Just thinking

My house is located along the flight path of airplanes leaving our airport.  I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of what sounded like a very low flying airplane going over the house.  How odd it sounded.  Either it was a very slow moving plane or there was more than one of them leaving back to back.  After getting up, I realized it was just the wind.  Really strong wind!  We had dodged the snow and ice but we were getting lots of wind.  I went back to bed hoping to  get some sleep despite the sounds.

I also had a thought on my mind and don't know where it came from.  Probably my frugal mind working over time looking for more ways to save money.  My thoughts might have something to do with what I heard on the news a few days ago..  The news story was about someone suing YUM brands over saying their Taco Bell beef was beef when it really contained lots of fillers and extenders.

Anyway, while laying there listening to the wind and doing my best to go back to sleep.....it occurred to me.... if a person buys one of those 1/3 pound fast food angus burgers and pays 5.99 for it; then that means they are paying $18 a pound for the ground beef.  Hmm... how's that for a great reason to make your own burgers at home? 

Would I even consider paying $18 a pound for ground beef at the grocery?  No way!  Would you?  I cringe just knowing I'm paying more than double the amount I paid for ground beef a couple of years ago.  I was used to getting ground beef for 99 cents a pound, or less when it was on sale, but now days the best I've been able to do is $2.49 a pound from the discount bin every now and then.

Give it some thought next time you go the fast food route..... how much beef is really in that burger?  Is the beef full of fillers and extenders?  Take a look at that $1 burger you can buy from the dollar menu.  It probably contains one ounce of ground beef plus extenders.  Well, suppose it doesn't have any fillers and extenders; you're still paying somewhere about $16 a pound for that dollar menu burger.  I don't want to pay that much money for something that will leave me feeling hungry again in about 30 minutes. 

Oh my goodness!

I've talked several times about how we should always check the amounts on our bills and what gets rug up at a cash register .  Never trust a bill or a cash register!  Always check it for accuracy.  Even a small error in the favor of those who bill us is money out of our pockets.  That's money we could use for food or shelter.  Well, sometimes the errors I find are down right ridiculous. 

Recently I read that our water bill would be going up.  I knew this was going to happen and sort of prepared myself for the rate hike.  Yet, when I got the bill I was very shocked.  I wasn't shocked by the amount of the raise.  I was shocked by how much water they claimed I was using.  It was double my normal usage.  Double in one billing cycle.  Yikes!  Now let me tell ya... there's absolutely no way I'm suddenly using double the amount of water!  Not with all the ways I've cut back. 

I call the water company and I'm told I must have a water leak someplace.  Ok, I can accept that as an answer.... for now.  I'll get a plumber to come check it out.  In the meantime, I talk with several other people who have said the same thing.  They were billed for double the amount of water than is normal.  These people have also called the water company and got the same answer.... there must be a water leak someplace.  Granted one or two people who know each other might have a water leak but all 10 of us?  Ten out of ten is pretty high odds that we all have water leaks under our houses don't ya think?

The trouble with double checking our water usage is that the meter is underground and impossible to check for accuracy by the homeowner.  Anybody know who I could file a complaint with other than the water company?  

Ok, how about a bill from a nursing home for the care of a patient who is not even in the nursing home?  Mom was in the hospital from just after Thanksgiving until after New Year's day.  The bill had charges for December.... twice.  Bills for October and November which were already paid.  AND.... billing for January.  January hadn't even arrived yet at the time I got the bill.  I got this bill on December 27th.  How can they charge for care that hasn't been given?    Hmm... it's kind of like being charged for surgery when you haven't been operated on yet.  Or paying for groceries when you haven't even filled the cart yet. 

I do know when a patient leaves the nursing home and is admitted to the hospital you must pay a fee to hold the bed.  If you don't pay the bed hold fees they can give the spot to someone else.  Which leaves the patient without a place to go back to if not paid.  It took a couple of phone calls and this was straightened out.  A computer hiccup was the cause..... or so I was told. 

Well now, moving on, we all know about the cost of groceries going up... am I right?  I know I sure do get sticker shock every time I go to the grocery these days.  From one trip to the next, I find the cost of everything has gone up.  I don't care what the tv news tells us about the economy getting better.  In my personal opinion, the economy is only getting better for big wigs and wall street, not main street.  I believe what I see with my own eyes every time I pay higher prices for groceries.  Uh, DUH!  Maybe I should change that?  Maybe I shouldn't believe my own eyes anymore. 

Let me tell you about my shopping trip yesterday.  My readers know I love to buy discount items when shopping for groceries.  There are certain discount produce items which make me as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning.  When I find bananas, oranges, onions, bell peppers and stuff like that on a produce discount table I am very happy.   I don't take it all but I do take enough to last me for awhile.  Yesterday, I had just about given up on getting fresh bell peppers, which I'm completely out of right now.  I had already been to Kroger where the price was $1 each for very small ones.  None were marked down.  I believe the cost of a pound of bell peppers is comparable to the cost of a pound of t-bone steak these days.  Don't believe me?  Maybe you will in a minute or two.

