and post the details - starting with the generic cold capsules I hauled my poor aching, wheezing self out to get this morning. Maybe someone can suggest areas where I could spend less, or even items I could eliminate entirely. I don't pretend to be an expert, and I'm always open to new ideas. Oh, and just so the tracking will make more sense - Big Guy and I have an arrangement. Since he does almost all the cooking, he pays for the groceries, and I pay the household bills - hydro, gas, phone/cable/internet. So those categories won't show in the sidebar, and neither will our mortgage payments. What I'll be tracking is just my own personal spending, not the household budget. The goal is to make myself more aware of what I'm spending on "extras"; we're already pretty darn careful about what we lay out for necessities. For instance, the coffee we buy as part of the regular groceries won't be listed, but if I treat myself to a pound of a specialty blend I will show it. I'm still debating whether to show what I spend on my monthly transit pass - it's expensive, but it's necessary. Driving to work (especially with the cost of parking downtown) would cost at least three times as much ... so I don't think the pass can really be called an "extra". What do you think?
I'm also making a list in the back of my current all-purpose notebook of all the things I have enough of that I don't need to buy more no matter how good the sale price is. Thanks to my long-standing habit of stocking up when the price is right, it should be at least two years before I'll be buying office supplies, shower gel, deodorant, hair ties, shampoo, sewing notions, underwear, garbage bags, greeting cards ... the actual list is far more detailed, but you get the idea.
I will have to bite the bullet very soon and buy a new pair of running shoes. Actually, skateboard shoes, which are far more comfortable (they're wider, and I have square feet and a ridiculously high arch) and don't have the big ugly clunky soles that almost all women's "running" shoes seem to have these days. I pretty much live in those shoes, unless there's snow - our neighbourhood doesn't have sidewalks except on the main streets, and I'm not about to ruin my good/dress/office shoes by commuting daily through mud, gravel, and roadside dirt in them. A pair of the brand I like best will run me about $75.00 on sale, but once every two years or so turns that from an extravagance into a practical budget item. Especially since it allows me to make a nice pair of dress shoes last up to ten years. Yes, seriously. Shoes I like, that fit properly and don't hurt to walk in, are hard to find; when I do find a pair, I make them last as long as possible. I don't care about fashion - and some of the recent and current styles are downright ugly - my "good" shoes are plain, comfortable classics that will always look suitable for whatever I wear them with.
Apart from the shoes, there won't be any clothing in the list. This goes back to my New Year's "resolutions" - to work with what I already have. As each new garment is started, it will be added to the "Current Projects" section of the sidebar, and I'll try to post a picture of each one when I finish them. The sweater is almost finished, so (touch wood) next post will include a picture. I'll also be adding a "Finished Projects" section - sometimes I feel like Alice, "the faster I run the behinder I get", and it will be nice to look at that list and reflect on what I have accomplished.
Big Guy did what he always does - he made a big pot of from-scratch chicken soup and kept bringing me bowls of it - lovely stuff, full of bite-sized chicken chunks, onions, celery, carrots, lots of garlic and ginger, and egg noodles. It makes me feel better, at least for a little while ... in fact, I'll be taking a thermos of soup to work for lunch tomorrow.
I spent a lot of the weekend browsing a variety of blogs, following links from one to another, and I was surprised at how many bloggers are on the "Not Buying It" bandwagon. Not because it's a novel idea - I've pretty much lived that way for most of my life - but because so many people use that particular label. Is it easier to be frugal as part of a group? Does not spending money feel more comfortable if you can see how many others aren't spending money either? I'm not putting them down for it - in fact, I can't help wondering if I'd do better at the whole saving/not spending/paying down debt thing if I followed their example.
