Recycled Flower Basket

An acquaintance stopped me in town today to give me a bundle of artificial flowers that she found at the local thrift shop. She knew that I loved flowers. When she spied the bundle, she just knew it wanted to go live at my place. So she spent all of one dollar and bought me this surprise. I was touched that she thought of me. 

Yes, I love seeing flowers. There's a feeling of happiness and peace that comes over me when I contemplate flowers. I can still recall the amazing feeling of being completely at peace when I sat below the blossoming cherry trees in Washington DC and watched the flower petals falling like snow around me. At other times I would visit Longwood Gardens and spend  hours, often the entire day, communing with the flowers. While my college friends often turned to drugs or music for escape from the stress of college, I went to Longwood Gardens. (Students got in for free back in those days.) 

To this day I'm attracted to flowers. So this gift of artificial flowers was much appreciated. As soon as I returned home, I snagged my onion storage basket from the kitchen, gathered moss from around the house, and created a hanging basket for by my front door. 

More Tales of Zero Waste

I just snagged two five gallons buckets down at the dump. Someone had thrown them away. Whoa, I'm not one to let a useable bucket slip past my fingers. So with the aid of a long stick, I hooked these babies and slipped them into the bed of my truck. 

Complete wth handles, they're in fairly nice condition and fairly new. No sun bleaching. No serious damage. But they both have a crack in the bottom. Guess that why the previous owner ditched them. They were no longer perfect. 

I have no problem whatsoever using such buckets. In fact, self draining buckets can be a plus! I put these two right to work helping to haul soil and compost. 

I find it sad to see useable stuff heading to a landfill. My county boasts about their "zero waste" program, but they're not really serious about it. But I can say that these two buckets will be truly used up and useless by the time they see the inside of a dumpster again. 

Fish Food - Zero Waste

A friend just drove home another idea of zero waste.........using the "dust" from the bottom of the dog food bag for feeding my pond fish. She gave me quite a good supply to other day. Thank you!

Both she and I use a good quality high protein dogfood, so the granules work well for the fish too. In fact, I've been using this idea for years quite successfully. The fish still get other food sources, such as pond vegetation, worms, mosquito larvae, and such. 

All the fish seem to enjoy the dogfood crumbs, immediately coming to the surface to feed. 

If I didn't have pond fish, what else could the crumbs be used for, rather than being tossed into the trashcan? Ideas I can think of:

...chicken food

...moistened and fed back to the dog

...pig food

...worm food

...garden additive

Gourd Craft

The community garden volunteers are a talented lot. Many recently took gourds and crafted them into absolutely beautiful and interesting items. Everything was done by hand and used a special internal dying technique. 

Gourd craft could be a valuable skill for a self reliant homestead. What farm wife couldn't use a nice bowl or container. Gourds also can be used for drums, lamp shades, utility items, and for decoration. Historically they have been used for food and water storage. Wow, grow-your-own, how appropriate. 

Gourd craft could be used as a supplement to farm income. Targeting the right markets, there is a demand for certain types of gourd-craft. I just wouldn't expect to be able to support my farm on  just gourds. Diversify, diversify, diversify. 

Have I tried carving a gourd yet? No. I do plan to eventually. But I've been watching these artists turning their green "pumpkins" into art pieces and it interests me. So some day....

I give these people a lot of credit. They all have good ideas. I fear that I might be awefully utilitarian by contrast. 

Growing gourds here is not simple. By "here", I mean on my farm. I battle mildew, squash borer, pickleworm moth. Sometimes it's too wet for good gourds. Other times the wind damages the surface of the gourds. But when luck goes my way, the farm indeed can produce nice gourds. Aaahh, just one more crop that a homestead farm can produce. They all don't have to be food items (although some gourd types are indeed edible). 

Woodcrafting Tables

I haven't tried making my own furniture yet, but I'd gonna give it a try. Every since elementary school refused to allow me into wood shop (I had to take home economics where I learned to make placemats, potholders, and aprons, yuck), I've wanted to work with wood, make useful things. But I never learned the basics as a kid, and only now am trying to figure it out. 

I recently acquired two slabs of monkey pod from a dead tree. That's a variety that grows in my area. Monkey pod has very pretty grain. Well...at least that's my opinion. These two slabs are about 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick. One is about 18 inches on its widest diameter, the other about 36". 

This bigger one has two holes in it. While others may see this as a defect, I count it as an asset. It will give the tabletop some character. Tables, yes. That's what I have in mind. 

First step is to rough sand it. The initial sanding is with #50 sandpaper and a belt sander. There are a lot of gouges from the saw, so it will take a bit of sanding. 

So after the initial sanding, this is what they look like...........

So far, I'm pretty pleased. Now I'll sand them using a finer grit, #80 paper. 