When I get to Meijer, I'm delighted as I spot bell peppers on the discount table.  I saw them from way across the room.  I rushed to get a few before everyone else spotted them too.  I quickly grabbed a couple bags of the color ones and a couple bags of the green.  I put those in my cart along with a couple bags of over ripe bananas.  Ok, are you ready for some sticker shock too?   Can you believe this? 

Yup, it says $109.59 for three reduced price bell peppers.  Isn't that about the cost of t-bone?  A very, very expensive t-bone?  Ok, how about this price tag?

Yup, the price is $62.39 for two reduced price peppers.  The price is $79.99 per pound.  Wow, talk about sticker shock!  After looking at those price tags, the hair on my head stood up, I had a look of sheer surprise, and I'm standing there shaking from the jolt I got.  I'm in the produce isle looking sort of looked like this..... (click to make the picture larger to get the full effect)

I look around to see if anyone else has as much sticker shock as I did.  Yup, I looked kind of like this too as I stand there looking around at other people who are also rather shocked. 

Trust me, I do not want this kind of sticker shock very often!  A little giggle from the produce manager and all the tags were changed.  Hmm... I wonder why she giggled instead of feeling embarrassed or saying she was sorry?  Do you think there might have been people who actually paid that price without ever checking it?  It's quite possible.  Next time I go grocery shopping I think my clothing should include a grounding wire from my waist to the floor. 

Now do you see why I tell people to always check?  Excuse me while I end this post and get a cuppa coffee.  Maybe the caffeine will calm me down a bit.  With all the shocks I've been getting lately I'm almost afraid to go near the quilting machine.  I might damage it with residual shock current coming from my hands.

Coupons

I watched a show last night on the learning channel (TLC) that brought back memories and at the same time left me really puzzled by the purchases.  It was a show called Extreme Couponing.  The coupon people on this show bought thousands of dollars worth of STUFF for very little money because of their coupons.  The main thing about using coupons in the show was that the store doubled the value of the coupons.  A 50 cent coupon would become a dollar.  A dollar coupon would become two dollars.  The people spent hours and hours gathering coupons, matching the coupons up to sale items, going through the store to fill up several carts, and then going through the register line.

Let me tell ya, I was one of those who could buy several hundred dollars worth of STUFF for mere pennies if I chose to do it.  I first started using coupons in the 60s when there were coupons and refunds (rebates) almost everywhere you looked and only a few people used them.  Back then the stores gave away stamps that we put into books and traded just like money for things like sheets, dishes, appliances, furniture, and just about anything.  The stamp stores had catalogs of stuff very similar to regular catalogs today. 

Back in those days there were coupons for meat, fresh fruits & veggies, milk & bread, and just about anything needed to eat healthy.  We didn't see convenience foods in the stores back then like we see them today either.  I rarely paid more than 10 cents on the dollar for anything I needed.  Often, after coming home with my goods I could mail off packaging parts and get refund checks sent to me for the items I paid only a few pennies for in the first place.  Sometimes I earned thirty or fourty dollars a week by going through other peoples trash for packages offering refunds.  Many times one package had several refunds that could be had by sending different parts.  A top for one refund, a bottom for another, a weight seal for another, and sometimes just for sending a receipt.

Heck, even the stuff I bought for pennies had free stuff inside.  There were bath towels, hand towels, and face cloths in laundry powder boxes.  Glasses and dishes came inside oatmeal and cereal boxes.   Jelly came in drinking glasses.  Free stuff was given away at gas stations too.  Fill up your tank and you got free silverware or other stuff plus they gave you stamps to put into your stamp books in the same transaction.  Gas was from 15 to 30 cents a gallon back then as well.  Oh to have those days again!  If you got the oil changed in your car you got a coin inside every can of oil.  The coins could be traded for stuff just like stamps.  

Did you know Depression Glass dishes were originally free give away items at gas stations?  They were.  I think the whole "give something free for a purchase" phase came from the original free dishes given away during the great depression.  Now those dishes are worth hundreds of dollars to a collector.  I could go on and on about the free stuff and refunds back then but I don't want to bore you any longer with my trip down memory lane.

Ok, back to the people featured on the show.  I don't know what part of the country those folks live in but what they did certainly can't be done here in Kentucky anymore.  My suspicion is that after the manufacturers see the show; those people won't be able to do their extreme shopping anymore either.  The people on the show really went way beyond what the coupons are intended to do.  One man bought 1,000 boxes of cereal which he got for a few pennies.  A Thousand boxes!  No way can one person eat that much cereal in a lifetime.  He bought 300 toothbrushes.  So how many times would he have to brush his teeth to use up all those toothbrushes?  He bought enough food stuff in one single shopping trip that it would last him 150 years or more if he lived that long.  He said he shops like that all the time.  His garage looked like walking into a mega store.

One woman said she was leaving her stockpile of groceries in her will.  Her kids would inherit it.  She bought 60 bottles of soda and almost 2 thousand dollars worth of other stuff for less than 10 dollars on her one shopping trip.  Now come on!  How many large bottles of soda can one family drink in 3 months?  That's how long it would be before the soda is on sale and coupons would come out again.  Ok, some people drink soda all day every day.  But, how long will 500 boxes of pasta and 300 jars of pasta sauce last for a family of 4?  I don't know about you but that would be way too many pasta meals for me before it gets too old to use. 