So ... as of today, I'm going to actually track every cent I spend, and post the details - starting with the generic cold capsules I hauled my poor aching, wheezing self out to get this morning. Maybe someone can suggest areas where I could spend less, or even items I could eliminate entirely. I don't pretend to be an expert, and I'm always open to new ideas. Oh, and just so the tracking will make more sense - Big Guy and I have an arrangement. Since he does almost all the cooking, he pays for the groceries, and I pay the household bills - hydro, gas, phone/cable/internet. So those categories won't show in the sidebar, and neither will our mortgage payments. What I'll be tracking is just my own personal spending, not the household budget. The goal is to make myself more aware of what I'm spending on "extras"; we're already pretty darn careful about what we lay out for necessities. For instance, the coffee we buy as part of the regular groceries won't be listed, but if I treat myself to a pound of a specialty blend I will show it. I'm still debating whether to show what I spend on my monthly transit pass - it's expensive, but it's necessary. Driving to work (especially with the cost of parking downtown) would cost at least three times as much ... so I don't think the pass can really be called an "extra". What do you think?
I'm also making a list in the back of my current all-purpose notebook of all the things I have enough of that I don't need to buy more no matter how good the sale price is. Thanks to my long-standing habit of stocking up when the price is right, it should be at least two years before I'll be buying office supplies, shower gel, deodorant, hair ties, shampoo, sewing notions, underwear, garbage bags, greeting cards ... the actual list is far more detailed, but you get the idea.
I will have to bite the bullet very soon and buy a new pair of running shoes. Actually, skateboard shoes, which are far more comfortable (they're wider, and I have square feet and a ridiculously high arch) and don't have the big ugly clunky soles that almost all women's "running" shoes seem to have these days. I pretty much live in those shoes, unless there's snow - our neighbourhood doesn't have sidewalks except on the main streets, and I'm not about to ruin my good/dress/office shoes by commuting daily through mud, gravel, and roadside dirt in them. A pair of the brand I like best will run me about $75.00 on sale, but once every two years or so turns that from an extravagance into a practical budget item. Especially since it allows me to make a nice pair of dress shoes last up to ten years. Yes, seriously. Shoes I like, that fit properly and don't hurt to walk in, are hard to find; when I do find a pair, I make them last as long as possible. I don't care about fashion - and some of the recent and current styles are downright ugly - my "good" shoes are plain, comfortable classics that will always look suitable for whatever I wear them with.
Apart from the shoes, there won't be any clothing in the list. This goes back to my New Year's "resolutions" - to work with what I already have. As each new garment is started, it will be added to the "Current Projects" section of the sidebar, and I'll try to post a picture of each one when I finish them. The sweater is almost finished, so (touch wood) next post will include a picture. I'll also be adding a "Finished Projects" section - sometimes I feel like Alice, "the faster I run the behinder I get", and it will be nice to look at that list and reflect on what I have accomplished.
Monday, January 31, 2011
An Eclectic Lifestyle
My dictionary defines "eclectic" as "choosing or accepting from various or diverse sources".
"Eclectic" defines us perfectly ...
Last year we saved up and bought our first piece of new store-bought furniture in over twenty years - our elderly sofa finally died and we replaced it with a lovely cushy comfy mushroom-coloured one - with, of course, washable covers on all the cushions. The rest of our furniture is a collection of "rescued" pieces from when my parents sold their house, pieces that we each had when we met, Ikea bookshelves, and yard-sale acquisitions and donations from friends who were moving, downsizing, or upgrading. Our huge entertainment centre / china cabinet was built by Big Guy and a friend from lumber they salvaged when a local store was torn down; that's also where all the fluorescent fixtures in the basement and workshop came from. Oh, and the microwave cabinet and two kitchen chairs are dumpster finds that Big Guy refinished.
Our sheets, towels, and assorted "soft" furnishings - pillows and so on - are likewise a mixture of old, newish, freebies, and hand-made by me. Some day they might all match, but if they don't I won't lose any sleep over it. The collection reflects our thrifty values and habits. Cotton towels and face cloths are used until they're starting to look worn or frayed ... from the house they go to the camper until they're really ragged, then they come back into the house as cleaning rags or to the garage/workshop as shop rags; when they're too worn and ragged even for that, I shred them for the compost. I haven't bought a dishcloth in over twenty years; why should I when I can get a ball of cotton yard at a thrift store for a dollar, and knit anywhere from one to two dozen dishcloths from that? Though I did buy new fabric for the living room drapes - on sale from a remnant rack!
