And the Laundry and Frugality Continue

As the winter came on the laundry continued, and so did the need to keep saving money. For the first time in twelve years there is no winter work in the construction field. It has been nearly two months of steady unemployment, but we keep tweaking things to keep ends met.

We have a laugh when we bring the laundry in on the cold winter days! It is hard to show exactly how stiff it looks, but when we send the children out to get the laundry it is formed to the shape of the chair it is drying on. Savannah tries to get the laundry in the basket, but she can't quite make it fit! lol

I have to say it must be making a difference in my hydro bill because when I got my bill this month I was expecting it to be much more than it was, because I had a girl stay here for three weeks this winter and she stayed in our travel trailer. (Not because she had to, but so she had a little room of her own). For heat she had to use an electric plug in heater. I am sure those things eat up the pennies.

We have taken to using as little lights as possible. It would be good if we were that conscientiousness all the time. I understand from doing research on the internet regarding lighting for our new home that 20-50% of our electric bills goes to lighting! And if our dryer uses up another huge chunk, well, we know what we can do to cut costs!

I remember growing up and my mother telling us to turn off lights. It didn't make sense to me. Whatever. We did it when we were told, but didn't carry it in our memories for long. She tried fining us 10 cents a light, but that didn't work. And we grew up without money, so I know how important that was.

Ray is like my mum. He gets on the kids and reminds them. I don't. I just turn them off when I walk by. Probably related to my childhood. So, it is interesting that I am the one that is really cracking down on the light usage right now. I think it is because I want to see how much I can bring the bill down. If it is really related to lights and dryer then I have a lot of control over my monthly bills.

So as the evening creeps in and the shadows start to come down we gather in the main room. The children are wonderful about cooperating because I have explained to them that this is a way to help Daddy with the bills. I found Austin peeling potatoes in the near dark the other day. lol I told him to use the lights!

But as I told Dane, "This is what memories are made of!" I said this because I walked in the TV room one evening and said, "What are all these lights on?" Then I bust out laughing. Dane joined me when he found out what I was cracking up about.

All these lights -  all 2 of them. We have two light fixtures in our TV room and they both hold six Christmas light size bulbs. I had no control over all the lights being on in the house, so I had taken the liberty to unscrew some bulbs. In this room I had unscrewed all but one in one of the fixtures. This night it seemed really bright. Dane had turned on another one in the second fixture. *laugh* The room really did seem light in comparison to what it has been. And it is a TV room, after all. It is supposed to be more like a movie theatre.

But it was funny.

The nice thing is we are doing more clustering. We are gathering in the main room more and I find I am cooking, a child has pulled up a comfy chair to read, another is doing a puzzle, and others are doing chores. I don't really see the downside in saving money by using less lights! And each day the sun stays up an extra two minutes! *grin*

Another thing we have done is cut out our cable. We did this way back in May. That has saved us about $60 a month. Not much? Well, that adds up to $720 a year. Plus the tax you pay to take home that $720. You end up saving about $900 a year from that one thing! For starters, I began watching old TV series like The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, Seventh Heaven, so I was already taming down my TV. 

Then we discovered that you can watch any tv shows you want on the internet. Now, the children and I don't watch TV shows at all, so this doesn't affect us, but it does mean that Ray can watch the couple shows he likes to watch - for Free! So here you see Dane and I huddled around the computer screen watching a show! (laugh) Not exactly the most comfortable seats. I understand you can hook it up to your TV screen. Maybe one day.

One thing that Ray misses the most are the hockey games. Not that he is a complainer; he's not! But we couldn't justify the $60 a month it cost for him to watch hockey - not at this time. So now it is like the old days. The family huddles around the radio (computer) to listen to the play by play. *grin*

 Casually Listening

 The Crowds Move In As the Game Picks Up

 And.... OVERTIME!

Well, the situation was recently remedied for Ray. We still don't watch TV, but Ray takes nothing for himself, spends nothing, and expects nothing, so coming up with the money for his hockey is quite a reasonable thing even in the light of unemployment.

I still didn't really want the tv due to the horrible brain control it seems to hold over certain members of our household. So I was quite happy to have it gone. The short version of the story is that I called the company to disconnect with them when our six month sabbatical was over. They didn't want me to. They said I would have to pay another months fees as notice. I said I couldn't. They put me through to another department. That day I discovered there is such a thing as the Save Department. There job is to keep the customer at all costs!