It's people, like the extreme couponers on the show, that mess the system up for the rest of us.  Back in the 80s there was a lady named Michelle Easter that went on tv and told of her extreme couponing too.  She started a magazine called Refunding Makes Cents that was filled with the latest refunds out all over the country.  People who subscribed to her magazine could trade refund forms with other people and double, triple, or quadruple the rebates they got from one package.  A package they got for free in the first place.  She messed it up for those of us who only took our fair share.  It was only a year or two later that the refund forms started disappearing because the magazine created so many extreme refunding people.  No manufacturer can continue to operate if every dollar they earn is given out in free items plus refunds too.  They would go bankrupt very quickly.

Not long ago I was challenged to live without my coupons.  I agreed to take the challenge but my neighbor continued to bring coupons to me.  I kept them even though I wasn't using them.  I have managed to live quite well without the coupons.  Well, right before my last shopping trip I decided to have a look at my coupons once more.  There are very few really good useful coupons anymore. 

Out of all those coupons, I came up with only these that were actually usable for my purchases.  The rest were for what I call junk items.  Junk items that most other people don't like either. 

After making out my shopping list and matching coupons to sale items..... I didn't use a single one of the coupons.  I found better bargains on items that didn't have coupons out.   For example the 40 cents off on yeast.  Even if it were doubled to 80 cents the store brand would still be a dollar cheaper than one with a coupon.   Stores here in my area stopped doubling and tripling coupons about two years ago.

If you find coupons that really are on products you use; then for heaven sake use some common sense when using them.  For example let's say you use one roll of toilet tissue per week. (Ok your family might use more but this is only an example, K?)   A year's supply would be 52 rolls or about 13 four roll packages.  If the coupon and sale is out every three months then you only need 3 packages to last until the next sale.  If you bought 4 packages every three months then at the end of the year you would have 16 extra rolls in your stock pile to help with any possible financial crisis.

Here's another example.  Let's say you use about one jar of pasta sauce and one box of spaghetti a month.  How many jars of pasta sauce and boxes of spaghetti would you need for a year?  (12)  The sale and coupon comes out every three months so how many do you need to purchase for a three month's supply? (3) How many extra to buy every three months for building your stockpile of emergency food?  (4) 

Ok, I do know there are people who keep up to 20 years worth of food and water in their stockpile.  That's a lot of money tied up in stockpiled foods that could be lost to a disaster.  I can't help but wonder how many of the people lost all their stockpiled food to flooding out west last year.  How many lost their stockpile of food in the fires that swept across an area a few months ago.  How many stockpiles are buried beneath the mud slides in California right now?  You understand what I'm saying?

So if you are going to use coupons and stockpile stuff..... at least buy and keep no more than you can reasonably use and no more than you can afford to loose due to a disaster.  Keep the money saved so you can replace what you need when you need it.  Use coupons wisely and buy only your fair share.

Ok let me sum this whole post up into four simple words that anyone can understand.

God doesn't like greedy!

In my opinion God does want us to have food stored away; but, only enough to last a little beyond a year's supply.  That's why he created the seasons.  In the spring food is planted and farm animals have babies.  During the summer everything grows and matures.  In the fall it's all harvested and preserved to last until the next fall season.  During the winter we start eating our stored up foods.  Spring arrives and it starts all over again. 

Even God's creatures know to store only about a year's worth of foods.  What would it look like if squirrels kept a 20 year supply of nuts in their tree house?   What would a ant hill look like if there were 20 years worth of  dead bugs saved in it?  How fat would a bear be if it stored up 20 years worth of fat for it's hibernation? 

I'm not putting down anybody's religion.  I'm just stating my own thoughts about what should be stored for the future.  If your religon teaches you to keep more that's ok.  We can agree to disagree.

Ok, blogger is acting up.  It must be telling me to stop type-talking and post already!

One penny at a time

These days it's become quite popular to save money.  I've seen it before.  At least a couple of times in my life.  This wave of wanting to save money.  The time I remember most is during the 1960s and 1970s because that was when I was young and full of enthusiasm  for the life ahead of me.

How long will the zest for saving money last this time?  How long before people stop feeling the need to save and go back to the life of spend, spend, spend?  I'm not sure.  What's important is that it's popular again.  I'm enjoying sharing the simple little things I do to save money.  Some ideas I've abandoned over the years and now want to do again.  Some ideas are new to me because our daily lives have changed as the grey tsunami gets older. 

Whether it's saving money by thrift store purchases instead of paying new prices.

Or baking our own bread instead of stopping at the store every couple of days.

Or freezing canned biscuits so we use only what we will eat instead of the whole can.  Or even better, making our own scratch biscuits to freeze.  (I do that too.)

Or making a cooking grease strainer so that grease isn't simply used once then thrown away.  It will be used, then used again, and then used again.  When it starts to pick up odors it can be cleaned with ginger root and used again or used in other ways like maybe in a lamp as lamp oil.

Or knitting and crocheting our own dish cloths then taking apart a damaged dish cloth so a new one can be made from the saved yarn.  The yarn can be used over and over and over again until the yarn itself falls apart.

