Being Frugal Isn’t Always About Money

Hello friends, at the beginning of the month I decided I was going to try and be more frugal. Webster’s defines frugal as: Economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful. Economical in use OR expenditure. Yet most people automatically think when you mention trying to be frugal you are saying you are not going to spend any money or cut back on spending. But by not wasting, and using what you already have you will probably find yourself saving money. You will also find yourself being kinder to the environment.

At my attempt at being more frugal I noticed that I’ve spent less money. This comes from not wasting, more than anything else. I concentrated on using the food in my pantry and freezer instead of throwing out a ton of food that has gone bad or is out of date. It is from making more conscious decisions about what I really need to buy. I am terrible at making impulse purchases only to find that I have something exactly like it when I get home. I am making an attempt to try to find a less costly solution instead of just barreling out and spending money. I guess the thing that really hit home with me was when I cleaned out my closet at the end of the year and found several shirts with tags still on them. I had forgotten all about buying them. That my friend is ridiculous and wasteful. I don’t want my closets stuffed with clothes I don’t even know I have.

(Not my closet but it could be)

I am at a time in my life where I will not deprive myself of what I need. Last month we had a new deck put on the back of our house. The old deck was over twenty years old and quite frankly a little scary. We also replaced the doors which had gaps in them and was probably causing a lot of wasted energy. As usual it cost more than we had anticipated, just as most things do. But it was something we needed and had to be replaced and I don’t regret a penny of it.

I love to travel and visit new places. I like to be able to do this without worrying about the money I am spending for each trip. If being less wasteful in my home and life does this then that is just an added bonus. But this is me. It may not be you. You may enjoy eating out every night and shopping every weekend. And If you do then I am happy for you. Go for it. Life is short you know my motto, Love your day your way because that is what life is all about. I certainly don’t want to impose my thoughts and beliefs on you or appear hypocritical when I do indulge or splurge on things I want and need.

Here are a few things I noticed about being more “frugal” this month:
It reduces waste (both food and otherwise)

I can see everything in my pantry.

I can see everything in my refrigerator (like even way back in the back)

I feel like I have a better idea of what is in my closet. I have taken lots of items to good will and unlike past times I didn’t run out and buy things that would fill up closet again.

I discovered many things in my closet I had forgotten I had.

Every time I think about buying a new piece of clothing I go into my closet to see what I might have that I can use. This has actually been pretty exciting.

But anyway with all of that being said. I am enjoying cutting back and reducing clutter and waste in my home and life. Just a little tidbit for your Tuesday morning and man it is snowing like crazy here today. I am headed out to try and get some pictures. It is one of those nice wet snows that cling to everything. Happy Tuesday.

Love your day your way!!!

January Bliss

Happy Friday!!! How is your January going? It seems like it was Christmas only yesterday. We have been having a new deck put on the back of our house. We also added new doors, a new front door and doors on our new deck. I am really excited about the deck doors they have the blinds on the inside of the glass. Take that you dust bunnies. Our yard and then our living room has been in a state of disarray. Adding a new deck is something I have wanted to do for a couple of years now. We started the deck before Thanksgiving and then rain and all of the workers being sick slowed the process. They finally finished the deck just before Christmas. There was a mixup on the new deck doors and they had to be reordered and that slowed things even more. The doors were finally put in last week. Of course it was one of the coldest days we’ve had this winter and all of the doors in the living room were out. Mark took this picture from the upstairs. We still haven’t painted the doors. We are waiting for the temps to be a little warmer but I will show you an update when we do.

You can see a little bit of the new deck here. I am loving the new railing. I can’t wait until it gets warmer and we can sit on the deck and enjoy the sunshine.

Last Sunday I decided to make bread with my sour dough starter. I wanted the regular sour dough and the cinnamon pecan sourdough. So each cup of starter makes three loaves, and long story short I wound up with six loaves of bread I gave most of it away. I have to get it out of the house so I won’t eat all of it.

My niece Amy R and I decided to start a craft or project night once or twice a month. Here are some of the things we are planning to do:
Hook a rug
Paint with chalk paint
Stencil
Make candles
Make herb butter

These are just a few things we want to start with.