I think the grain is oh so pretty. Plus I plan on leaving the bark on and let it be rough. I still haven't figured out what sort of finish to use. Hope I decide well and don't ruin them. But we shall see what happens. 

Fly Control in the House

These past couple of weeks the house has become the residence to a large number of flies and vinegar flies. Not my idea of nice house cohabitants. Because I didn't have the time to go fly stalking, I hit upon the thought of the old fashioned flypaper. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know if it was for sale around here. So I dropped into my town's hardware store and asked. Surprise! Not only is the stuff still manufactured, but the store had a pack of them. I instantly snarfed it up even though it wasn't senior discount day. And don't tell them, but I would have been willing to pay twice the price because those flies were driving me batty. 

I was one focused mad woman when I arrived back home. Ignoring a lamb hollering for a bottle, the kittens begging to be fed, and two donkeys braying for attention, I carried my treasure directly to the livingroom. Grabbing the step stool out of the kitchen, I aimed to hang my first fly strip. Oooo, I forgot just how careful one needs to be around this sticky stuff. But with a thumb and finger now as sticky as the paper, I did manage to get one flypaper hanging from the beam in the center of the room. 

2 minutes later I got my first fly! Deep satisfaction. Shamelessly I was reveling in murder. But pity soon overcame me and I killed the hapless fly. 

So how well does flypaper work? Pretty good. Just overnight it caught all the flies and hundreds of vinegar flies. 

Way back when I was a youngster, flypaper plus a handheld flyswatter were the common armaments one used to combat flies around the house. But somewhere along the line as time went by, they were cast aside. Toxic chemicals became preferred. Sprays, aerosol misters, and fume emitting bug strips took their place. And now here I sit, totally thrilled about the effectiveness of old fashioned flypaper. So here's my choices:

1- invisible toxic bug killers & repellents, or 

2- non-toxic, effective flypaper hanging in the room plus an equally effective flyswatter that fails the "Better Homes and Garden" esthetic test. 

I'm choosing #2. 

As far as my homestead project is concerned, #2 is far more sustainable, self reliant, and frugal. And of course less toxic and damaging. 

By the way, I'm dumping out the vinegar jar in the kitchen and replacing it with a piece of flypaper. I want to see if it is more effective. 

Pipinola Refrigerator Pickles

One of my favorite uses for pipinolas is to make refrigerator pickles out of the leftover pickle juice from a store bought jar of tasty pickles. I've read that it's safe enough to reuse pickle juice once. So it is a great way for me to make easy, easy pickled veggies. 

Now I hear ya......what's a pipinola? It's a vine veggie that goes by plenty of different names around the tropics, with chayote being the most familiar one on the mainland USA. It's kind of like a squashy thing, and can be used like a summer squash in many dishes. I like to use them in soups, stews, and stir fries. And they make a darn good mock apple pie. 

Back to pickles. I opt to use the larger, older pipinolas for pickles. Why? Because the young tender skinned ones are preferable for cooking or raw use because their rind is so tender that it can be eaten. The rind and seed capsule of the older ones are tough, thus needs to be cut away and discarded (to the livestock feed pot). 

Above, two large pips, washed and ready for action. 

Aboveboard I've cut off the rind, cut the pipinola in half, and cut out the tough seed capsule. 

Next, I slice the pipinola into thin slices, about 1/8" thick.

Finally I gently pack the pieces into a clean jar, add pickle juice to cover all the pieces, then store the jar in the frig. After one week I often start stealing pieces out of the jar, but they are better if I wait three weeks before eating. 

Saving Money on Food - Eating Better

So many people have emailed asking me about how can they spend less on food and eat better. I suspect that they think that I've discovered the answer on my journey to being self reliant. I can only say what I've done, not what the perfect answer for you is. Besides, im not 100% there yet. im still in the process of figuring out how to spend less and eat better. But here where I am so far........

Foremost.....stop buying commercially prepared foods. That means just about everything in the supermarkets. We gradually transitioned to producing or trading for most of our food. At the same time we weaned ourselves away from most store bought items. But lets say that we weren't growing our own, would it still be possible to do? Sure. We would have needed to adjust our diet and purchase just "real food", things that are zero processed with zero additives. I'd look to buy direct from the grower when possible. I'd check out farmers markest. I'd look into bulk buying or a co-op. 

Next......stop eating out. Or at least drastically reduce it. We are down to two "out-with-friends" meals a week, one a breakfast, the other a dinner. While we could survive just fine cutting these out, we have no plans to. Eating a meal with friends is very important to us and very enjoyable. 

Stop buying at expensive stores.....those little convenience stores can be pricy. And there is a big variation in cost between different supermarket chains. 