Or making our own pot holders and placements.

Or using powdered milk and making our own kool-aid to go mix.

Or using lower energy cooking appliances which also has a meal hot and waiting on us at dinner time.

Or making our own sheets and pillow cases from our fabric stash and later to be repurposed into other things like kids clothes.  The outgrown clothes can be saved and remade into other useful items like more clothes or quilts.  The old quilts, when no longer useful, can be repurposed into soft toys and other things.

Or making window quilts to keep the heat in during cold weather.  These can also be repurposed when you want to change the window quilts to go with new decor.  Hmm.... how about making house slippers or appliance covers from old window quilts?

Or saving plastic grocery bags to be used as small garbage bags or repurposed into rugs and dog leashes and house shoes.  If you cut these bags into strips for using as crochet, knitting, and braiding material it's called plarn.  Plastic yarn.

Or keeping a price book so we know when a sale price really is a sale price and not just an advertising gimmick to fool us into believing it's on sale.

Or keeping a household manager binder, with all the information we need to have handy, that saves us money and time because we aren't searching for where we stashed the information.

Or crafting cardboard furniture, or quilting, or knitting sweaters and socks, or other crafts to make our lives happier and more meaningful.

Or saving the butter wrappers to be used when the recipe calls for greasing a pan. 

It all adds up.... one penny at a time.   

I'm so glad I'm once again a part of the growing crowd of people that believe in saving by changing the way we think.  I'm no longer simply the crazy lady down the street that does weird stuff.  The internet has helped me stay in touch with like minded people.  All the thrifty things I do are not new.  These thrifty ideas have been around for generations.  From cave women, to all the generations that followed, there have been thrifty people coming up with new ways to save as well as pass on knowledge of what is already proven itself as useful.  I'm happy to be a part of passing the knowledge on to the next generation. 

Thank you, to all the followers of my 3 blogs, for being a part of my life.  I hope everyone continues to follow as I remember fogotten skills and learn newer ones.  Some things I post about will be familiar to you and hopefully some will be new ideas for you to learn.  In either case, please know that I appreciate each and everyone of you..... my internet friends.

Check the bill

It's always a good idea to check every bill you receive.  With the economy the way it is these days there are often new charges or errors costing you a big chunk of your hard earned money.  This can also be a dishonest way of getting you to pay for stuff you don't want or didn't order. 

You see this sign?  What does it say to you?  Clearly it says I'm not interested in hearing what a salesperson has to say.  I put a no solicitation sign on my door several years ago.  I periodically put a new one on the door because it fades in the sun. 

How this got started is because the cable company, the phone company, and the satellite company were knocking on my door every day, sometimes twice a day, trying to get me to sign up for new services or combined cable, internet, and phone services.  There were also church people, magazine people, and perfume people knocking on the door at least once a week.  Then the people asking for money donations of one type or another started too.  I got very tired of telling people NO, I'M NOT INTERESTED!   The sign stopped all the people knocking on my door.

On rare occasions when some sales person does knock on my door, I point to the sign and say.... I prefer to sue, can I get your name and company for my lawyer?  This usually does the trick because I'm very serious and WILL contact a lawyer if it happens again. 

For the last three or four years I've watched the Insight cable company salesmen walk by my house, spot that I don't have combined or upgrades services, start toward my door, see the sign, and get a look on their face that makes me smile.  The look is.... Darn, I thought I had one.  They turn around and walk away. 

Well, a few days ago a young man knocked on my door.  I do the routine of pointing to the sign and asking for his information.  He tells me that the sign doesn't apply to him because he isn't selling anything.  Huh?  You're not selling, then what do you want?  He tells me that he just is there to inform me that I may be loosing my cable services in a few days because Insight is going all digital.  What?  I thought back when the stations all went digital we were ok if we had cable?  He says but now Insight is going digital too.  That's why some of the channels are disappearing one by one. 

I tell the young man if that happens then I'll just have the cable turned off.  I don't watch it very often.  I can barely afford to pay for the services I do have.  He tells me there's no charge for this service, it only requires a box which is free.  Ok, I can deal with free.  I ask.... Free forever?  Yes, free forever.  During our conversation, I repeat the same question several times.  You're sure it's free forever?  Yes, it's free so you can keep getting the cable services after it goes digital.  I tell him I don't like the large boxes.  It's hugh and won't fit on my small tv.  I have enough junk in my house already, I don't need more to clutter up the house.  He tells me it's a small box and puts his hands up to indicate how small the box is.  Maybe 6 inches or so.

Ok, I agree to take the box.  He sets it up so the installation guy can come hook it up within an hour and leaves.  The installation guy gets here about half an hour later with a cable box that's hugh compared to my tv.  No where near the size I was told.  Here's what it looks like.  The box on top.  Does that look small to you?  Short maybe but not small.

Needless to say, I'm upset I was lied to.  I should have known something was wrong right then.  I tell the installation guy why I'm upset.  He's very nice and tries to explain why it's a larger box.  The smaller boxes are for secondary tvs.  The big box is first, the smaller boxes are for the other tvs in the house.  I only have one tv right now because Ladybug has the other one at her house.  I tell him I don't want a big box.  He decides to go get the salesman to explain what I misunderstood about the boxes.