It was so funny. I was trying to convince that food was more important than TV, lol, and he was trying to convince me to stay. Finally, when it was abundantly clear that he was not going to keep this customer he offered to drop my fees. Suddenly, my resolve dropped, my ears perked up.

What? Huh? How much? My suspicious nature came out. I asked all kinds of questions. Yep, I could take it to the new house. It would be my new fee for good. He keeps trying to convince me, I'm not convinced. Finally. Okay, so then I'm listening, my face is looking thoughtful and then when I realized it was really a good deal I said, "I'll take the deal." You had to be there, but seriously, I felt like it was Deal or No Deal. Lol

Here he was offering me this deal. If I didn't take it and wanted TV in the future I would pay $55 a month. Here he was offering it to me for $31 a month. Shucks. What to do!! I knew my hubby deserved to have his hockey. What to do. What to do!! lol

So when I said, "I'll take the deal," it felt just like when you got the $50,000 or you can go for the next question. But no, I took the deal.

It was very cute when I called my son in to turn on the TV that had sat inactive for nine months, only to discover it had been active the whole time. He was pleased for his dad. And his dad was pleased. So now I know, there is a Save Department and that is where you get fantastic deals!

I still wish it were gone, but I figure if we are allowed a 6 month sabbatical, then we can use it for six months for hockey and a few shows and take six months off, and that will cut the yearly fee in half - down to $15 a month!
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Living Frugally

I am very grateful for having been raised in a home that didn't have much because I learned skills from this. My mother didn't 'teach me'; we simply lived with less, so I learned how to make do.

My mum always bought things when they were on sale.

She bought in bulk when there were bulk sales.

We always had a bit of a pantry; we did not live paycheck to paycheck. If things got tough, she had a bit of a cushion.

I learned early to do this. When I had only three children I had a little hall closet. I kept that closet stocked with items that I used frequently. When Save On Foods had a bulk sale I would stock up and have enough. I remember a time when my husband, a housebuilder, was unemployed for a period of time. I was very thankful because I knew that even if there were no money for food, we would eat.

When I moved into our next home we specifically put in a storage room. This room was big enough for our freezer and stock shelves. Now, I had up to six children in this house. So, I bought much more in bulk. I would shop the Super Store and Costco and bring in 50lb bags of flour, and oats, bulk containers of anything else. All my soups, tomatoes, canned corn, beef and chicken broth etc, were bought in bulk. We could live on our reserves for weeks if there were no work.

I have managed to bring our grocery bill down to a very manageable number because of this. I regularly spend about $700 - $800 per month and that includes cleaning supplies, toilet paper, dishwashing powder, laundry soap, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and personal hygiene items. That amount feeds and takes care of 10 people.

My son is now staying at my sister's and she says he eats more than $150 worth of food a month. And I am sure he does! But that is because that is a different lifestyle. They buy their food in smaller portions because they don't have enough people to justify buying in bulk, and because she works there is no time for baking. This all adds up to a higher cost of living.

If I was to multiply $150 by 8 adults (which is what my children and the older people add up to in serving sizes) then I would be spending $1200 on groceries minimum per month. And that does not include the amount (about $100 +) I spend on household items.

So one of my big tips for living in a large family, or even a small family, is to buy in bulk! When Safeway is giving away Airmiles for an item that I know I will use a lot of I buy a ton. Normally you earn 1 Airmile for every $20 you spend. A flight to any place I desire to go to is about 4400 Airmiles. You can imagine how long it would take for me to save up to go anywhere!

Well, I learned the tricks. If you shop Safeway when they are selling an item that you *know* you will use: toothpaste, toilet paper, Hunts Thick and Rich pasta sauce, soap be sure to buy a lot. I got to be well known there. I would come in and buy out the shelves and they would have to give me a raincheck (can buy more at the sale price later when they get more stock) because I always wanted more than they had. I would easily walk out of the store with 500-1000 Airmiles. The bonus was that the item that they were putting on Airmiles was *always* on sale as well. So I got a double bonus: sale item plus Airmiles.

This is a picture of some of my shelves in my storage room right now.

