Presence not presents

Corked Check in - Week 2

This was the wedding week for our youngest daughter, so I didn't have much time to think about purchasing anything beyond the wedding items already allotted for.  I did manage to purchase an additional gate clicker, tho.  There's always something!

I had started caring for another child part-time and we have a solar automatic gate at our entrance.  To make things easier and less of a pain in the cold and rain, I generally give everyone a clicker.  Sadly, their hours changed and the boy won't be coming here after all. It isn't like an extra clicker is a bad thing, but I didn't really need it.  Ugh.

Week 2:  Grand Total:  $21.51 NOT used / NOT consumable   FAIL

Getting back on track for week 3. 

BOOK REVIEW: Accidental Farmers by Tim Young

City man and wife turn country farmers, is the premise of the book, Accidental Farmers.  Tim Young bought 72 land-locked acres in Georgia after a weekend horse back riding in the country for his wife's birthday.  Gone were the days of expensive clothing, fancy dinners out, theater and travel. They jumped in with both feet buying pigs, cows, chickens, etc. with absolutely no knowledge except for what they had read in books.  They were firm believers in natural raising and living of their animals, basically weeding out the sick and breeding the strong.  A business grew, selling free range meats, eggs, cheeses, etc. to consumers looking for a healthy alternative to factory farmed animals. BUT, from what I gathered reading their book, his wife wasn't necessarily on board.  She wanted to homestead, grow food and animals for their own use and not worry so much about becoming a business.  This is exactly what they are doing now, many years after he wrote this book, but they also teach others how to farm and start a business in the country.  I was up and down with liking this book.  It started out as an entertaining, interesting read, then became kind of factual, then he switched to third person, then he reverted back to first person, all in all, I am glad I read it.  It gave me plenty to think about on the way they did things.  4 out of 5

Corked Check In - Week 1

Truth: This was an easy week to not spend on non-consumables.  I had residual Christmas presents coming in and am busy with my daughter's upcoming wedding.

Decluttering is still crawling along which resulted in 2 boxes dropped off of DVDs, books, clothes and a few toys to the thrift store this week.  While there, I took a look around and thankfully the store was pretty picked over, less to tempt me that way.  I did manage to find a little red bucket.

I have to admit, Elle hasn't put this bucket down since I have brought it home.  I had it on the back porch and the first time she walked by, she snagged it.  Inside it went and became the receptacle to her plastic animals.  She counted the animals as she plunked them into the bucket, poured them out and repeated.  A little later we went outside to play in the sandbox and out the bucket went.  I spent 50 cents.  Worth it.  The fact that it is metal and not plastic is a plus.

We went into a nearby town on Saturday to pick up Elle and to get groceries and ended up eating at a taco place, which happens to be located right next to a Goodwill I frequent.  I peeked in the store while JR waited in the car with Elle and came away with a Singing/Dancing DVD and a book for me.

My sister had turned me on to Laurie Berkner years ago.  It is great entertainment for the kids with lots of movement and participation.  I thought it would be great for rainy day fun.  $3.99.  I have watched it and it isn't as good as "We are The Laurie Berkner Band", but it is still good. 


The book, "in a dark, dark wood" by the same author as "The Woman in Cabin 10," which is supposed to be pretty good, was stuck out in front of the books on the shelf.  I picked it up, liking the looks of it and the thing that grabbed me was Reese Witherspoon's blip saying, "Prepare to be Scared" on the front. I love scary books and I haven't read one in quite some time that was actually scary.  So we shall see.  Hours upon hours of entertainment for me for $1.99.

And that's it.  I spent $6.50 plus tax, but as I stated in my "Year of Corked Consumerism" post, all items were bought pre-owned.  I won't be keeping track of going out to eat or groceries, just the items I bring into the house that are not consumable.

Grand Total:  $6.50 for 1 bucket, 1 DVD and 1 book
Minus 2 big boxes of Media, Toys and Clothes

I'm okay with this.

Bread, She Said

One of the easiest ways to cut back on spending is by making your own food.  There is nothing more versatile as a grocery bill.  Buying all organic, grass fed, humane, non-gmo, etc., is still cheaper than eating every meal outside the home.  Here we concentrate on whole foods, as clean as we can find, but to say we don't buy junk would be a big lie.  I do try very hard to make most of our meals from scratch though.  I don't use mixes, except brownies because I truly haven't found a brownie recipe that rivals Ghirardelli, but for almost all other food, I make my own.

Growing up in a frugal home and by that I mean FRUGAL HOME, my Mother used to set unwanted crusts of bread on the counter until they dried out, then she stored them in an old plastic bread bag until she needed crumbs for meat loaf, mini beef loaves, crusts or toppings. I don't exactly recall how Mom made the crumbs out of the crusts, but I faintly remember her taking the discarded inserts of  cereal bags and a rolling pin and crushing the bread.  I use a slightly different method.  I freeze the crusts until I have a sizable amount, then I process them with an S blade in my little food processor, then refreeze.