Stop wasting food....this is another super biggie for me. I learned to use food that previously I had thrown away. It was hard but I've retrained myself not to leave food go bad in the refrigerator. I've switched to making stir fries, soups, and stews which can use up leftovers. I've learned to freeze or dry my excess. I don't bother to can foods, but that would be another option. During the hectic chapters of my past life, I was immensely guilty of wasting food. Alas, no more. Different lifestyle, different focus. 

Establish a trading network..... these past few years I've created a trading network to turn my excess foods that I produce or acquire into other foods that I want. I have traded for meats, milk, cheese, fruits, veggies, bread, cookies, pies, and even ducks, lambs, chickens. I'm often offered jams, jellies, syrups, dried fruits & veggies, juices, and assorted homemade foods. Last week I traded for some homemade fried chicken that was absolutely lay fantastic. 

I've never kept the records, but I bet I spend a helluva lot less now on food as compared to when I first moved here. Looking back, it was insane how I spent the food budget. Heck, what budget? I just bought food as wanted. And back then I was really habituated to commercial foods. Microwaved food was my thing. No more. 

If I were just growing a small food garden and not doing all the other stuff, like trying for a complete food line, foraging, and trading, I think I'd focus on growing those veggies that are expensive to buy in the stores. Things like sugar snap peas, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, asparagus, etc. Growing those pricey veggies (and fruits) myself would help the food budget. But of course that would mean growing them sensibly. One wouldn't save any money if one were to spend big bucks on fertilizer, pots, potting soil, hand tools, a rototiller, etc. 

Eat What Other People Would Throw Away

I've hit on this subject before, but once again I'm getting lots of emails about using kitchen waste. Compost and worm bins are the number one things people suggest, but hey, what about using the veggie discards for yourself? Remarkably there's a lot of "waste" that I actually turn into food for our dinners. Yes, I do have waste that goes to feed the livestock. (Only a tad ends up in the soil or compost. Zero in the trashcan.)

So have you thrown any of this out lately? .......

Corn silks - I make a tea out of them for helping treat bladder infections. I freeze the silks until I need them. I've talked with a woman who adds the silks to her corn soups. She says that you can dry them then run them threw the blender to make a flour. Wow, I'd have to have an awful lot of silks to make that worthwhile, but it's something to think about. Growing up I never realized that silks were edible because my parents meticulously picked off every last one before boiling the corn ears. 

Corn cobs - These can be simmered to make a stock. Reducing to about 1/3 produces a corny sweetish stock. 

Radish leaves - Great in stirfry, soups, and stews. They lose their hairyness when cooked. 

Carrot Tops - I've never eaten them raw in salad since they're a bit tough and chewy. But I do use them when making various stocks. I've also used them as a garnish and snipped them atop mashed potatoes along with parsley. 

The young leaves on broccoli and cauliflowers - I find these better eating than collards. Good in all sorts of cooked dishes. 

Stalks, stems, and cores of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, asparagus - The tender parts are fine for cooked dishes and soups. The tougher fibrous parts go into the stock pot. 

Watermelon rind -  I remove the very thin outer tough rind. The white inner part goes fine in stirfry and curries. I've also pickled it. And it can be juiced or blenderized up with a smoothie. 

Vegetable trimmings (carrot peelings, onion skins, broccoli stems, pumpkin guts, etc) I'll simmer all this sort of stuff up in the stock pot. The residue goes into the chicken and pig feed. 

Vegetable Waste - waste after cooking veggies goes for stock or soup, depending upon the waste. Beet skins, sweet potato skins, the water veggies were cooked in (though I usually steam veggies instead of boiling them). Even the spent veggies at the end of stock making don't go not the trash. Nope, they are fed to the dogs or livestock. 

Bones - Used to make stock and bone broth. Once spent, they go into the wood burning stove, then broken up and added to the garden soil. 

Stale bread - Fine for bread crumbs, bread pudding, filling, etc. 

Citrus rinds -  For making zest. Peels are also good for flavoring drinking water. I often put lime and lemon peels into a gallon of water and set it in the frig.  

Bones, Chicken carcass, Thanksgiving Day Turkey carcass - Great for stock! It simply amazes me that people throw bones into the trash. When I lived in NJ I had many friends who would give me their turkey carcasses after Thanksgiving. They were stored in the freezer until I had time to make soup and stock. 

Creative Repair

It's not uncommon around a working homestead farm for quick emergency solutions to problems that pop up. I've done dozens so far. It's such commonplace that I don't even think about them. 

Today I moved my horse to a neighbor's pasture. The neighbor lives on the mainland, so the pasture is vacant. In order to keep the pasture from over growing, she allows (actually encourages) people that she knows to use the pasture. Nobody has had livestock there for a few months and with this crazy weather the grass is getting out of control. So I moved my horse there. Yoshi will think she died and went to pasture heaven......belly deep grasses of all sorts. 

I saw right off that the gate that I was familiar with was gone. Most likely rusted away. Someone had improvised a gate. 