In this same room I have a second refrigerator, plus a second freezer. I *never* buy anything that is not in a flat. A flat of 12 cans of tomato soup will run you about $4.99 *on sale*. Individual cans will run you about $.75 - $1.25 per can, depending on brand! Because I buy on sale I can afford to buy the better brand.

Right now, my husband has a gap in employment. This has not happened in a long, long, long time. The blessing is that he can work on our house. We will not pay him for working on our house, because ultimately this means that we are increasing our mortgage size. I will take the bare minimum I need to make the basic bills.

In the meantime, I need to decrease my bills. So how do I do that?

Well, attitude has a lot to do with this. Instead of being depressed because there is not a flow of cash coming into the house, I actually get a kick out of seeing how my ends are met, and how I can decrease my output. I am also very blessed by having a husband that is supportive and works with me rather than against me!

God always meets our needs! That is a huge part of this.

For instance, when I was chatting with my dear friend, Rusty, about Ray not working and making ends meet (I was not complaining) I mentioned how we were 'eating out of the cupboards'. I was actually having fun seeing what I could make for dinner without doing the typical run to the store for the missing ingredients.

I mentioned what I would be doing for breakfast for the next month: oatmeal, toast and jam. I then mused that I had two jars of jam left. Right away, she said, "If I gave you the fruit do you know how to make jam?"

I said I did, as I had made it once about six years ago. It hadn't turned out great, but it was usable.

She then told me that she had a freezer that had to be moved and it was full of things, including lots of frozen fruit. Would Ray come over with the boys and help her husband move the freezer?

Sure!

And at that time she would give Ray the fruit and sugar.

I smiled to myself because you see, I didn't have the sugar I would need to make the jam. I was trying very hard to not shop unless I really needed to. If you saw my cupboards and freezer there is lots in it, so really I had no excuse to shop, unless it was the odd thing I had run out of, such as jam. But I knew that to make jam I had to have sugar and we were on the last small amount of sugar, because I had just finished putting a ton of cookie dough in the freezer and had used up all my brown sugar. I didn't tell her this part, though. I wasn't looking for handouts!

But God knew this, and He sent the sugar without me asking! Love it!

At this point, she mentioned pectin and jars and rings. I told her I had some pectin, lots of jars, and I knew I had some rings. I was good to go. She would send the jam on Saturday, and I would make it when I had time.

She did tell me that the sugar was hardened and I would need a meat cleaver to break up the lumps. I smiled. I didn't care! It was sugar. I would be making jam and once again our needs had been met.

 All it took was a little bit of foot work to break up the sugar! Rusty was thrilled it was so easy.

Some of the frozen fruit I received. The following day Rusty called to tell me that Ray had forgotten another bag of fruit and Bill would bring it over later.

Not only did Rusty give me fruit, jars, and sugar, but she blessed me with 12 boxes of pectin, plus boxes of lids!! When I went to see how much pectin I had, I found I only had one box. And it wasn't until later that I discovered how much money that saved me! About $25!!

I got to work right away and didn't stop until I was done.

At the Beginning of the First Day

After Hours of Standing

The Results

Rusty had given me a tool to take the seeds out of the blackberries, and Cassidy wanted to do this job for me. I was thankful because it was made my arms tired!

This was a great thing and then Cassidy or I had the bright idea to save the seeds and dry them to make blackberry tea. We spread them out on a piece of tinfoil on a baking sheet and lay them out on the woodstove to dry.

Remember how I said I got a great deal of pleasure from seeing how I could make money stretch? Well, when I called Rusty to tell her what I had done she laughed in delight and said, "You really are frugal! I just threw the seeds in the compost!" *smile* I was just impressed that we had discovered something I had no clue about making: tea.

 It made a very delicious, strong tea.

Continuing on with my frugality post: The day Rusty and I spoke about me making jam, I looked through the fridge to see if I could make a hearty soup for the next day's lunch time. I saw a couple of older cauliflowers. I buy cauliflower and broccoli with the intent of cutting it up for fresh veggies, but I admit I am terrible about getting this done! They end up sitting there forever. Well, this day I saw the cauliflowers and a half cabbage, and I knew I could make a delicious soup!

I did have a momentary thought that I wished I had some potatoes, cause that is a great way to thicken the soup.  I then took the veggies to the kitchen for the next day.