Within 10 minutes I have both guys at my house telling me why it has to be the larger one.  The salesman tries to appear apologetic and that I simply misunderstood him.  He tells me.... just to show me how sorry he is about the misunderstanding, he will give me showtime movie channel FREE for one year.  I don't watch movies and tell him that.  He says.... then it won't hurt anything to have it FREE for one year.  I can take my time to decide to keep it or not.  I repeat.... I don't watch movies, that's why I haven't signed up for the movie channels already.  I can't afford to pay for what I won't use.  He says.... It's FREE for one year so give it a try. 

The box is hooked up, the guys leave.  Right away the new box starts hiccuping.  By that I mean, every few minutes the tv blinks off for three or four seconds then comes back on.  I really believe it's because there are 6 items plugged into one two plug outlet or the box is defective.  I did mention something about having that many plugs in one outlet to the installation guy and he says it will be fine.

Fast forward a few days to yesterday.  I'm already upset about the stolen bank card and identity theft leaving me with a zero bank balance.  I'm coming down with a cold and feel miserable.  I open the cable bill to see how many days I have before it has to be paid.  WHAT THE HECK?!?  My cable bill is DOUBLE what is was before!  I'm charged for digital services, I'm charged for a movie channel, I'm charged for the box, and I'm charged for the installation.  Grouchy as I am when coming down with a cold.... it's not a good thing to be on my bad side.

I call the cable company to explain how upset I am and why.  I hate a lier as much as a thief.  To me they are one and the same.  After being on hold for over half an hour, I explain the the lady on the phone what happened with the salesman and the installation guy.  I'm NOT paying for services I DID NOT order.  She transfers me to her supervisor so I can repeat everything again.  Do they not know how upsetting it is for a senior person to have to repeat themselves?  It's hard enough trying NOT to repeat myself all the time already so repeating deliberately is upsetting. 

Well, the supervisor changed the bill to be what it was before.  She removed  all the extra charges.  The box will be FREE for one year.  Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that.  After a year the box will cost two dollars a month.  She tells me they will talk to the salesman and the installer.  Both will get more training so this doesn't happen again.  Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that too. 

Cross stitch quilts

MY OPINION..... others might have a different opinion.

I was told I was wrong about how cross stitched quilts are supposed to be made.... because the directions on the package say to do the stitching first.  My grandmother Bessie Jewell Hill (1888-1978) taught me to make cross stitched quilts when I was about 6 years old.  She might have been right about how they were made OR she might have been just teaching me in the only way she knew to do it.  Here's how I came up my idea on how cross stitched quilts should be made.

I thought that originally crossed stitched quilts were a way of teaching young children to both embroidery and quilt at the same time.  A sort of quilt sampler using cross stitching; which is the simplest embroidery.  We didn't use fancy floss, we used crochet thread, yarn, or butcher string.  I remember other young girls my age doing these quilts too.  We made them for our dolls.  I also remember doing cross stitched designs (chalk or pencil drawn) on family utility quilts.   Our quilt frame hung from the ceiling.  A grown up would draw a line design which we stitched.   Sometimes it was a fill in design and sometimes it was just lines.  We did quilting with decorative stitching for our special occasion quilts.  (like you see on crazy quilts) On our regular utility quilts we did simple running stitches and cross stitching more often than decorative.  All our quilts were done by first layering the quilt before stitching started. 

I can't remember a single quilt my grandmother made that was made from brand new fabrics.  My grandmother would have thought that way too frivolous.  She would be horrified at how much fabric is sold exclusively for quilts these days.  Even the backs of our quilts were made from old sheets or other scraps.  Hmm... sheets were made from thin unbleached muslin in our home.  When these sheets became so thin the rips and tears could no longer be repaired, these sheets became patched up quilt backings. 

I never learned to do the tiny, almost invisible, hand stitches you see on quilts today.  I was taught with thick threads, on utility quilts, which didn't give me much practice for tiny stitching.  If you look at the quilts from back during the turn of the century (1900) you will see very few quilts with perfect almost invisible stitching.  Or at least the ones I've been close enough to see.  I've not studied any museum quilts so I don't know about those.

Well, that's how I learned to do cross stitched quilts.  After thinking about it; I don't think there really is a right or wrong way.  We each make quilts in our own style.  From now on I won't say any cross stitched quilts are done wrong. 

Here's something to think about......

Have you ever read the directions for a quilt pattern in a magazine or book and found them to be all wrong?  Imagine someone 50 or 100 years from now trying to follow the directions of some magazine or book with the wrong directions.   Now imagine someone in the far future trying to follow a quilt pattern written wrong and without any pictures to go by either.  

Isn't that what we do today?  We try to make quilts designed back in the days when there were no written directions or pictures.  (50 or 100 years ago)  We make them in whatever way has been passed down to us or come up with our own directions.  Right?  So who is wrong... our ancestors or us?

Wind up light

I have been hearing about these flashlights for quite awhile now but I'd never really seen one.  I guess because I really hadn't been looking for them.  The way these work is you turn the crank on the back to charge up the light.  You get a certain number of minutes of light depending on how long you crank it.