Two young trees sacrificed to make suitable poles. Then creatively attached to the fence posts on each end using some old telephone cable. 

Nothing sophisticated, but quite functional. 

Definitely wouldn't hold an escape artist in, but my mare won't bother testing this gate. For the next couple months she'll be content to eat grass. 

A proper gate would cost hundreds of dollars. But since this pasture doesn't have what one would consider to be proper fencing, this gate will do just fine. And it didn't cost a penny.....except somebody's time. 

Drivel - Gifts in Jars

Several times though out the year we enjoy sending some gifts to mainland friends. While hubby hits the stores for most of his gift items, I look closer to home. I'll buy handmade items at our local farmers market plus choose things that I've made myself. So my gift list is composed of handcrafted spoons, small glass sun catchers, sandlewood incense, local handmade granola bars, local crafted soaps, coconut frond baskets, kukui nut leis, carved coconut shells, etc. 

I often send packets of my own processed macnuts, a favorite among my friends. And home dried tropical fruits : rambutan, pineapple, banana, jackfruit. Commonly I'll include jars of my own honey or homemade fruit syrups......lilokoi, mango, guava, etc. 

I like the pretty-up the jars, considering that they are gifts. I especially do this around the winter holidays. It is so easy to do and cost just pennies, sometimes actually zero! Often I am given unwanted or damaged aloha shirts. Sometimes I'll buy one real cheap that catches my eye at a yard sale or at the thrift store. Once I bought for just pennies a piece of cloth left over someone else's craft project. They make a nice decoration with a bit of Hawaiian flavor. 

Of course I first wash and iron the piece of clothing........nothing like sending a box of gifts that reeks of  someone's body sweat! You talk about authentic Hawaiian!!! Then I'll cut out circles. Just place one atop the jar before putting on the ring. Wallah! 

Repurpose Old Feed Bags

Just about everyone I know throws away their old feed bags. Geez, more useable stuff ending up in the dump. I like to reuse then when possible. Oh, eventually they wear out and end up in the trash, but not before they get a real workout. 

1- Store firewood wood kindling. Because we're building lots of things, I end up with plenty of little scrap pieces of wood. Cut into small pieces, they make excellent kindling. But where to store them? Old feed bags, of course. 

2- One of my friends creates shopping totes out of them. Great idea! 

3- Another friend uses them to carry horse manure. Transporting the manure this way saves her car from becoming a compost bin on wheels. 

4- Transporting grass clippings. I do a LOT of mowing for harvesting grass clippings. I've found that transporting the clippings in trashcans is the easiest and quickest way to load them up and unload them at the garden. But when I mow some place other than my own property, I usually mow for two hours. That much mowing quickly fills all my trashcans, leaving me with a giant pile still to be moved. Old feed bags now come in handy. I fill bag after bag. That way I can leave the bags sit there overnight until I can return to retrieve them. The bags are easy to move, unload at the garden, and empty out. 

5- Lining for the pallet gro-boxes. The pallet boxes need to be lined with something to hold the soil and moisture in. Old tarps, old plastic, and old feed bags all work. So once the feed bags get a little ratty from one of their other tasks, they become gro-box liners, 

6- Trash bags. Sometimes I need a stout bag to hold trash. Feed bags fit the bill quite nicely. 

7- Store shredded paper. I save shredded paper to use in the chicken nest boxes. I also save sawdust for the same purpose. Old feed bags work real nice for storing this material. The bags don't get holes in them plus they are easy to haul around. 

8- I tried once using them as giant growing bags to grow potatoes. They worked but were difficult to deal with. They tended to sag and tip over. And the plant roots got too warm, in my opinion. But with a bit more refinement, I bet they could be fine for growing plants in. You could probably get two or three crops out of a bag before the sun weakened the bag too much. 

Notes of Being Frugal

,I'm big on being frugal. Not that I'm a miser or refuse to spend a dime. But frugal in the sense of wisely choosing how to spend the money that I have. I think any working family homestead absolutely needs to be frugal to some degree in order to be successful. I've discovered that there are plenty of ways to be frugal, and the biggest saver for me by far is not buying stuff in the first place. Number 2 is not buying stuff that eventually gets wasted. 

I try not to fall for sales and deals, unless it was something I intend to buy anyway. Just how many hose nozzles do I need to have in reserve sitting on the shelf? How many pens need to stored in the desk drawer? While I do believe in having reserves on hand, I'm guilty in the past of over doing it. It's been 10 years since I bought those 3 packs of hose washers that were on 50% off sale, and I still have 2 full packs that are rather old and cracking by now. Thus I wasted my money buying the extra 2. That's just one example that I'm willing to admit to. Yes, there are others sitting around here. 

(We changed our mind and never used these. Still sitting on the closet shelf.)

