FRUGAL FRIDAY: Shopping

Frugality is something that has occupied my mind for many years. When the Hubs was in the Navy and I stayed at home with the kiddos, things were tight. We knew it would be if I stayed home, but it was a sacrifice we took seriously. So in an effort to live off his salary, we had to be FRUGAL. Let's just say, I learned as I went. I got a copy of the book The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn and still use it as reference today. Growing up on a farm helps too. We didn't have much money then, but we always had plenty to eat, clothes and shoes, good friends, and of course one thing was abundant: LOVE. So here's a series of posts about living with less, FRUGAL FRIDAY. Feel free to leave comments and share your ideas for living abundantly with less.

1. Shop grocery store sales. Get those sales flyers from the newspapers or check online at your store of choice and make your shopping list accordingly. Check the loss leader sales (on the front page and the back page) and plan your menu for the week by what's on sale. It's a good idea to know what you would pay regular price, because sometimes sales can be misleading. If you match coupons up with the sales, you can do even better. 
2.  Buy in bulk. If the loss leader is chicken breast for $1.19 a pound and you have the space in your freezer, consider buying several packages and re-packaging into the amount you need for a meal. When tuna is on sale for $.39 a can, buy 20 to 40 cans. Bulk buying doesn't always have to be at the big box stores.
3. Shop at thrift stores, consignment shops, and yard sales. You can find the best deals on clothing (especially for kids), furniture, household items, craft items and more. I've recently discovered that a couple of my regular haunts have great deals on new fabric. It's often mixed in with linens and prices vary. Some thrift stores offer discounts on select days. I once found a store that offered a military discount on Tuesday, so I began stopping by just about every Tuesday to check for super good deals.

4. Dumpster dive. Well, not really. Just be on the lookout for discarded items that you could use. The Hubs just re-finished a beautiful rocking chair that Daughter P found beside the dumpster. It is just lovely and rocking that new grandson is a favorite hobby of mine! Other things we have graciously accepted that were destined for the dumpster: a twin size bed with mattress, several dressers, book cases, tents and other camping equipment, untold numbers of toys, and clothes. Don't be too good to take something that is still perfectly good to use! And don't even get me started on hand-me-downs. With two older sisters and multiple girl cousins, I practically grew up in them and I turned out perfectly fine.  And my children all enjoyed the pre-owned garment from time to time.
5. Look for interesting ways to get books cheap or free. Ah, this is a real problem for me. My appetite for reading is un-be-liev-able.  Unfortunately Daughter S is the same way. So we have to find inexpensive ways to feed our habits. Libraries are great. All the books you can read for FREE? Oh, yeah. We're in! Also, find friends or family members who enjoy a good book and exchange with them. I've recently loaned my mom a series of five books. I have several friends (including my mom and sisters) who enjoy the same kind of historical fiction I like. We trade books all the time. (Just remember to put your name in the books you loan out. I've returned books to the wrong friend because I couldn't remember who they belonged to!) Free Kindle books are also a great source for hours of reading pleasure. My Kindle was a gift from The Hubs and I LOVE it! Not only for me, but I recently found loads of kids books to download FOR FREE for Little D.

There are lots of frugal tips out there on the internet. There are even whole website focused on frugal living. Here is just one post from Patrice Lewis at Rural-Revolution that I thought was great. I WISH the internet had been readily available with I was a stay-at-home-mom! There is so much information out there about running a household, saving money, raising kids. It's overwhelming. But I certainly could have used it.

Hope you enjoy this series. I'll cover other topics here as we go along and hopefully offer something useful to you! Again, feel free to leave comments and share your Frugal Friday tips!

The View

I've been so bad about posting lately, I thought I would post some pictures from around Lanky Ridge.

The view from the mailbox at Lanky Ridge

 Same mailbox, opposite direction

An empty bluebird house with the front gone

A lovely shot of fall color

Not much, but it's the best I can do for now. Things around here are slowing down some now and hopefully, I can become a much more regular blogger now. Talk to you soon

NOT A POLITICAL POST

We have been getting so many political calls over here on Lanky Ridge. The phone rings several times every evening with one party/group/candidate vying for our vote. It's become a joke in our house.

We found out a few days ago that none of these people want to talk with a three-year-old. When the phone rings, Little D is the only one who gets excited, so we've been letting him answer. (Caller I.D. is great) A few days ago, he spent about 15 minutes talking to someone about his day. The conversation (one-sided) went something like this:

"I went to work today." (he calls day care his "work")
"It's dark outside. I can't play with my tractors outside now"
"Mama's at work, but she's on her way home now."
"I like talking to pretty girls."
"Are you coming to my house?"

And this just cracked us up. The Hubs and I decided it was probably the most interesting conversation that campaign worker had all day.

So in just a couple short weeks, we'll be done with all this campaign stuff. I'll be so glad. Then we can all complain about the winner and swear WE didn't vote for him

Over on  Rural Revolution, Patrice Lewis has some really good, thoughtful answers to some pressing questions about taxes and government. I thought it was truly worth sharing. She makes some really great points.

So join me in anxiously awaiting November 6th.

A Great Day Today

I had such a great day today. And I was at work! This time of year is really busy and some days I don't feel like I get anything done. Today however was not one of those days. My co-workers and I got so much work done today! We also got to spend the day in a wonderful place: Holliday Lake State Park.

Beautiful Holliday Lake State Park

It's been so warm and the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing and it's just been a wonderful week. I even had time today to get a quick hair cut on my lunch break.