When I happened to see this on a discount table I figured it worth the cost to buy it.  The frugal person inside me thought.... ah ha!.... no more batteries to keep charged up in case of a power outage.  Saving on electricity and the cost of rechargeable batteries. 

The original cost was $17.99, discounted to $10.79.  I was surprised at the register when it rang up at $5.39.  Not bad considering I hadn't been looking for it in the first place.  There are also crank radio/light combinations that work the same way.  The radios were not discounted.  Probably because more people want the radio/light combination than just the light. 

I like this technology.  What I really want to know is why there aren't more items made using it?  Or maybe there are and I just don't know about them?  In today's time of buzz words like "reduce our carbon footprints" or "go green to save the planet" why is this technology not becoming new buzz words?

Think about how much electricity could be saved all over the country if household appliances would run on crank technology.  Need coffee in the morning?  Crank the coffee pot.  Want to mix a cake?  Crank the mixer and start mixing.  Need to use the vacuum?  Crank it up and start vacuuming.   Want to watch tv for awhile?  Crank up the tv and your ready to go.   There are endless possibilities if the crank technology is taken seriously enough to Energize the Bunny crew to create new products.  Here's to hoping they keep going! 

Piler or filer

When someone says you should get organized.... what mental picture do you see?  Spare?  Minimal?  Picture perfect? Empty? Sterile?  Personally, I believe that being well organized means simply having a place for everything and everything in it's place. 

When it comes to organizing, my daughter is a piler and I'm a filer.  Even as a child my daughter would create piles of stuff in her room.  She knew exactly what was in each pile and could find whenever she wanted.  The piles would drive me crazy sometimes but I allowed her to find her own style and use it.  As long as her piles didn't become breading grounds for icky critters the piles were ok.  She never had food items or junk in her room.  Just piles of books, piles of clothes, piles of shoes, and so forth.


I, on the other hand, prefer filing my things.  By filing I mean neat little drawers and containers to fit exactly what I'm organizing.  Ideally I would love to have a house full of drawers or cabinets with areas that exactly fit everything I own and want to keep organized.  Ha! Like that would ever happen. 

Regardless of your organizing style it's important to know where everything is. Organizing is simply another word for knowing what you have, how many, and where it's stored.  This is the cheapest way to start saving money.  It keeps you from buying duplicates because you can't find the one you already own. 

Ever since the end of WW11 we've been taught to be good little consumers and buy, buy, buy.  We've been taught that our self worth is directly connected to the amount of stuff we own.  A person who gets a raise is more likely to go out and buy more stuff than they are to seek out investing options.  A person that wants to show their grandchildren how much they are loved buys them lots of toys instead of spending time at the museum.  Holidays are no longer simply to celebrate the reason.  Holidays have become excuses to buy more stuff.  Not only are we buying ourselves more stuff but we use holidays to give other people more stuff too.

The more stuff we own, the more space we need to keep it.  Everything we own requires something from us.  We must feed it, oil it, clean it, store it, and so forth.  Before long, our stuff starts to own us instead of us owning it.  We become overwhelmed and over stimulated to the point we feel we must organize.

So along comes the organizer companies.  It's a whole industry devoted to helping people own and store more stuff.  If we run out of room in our homes we can rent space in a storage facility.  I sometimes hear about people buying another house just for keeping more stuff.  To me, that's very sad.  Their stuff truly does own them.  The stuff is so important that they pay a mortgage payment to own it. 

Back when I decided to semi-retire it was with the intention of giving myself a simpler life.  A life of meaningful things instead of cold, unfeeling STUFF.  Giving up most of my income meant returning to the money saving things I did in my younger days.  Organizing is the first step for me to have my simple life.  Less income helps me avoid the temptations to buy, buy, buy.  I hope you keep me company and read my blog as I travel this journey to a simpler, happier life. 

Are you?

Are you the good little consumer doing as you are told?  Buy, buy, buy.  Spend, spend, spend.  You must spend money to keep our economy going ya know.  As "they" tell us; our teeth aren't white enough, our shampoo not specialized enough, our laundry not fresh enough, and our food isn't convenient enough.  We would all be the best, the sexiest, the freshest, the cleanest, the thinnest, the smartest, the healthiest, and our digestive tract the cleanest on the block if we only believe what "they" parade before our eyes. 

Do you carry a box of breath freshners, a full bottle of laxative, and a complete line of femine products in your purse?  You should you know, because "they" tell us that the most important job a woman can have is to make sure she is prepared for any emergency a family member might have.  I hadn't really thought about it much before; but, I alone have been responsible for making sure my families underarms are protected for a full 12 hours, making sure that my family has no clue what's for dinner by washing the air of any hint of cooking smells, and being extra careful that my garbage bags don't break on impact with food waste. 

It's my responsibility to make sure even my dog's breath is fresh, his food fit for a king, and his coat shiny as a new penny.  When my daughter broke up with not the mommie, it was my responsibility to remind her that whiter teeth and a healthy digestive tract might bring him back. 

Hey, I used to believe the tidy bowl man was my best friend when he cleaned the toilet bowl for me and the white knight would magically clean the floors of any yellow wax build up.  Did you know my kids could sing commercials before they learned to say mommie.  "Uh oh spaghetti O's" and "You're in trouble now Birdsong" are two I remember most. 

