Cottage Industry

I was so overcome with emotion about simple gifts, I forgot to BLOG!



Ok - not really. I went to IKEA with a friend who is new to the area and had never been to IKEA and then last night I cooked dinner and fell asleep.



What an exciting life I lead!



Ok - I come from a long line of entrepreneurs (thank goodness for spell check!)



I have photos of the convenience store my Grandmother had set up on the lower floor of their three story home on Marshfield in Chicago. I also have photos of the hair salon my dad's sister had in the same space.



To the best of my childhood memory, it seems that the people I was raised with were ALWAYS busy doing something that did not involve zoning out or playing in front of a TV or computer.



What do you do well? I mean really well? What do you really enjoy? Ken and I have had the opportunity to cater for different events. We talked about and decided that doing it for living would take all the fun out of it. That doesn't mean we aren't working in other areas.



Confucius said, "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life."



It's true. I would recommend taking some quiet time (locking the bathroom door for 10 minutes is acceptable) and take an inventory of what you are good at, what you like to do, what people seek you out for and see if it has the potential to be a cottage industry.



You might be surprised.

We are in the process of downsizing as we prepare our last offspring to fly the coop into college. I am working on teaching Ken how to sell our cast-offs on ebay and craigslist.

Make sure you check your local ordinances about home-based businesses and please do not fall for one of those "Work from home" scams. Most are.

I once worked for a lady who started a website and got kicked out of her apartment because UPS was backing up the big truck to her door every afternoon. She said, "I guess I should have known this was out-of-hand when my husband, 2 kids and I were sleeping in the living room because all three bedrooms were overrun with product." Ya think?

I know another friend who kept body and soul together while she was going thru school by running a small ad on Craigslist to help computer novices set up and use their systems. She has the patience of Job and worked with seniors and recent retirees. They were sad when she got a day job. She was changing a nominal fee per hour (for something she did for family and friends for free!) and was able to keep a few dollars in her pocket during the notoriously broke college years!

Whatever skill you have that you love to do, it could be a source of income thru our tough econmic times!

Happy Cheapness!!!!

Simple Gifts

As a worked on the blog about simplifying Christmas I typed in the term Simple Gifts and it struck a chord in me and reminded of another time some 10 months ago.

We have cable TV at my day job so we had President Obama's inauguration on. When Yoyo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill and Gabriella Montero performed John William's arrangement of "Simple Gifts" I wept. Not only was I touched by the shear beauty of the music, I also knew this was a simple Shaker hymn written by a man in 1848 who knew and embraced the simple beauty of life.

Here are the words:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.

I also wept because I live in America. While we are racing around, we seem to loose sight of the simple joys. We live in a special country. When we wish to honor the man who holds the highest office in the land, we do not bow before him and pay homage with costly gifts of gold and jewels. We play him a hymn called "Simple Gifts".

I pray you will have a blessed holiday full of simple gifts that will remain treasures over time.

Happy Cheapness!

Christmas and the Holidays

Ok - everyone curl you toes back and take a deep breath.

I was going to wait a little longer before I addresses this one, but the retailers are pushing the ads and the sales have already started.

Ahhhh Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice. Holy days of peace and love celebrated around the world.

Anyone remember the holidays of our youth? If you're around my age, do you remember seeing an add for a toy during the Saturday morning cartoons and that item became the focus of your little universe? How about the Sears Christmas catalog (I'm very old - it was the Christmas catalog, not the Holiday catalog) and the visit to the Santa at the Mall?

Welcome to marketing that seems to have started in earnest in the 1960s.

I have attached a copy of a picture in the late 1930s of my father's family's Christmas tree. Can you count the number of gifts underneath? 4 maybe 5. They were a family of 4. One gift per person.

I know. I know. But, but, but, but, but.

Well if you are in the same boat as me, we do not have the resources to fill the Christmas stockings of the retailers this year.

Christmas during The Depression was very simple. Homemade gifts. Stockings filled with fruit and nuts. And they used actual socks from their feet, not the 6 foot long red felt thing my daughter tries to con me into buying!

But the best part? Family without apology. Good Food. Warm Fellowship. Simple Gifts.

So now would be the time for you to have the conversation without the kids. What is our budget? No Credit Cards. No Overspending.

This is how we do it in our household.

1) After Christmas is over (last year) I make any notes about what is new about our extended family and friends and if I had any ideas for them. This goes on our master Christmas list on Excel.

2) Before Ken and I have our Christmas meeting, I update the list with any gifts I have found thru out the year and any notes from conversations I have had (new hobbies or upcoming travel, etc)

3) We set our budget. Our Christmas list and budget include the food gifts we give. Soup jars, cookie jars, breads, cookies and pies. At the end of Christmas each year, I note how many cookies, breads and jars I made and what it took to make them so I am not re-creating the wheel every year.