Anyway, if you get a chance to get outside this weekend, you should really consider going to Holliday Lake State Park. Even though it has been very warm, the beach isn't open yet. That will happen (as always) on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. The campground is open and the picnic area is open and the hiking trails are open. You can also go fishing!

So I hope to see you there!

Take a Hike!

Spring is such a great time for getting outdoors and enjoying the sunshine, the warm breezes, the beauty of nature. So you should really get out and see what's out there.

No matter where you live, there is surely a park or botanical garden or natural area you could go. If you have your own wild backyard or woods, that's even better.

Some wildflowers

I live in a very rural area and there are lots of places I can go to hike or just enjoy wildflowers and wildlife. I also own property that is partially "wild." So I have plenty of room to roam. But I live near some great place to explore nature too. Like Holliday Lake State Park and the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest.

I love to walk in the woods this time of year. There are flowers blooming everywhere. One of my favorites is the Pink Lady's Slipper. It's unusual shape is very interesting and it always causes me to wonder. It's also just plain cool. You have to be really quick to see them in bloom because they don't last long. If the Mountain Laurel is blooming, the Lady's Slippers probably are too. The Mountain Laurel is more abundant and usually more visible.

Pink Lady's Slippers

These are some I found a couple years ago at Holliday Lake State Park. It is truly my favorite hiking place. It has miles of trails and a lake (of course) and camping and a beach. Just about everything you want in a park. And I'm lucky enough to go there almost every day.

Me on a good day at the park

Here I am on a really great day at the park! I'm so happy to out on the trails and not stuck in an office somewhere. It's not the best as far as "hair days" go, but it was a really great day on the trail!

I hope you will find a good trail near you and GO FOR A HIKE!! Today if possible.

Making Not Buying Experiences

Easter is a very special time. It's a time we reflect and rejoice in our Savior, Jesus Christ. I believe if you celebrate Easter, you shouldn't be offended by this.

It has always been our tradition to color eggs at Easter. I love to do that. It's so much fun with small children. I know there are many kinds of dye kits out there, but we've never used anything other than the very simplest kind. They have been about $.97 as long as I can remember.

Last year, we got a chance to color eggs with Little D. He was so amazed that we let him play with the eggs. He calls them "baby eggs." And he was able to play with the colored water and get his hands dirty. Well, maybe not dirty, but colored.

Daughter S and Little D colored eggs again this morning. I missed the excitement, but I know he really had fun. Both his hands were a nice shade of sage green.

The point is: you don't have to buy expensive things or pay a lot of money to create fun memories. We've used the same Easter baskets for years and the eggs and dye kits are very inexpensive. But we were able to create great memories over the years with our kids and now with our grandkids.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Easter Weekend Started It All

Over the weekend, I attended a baby shower for my youngest daughter. My sisters and some of our aunts gave a lovely shower with lots a good friends, great food, and wonderful fellowship. Daughter P received some very useful and fun items for the baby boy due in just a few weeks. It really got me thinking about when I was pregnant with her.

It was Easter weekend and Son J and Daughter S and I went to spend the weekend with my parents. The Hubs was out to sea for a short while and in those days I was fearless. I thought nothing of traveling with two toddlers. What could happen? I was Super Mom! Besides the baby wasn't due for another 2 months.

Easter 1993

Here we are in my parent's yard on Easter Sunday. This was back in the day when maternity dresses were made to hide the pregnancy. Weren't we cute? Do you love the forsythia bushes? They are always spectacular.

So there I was with two little bitties 3 hours away from my doctor and the Hub (my choice labor coach) out in the Atlantic Ocean playing who-knows-what kind of games. And after church and the Easter egg hunt was over and I had eaten my weight in ham, my sisters and I were sitting around and I said, "Hey that was a contraction!" Talk about freaking people out. But I didn't have another one that day and I thought it was all good. Then on Monday on the drive home (yes with two little bitties), I had two more. Then the next day, several more.

On Wednesday, I went to the doctor and found out I was having even more. They gave me some meds to slow things down and told me to take it easy and go to the hospital if they became 15 minutes apart. The Hubs came home on schedule and I though I was home free. It was just stress, everything would be fine now.

A few days later I found myself back at the hospital in pretty serious labor. Sure enough that baby wanted out! They hooked me up to an IV and started pumping me up with all kinds of stuff. Stuff to slow the contractions, stuff to make my uterus relax, stuff to make the baby's lungs develop faster and who knows what else. Then they put me in an ambulance and sent me to Portsmouth Naval Hospital. They have a NICU there just in case they couldn't stop my labor, the baby would be in good hands.

When they wheeled me in to the labor/delivery room, I had no idea I wouldn't see the light of day for two weeks. Yep, I spent the next 14 days in the hospital flat on my back not even allowed to walk the few feet to the bathroom. When I was finally allowed to go home, it was with very strict orders on what I couldn't do. Like GET UP! So bed rest at home for another 6 weeks.

Oh yeah, remember the two toddlers that I had already birthed? They were attended to by a dear friend when they weren't with my parents. I had such good friend! (then and now) Friends took me to every doctor appointment (over 1 hour away), brought us meals three times a week, helped with the kids, cleaned my house, did our laundry, you name it!

So after all that, Daughter P was born on June 1, 1993. She weighed all of 6 pounds 14 1/4 ounces. She was very healthy and for the most part happy.

Daughter P

She was such a good baby. Of course, she had a brother and a sister to play with her, bring her stuff, pick up what she dropped, push her in the swing, laugh at her, tickle her. Anyway thinking about her baby coming soon has me thinking about her. We can't wait to meet him!