Give yourself permission...

On and after Christmas Day, give yourself permission...

to not pick up the Christmas wrapping right away. It will wait until the coffee has been sipped, the gifts admired again, the comments and questions and laughter has been savored.

to take a nap on Christmas afternoon.

to do something just to please someone else whether you want to or not. Remember that it's a choice you can make.

to eat another serving of dessert. Christmas only comes once a year and you won't sabotage your diet by overeating just a little one time.

to buy that thing you really want if you didn't get it for Christmas.

to stop and watch the snow falling or the sun shining or the grass growing. What you have to do will still be there 10 minutes from now.

Above all, give yourself permission to remember and to think and to reflect on what Christmas means to you and what it offers to the whole world, whether the whole world celebrates it or not.

A giving of thanks, frugal style

I just can't hold off any longer. Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, whatever - the holidays are rushing in upon us.

Department stores have been displaying ornaments and artificial trees for weeks, the weather is turning steadily cooler, the leaves are almost all gone, and it's almost winter.

We're in that limbo between the first, glorious fall colors and the icy beauty of winter holidays... it must be getting close to Thanksgiving. (With apologies to our Canadian readers, that Thanksgiving slipped right by me! - Somebody remind me next year.)

Sorry, you have to be frugal to appreciate this list of things to be thankful for.

Come on, say after me:

I'm thankful that college kids go home for Christmas and dump their decorations, trees, etc., in the alley before they go - a week before Christmas.

I'm thankful that it's cold at Christmas time so I can knit warm scarves, gloves and mittens from thrift store yarn and they will be appreciated.

I'm thankful for warm clothes that allow me to keep the temperature another degree cooler and save that many more energy dollars.

I'm thankful for flea markets and thrift stores, which are alternates to antique stores, if I'm lucky.

I'm thankful for turkey carcasses, from which I can make my favorite turkey and noodles and turkey and rice soup.

I'm thankful for dollar stores, which allow me to buy holiday nonessentials that won't knock my budget out of kilter.

I'm thankful that living frugally throughout the year lets me face gift-giving holidays without a fearful looking toward next January when the bills come due.

This time of year

My favorite things this time of year:

Leaves swirling in the wind and crunching under my feet
Skies the color of baby blue and white cotton
Brown earth, wet and smelling like it should
A certain rush of energy as the cold air sweeps in
Checking the garden and seeing that everything is properly at rest for the winter.
The smell of wood smoke, caught now and then from the neighbor's fireplace.
Trying to decide if the laundry will dry tomorrow if I hang it outside.
Long evenings when I can sit and knit or read without guilt because it's too dark to do anything else.
Getting into a bed that's too cold and waiting as my body heat slowly warms it up.
Getting up into air that's too cold and having to wait for the bathroom to warm up before I can take a shower.
Watching the western sky in the hopes that those clouds will carry snow.
Buying bags of bird seed at Walmart so I can watch the sparrows and finches eat from the kitchen window.
Anticipating Thanksgiving and worrying already about how much of what to make.
Anticipating Christmas.

What's not to like about this time of year?

And it doesn't have a thing to do with frugal, except that very little of the enjoyment costs money.

Monday, November 1

This is an interesting day - the day after Halloween, the day before Election Day, the first day of the work week and the first day of the month!

For some, this is the kickoff to the holiday season. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a little over three weeks away.

The last few years in this area, the stores have offered turkey up to 15 pounds at a set rate, then turkeys over that pound at a couple of dollars more. I can't remember the exact rate it was last year, but it has been 6 dollars up to 15 pounds and 8 dollars for anything over that.

To make the most of this deal, I get the biggest turkey I can find for either price level and I usually get two or three extra, depending on freezer space. Turkey is cheap protein and good food, too.


Election Day, 2010 will no doubt be quite interesting. No matter what happens, I suspect there are going to be some emotional moments, some great disappointments and some great victories. Be sure to be a part of it.

"Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are falling fast."

A couple of lines from "The Months" by Sara Coleridge. I learned it in school all those many years ago. November really is often dull, weather-wise, as we prepare for serious cold just ahead, but that's fine with me, because so many other things are happening, or about to happen.

Don't let the holiday busyness make you forget about saving money by keeping your heating bills as low as you can. I don't mean that you should shake and shiver all winter by turning the thermostat too low, but if you haven't yet, take some time to make sure there are no cold air leaks into your home and that the furnace is operating efficiently.

And finally, today is the first day of the rest of your life. That's the most important thing about this day.

What kind of wealth?

It's interesting to skim through the list of titles under "Finances, Money Perspectives".

One of my favorites is "Poor in Money and Rich in Time"  and the other is the exact opposite, "Is Money Evil?"

Both ends of the rainbow offer satisfactory wealth for different persons. The question quickly becomes very personal. Just where on the scale do you want to land?

Do you want to be rich in goods? Or would you rather be rich in time? Or somewhere in between?

There's no "right" answer, except what's right for you.

And I'll tell you a secret. You can't get there from here until you know where "there" is.

Think about it. It's not as simple as it might seem.

They Will Not Come For You

We saw a devastating picture of human need when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a few years ago. People who depended on the government and other organizations lost their entire support. They didn't know what to do or how to help themselves so they waited, some with patience, some without. Frustration grew and violence broke out while they waited for someone - anyone - to come and rescue them.

In some cases, nobody came. Ever.

The lesson was learned by some.

While there are safety networks through the government and private organizations, churches and charities, those networks can be overwhelmed quickly. Snarled communications, missed cues, lack of information, exhaustion and apathy kept help from getting through.