Why would I go to the trouble to make my own bread crumbs when you can buy them pre-made at the store?  There are a few reasons:
1. I know exactly what kind of bread crumbs they are.  Are they from organic, sprouted bread, whole wheat, multigrain, etc.?  I will know.
2.  Less waste.  Granted, I could easily chuck our crusts at any of our animals and all but the cats would devour them, but there is no extra packaging when I make them at home vs. buying at the store.
3. It makes me feel self sufficient.  I love that feeling.
4.  Cost.  I am not taking any money out of my pocket to make bread crumbs. 

So much of what we buy can be made at home more nutritiously with no preservatives or crazy ingredients..  Back in the late 90's, I was on a mission to make all our food from scratch, no boxed or pre-made anything.  Granola, bread, pizza, frostings, salads, you name it, I made it.  We were trying to save money to pay off property we had recently acquired, but also, I had recently learned about rBGH ,(recombinant bovine growth hormone), in dairy products.  It scared me, that companies had a right to put weird junk in their products that I was unaware of.  I watch (ed) little news and I started questioning if what I was feeding my children was safe or even healthy for them.

Since my "all food from scratch binge", I have not been as good at making "all" things from scratch, but I still do my share.  The children are raised now, but the past two years we have been caring for our granddaughter four to five days a week plus I care for a few children her age and my level of interest in great tasting, healthy foods has increased. 

I definitely could jump on a soap box and spew how extremely I feel the food we eat makes up the health of our bodies;  how I feel growing babies and children should have the absolute healthiest form of nutrition possible to build the strongest cells and immune systems to fight off all the pollution and chemicals we can't control.  I could go on and on about all the junk people pour into their bodies on a regular basis and how our bodies can only fight so much before something breaks, but I won't.  It's not a secret which foods are healthy out there and which ones aren't. It's not a secret if the majority of your intake is junky food, it's not good for you.

Making your own food at home is smart.  It saves money, reduces waste, is healthier and is a great life skill to have. Now, if I could just get my husband to stop buying all those packages of candy! 

A Year of Corked Consumerism

My clothes closet is ridiculous. I started sorting through the clothes last week and ended up with quite a large pile to donate.  I still can barely move the hangers, but it is better.  I found all sorts of clothes I forgot I had in there and discovered items I was unaware matched other articles of clothing.  Clearing some of the unworn clothing out and finding the new / old clothes was like a present to myself.

Looking at the stacks upon stacks of books my granddaughter has, I realize we have so many!  She loves being read to and we love reading to her, but there are a lot of books we don't read, we always choose her or our favorites.  Why are the other books here and why do I keep buying more?  There are so many fun, delightful books, there is no reason to hold on to any that don't bring enjoyment.

The other morning I needed a berry bowl and when I opened the corner cupboard, the bottomless pit of jars and containers assaulted me. I almost shut the door and reached for something else.  I stopped myself and thought, "Why do I have it, if I am not going to use it? And why, when I want to use it, don't I have it in a place that is easy to get to?" Why do I have so much crap?  This isn't the first time I have gone to get something and didn't want to be bothered with getting it because it was buried behind something else. 

Amazon is my shopping paradise.  Anything and everything is there and after I check prices, I run to Ebay to check prices, then do a google search to make sure it isn't cheaper anywhere else.  All of my information is on file, so check-out is a breeze at multiple places or I use Paypal, also easy.  I think if I had to enter my information each time, I wouldn't buy half the things I do.  The companies know this.  My purchases tend to be impulse buys and I nickle and dime myself to death by buying a little of this, a little of that.  It's just too easy.  But here's the catch, I don't need anything.  I mean, nothing. 

Craft supplies for oodles of crafts with the kids and myself fill drawers and dresser tops.  I have enough socks to last me until I am dead.  I have piles of jewelry and always end up wearing the same 3 or 4 pieces.  I have make-up in boxes under my sink and barely wear much more than eye make-up and a little lip color.  I have clothes for every season. I have gadgets and gizmos in the kitchen for cooking or baking multiple different ways, many which sit collecting dust while I grab my old standby pot. We have DVDs filling shelf after shelf and watch Netflix. I have hundreds of unread books and many I have read on every subject I have ever been interested in, both fact and fiction, but I continue to buy more.

I have finally come to the realization I don't need anything else.  I have everything I could ever want and then some.  So why do I keep buying?  I do love the thrill of the hunt, finding the best price, the best quality and I do love getting "presents" in the mail, no matter what it is.  But once I have the object, do I use it or does it get added to my pile of stuff?  Sadly, I can say I buy and then bury the majority of what I purchase. Or maybe I organize it away for later, with later happening, like never.

