Saving

A bunch of us sat around talking about the way things are going with the economy. When one of the girls asked why I didn't post my ideas. To be honest I really never thought about it. Some stuff is posted just in the normal course of my daily life . Other things are so ingrained that I really don't think about it . Over the years I've tried tons of different things some worked some didn't. I've had people look at me like I was nuts but oh well lol.I'm a firm believer in the saying "to each their own". So here are some of the things we do to save money.


I save small bills and at the end of the month I put half in savings. Than I split the other half between Christmas and yard sales envelopes. You all know that I do try to thrift or make all of our gifts. We also save all of our loose change roll it in the fall and use it to finish our Christmas shopping. If there is any money left( which happens more often than not) we put it into savings.


At the beginning of the month we but a pretty big amount in savings envelope. Unless there is a huge emergency we don't touch it. When the next month rolls around it goes into savings. This money is a combo of savings and/ or emergency fund. Because we don't have credit cards, we use this money for stuff like car repairs or replacing the fridge.

People always offer us free stuff all the time and we take it lol . If we can't use it we always find some one who can. The only problem with that is having the space to store it until it can be used. I can't tell you how much money we've saved. But I can tell you that just about everything in our house was given to us one way or another.

Our electric bill runs us about $50 a month ( last month it was $48) People tell us that's good considering that there is always some one home. Some of the electronics we have we don't always use. The stereo , the DVD player, PlayStation, or the surround sound unit aren't used every day. So we went around and put all of the "Energy Vampires "on surge protectors. We have a ton of surge protectors lol. This way nothing is left on " standby" We even put one on the computer so when we're done we can shut down everything including the printer and modem.

When I food shop I go to 3 stores plus the farmers market. I know the prices of just about everything we buy. In recent months I've have been thrown off because the cost of food continues rise so I will wait if I'm not sure .I keep at least 3 months of supplies in the house at all times. I also rotate all of our extras putting the new stuff in the back while moving the older stuff up to be used next. All of our clothes are either used or bought at a deep discount. The big kids buy most of their clothes but Bear out grows his stuff so fast that it makes more sense to spend less. Bear has play clothes and school clothes. When the school stuff gets to worn or stained we flip them to play than when they get to small I save them to craft with.

OK now that I've bored everyone to tears lol I'm gonna stop here . I'll just put this question out there..... What do you guys do to save money??????? With that I'm off to get some house work done. Til next time have a great day.

AWOL again :)

Spring has sprung and things have been busy here at the old homestead.The flowers are up and the herbs have sprung out of the ground with a vengeance. The weather has been beautiful . We went from 40 to 80. I thought there was another jail break when I couldn't find Sweetie ( one of the little hens) one morning. Hubby went down to take a look and found her in the crate curled up in a cute little ball. I'm to short to see in without standing on a rock to see her lol .When she got up to eat Hubby saw 10 little eggs. Maybe just maybe we'll see some chicks soon. The spring cleaning has started ( can you hera the family graoning lol ). Most of Bear's clothes have been switched out. Our clothes are next. Than it's on to the curtains. The fan's have been dragged out of storage. Cobwebs have been cleared and with the windows open the house smells fresh and clean. Good bye to winter. I've been working on the other house a couple of hours a day. Trying to get it ready to put on the market.

I'm having croquet withdrawals :) . My arm is a lot better . Soon I'll be swimming in yarn lol lol . I've got big crafty plans. I've been buying quilt squares. All I'll need is the fabric for the backing than hopefully I can start on that . I want to make rag rugs. We've been saving all of our old clothes forever lol and I swear I keep finding more. So looks like I'll be cutting and sewing some rugs . I still have a ton of stuff to paint up. I guess I better get hopping.

So that's it for now. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got us some more......

chickens. I went looking for the chickens that hubby wanted last week . After much searching I ended up on the web. After some more searching I found Cackle Hatchery. Looky what we have on order

Some Golden Laced Wyandotte's

Some Golden Seabright Bantam's

Some Mille Fluer Duccle's

And some Silver Duckwing's

The Mille Fluers and the Silver Duckwings are to replace the ones we lost. Hubby was so happy when I found them. The other ones ......well they're just cooling looking lol . Everyone thinks we're crazy lol. Last year when we got the Mille's and the Silver Duckwings we had people ask if they could buy them. Now Hubby wasn't going to give up his babies but we where hoping to breed them than sell the babies. Since that evil animal got them we have to start over. Oh well I guess them's the breaks right.

That's it for now . Til next time have a great day.