4) We make the decision on the list and divide up who is purchasing what.

5) Finally, we only use cash. Yep, green stuff. When it is gone, you are done. Very budget friendly.

After the adults in the household are in agreement, then you sit down with the kids. I try to make it a festive time around the table and we talk honestly about what can and can not happen. Our children are familiar with and comfortable with the conversation, so it is expected and there is no drama. If this is a new adventure for your group, it could be more challenging. I would say the most important part is to let your children have a voice and participate. We are really conditioned into having a very materialistic holiday. If you listen to what your children are saying they would like to do to celebrate, you might be pleasantly surprised.

I understand that extended family might present the biggest challenge. I can only encourage to you make your decisions and stick by them. My brother gets homebaked goods every year. I love making them for his family and he has always been very gracious with his thanks and praise. His family is thoughtful in sending us beautiful gifts each year. From the outside, it may seem unequal with my simple handmade gifts vs his beautiful gifts to us, but we are not keeping score. We are both grateful to each other for the thought.

Our house rule to keep Christmas in check is one "gift" per person. Yep - one. Anything else must fit in the person's stocking like body butter, socks, fishing lures,undies or candy. Also, new jammies on Christmas Eve. We unwrap them and do something Christmas-y on Christmas Eve and then all go to bed. We are a little flexible on the exact activities depending on where and with whom we are celebrating the holiday.

We do fun inexpensive holiday activities thru out the season. We are going to see snow at one of the malls on November 24th. (Quite an event in central Arizona!) We will spend one afternoon making our Gingerbread House from a $15 kit available at most craft stores. (note: put a shower curtain on the floor if you anywhere near carpet and make the kids take off their socks before they leave the decorating area. Saves a lot of time not scraping up the Royal Icing.)

We will have a time together making and decorating the cookie and soup jars. Kids participate in all this. We will work the time for baking into the schedule. OH MY! I almost forget! Part of the meeting with the kids is the CALENDAR. We mark holiday parties and church events on it and decide when the other activities are taking place. We usually have a "live" tree, so getting it in place and decorated is an important factor (we actually buy it thru our vegetable co-op!). We work together on the decorations - inside and out. And since our tree is a mish-mosh of handmade and heirloom ornaments, we talk about where they came from and why they are special.

We stay busy thru the holiday, but we all seem to enjoy it. Not having a raft of bills in January is the best holiday gift.

Happy Cheapness!

Trading Post

Stepping back in time some before The Great Depression, and we get to The Westward Expansion as it was called in the History books.

Somewhere along the beaten trail, there would be a trading post. Trading post because there was not a lot of cash flowing. So what got traded? Everything. From furs and fabrics to flour and coffee. Everything had a value and could be traded for what was needed to press on.

How can we do that today? I doubt the local grocer would accept your first-edition family heirloom book in exchange for basic food stuffs, but that's not to say it can not be done.

Craigslist has a barter section (tread cautiously) and when you have community, you may have a source of trading. In today's times, services seem to be more marketable perhaps then stuff.

Pre-school moms have been trading babysitting since we lived in caves. But there are many other equitable trading solutions are out there.

I have traded accounting for: landscaping, home repairs, car repairs, computer work and some farm-fresh eggs.

This involves taking an inventory of your stuff and your skills. Some trades may involve a couple of layers. I had a serviceable washer and dryer, my client was selling a high end washer and dryer. My other friend needed a washer and dryer and only had $75. I sold her my washer and dryer for $75.00 and bought my friend's high end set for $150. Net to me $75.00. Everyone was very happy with the trade except Ken who had to move all these freakin' machines around. I am still using that dryer today!

So back to the inventory. What do you have in your family? I have a Red Cross Certified teen-age babysitter. I have no problem trading her skills to assist her in getting something on her list. That's the important element. Make a list of what you have and a separate list of what you want. Start checking with your community to see who might have what you want and strike up a deal.

Happy Cheapness!!

Community

One thing that struck me as measurably different between my parent's experiences and my own was community. My parents were raised, educated and married within a few miles of their family's home. They bent the pattern of their extended family members by moving 25 miles out to the suburbs shortly after their marriage where they remained in the same house for 48 years.

All our holidays and milestones where celebrated with a gaggle of extended relatives and neighbors. When my Aunt Betty needed to remodel her kitchen, we were all there pitching in. Weddings were massive and funerals were supportive. Our extended community included our neighbors. My brother and I walked to our elementary school and my brother is still friends with guys with whom he attended grammar and high school.