I have decided 2019 is going to be a year where I make some changes. No more purchasing unless it has been previously used or is consumable.  Consumable includes food, toilet paper, health products, soap, glue, etc.  You, lucky reader, get to witness this and hold me accountable.  The reason I am adding used items is:
#1.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
#2. If  I am doing a project and an item is needed, I could most likely find it used somewhere.
#3. If an item breaks that we use, I want to be able to replace it or buy the parts to fix it.
#4. I might go crazy buying absolutely nothing. (I am being honest.)

I must admit, I plan to add to my goat herd after fencing is complete. We are working towards our agricultural exemption and goats are our primary plan. We aren't very quick with projects, so it might not happen in 2019. I'm just giving you a heads up. 

I will be using up what I have, creating gifts in the kitchen and with my crafting supplies, enjoying my things, finding new ways to use them and fixing what I have.  I will be donating or giving away items I do not use and making room to conveniently store and retrieve the items I want to use. I will be striving to eat less processed foods and more homemade whole food entrees and snacks, hopefully using a large portion of food from our garden I plan to redirect a portion of my time to. I hope you will join me on my journey of buying less and living more.

Moving on to 2019!  A Year of Corked Consumerism! 

Good Hearts Cost Nothing

Book Review: It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh

I love decluttering, but I love buying stuff,especially discount stuff, so it is a never-ending process.  Since downsizing to an 880 square foot home and a monstrous garage, I have to make smarter choices with the things I buy and store.  There were a few key points in Peter Walsh's book, "It's All Too Much" that resonated with me.

#1.  If you value an item, you need to show it the honor and respect it deserves.  What good is an item stored in a box, pulled out every 5 years to glance at?  Take a photo of the item, he states, or display it in your home framed, on a shelf or whatever else you can come up with. 

#2 Do you own your stuff or does it own you? Every time you look at an item in a room and contemplate whether you should keep it, imagine the life you want to live. Does this item fit your vision or detract from it?  Is your bedroom peaceful?  Front entrance welcoming?  Dining area usable or full of clutter? 

#3  Mementos are not memories. 

#4 Every time you stop yourself from making a spontaneous purchase, put the money you would have spent in an "experience fund", ie, trip, zoo, museum, beach, etc. This makes not spending, fun. 

I looked around, as I was reading the book, and I saw so much excess. I thought about the boxes I had in the garage of family mementos and how I could display them, so I could enjoy them and explain to my children and Granddaughter what they were and meant to me. I thought about all the clothes in my closet, so many I won't wear because they make me feel fat. I also considered the consumables we tend to stock up on and the items in the garage we choose to store rather than our vehicles.

This book makes me consider what we have and where we have it.  It is definitely thought provoking.  4 out of 5 stars.

Your Freezer is Your Friend

If you are lucky, like me, you have a good friend who shares grapefruit from their tree with you, or maybe there happens to be a fantastic sale at the grocery store you can't pass up.  A few years ago I discovered grapefruits freeze wonderfully with no deterioration in texture or flavor and I was pumped. 

I generally stick a mindless show on TV or listen to Kelly Clarkson and start cutting.  One grapefruit will fit just about perfectly into a 1/2 pint jar.  Leave 1 inch head space on the top, cover and freeze.  In June, when the grapefruit look ill at the store, you pop one of these in the refrigerator and when it thaws, total bliss.  Not only are the little jars of grapefruit good all by themselves, but they are amazing in cocktails!  Ask me how I know.

The fun does not stop here.  The peel from the grapefruit make excellent compost.

If you happen to have a donkey or two, give them a few and see if they like them.  I generally toss mine into the compost and if the donkeys want them, they walk over for a snack.  I haven't tried to give any to the goats yet, but I will.  I have a feeling Jesse would eat them.  He likes just about everything I have offered so far. This is Jesse.  His adopted brothers are on the pickier side. 

There are so many foods you can save for later in the freezer.  Not only meats and ice cream, but bananas that are overripe or not, can be peeled and frozen in freezer bags for later use in smoothies, breads, ice cream toppings, etc.  Peppers and onions freeze terrifically along with berries of any kind.  Once in a while the grocery store will have ugly fruit marked down, maybe a tad past it's prime, and I bring it home, chop it up and stick it in the freezer for later.  You can take apples in season, for less than a dollar a pound, and peel and slice them for the freezer for pies or crisps later, too. 

I like to can, but sometimes you can't beat a freezer.  My husband, JR, is looking into a solar set up to run a smaller freezer/refrigerator in the case of electricity outages.  I don't know about you, but it would make such a difference if we didn't have power to have a way to keep the meat frozen and certain foods cold.  Such a difference!

The next time someone offers you produce from their garden or you see a super good sale at the market, snag it, prepare it and freeze it.  It might take a little time, but the rewards are there!

Truth