Bargains are only good if you actually use the stuff. Before moving here I bought several pair of shoes that were on a great sale. I was saving tons of dollars, so I believed. But once I started living in Hawaii, I never wore regular shoes again. I ended up giving those shoes away to the thrift store. 

Making poor plans while building our house has also waged war with my frugality campaign. We've purchased way too many light fixtures that we ended up giving away. Yes, we didn't change our plans until it was too late to return them to the store. I refuse the throw good things away, so we had to find someone who could use them. 

Sometimes buying a bargain leads me to spend money I normally wouldn't, thus totally negating the bargain. I once purchased some cream cheese at a super price. But then had to buy the rest of the ingredients to make the cheesecake I had in mind - graham cracker crumbs, cream, fruit topping, etc. Not that we didn't enjoy the cheesecake, but it surely isn't an example of being frugal. 

Stocking up sometimes can kill all frugality. How? Stocking up should save you money.  I mean, bulk buying is often cheaper. Or buying bulk when the item is on sale it usually a wise money saver. And I should save money and time by not having to repeatedly go out and buy the stuff, right? But what happens when we change our habits, lifestyle, or diet? Then stuff goes unused. What, you don't anticipate changing? Whoa, that's not us. We've changed a lot over that past few years........

...When I learned that I should no longer eat anything with sugar in it (for over one whole year, zero sugar), I had lots of foods stockpiled that contained sugar -- baked beans, corn, peas, soups, chicken broth, etc. None of that food got wasted (it went to needy seniors), but it was an economic disaster from a frugality viewpoint. 

...when hubby decided the compact fluorescent bulbs were the only thing he'd have in the house, all the regular light bulbs became defunct stock. Luckily my mother had no objections to using them. 

...I moved to Hawaii with a nice collection of new queen sized sheets, but then Hubby decided we would upgrade to a king. I totally agreed on the king size beds so I was just as guilty as he was. 

If I practice the art of being frugal, then I have money to spend on other things. But sometimes I end up shooting myself in the foot. Goes to show that I have plenty of room for improvement. And my flops keep me from getting a swelled head......I'm not as good at this homesteading thing that I sometimes think I am! 

Rags

Part of my homesteading adventure is to explore ways of being frugal. It's no longer a game since the homestead will soon be our means of livelihood. So I've been deciding where I'm willing to spend money and where I am not. One of the conclusions -- paper towels, napkins, wipes are out. I've gone back to using washable rags. 

In order to make the transition back to rags, I found out that I had to have them handy. So I keep a supply beside the kitchen sink in box. In the bathroom, the rag box is a small trash pail under the sink. We found that an old bucket works well out in the barn and tool sheds. 

Where do I get rags? Well surely I don't buy them. Yes, I've know people who do, but that's hardy frugal, isn't it? So discarded clothing is my main source. My own clothes go through a progression, starting out as good clothes, slipping down to going to town clothes, then work clothes, and eventually rags. And sometimes the local thrift store discards a bag of clothes rejects, and they become my rags too. 

Ever think about grades of rags? Some are better scrub rags, such as worn out bath towels. Old t-shirts make great general purpose rags. Some clothes don't make quality rags, so their rags go out in the barn and work sheds to be used as "disposable" rags for paint, oil, grease, and other messy stuff. They're also good for cleaning up dog barf, cat hairballs, that sort of thing. No need to wash those disposable rags. They go right to the trash. It's a shame that clothing isn't all made out of natural fiber anymore, because those discarded rags could be going into the garden. But alas, the synthetic components don't rot down. 

We've successfully made the transition to rags. Hubby no longer looks around for a roll of paper towels, though I do catch him grabbing the toilet paper to clean up a hairball. But the most difficult thing was to train him to throw a used rag into the laundry instead of the trash. Ah, he was trainable! Hurrah! So rags it is, and rags it shall be for my future. 

Dumpster Diving

Cardboard down at the trash station. Good dumpster diving
opportunity. 

Now, I'm not advocating dumpster diving for others, but I admit that I do it myself. I find some great stuff at the trash transfer station that I can use, fix, or repurpose. I find it a shame that so much stuff put into those dumpsters goes to the landfill. The county is always moaning about the landfill being overfull, it costing too much money to expand or keep it open, of trash being a real super problem. But then, they won't let the public take any of it either. Sure, sure, sure, it a liability thing. But I'd be willing to sign a contract saying that I assume all responsibility for my trash picking activities. But alas, it's a no-go. Thus I become an outlaw and dumpster dive.

Just needed an easy repair. I've been using it for over a
year now. Still has plenty of life left. 