The following day Ray brought home the box from Rusty. In this box of jam making supplies there was also a gallon jug of pancake syrup (I have only a drop left in my bottle and now pancakes could be on my menu!), plus dry beans, and instant potato mix!!!

All I had done was think "I wish I had some potatoes to thicken the soup," and God had met that need! There were 16 packages; enough to make one hearty soup a week for four months! God is good!

So I made a wonderful thick soup. A main meal in our house can run about $15-$20. When I make a thick soup and serve it with bread it fills a tummy with warm nutrition and costs so little. I love it!

Noodles From My Bulk Supply Further Thicken the Soup

 Enough about food: another way to save money is the outrageous amount of electricity I am using at home. When the money is flowing freely I am too lazy to use a washing line. That means more time out of my life. I have to walk outside, hang it out, then take it down and then have it folded. With a dryer I can simply have it transferred over and then folded.

It is amazing how attitudes change when you have to pinch pennies. One day I was looking outside and I suddenly saw my deck chairs in a new light: they would make wonderful laundry lines! lol

 My little helper were all too willing to hang out the laundry. This actually began because one day my washer decided to not spin. I thought it had broken and I could not afford to buy a new one, so we hung it out to dry. That was about two months ago. The next time I ran it the machine did its job, so we were happy. The continued for a while, and then about a month ago, we began using our 'washing lines' and we were doing fabulously: I wasn't hanging it out or folding it! Worked for me. *laugh*

Then the snow came and it was difficult to hang out to dry, but I was still not willing to use my dryer, when I knew that my old machine was taking about 90 minutes to dry a regular load. I knew this was probably why my electric bill was so high. So we had to come up with another solution:

 We have gotten used to laundry hanging on stools and the railings. Some days the kids are 'lucky' enough to get to sit on the floor with their lunch because the stools are taken up. Now, I *could* put them back, but really it is like a picnic and the kids are happy. Come summer we will be putting up a washing line! I look forward to seeing how much money I have cut our hydro bill. Now if I could just figure out a way to cut the breaker to the lights during the day...  *laugh*

Update: I have now been drying my laundry this way for the last 6 weeks and I can't wait to see the electric bill! My old machine used to take 90 minutes to dry a load!
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May Road Trip - Part 5 - Trip Home

Our trip to visit Colt was a short one due to the finances, so after we popped by to say goodbye to him we were on our way. I was going home a way that I had not been before, and I really had no clue where I was going. I simply followed the map and read the road signs. I really need a GPS!

As we are driving down this road I suddenly realized we had arrived at a ferry crossing! I told Austin that he had directed me the wrong way. I got out of the van to ask and found out that, yes indeed, we were on the right road and we had to take a ferry to continue our journey! I felt like one of the explorers from the old days. Normally, I have total understanding of where I am going. Here I was travelling blind! It sure made for a fun trip, though.


The beach was absolutely covered in these beautiful rounded colourful rocks! We had the pleasure of hanging out and waiting for the ferry for an hour. The kids enjoyed throwing stones and clambouring over the rocks.


When the ferry arrived we learned we had a 30 minute crossing, so I figured this was as good a time as any to pop open the back of my van and make lunch!

We then took the lunches up on the deck of the ferry boat. It felt like we had just been blessed with an unexpected holiday on our holiday! You have to enjoy the small treats along the way.

Our drive took us through some beautiful little lakeside towns. There were some amazing historical buildings. I wish we had them in our towns!

The Old City Hall

One of the sites along the way home was the Enchanted Forest. I have driven by there before and always intended to stop there, so this time I surprised the children when I pulled in. It was almost closing time, so we only had an hour to spend there. I wasn't sure it would be worth the expense ($60) for all of us, but I am glad I stopped because Austin told me at the end that it was worth the money. The children had fun playing out the Three Little Pigs. I will have to upload that video as it was really funny. I told them the story, but forgot to tell them the ending...

This expression says it all. I was leaving this area and turned back to see where Savannah was. She was hanging the laundry! It was already there, but she obviously wanted to pretend she was hanging it up. When I called to her she put on this silly look. She is such a ham!

Our last meal out of the back of the van: baked beans, bread, and fruit.

It was a great trip and I am glad I made the time and effort to take it. Colt will be home in July for a couple months, and we are all really looking forward to that. There is also the possibility that Tyler will be coming to visit us for a while in August, after her time as staff at Cadet camp is over.
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