But we actually started out last Tuesday making one of the knitted arm blankets. Something we hadn’t really planned on at all. Man is that yarn expensive. It is a super bulky yarn and let me say it is a bit of an investment. We decided to go with a slightly smaller bulk. We don’t want to break our budget with these projects. We got the yarn at Hobby Lobby and we each needed two skeins. They are really large. They were on sale 30% off so we got them for about 15.00 each so $30.00 for each blanket. The super bulky that we really wanted would have been about $75.00 per blanket. A little pricey for me on a beginner project.

We picked out a YouTube video and got started. This is an excellent video for beginners

Arm Knit a Blanket in 45 Minutes by Simply Maggie

It took us a little bit to get started but once we got the hang of it it went pretty fast. It is basically knitting with your arms instead of knitting needles. I guess because we were new to it and using our arms the open spaces in the blanket were a little large. We finished in about two hours. I put it over the back of this chair and to be honest with you I was not really happy with it. I think it kind of looked like intestines. Now that Amy and I have the hang of making one of these we think we will invest in the higher priced bulky yarn and try again. I decided to unravel my blanket because I knew I would probably never like it and use it. I can make quite a few knitted scarves out of the yarn. The yarn is very nice and soft and will make excellent scarves.

So as you can see I have been in this sort of nesting mode. I guess with the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me I just want to take a breather and enjoy being alone and doing things I really want to do.

This is the book we are currently reading for our book club. I just started it. It is sort of the sequel to, To Kill A Mockingbird. So far it is pretty interesting. I need to go back and read Mockingbird because it has been many many years since I read that. What a lot of people don’t realize is that Harper Lee actually wrote Go Set A Watchman first before Mockingbird. Just some trivia for you.

My goals for January are going pretty well you can see them in this post I haven’t lost five pounds yet but I have been more active and I have been trying some new things (like the blanket) but more on that at the end of the month

How is your January going?

Love your day your way

A New Year, A New Word

Hello Hello how have you been? This is my first post for the new year. Happy New Year!!!! I have to say being back at work last week for a whole week, yes I had to work New Year’s Eve and Day, kind of kicked my butt. I had taken quite a bit of vacation time before Christmas so having to work all week kind of did me in. By Friday evening I was dragging. So I didn’t do much this weekend but take some wonderful walks with Scruffy, knit like crazy, and cook. The temps here have been upper fifties and lower sixties. Is this really January? I have also been binge watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I am now on season 2. I love this it is so funny. Mark has recently started working some different hours so we are adjusting to that as well.

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just ignore these last two if you are cutting carbs

We had a very low key New Years. Mark doesn’t even attempt to stay awake until midnight. I do but I have to set the alarm on my phone to wake me up just before midnight. There is just something about watching the ball drop in Times Square that just seems right and a fitting way to start the new year.

2018 was quite a year. A year of good things. Lots of travel and seeing new places. Our vacation to Maine was amazing you can catch up to it here Mainly In Maine But also unbelievably hard because we lost my sweet brother Allen. We got Scruffy and Kitty Kitty and worked with all the adjustments of having them. Scruffy came to us blind because of terrible cataracts and we had the cataracts removed and now he can see!!!! My 85 year old mother in law fell and broke her hip and had to have several surgeries. She is now living in an Assisted Living Center and adjusting quite well to it. So lots of things going on and having to deal with but that’s life isn’t it?

I have been easing into the New Year. I am not one to make a lot of New Year’s resolutions. I am too old for that. I know what I am capable of and what I’m not. I decided to set some goals for the month of January and I will share them with you. Maybe you can help me be accountable.

I do pick a word every year to focus on throughout the year. I have been doing this for several years. My word for this year is “Try” very simple but yet very challenging in itself. What is the harm in trying. If you don’t try you definitely won’t succeed. If you don’t try you may never know what could have been. If you don’t try then you don’t know what you might be capable of. And if it doesn’t work out the first time try, try, try again. So that is my word for this year. I may have to embroider it somewhere on something or maybe get it tattooed somewhere on me.