Dumpster diving saves a lot of homestead money, plus it provides a lot of resources for repurposing. Some of the stuff I pick up:
...newspapers to be used for mulch
...plastic bottles and containers to be made into fruit fly traps, fly traps,  bird chasers, pots for sprouting seeds and growing plans
...egg cartons for use in the greenhouse
...feed sacks for toting stuff like grass clippings, mulch, coconut husks, macnuts, etc
...feed sacks and old tarps for lining my grow boxes
...gallon jugs for carrying water and making drip waterers (ollas)
...cardboard to be weed blockers in the aisleways of the garden
...old coolers to be made into planters
...old or cracked buckets and totes to be made into planters
...pallets - all sorts of uses such as making grow boxes, shelving, wind blocks, firewood
...old pots and pans for chicken feeders
...old hoses for electric fencing insulators
...discarded drip irrigation lines to be reused
...hogwire fencing to be used to make trellises. If in good condition, to be used as fencing.
...pipes to be used for trellises, and asking all sorts of things
...barbed wire to be reused to protect garden perimeter from feral animals
...old clothing for rags, making garden ties, making pet beds, etc.
...partial cans of paint for painting my homemade planters
And the list could go on.

Reusing stuff from the dump gives a homestead the opportunity to have lots of physical use-items, if you wish to call them that, that it might not normally be able to afford to buy. I look round my own homestead farm and see so much that came from reusing and repurposing:
...in the garden - plant containers, planting pots, grow boxes, spot waterers, funnels, water storage containers, trellises, bird chasers, fruit fly traps, mulch, material for garden signage, 
...on the farm - fly traps, livestock feeders, hen laying boxes, sheep shelters, tool and hardware organizing, paint, wire, sheet metal, t posts
...for the home - firewood, rags, pet beds (made from discarded clothes), pet feeding dishes, storage uses

I've picked up some gems at the dump that were ready to use or only needed minor fixing. A wheelbarrow, 55 gallon drums, rope, extension cord, circular saw, shovel, rake, mirror, double sink, floor tiles, a lamp, card table, assorted chairs, pots and pans, dishes and silverware, puzzles and toys, clothing. 

Been there.... and got the t-shirt !

What's sad in my opinion is the amount of stuff that goes to the landfill. With dumpster diving not allowed in my area, diverting stuff is difficult. Thus I see plenty, plenty, plenty of serviceable things heading for the landfill that people could be using instead. I've seen perfectly serviceable doors, windows, screens, household goods, tools ending up in the trash beyond my reach. Eeerrrggg. So I have zero sympathy for the county government who moans about running out of landfill space. 

Frugal Games for Saving Money Up

Money is a major issue for most homestead farms. Extra is not just laying round. I've talked with a number of local homestead type families to see what strategies they've used. And I came away with some nifty ideas. These are "games" that people play in order to make money issues less painful.

1- Family #1 keeps their monthly budget money in envelopes. For example, $200 in the envelope labelled "Food". At the end of the month if there is any cash leftover, they transfer it into an envelope labelled "Something Special". Then when they have enough set aside, they reward themselves by spending that cash on something special for the family. Along this same line, they snitch a dollar here, a dollar there from some of the budget envelopes. Just one dollar so that it doesn't really make a big difference. That dollar goes into the "Something Special" envelope. The mother says this also encourages her to try growing more of their own food, plus it's an incentive for her children and partner to try eating new foods and recipes. Her partner now willingly buys clothes at the thrift shop because the money that they save on each item used instead of new goes into his "allowance" envelope.

2- Family #2 (one guy) fixed up a bicycle he got on Freecycle. Every time he rides it to town he figures that he saves $5 in gas. He puts that cash into a jar. Then when some tool or "guy toy" comes along that he's just gotta have, he has the cash without killing his budget.

3- Family #3 takes all their coins that they get as change and puts them in a jar that they glued the lid shut (slot cut in the lid to poke the coins through). That way they can't snitch money out of the jar without the rest of the family noticing. That money becomes a Christmas present to themselves, split up equally to each person. They can then each go out a enjoy spending it without a guilt trip.

4- Family #4 works together on Saturday mornings for 3 hours doing something to earn a little cash. Picking up and processing macnuts from trees that the owners aren't interested in is one of their most common jobs. They also pick coffee from an abandoned orchard, process it and eventually sell the green bean. They've also picked and  juiced various citrus and lilokoi, selling the frozen juice to restaurants. The money goes for family entertainment-- birthday parties, vacations, snorkel equipment, movie tickets, picnics, etc. This gives the whole family enjoyment that they otherwise could not afford. Anyone who wants to work past the 3 hours then earns the money for themselves.

5- Family #5 says both cash and time is in short supply. They grow excess food on their little homestead, but do not have enough extra time to sit at a farmers market to try selling it. And since their excess is not consistent, they have had no luck selling it to local restaurants. The parents have done the ground work and support for their children to sell the excess to neighbors. The kids are paid a commission on what they sell, with the family's share of the sales going to buy much needed seeds, fertilizer, garden tools, etc. so that they can expand the garden. They are planning to get a few egg laying chickens next spring, thus garden waste and unsold veggies can go into making eggs.