When my kids were small, buying for Christmas was "the holiday" to plan for.  Their lists were simple.  I grew used to locating presents I couldn't spell, had no idea what they were used for, and had to be put together with an instruction sheet written in Japaneese.  I had a whole year to prepare for that holiday.  Now "they" have invented so many more holidays with presents for us to plan, buy, wrap, and hide until the holiday.  A sticker saying "do not open until National Pancake Day" or "do not open until National Kudzoo Day" somehow just doesn't have the same meaning as "do not open until Christmas". 

Now that the kids are grown, the grand kid's letters have started to read like a foreign language.  No longer do they say "Dear Santa: please leave me a bike or new doll."  Now days the letters show that the kids have been mesmerized by some commercial, right down to the part number, brand, catalogue number or the ebay item number.  Sometimes they feel like helping my budget by giving directions on how to sign up for an Amazon account so I can find it there. 

Commercial companies have spent years and millions of dollars figuring out how to part us from our money.  Now days, even the government is in on it.... telling us that if we don't become hyper consumers our economy may collapse.  Going so far as to give us a tax break or a clunker rebate if we only spend our money.  Everything in a store has been researched, designed, and color coded to make us shell  out our paycheck to buy it.  Several days till payday?  No problem.  Just put it on our credit card and sign away our future paychecks to them for the rest of our life.  Oh, by the way, they also own a company that will help us manage our over used credit card debt too.

I'm tired of being told to exhaust myself shopping so I can take my senior, chewable, plus iron, memory tablets.  I'm tired of listening to comercials for men to "enhance" themselves to the envy of all the neighbors.  I hope and pray none of my grand kids ever get called "Bob" and have stupid grins on their faces.

We're all being manipulated you know.  Stores, internet, tv.... anything media is full of things that have you believing the only tme we experience ecstasy is when we take showers, chew gum, wash laundry,  smell our gym shoes, dance near the garbage can, or have multiple ovens on our team. Just when we finally figure out what new gadget "they" are talking about, that we are told we absolutely must have... a newer version comes out.

An anti-consumer doesn't stand a chance! 

Hi Anonymous


You have your "no reply-comment blocker" turned on and you did not send me your email address; so I can't reply privately. This is the only way I know to respond to your comment on my previous blog post.


I'm sorry if you took my blog post the wrong way. I didn't think I tainted my blog but maybe I did. I was not ranting; I was poking fun at the media. I should not have done that. I should not have poked fun at anyone.... not even the media. Making fun of someone is wrong. I was wrong in doing that and I admit it. Maybe I'm slipping because of old age or something.


The whole point of my post was to state my personal opinion on the media condemning this woman before knowing her complete story. My point was that no one ever condemned Mrs Dugger for having a large family. No one ever condemned any of the several other mothers who have had 5, 6, or 7 in vitro "litters"; so why is the media condemning this woman before knowing her whole story?


The only reason I could hear, for the media condemning this woman, was that she is unemployed and is single. Maybe the media said something I didn't hear so maybe I only thought this to be the reason for condemning her.


If you watch that many tv news shows: have you ever really watched how the reporters act instead of seeing the story they report? Try turning the sound off and just watch their behavior. I admit I'm just a little old lady quilter but sometime I see where the reporters are very rude to the people they are trying to interview..... and to each other. I don't know about you; but, if I saw a bunch of kids surrounding one child while pushing and shoving each other I would have to step in to stop their behavior before there is a fight. So why is it that reporters feel it's ok to act that way? Also, try quoting which reporter said what after listening to 3 or 4 reporters talking over each other for an hour.



Hmm... what about the woman wanting to get paid for her story? Since it feels to me as if absolutely everyone wants to get the story..... why shouldn't the woman get paid to tell it? Heck, I wish someone would pay me for mine! If I got paid for it I would type-talk your ears off about my life. Just look at how much of my life I share freely in my two blogs. I could easily double or triple the amount I share if someone paid me for it. If the offer of paying for my story ever comes my way; I think I'm going to take the offer.


I apologize for my bad spelling. I did a spell check but it didn't find that error. The word had an e sound so I spelled it with an e. I may not be good at spelling or grammar but I try to get my point across in the only way I know how. I started school in a one-room schoolhouse deep in the backwoods of Kentucky. I was moved from one foster home to another, one orphanage to another, one relative to another, every few months while growing up. Whoever agreed to take me for while is where I went. Growing up in this way, education was not a priority..... staying alive was.


You're probably right, I should broaden my resources to include many different news media; but, customer quilts come first. When I'm choosing between finishing quilts and reading a newspaper or watching a news show.... the quilts always win.


I think you misunderstood my feelings about the Dugger family. I wish I had been born into a large loving family like that. I also wish on many lonely nights that my husband had not died so we could have fulfilled our dream to have our 12 children. Yes, both of us wanted to have between 8 and 12 children. If wishes were pennies.... I'd be a billionaire.