Well....... damn

Yeah damn .... you never guess what I did. Are you ready?????? I fractured my left fore arm :0
How did I do that you ask ????? I have no idea. I moved around Bear's room on Monday that night my arm was bothering me I just figured I pulled something. Tuesday more of the same but now there was a huge bruise. By Wednesday it was swollen, so off to the Dr's one xray later yep a small hair line fracture. UGH!!!!!!! I didn't get a cast thank god. Just a ace bandage, a splint and a sling . I feel like an idiot. Hubby just looked at me and said " How on earth did you do that and not feel it" . Just lucky I guess lol.

Easter was good we did the normal, eating until we couldn't move, the kids just hanging out and eat more candy then is humanly possible. Than we all passed out lol lol. The last couple of days have been quiet. I can't do much with this arm ( typing one hand truly stinks) so I'm just hanging out . Thankfully everyone has been helping out so things are rolling along. Ok I'm gonna get off of here much more to come. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!

Wishing.....

All of you a wonderful and joyous Easter.

Whew!!!!!

Time sure does fly lol . Well spring break started here on Monday . The big kids are in Florida with their dad and step mom . Us ........well we've just been hanging out. M finished moving back to take care of his mom. He had a full house of stuff but couldn't take it all sooooo lol Bear ended up with not only the computer desk but a dresser, wall unit and a set of metal cube shelves . We spent Monday re-doing his room . Of course he was all excited to get big kid stuff lol lol. What a job but it was worth every ache and pain. Now all of his books are in one spot and everything was sorted and re organized. Yippee!!!!!!!!! One room down and 3 more to go. Hopefully I'll be able to get to them in the next week or so.I haven't been able to get to the other house yet. The weather is just so weird it's still really cold in there. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it warms up soon so I can get in there and get it started.
I've been getting ready for Easter. We have all of the goodies for Bear and the kids. I just have to pick up some odds and ends for Easter dinner and we're set. I still have to stuff the eggs but Bear can smell goodies a mile away lol so I'll wait until the last minute :) Tomorrow I have to run out to grab some stuff. Hubby wants to replace the 2 little chickens that we lost to an animal. They were his babies and he took it really hard. We also want some turkeys. I'm figuring 2 for us and a couple of extras for family and friends. Hubby is talking about getting some ducks for the pond . Our neighbors are going to freak lol lol since C just picked up ducks too lol. I guess it's not as weird as the goats and pigs we had last year right ?????Than stop and grab the rest of the fixings for Easter dinner.
Not much crafting going on here. I am working on a lap blanket for a Christmas present but that's it. M's mom sent over a big bag of eye lash yarn ( insert evil laugh here) I'm trying to figure out what I can make with it. Hopefully I can get some other stuff done in the coming weeks with pics of course. I found some really cute doll patterns that I can't wait to tackle. And lol I really want to make a quilt for our room. Do I know how to make a quilt?????? Nope but I'm hoping to figure it out. I've had a queen size batting( bought on sale of course lol ) in storage for a year I guess it's time to get my act together.Internet here I come lol.I try to remember to take pictures as I find my way around quilt making.

So that's about it for now. Til next time have a great day.

And the beat goes on

The last couple of weeks have been crazier than normal. I went shopping and we all know how much I love that. We really didn't need to much with the huge amount of stuff we picked up last month, and I still spent $200.00 :0. Yikes time to tighten the belt again I guess. Monday I did alot of running around. I went to see a friend , than stopped to pick up chicken feed, off to Walmart to pick up books( and got offered a job lol ), a stop at the farmers market to pick up pears, than home for an hour. Into the truck pick up Sissy help her move the rest of her stuff to the new place ( my ex gave us a small chest freezer so I grabbed that too), sent her off to the Dr's, helped the ex put her stuff away ( and I didn't kill him lol lol ) rolled into the driveway in time to get Bear. Needless to say I was wiped and wanted a nap.
Yesterday I did a lot of housework. So many little things that always need to be done. The weather was beautiful, so 2 loads of wash went on the line. I opened all the windows and aired out the house. I puttered and poked lol and got a lot done. This morning I have to change sheets, put a foam pad on Bear's bed, do 1 load of laundry, vacuum and clean the bathroom. Than I'm off for my weekly Wednesday visit with my bff ( Hubby calls it hen's day out lol yeah I beat him lol lol ). Thank God for my crockpot dinner is cooking away.

Well that's it for now, I need to get my butt in gear :) . Til next time , have a great day.