I've used the coins-in-a-jar game to save money. That one works for me. 

Frugality -Saving the Pennies (It Mounts Up)

Penny pinching can be fun. Really! I play silly little games with myself  over penny pinching ideas. Often I get bored with the game and stop doing it. But surprisingly sometimes the game sticks and it becomes a habit. I try to keep in mind not to get too serious about these little games. Otherwise I might become the old old woman I knew of as a child who saved a house full of empty cereal boxes to use for writing down notes and lists.

Snuffling around the internet I've seen all sorts of penny pinching ideas. I try them a couple at a time to see what comes of it. Some other ideas were suggested by friends or I've seen other people doing. Yet others I come up with myself.

So it is comes, the list of crazy things I've done or still do:
... rinse off paper disposable coffee filters and use them again. By using them twice, you cut the cost in half. The more reuses, the more frugal you get. This idea actually morphed into my making a few cloth filters out of cotton muslin. I now reuse these cloth filters over and over again, rinsing them out between uses and occasionally dropping them in the washer. A quilting friend gave me the muslin, so the filters cost me practically nothing to make. Note: hubby prefers the taste of filtered coffe, thus the reason for not switching to a French press.
...making and using rags. No, I don't buy store bought rags, but I have a friend that does. At the local Ace Hardware they sell rags in a box and guys buy them! Rather than throwing  away worn out clothing, towels, and sheets, I cut them up for rags. Plus I don't throw away rags, I rewash them. Hubby laughs because I different grades of rags. Good cleaning rags. General use rags. Throw away rags, for cleaning up nasty stuff, wiping oil or paint. The front and back of an old t-shirt makes nice rags. But I also use the sleeves and around the neck. Those can be throw away rags. Our thrift shop often gets too much clothing donated, so from time to time I can pick up a trash bag of assorted clothing for a dollar. Great rag material.
...plastic shopping bags. Before there was a bag ban here, I had scads of bags I saved or were given to me. I reused what I could for bag uses, but I still had scads. I heard that a local woman was braiding them into rugs and mats, so I gave it a try. Now my old dogs have cushy pads to sleep on that are braided from discarded plastic shopping bags. I made the pads the size that would fit into an old pillow case. I stuffed the case so that it is over 6 inches think. Both house dogs find them more comfy than a standard blanket or pillow. So by making my own pet beds I saved a bundle. Plus the pillow case is washable so the can be kept clean easily.
... Reuse containers for flower pots, saving food leftovers, storing sewing supplies, storing workshop tools, sorting hardware (nails, screws, bolts, etc). I will buy dry pet food in the economy size bag and to keep it from getting moldy in the bag, I'll transfer it into smaller sealable containers. I've reused pill bottles, food bottles, milk jugs, just about everything. The cut off tops of soda bottles make good funnels. I've used the soda bottle necks and screw top part for electric fence insulators. The milk jug caps work as good gaskets for grabbing the greenhouse plastic that you nail on to the greenhouse frame. They keep the wind from pulling the plastic off.
.. Make potholders and hotpads out of rags. Really quick to do if you have a sewing machine. Of course you could make them by hand too. 
... Recycle a broken ladder into a garden trellis. Recycle a broken wheelbarrow into decorative garden planter/ornament. 
... Make garden ornaments out of twisty bizarre tree branches. Make a bird bath/mini pond out of an upside down tree stump. 
... Save the string from feed bags. Roll it up  in to a ball. Use the string for all sorts of little jobs that string comes in handy for. 
... Put the soap ends/slivers into a jar with a little water. After it gets soft, use that for hand washing. 
... Use those extra pillow cases that come in the sheet sets for laundry bags, shopping totes, and to store things to keep the dust off. They also work good for transporting the cat to the vet's office. 
... Use cardboard and newspaper under grass clipping to keep weeds down, in place of store bought weed cloth. 
... Wash and reuse ziplock bags. 
... Use broken trashcans, rubbermaid type storage boxes, and garden totes as growing container beds. Great for radishes, lettuce, and greens. 
... Use old or broken coolers for growing containers. Being insulated, they work super great.
... Salvage useable items off of items being taken to the dump. I've salvaged screws, nuts and bolts, springs, handles, latches, rubber molding, metal plates, and all sorts of odd parts. These get sorted and stored in those jars and containers that I saved. These bits and pieces not only come in handy for repairs but also for my experiments and curious creations. 
... Unravel an old knitted item and reuse the yarn to make something else. At the thrift store I can buy big bulky knitted sweaters for a dollar. It's cheaper than buying yarn at the store. My mother likes to crochet and she has made potholders, knee pads, arm warmers, cozy bags to keep pots of food hot when being transported, etc. The cotton and wool yarn makes good biodegradable garden ties for trellises in the garden. 
... Plastic/foam egg cartons make good storage separaters for little hardware items and notions. The
paper ones I use to make fire starters. So for the fire starters, I save and use sawdust and old candle pieces. I don't buy eggs but people give me the cartons. 
... I make tea out of plants that I can grow. Rose. Mamaki. Mints. Citrus. Hibiscus. Strawberry. Raspberry. Chamomile. Tulsi. 
... Wood pallets are useable to make gro-boxes in the garden. I have made shelves and racks out of them for the barn. Even furniture. In the greenhouse they can be used to make plant boxes, pot holding trays, growing benches. Although I haven't done it, I have seen people use them for the subflooring in sheds. They can be cobbled together to make livestock pens.  And at the very least, they can be cut up for firewood. 
... I save rubber bands to reuse. I never seem to have enough of them. 