The kitchen, naturally, follows the same pattern. Our dishes match - well, most of them - only because I found a treasure trove of Denby stoneware at a local thrift store, in shades of blue I really love. The serving pieces are a mix of old family pieces and dollar-store dinnerware. The cutlery all matches, for a wonder (he found a killer sale), and there's a big mug full of extra mis-matched teaspoons for coffee, dishing up cat food, lunch bag use, and so on. Cooking and serving utensils live in a collection of big stoneware bean crocks I rescued from my parents' basement - Mom was going to throw them out.
"Eclectic" can also be used to describe the things we do ... some people have described us as "full of contradictions". I suppose they mean the contrast between the modern twenty-first century stuff and the "old-fashioned" skills most folks don't seem to value much any more.
I'm on the computer every day. I do all our banking, bill-paying, and money management on-line. I participate in a couple of social networks and a weekly on-line role-playing game (no, not WOW). I read, I research, I shop. I read the news and check the weather forecast. I watch television episodes and movies and lecture series, and listen to music. I hunt down patterns and craft instructions. I reserve library books. I correspond via e-mail with distant friends and relatives. And, of course, I blog.
I have a cell phone, an mp3 player, and a digital camera.
I have a sewing machine that does everything but change the baby, and I have a serger. But ... I also have an ancient treadle sewing machine that I keep in good working order.
I knit - which is becoming popular again, by the way. I've just started learning to knit socks.
I sew - clothing for myself and the family, drapes, slipcovers, pillowcases, small things such as oven mitts and table linens (for us and for craft fairs). I also mend, which is something most of the people I know don't bother with any more - they either pay someone else to do it, or they just toss the garment. I have a standard price list of what I charge for simple repairs such as replacing buttons or zippers, hemming, repairing split seams, patching, and so on. And I darn socks.
We recently replaced our old inefficient hot water tank with an in-line, electronic-ignition tankless water heater ... and we heat the workshop and the main floor of the house with wood stoves. Both of which we got free. And as soon as we installed them Big Guy befriended a couple of tree-removal companies, so we get all our wood free. We don't pay for firewood, and they don't pay dump fees or add to the landfill. Win-win.
I'm currently saving up to replace our old washing machine (when it finally dies) with a front-loader. I'll save water, soap, and electricity, and our clothes will last longer. Especially since everything will still get hung up to dry on either the outdoor or basement clotheslines.
Now that I think of it, there are a lot of things we do that some people think of as old-fashioned, eccentric, or "just hobbies" ...
We make our own jams, jellies, pickles and relishes. We have shelves in the basement full of home-canned fruit, fish, and tomatoes, and home-dehydrated herbs, soup veggies, raisins, prunes, apples, tomatoes, and jerky.
I refuse to have a dishwasher. Instead, the dishpan of soapy water gets used to flush the toilet, so I almost never have to scrub it. The pail of rinse water gets used to water the houseplants and the vegetable and tomato planters. Or to wash the car, or scrub the bathtub and sink, or wash the floors, or gets poured into the washing machine when doing laundry.
Worn-out clothing turns into patchwork quilts, potholders, table runners, braided mats, and shopping bags.
Economical? Frugal? Thrifty? Absolutely. Downright cheap? Possibly.
Financially and environmentally responsible? You betcha!
"Eclectic" defines us perfectly ...
Last year we saved up and bought our first piece of new store-bought furniture in over twenty years - our elderly sofa finally died and we replaced it with a lovely cushy comfy mushroom-coloured one - with, of course, washable covers on all the cushions. The rest of our furniture is a collection of "rescued" pieces from when my parents sold their house, pieces that we each had when we met, Ikea bookshelves, and yard-sale acquisitions and donations from friends who were moving, downsizing, or upgrading. Our huge entertainment centre / china cabinet was built by Big Guy and a friend from lumber they salvaged when a local store was torn down; that's also where all the fluorescent fixtures in the basement and workshop came from. Oh, and the microwave cabinet and two kitchen chairs are dumpster finds that Big Guy refinished.