When my parents moved to their retirement community, so did two of the neighbors from their old street.

In hard times, we must circle the wagons. First, within our own family. We will talk more later about cheap family-friendly activities. Then within our community. This may be a good time to evaluate your relationships outside your home and your job and see where else you would fit within the community.

Perhaps you can start with donating time to a charitable effort. Perhaps you can expand your business connections with membership in Rotary or Lions Club. Their charitable endeavors may help you adjust your perspective that you are not as bad off as some.

Perhaps church or PTA or volunteering at a batter woman's or animal shelters. Any of the time you invest is greatly appreciated but also fosters the sense of community.

Within community you will find new ideas and new perspectives. Within community we can find kindred hearts and share the load.

I always like to think of our Mennonite community in TN. They used cooperative efforts to build homes and businesses, care for children and the elderly, and stick together against adversity. A tragic car accident took the life of the wife of a shop owner. When we went to the shop a few weeks later, complete strangers were running it. They were allowing the family to continue their mourning and healing. It was quite apparent that this was a beautiful example of community at its best.

As we talk about canning, cookie exchanges, bartering and trading, community is the vital link in these endeavors. Who is struggling that you can reach out to? You will feel richer for it!

Happy Cheapness!

Gardening and Canning - Part II

This post is for those of us who are garden-ingly challenged.

We can still use the same methods to preserve food from one season to the next, we just need to alter the source. I belong to a community co-op where we get a basket of vegetables and a basket of fruit every two weeks for $17.00. Thru the co-op we have been able to purchase cases of tomatoes, corn, Hatch chilies and peaches.

As you can imagine, canning and preserving when you have a case of ripe produce in front of you makes it easier for those of us who do not garden.

A couple of pointers; I would not recommend canning by yourself unless you have experience. I made pickles with Pawpaw one summer and they were not good. Mawmaw almost fell off the chair watching us! Also, if you do not own the proper equipment, your first season of canning can cost more per can than the store bought varieties. Ask around and you may be able to trade labor (cutting, pitting and coring) in exchange for canning with someone with the equipment.

Start in manageable batches. When the market has ripe strawberries they are "giving away", grab some Certo fruit pectin to make freezer jam. Bananas - you can freeze them whole for smoothies (the skin will turn black, but they are ok) or bread. Other berries, I place them on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they are frozen and them pop the frozen berries into a zipper bag.

If you come across discounted bananas and you have the time, you can use them to make a few loaves of banana bread for the hectic holidays. Banana bread usually freezes well. Great for a thoughtful gift or defrosted in microwave with a cup of tea for drop in guests or an after-school snack.

This summer, we purchased a case of yellow corn. We froze some of the corn as ears, we froze some of the corn cut off the cob and we froze some in cream-style batches. We got about 10 bags out of a case of corn.

CERTO® Strawberry Freezer Jam (from the Kraftfoods.com website)
Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 24 hr 30 min
Makes:
About 4 (1-cup) containers or 64 servings, ...
What You Need
2 cups prepared fruit (buy about 1 qt. fully ripe strawberries)
4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
1 pouch CERTO Fruit Pectin
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Make It
RINSE clean plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly.
STEM and crush strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 min., stirring occasionally.
MIX pectin and lemon juice in small bowl. Add to strawberry mixture; stir 3 min. or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)
FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.

Happy Cheapness!

Garden and Canning - Part I

Essential to survival in hard times was the ability to grow food and preserve it for later use safely. In the photos above are my Dad in the in the late 30s or early 40s in front of his family's backyard garden and his father on the fence between my grandparent's home and the vacant lot they had their mini farm set up on next door. It was land, no one was using it, they weren't going to let a perfectly good patch of dirt go to waste.

Let's start with the gardening side. I have nothing to say. My green thumb consists of keeping a half a dozen houseplants one step ahead of inevitable demise.

I have however, reaped the benefits of having a father, grandfather and father-in-law with an amazing talent for coaxing mass quantities of edible food from seeds and dirt. From observing them, I have discovered two important things; (1) make friends with gardening people, they always have extra and need free labor and (2) if you can grow a weed, you can grow a herb. Herbs are the things in little jars in the seasoning aisle of the grocery store. I found out I can grow a couple of them in a sunny spot. I am hoping to graduate to a container and grow some cherry tomatoes!!

I was raised in Illinois and now live in Arizona. I still have my seasons backwards. However, I found that by having friends who are gardeners, I am learning more about how this works.

The ability to can or freeze the harvest can have a very positive impact on your family budget. It is also better for you than most store-bought as long as we do it right and don't poison our family.