There are a lot of things that I don't save or reuse simply because I don't accumulate them in the first place. I don't buy fresh fruit in those molded plastic containers. I don't buy butter, yogurt, or cottage cheese in those plastic tubs. I don't buy onions in those mesh bags. I don't buy stockings to wear, so I can't find cute ways to reuse them. I don't buy foods in cans, so I don't have cans to reuse. I bring my own take-home container to a restaurant, so I don't have styrofoam take-home boxes to reuse.

Frugality - Working On It From The Top Down

When I first looked into ideas on being frugal, I saw that people were doing things like cutting out store bought toothpaste, cutting paper napkins in half, rinsing off coffee filters, using eggshells to start seeds in instead of pots. There were lots of things people talked about, but they were only penny savers. When I finally had to get serious about living on less money, I kept track of how we were spending our money in order to come up with a workable budget. At that point it dawned no me that saving pennies might be fine, but I could do a whole lot better by focusing on some of our bigger expenditures. Saving one big hunk off of a hugh expense was worth hundreds of little penny pinchers.

Our biggest expenditure by far was our medical : insurance, co-pays, deductibles. The first thing we did was downgrade the coverage from "high" coverage to "low". This saved several thousand dollars a year. Yes, it is a risk taking less coverage if something serious would happen, but that's what the insurance game is all about...weighing risk to benefits. So we chose the risk we were willing to take. Even so, our medical budget, excluding dentist and eyes, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens, is $12,000 a year!!!  That's a hunk. Because of our remote location, the only alternative at the moment that is cheaper is to go without coverage at all. At our age, we are not yet willing to go the route. And for now we are not yet forced to do that.

By resisting going into debt (mortgage, car loans, credit cards, etc) we have cut those expenses out. No interest to factor in. A good part of being frugal, in my opinion, is avoiding debt when possible.

Other big expenses include real estate tax. By dedicating almost all of our main farm to pasture, plus using the other 1 1/2 acres 100% for ag, we reduced our tax burden by over $1000 a year. That forced us into being farmers, but  that was fine by me.

Fuel is another big expense. We were able to save hundreds of dollars on propane by making a couple of changes. We switched to wood heat for the house. About 3/4 of my cooking is done using wood heat. (I have access to abundant wood sources at the price of my time and labor). The propane tanks are turned off when not in use. I don't know yet the exact figure of how much we save per year, but it's in the hundreds. The other fuel is gasoline. To cut our gas costs I no longer use the truck for routinely driving about. Instead a more fuel efficient car is used. I try to organize my runs to incorporate all the errands in one trip. I also carpool when feasible for trips to Kona and Hilo. That shares the gas cost among the carpoolers. Plus friends in the community are now announcing if they are making a trip to town and offer to pick something up if needed. For example, just last week we went to Hilo and picked up a few items for a neighbor. The previous week a friend picked up a special tool for me. This sharing system saves a lot of gas expense.

Another frugal move was to shop online. Sure, the it hurts the local merchants. But in order to survive I need to be frugal in how I spend my money. I will often check prices online (taking in account the shipping and handling fees) before checking locally. If the local merchant can't come close in price, then I'll order the item online. Surprisingly I often can do ok locally if I ask. Plus another thing, if the shipping cost on an online purchase is high, I will email the merchant and ask if they can do better do better by using USPS flat rate. They often do. And if they don't, I tell them that this is why I'm not buying from them.

All these big savings are well and good, but that hasn't stopped me from doing many of the penny saving things too. From my point of view, it's a case of choosing where I want to be frugal and to what degree. As with other big changes in my life, I am learning the frugal habit by taking baby steps, making one change at a time. Plus by being frugal in some areas, it leaves
me with more money available for spending (or saving) in other ways. I suppose it comes down to deciding just how and on what I wish to use my money.

So what little penny savers am I doing? Oh lots. Some rather sensible, and some I'm sure my friends think are silly. I think I'll talk about penny savers on another post.