I'm sorry; but, I have to ask you these questions because I don't understand something you said in your comments. Do you know something about this mother the rest of us don't know? Are you saying that you know for certain the lady who had 8 babies is not a good christian? And also saying that because one has the ability to get pregnant easily and the other must receive help that only one has the right to be a mother? What if it turns out that this woman and her partner are Buddhists or Atheists or Muslim or Wickists? Does that mean they should not be allowed to have children or to earn money from telling the story? I'm just asking, that's all.


I think if you check again you will find that the media is reporting that all 14 of this woman's children are by the same man and they know each other. He is not anonymous to her. In my personal opinion that means.... partner.


Until we know the woman's story and the reason the father is a donor rather than a participant.... isn't it just possible there might be a male medical condition preventing the two from conceiving nature's way? Here's only one possibility.... What if the man doesn't have the working part but does have the tadpole producing parts? (I don't want to describe what I mean in real words in my blog....it draws ugly spam.) I'm sure there are countless other possibilities too for these two to conceive in this way.


Here is another possibility.... what if two or three fertilized eggs split into multiples after being injected? I believe that happens quite often with in vitro doesn't it? Should she have been forced to have an abortion of some of the multiples? Isn't abortion of any kind against christian beliefs? Don't the christian right to life advocates condemn abortion for any reason?


Ok, here's my personal opinion and you can flame me on this if you want.... I've got my flame proof suit on.


Until I hear from this woman and her partner what the real story is; I'm not going to condemn them. Doesn't the Bible say...... Let those who are without sin cast the first stone. Yup, I'll be one of the people paying for a copy of the book, when it comes out, just to satisfy my curiosity about who this woman is and why so many are ready to condemn her. If she never tells the story that's her right too. She has a right to her privacy same as anyone else.


IF I had the time and IF I could get this woman's home address; I'm the kind of person that would make all 14 kids a quilt to send them. Since I can do neither; I'll just be content to watch the story unfold.


As I get older I get more forgetful. If I ever poke fun at anyone again.... please, someone let me know I goofed.... ok? Just do as my daughter does......


"Mom, you're showing your stupidity again."


Oops!

Say yes to less! (Less is more)

I've come up with my personal and professional goal theme for 2009. I'm saying "yes to less" which means;

1. less guilt
2. less stress
3. less spending
4. less waste
5. less accumulation
6. less clutter
7. less work
8. less perfectionism
9..... ok, there are many others but these will give you the idea.

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As I was thinking about my goals for this coming year it once again occurred to me that I can't be all things to all people. Somewhere in my childhood I got it into my head that I must be perfect in order to be loved, successful, and important. I keep forgetting the permission I give myself over time and I take on project after project, committment after committment.

For 2009 I'm once again giving myself the permission to "get over being perfect" and allow myself..... to be myself.... for myself. I'm hoping that this time I won't forget.

Maybe I'm still suffering from rush season burn out? Maybe I'm getting older? Maybe I'm just ready to retire and have fun? Oh goodness, who knows why, it doesn't matter. The point is that I'm ready to do much less. Yes to less is also a way to have more later. For example "yes to less spending" on household stuff gives me "more money" for fun later. "Yes to less work" gives me "more time" for friends and family.

In order to "say yes to less work" and "yes to less stress" some of my projects will have to go. These projects are not just quilt ufos or the customer quilts but other committments as well. I may be committing professional and social suicide by saying no much more often. It's a chance I will have to take. People will either like me or they won't.... whether I say yes or no.

I give myself permission to be "less perfect".

Well finally..... the Christmas quilts are finished. One customer brought me another gift of fruit. Isn't it great! Most of it has been eaten already. I enjoyed every bite!!




Here's the first finished quilt.

I did more hands on the hand strips.

And more feet on the feet strips.

A feathery design on the outside strips.

A leafy design on the inside strips.

The feathery design from the back.

The hands and leafy design from the back.

The next finished quilt.

A curling feather design on the outside border.

A leaf vine and a curling design on the inside borders.

Combinations of line dancing and leaf and flower designs on the blocks.

Another block.

Another block.

The next finished quilt.

A feather design on the outside border.

Another feather design on the inside border.

A leafy design on the sashing and corner stones.

Another view of the sashing and corner stones.

One of the blocks.

Another block.

And one more.

And another.

The border from the back.

Now that I'm finished for the year, I can turn my energy to finishing up the weatherization I didn't get finished a few weeks ago. I will put up the rest of the plastic on the windows and possibly make a window quilt or two. Even with the new insulation this house always feels cold. Mostly because I have high ceilings which means the heat is up high and the windows don't have covers on them. Next, I'll sort and file the paper work for this year and start the paperwork for the new year.


One thing is for sure.... I don't want to be this busy again! With so many life happenings this year I've been really stressed for weeks. The money just isn't worth all that stress. I'd rather be broke than go through another year like I've had. My goal for next year is to work less and enjoy life more. Hmmm..... seems like I said something like that last December and the December before that and even the one before that. Maybe my goal should be to find a way (a golden key) to work less and enjoy life more while still making the customers happy and keeping the bills paid?

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If I find the golden key to ending machine quilter stress.....I will be sure to tell the whole world. Until then I'm going to concentrate on more immediate tasks. I only have a few days when the chain that holds me to my machine is let loose ya' no.

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Later......