My goals for January:
1.Help someone everyday (I know this sounds sort of broad but when you think about it, it can be done in one way or another if you focus on doing it.)
2.Lose 5 pounds
3.Work out 4 days a week (At least get in my 10,000 steps a day)
4.Try a new recipe
5.Visit with a friend I have not seen in awhile
6.Try doing something new
7.Be present everyday. (another broad one but stop and enjoy the little things)
8.Not to buy any new clothes or accessories
9.TRY
10. Do a daily devotional

I hope your New Year is starting off to be wonderful. Have you set any new goals?

Love your day your way

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How Much Stuff Do You Need?

When I was growing up we lived in a very small house. I had six brothers and sisters and we didn’t have a lot of stuff. When I say stuff I mean extra things like a lot of extra clothes, shoes, toys, etc. We lived a very simple life with simple pleasures and those were some of my best most fun memories ever.

Flash forward to today. My house is bursting at the seams with “stuff” most of it things I don’t even use anymore. I am ashamed to say that I have found clothes in my closet with tags still on them. I had bought them and put them in my closet and forgot about them. What a waste.

I am blessed to have what I need and then some but do you ever find that the more you have the more stressful it becomes. Clutter is something I hate. Too many decisions can cause extra stress. I have heard that 80% of women only wear 20% of their clothes and jewelry. I really believe this is true.

Throughout the year I have tried to reduce the clutter in my house and life. See my post about clearing the clutter part 1. I have tried to be more selective about what I bring into my house. If you saw the things in my basement you might doubt this is true. But I have been clearing, organizing, donating, and getting rid of things I don’t need or haven’t used. It really frees my mind. My husband is the worlds worst pack rat. He doesn’t want to get rid of anything. I found an old Linda Ronstadt T shirt in his closet that he has had since high school. He refused to give it up because he says its a collectors item. He has lots of things like that. Right now some of you might be saying “Linda who?”

I often push clothes that I don’t wear or can’t wear to the back of my closet. After a certain amount of time if I haven’t worn them I take them out and get rid of them. Hmmm yes I admit sometimes it might be a few years. What???? Someone could be using those things.

I am starting with clothes and accessories and books. I have already donated things to a local organization several times this year and hope to do this at least once a week until some of this is out of my house and mind.

Here are some things I have found helpful to ask yourself when trying to decide if you should hang onto those clothes or other items

1 Does it fit? If I outgrow something I really love, I put it in a tub and store it in my basement. I will give it a time frame of 6 months or a year or maybe until the next season. If I still can’t wear it then, I give it up.

2. Is this in style? I am not one to go for a lot of trendy items but if you are, look at those items and if it is not something you can make work then give it up.

3. Do I look good in it? If you don’t like how you look in something then you’re not going to feel good wearing it.

4. How long has it been since I wore this? If it has been more than a year then chances are you don’t like this item enough to keep it in your closet.

5. Would I buy this again today? Maybe your taste in that particular type of clothing has changed. Maybe you don’t feel good in a particular color that you used to like. So if you pick something up and say “why did I buy this?” You probably won’t wear it again.

6. Is it stained or damaged? If it is and you can’t fix it you’re probably not going to wear it. I had a pair of Sperrys, I dropped some oil on one of them. It made a huge spot. I couldn’t get it off and I couldn’t bear to give them up, I had only worn them twice. They sat in a box in my closet for about 2 years. I finally gave them up last week.

7. How many of this item do you have? I have a type of shirt I love. I tend to look for that particular type when I shop. Right down to the same color. How many of one type of shirt do I need? How many pairs of black pants? You see where I’m going with this.

8. Could someone else benefit from this more than I can? If you are holding on to it and you know you’re probably not going to wear it think of how it might benefit someone else.

These are just some of the questions I ask myself when I am trying to declutter. It works on other items as well.

I guess one reason I hang onto these things is because I didn’t have a lot of extra things growing up and maybe it gives me security. But I know now that “stuff and things” can’t give you security. It’s just “stuff”

So how much “stuff” do you need?

Love your day your way!!!