The chances of you facing a natural disaster of this size aren't all that great, but the chances of you facing your own personal disaster continue to climb and that can be just as devastating. Unemployment and economic uncertainty continues to plague the US and the world. The government has paid unemployment benefits in huge amounts, but there will be an end to them. When the checks stop, when the jobs still aren't there, will you be ready?

Maybe you still have your job and maybe you're making your payments and even putting money in savings. You don't really feel as if the recession has touched you, although you probably know someone it has.

It may not - ever. But why take a chance? You cannot depend on the safety nets in place right now. They may not be there if - when - you need them.

Preparing for personal devastation doesn't sound like a fun way to spend time or money, but it could make all the difference to you and your family.

Remember what some of the Katrina survivors said: "They will not come for you."

If "they" are not there to help you, to feed you, to give you shelter and clothing and dignity... who will?

Photo courtesy of Morguefile

The relativity of an apple harvest

It's almost ready! My one lonely apple... not bad for a first harvest, though. My other little apple tree died so my daughter got me another one for Mother's Day this year. It was already blooming and formed five little apples which fell off, one by one, until this one was left.

My apple harvest

I've been watching it all summer. How good it will taste! Shall I invite my daughter to share it? Should I eat half the first day and half the second? When will I know it's the perfect time to pick it? Will a squirrel get it before I do? Does it have a worm in it?

Isn't it strange how important things become when the amount is limited?

I could go to the store and buy as many apples as I wanted, but none of them would taste as good as this one will.

It's the same with "things." Kids who have so many toys that none of them are truly appreciated. People who have so many clothes that none of them are important. Houses with so many rooms and so many square feet, cars with so many bells and whistles. None of it has as much value as two toys will have to a child who has none other; an extra set of clothes to the man or woman who has nothing else to wear; a built on leanto to a family that lives in a two room home, a car that runs to a person who has walked to work for the last year.

That's what relative is. Do you have enough? Do you have too much?

Lessons learned from a garden

What a strange garden I have this year! The tomatoes I thought were late, never did get started. I may have a couple of dozen tomatoes from three plants. The peas did great earlier this year... but they quit blooming after the second week. I've got fewer cucumbers from two plants this year than I did from one plant the last time.

I planted zucchini and yellow squash on new ground because they'll grow anywhere, right? Maybe not. There are 50 times as many male flowers as female so the harvest is skimpy there.

But when one vegetable doesn't do well, another will. This year is the year for winter squash. I only planted acorn and butternut and it's a good thing. They took over one entire raised bed and I'm talking one plant of each! Some acorn squash has already been harvested and I counted seven more almost ready, with heaven only knows how many coming on and yet to form. The butternut is slower to mature, but the vine is loaded. I lost count twice and gave up but there are at least as many butternut squash as there are acorn squash.

I'll eat squash this winter, even if I don't have tomatoes and pickles to go with it.

Beans, of both kinds: green and dried, are prolific this year, so I'll have beans to go with my squash.

Roll with the punches, go with the flow, whatever way you want to say it, truly frugal living means making the most of what you do have and not crying about what you don't have. So there won't be many tomatoes. Instead of having homemade spaghetti sauce, I'll have butternut squash soup. Zucchini and yellow squash are seasonal favorites here, but we'll eat green beans instead.

So you can't get a new couch this year? Paint the walls instead. It will make your life brighter, and like gardeners (and frugalites) say... there's always next year.

Frugal summer work

Summer is not my favorite season, although I enjoy the fresh vegetables and fruits that it offers. That means it's time to can and dehydrate and freeze and put up what we can for those cold days ahead. I bought a LOT of canning jars from my sister and brother in law last year at a very frugal price, so I won't worry about that.

There are canning lids and rings left from last year and the little dehydrator is still working. I will use the car again this year to dehydrate, too, but I still want a solar dehydrator. One of these days...

Anyway, there are gaps and empty spots in my pantry now, just waiting to be filled with wonderful and brightly colored food. It's satisfying to take the filled jars from the canner and line them up to cool. It makes me feel snug and frugal when they're all stored in the pantry. It makes me ready for winter when it's all done.

Isn't that the way life is supposed to be? I think so.

Too poor? Or too rich?

My sister in law once bought me a "rag mop" head made of strings. I guess she thought I couldn't afford to buy one, since I was using real rags, which lasted much longer and didn't come apart all over the floor.

Mom once bought me a package of paper napkins, since I was using cloth ones.

There are other examples, but I'm curious: do other people think you're too poor to buy wasteful products?

Then there are those who look at my cloth napkins and go something like, "Oh, my, we just use paper napkins; this is nice." I guess she didn't know that my version is cheaper than hers - buying disposable napkins over and over and over again.

So which is it? Poor or rich? I know one thing. I'm richer by using cloth napkins and real rags in the mop than I would be if I bought those things over and over and over...

A Frugal Salad on the Windowsill

Well, I did it. I just couldn't quit writing about frugal living.

Since there's been a little more time, I've been able to do more living than writing about frugal. To begin, I planted some lettuce in one of those oblong Nestle's Hot Chocolate Mix containers and it's up already... so I planted a few radishes to go with it.

I also planted celery. Yep... I cut a half inch or so from the bottom of a bunch of celery I'd bought and put it in one of those little plastic-y containers they give you sauces in at the fast food place. (No, I didn't go to the fast food place - my daughter used to work at a pizza place where they used them for garlic butter.) Anyway, the celery is taking root and has a cheery splotch of bright green leaves in its center.

I'll have at least a few very frugal salads before gardening season!