The Ball Company (makers of canning jars for 125 years) has a super resource at their http://www.freshpreserving.com/ site.

I am not a good canner yet, but I love canning jars for a bunch of other uses. I use canning jars for my homemade salad dressing. I use a canning jar in my lunch for my beverage, I use canning jars to store rice, beans, peppercorns, tea leaves, and cinnamon. I use canning jars to make Christmas gift mixes of soup and cookies. I use canning jars because they do not melt in the microwave, stain, or retain flavors. Canning jars last a long time and the seals and screw tops fit every single jar. I do not like playing plastic lid Concentration when I am trying to put food away. Canning jars come in pints, quarts, half gallon. I use both wide mouth and standard. The jars have far outlasted any plastic I have ever purchased.

I have a friend who is a champion canner and I am hoping to be invited to help her at her next canning session. She sends canned goods to her daughter who is away at college. Her daughter is re purposing the canning jars into drinking glasses since all the glasses they purchased for her college apartment have already broken.

What are you capable of growing for your family's use and how can you safely preserve it for hard times? Part II tomorrow!

Happy Cheapness!

Cheap Tips Basics

As I have sorted thru ideas and resources, two basic themes have become abundantly clear.

Cash and organization

Credit Cards with the ability to carry a balance from month to month and pay interest on that balance did not come into use until the late 1950s early 1960s. In those 50 years, Americans have amassed $750 Billion in debt. Ouch!

Things were hard scrabble enough in the 1930s to keep body and soul together without lugging consumer debt around too. When you work with cash and only cash, it is quite simple to stick to your budget. I understand the safety concern with cash and I will address that in future posts, but look at how your spending habits change if you limit yourself to cash.

Organization was vital to running the homefront and when resources were limited, knowing what resources you had was essential.

Have you ever cleaned out a closet, pantry, or storage area and become re-acquainted with items you were missing? That is where I find that a lack of organization has cost me money. My favorite part of organizing is finding out "how many" of a specific item I own.

I remember my Granny's pantry. It was a walk-in closet off her kitchen with handmade wooden shelves and quite large even by today's standards. I can still see the neat rows of home-canned fruits and vegetables, the dry goods and the baking essentials. At a glance, she could see what she had and more importantly what she needed for any cooking project.

When cash is tight, I get bummed when I think I need something and then find out I had it, but didn't know where it was.

So let's take a look at how we can budget with cash only and organize what we already have.

Happy Cheapness!

Outside the Box

Haven't we all heard "thinking outside the box" a bunch of times? My dad told me an interesting story about taking that phrase to a new place.......

My Grandmother was the eldest of over a dozen siblings including a sister who was married to a member of the US Congress. One of Granny's brothers worked with the trains in the Chicago Stockyards. This is where all the livestock from the Midwest used to be shipped for processing. Hence Armour and Swift - some of the big meat packing companies - were Chicago based.

Transporting the animals caused a lot of wear and tear on the freight cars. My Dad's uncle would let the family know when one of the freight cars was scheduled to be refurbished. The train company would place the freight car on one of the outside tracks and my father's extended family would use ladders, hammers and pry bars to completely disassemble the freight car down to the frame and the wheels.

The train company was glad they didn't have to pay workers do it, but more importantly, my Dad's family used the valuable lumber they hauled off to build outbuildings, fences and repair their homes.

So my cheap tip question is, "What can you glean?"

Do you need wood for a raised garden bed or fence project? Do you know a company that needs some used or broken pallets hauled off? Lots of wood there - just use a magnet to find all the nails where you are breaking the pallets apart.

I had a friend once who had a huge garage sale and a small vehicle. When the garage sale was over, she needed someone to haul the unsold items off. I owned a truck and and a van at the time.

I called my play daughter (it s Southern saying for an un-related "child" that becomes part of your family) who was just setting up housekeeping. With her help and my neighbor's gracious permission, we hauled everything to a local charity, but my play daughter and I got to pick thru the leftovers. Bonanza for me, there were quite a few beautiful Christmas items that I still decorate with some 10 years later!!!

Welcome to Granny's Cheap Tips

I am excited about the opportunity to share what I have learned from my parents and grandparents about living frugally.

In our age of excess, I found how far I moved away from the simple and practical methods of squeezing every nickel until the Buffalo poops.

My Dad is 91. He is quite bright and witty. When I asked him about being my consultant, he jumped right in with some of the different things his family did to survive during The Great Depression. Dad was born in 1918, so he remembers the things his family had to do to make ends meet. (Probably better than he remembers what they served in his Assisted Living Home for dinner last night!!)

We will have recipes, ideas and organizing tips all to help stretch every dollar!