Our sheets, towels, and assorted "soft" furnishings - pillows and so on - are likewise a mixture of old, newish, freebies, and hand-made by me. Some day they might all match, but if they don't I won't lose any sleep over it. The collection reflects our thrifty values and habits. Cotton towels and face cloths are used until they're starting to look worn or frayed ... from the house they go to the camper until they're really ragged, then they come back into the house as cleaning rags or to the garage/workshop as shop rags; when they're too worn and ragged even for that, I shred them for the compost. I haven't bought a dishcloth in over twenty years; why should I when I can get a ball of cotton yard at a thrift store for a dollar, and knit anywhere from one to two dozen dishcloths from that? Though I did buy new fabric for the living room drapes - on sale from a remnant rack!
The kitchen, naturally, follows the same pattern. Our dishes match - well, most of them - only because I found a treasure trove of Denby stoneware at a local thrift store, in shades of blue I really love. The serving pieces are a mix of old family pieces and dollar-store dinnerware. The cutlery all matches, for a wonder (he found a killer sale), and there's a big mug full of extra mis-matched teaspoons for coffee, dishing up cat food, lunch bag use, and so on. Cooking and serving utensils live in a collection of big stoneware bean crocks I rescued from my parents' basement - Mom was going to throw them out.
"Eclectic" can also be used to describe the things we do ... some people have described us as "full of contradictions". I suppose they mean the contrast between the modern twenty-first century stuff and the "old-fashioned" skills most folks don't seem to value much any more.
I'm on the computer every day. I do all our banking, bill-paying, and money management on-line. I participate in a couple of social networks and a weekly on-line role-playing game (no, not WOW). I read, I research, I shop. I read the news and check the weather forecast. I watch television episodes and movies and lecture series, and listen to music. I hunt down patterns and craft instructions. I reserve library books. I correspond via e-mail with distant friends and relatives. And, of course, I blog.
I have a cell phone, an mp3 player, and a digital camera.
I have a sewing machine that does everything but change the baby, and I have a serger. But ... I also have an ancient treadle sewing machine that I keep in good working order.
I knit - which is becoming popular again, by the way. I've just started learning to knit socks.
I sew - clothing for myself and the family, drapes, slipcovers, pillowcases, small things such as oven mitts and table linens (for us and for craft fairs). I also mend, which is something most of the people I know don't bother with any more - they either pay someone else to do it, or they just toss the garment. I have a standard price list of what I charge for simple repairs such as replacing buttons or zippers, hemming, repairing split seams, patching, and so on. And I darn socks.
We recently replaced our old inefficient hot water tank with an in-line, electronic-ignition tankless water heater ... and we heat the workshop and the main floor of the house with wood stoves. Both of which we got free. And as soon as we installed them Big Guy befriended a couple of tree-removal companies, so we get all our wood free. We don't pay for firewood, and they don't pay dump fees or add to the landfill. Win-win.
I'm currently saving up to replace our old washing machine (when it finally dies) with a front-loader. I'll save water, soap, and electricity, and our clothes will last longer. Especially since everything will still get hung up to dry on either the outdoor or basement clotheslines.
Now that I think of it, there are a lot of things we do that some people think of as old-fashioned, eccentric, or "just hobbies" ...
We make our own jams, jellies, pickles and relishes. We have shelves in the basement full of home-canned fruit, fish, and tomatoes, and home-dehydrated herbs, soup veggies, raisins, prunes, apples, tomatoes, and jerky.
I refuse to have a dishwasher. Instead, the dishpan of soapy water gets used to flush the toilet, so I almost never have to scrub it. The pail of rinse water gets used to water the houseplants and the vegetable and tomato planters. Or to wash the car, or scrub the bathtub and sink, or wash the floors, or gets poured into the washing machine when doing laundry.
Worn-out clothing turns into patchwork quilts, potholders, table runners, braided mats, and shopping bags.
Economical? Frugal? Thrifty? Absolutely. Downright cheap? Possibly.
Financially and environmentally responsible? You betcha!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)