Hi everyone! I know it's early to be doing a farm update. If you think this is early, I should tell you when I actually wrote this post- a week or so ago. Anyhow, the month is almost over so I will tell you how it is going so far.

Goats

The goats are happy and healthy. At the beginning of January I bought them some more hay. They've been happily munching and mulling around the pasture. I've also been giving them a little bit of my homemade tree hay for treats. 

Chickens & Ducks

The chickens and ducks are likewise doing great. I had two unfortunate chicken deaths this month. Otherwise, the hens have been basking in the recent winter thaw. I've been giving them kitchen scraps (like normal). Today I gave them a handful of biscuits that had gone bad. It was so fun to watch them chase each other around the yard with mouthfuls of biscuit.

Chicken-Sitting

During the month of January, I have been babysitting some chickens. Normally for me, farm-sitting involves traveling to the farm in question, but the family was going to be gone for more than a month. It would obviously be a pain for me to drive over there every day, so they put bands on the chickens' legs (to tell them apart from my hens) and brought them to my house. So far, my chickens and the others have been playing well together. 

Today I'm going to show you how I reupholstered the cushions in our (new-to-us) old RV. The vehicle is 30+ years old and in bad need of a makeover. Most of the cushions were ragged and threadbare, like the one below:

Here are the basic steps I used:

1. Remove the buttons from both sides.

2. Pull the foam out of the "pillowcase".

3. Proceed to take apart the "pillowcase". Be sure to save each piece and any notions. My cushions had two pieces (one carpet and one vinyl) and a zipper. If your cushions are vinyl, be careful not to rip holes in it when using the seam ripper. Also, don't let the zipper pull come off the end of the zipper. It is super hard to get back on!! In order to prevent the zipper pull from coming off, I hand-stitch around the metal part at each end.

4. Lay out your new fabric, and using the old fabric as a pattern, cut new pieces. ​Sometimes it is helpful to use weights to hold the pattern piece down.

Make sure you cut a proper seam allowance if the fabric is folded over on one side like mine was.

5. At this point, you are basically going to put the cushion back together like it was, using your new pattern pieces. This is a little hard to explain because each cushion will probably be different. Mine were a basic square shape, with one vinyl side and a zipper between the vinyl and suede on the long edge.

To put in the zipper, I sewed the vinyl and suede together on the proper side. Then I opened up the seam and sewed the zipper straight down the center of the seam (on the inside, but facing the zipper toward the fabric, not myself). When the zipper was sewed onto the seam, I flipped it over and ripped out that very first seam. This guaranteed that my zipper was sewn in straight.

6. Once the cushion has been reassembled, try to stuff the foam back in. Check for any discrepancies or areas that just don't "look right". Note: until you are 100% satisfied, DON'T trim up any of the seams! You might want to use that extra room.

You can tell that the two edges above are not the same height. This probably happened because my original fabric (pattern) was stretched out on one side. If you are using the old foam (I was), it's okay to leave uneven edges as long as they fit the foam.

In the photo above, there was too much extra fabric in the corner. I took note of this before I made final adjustments to the cushion.

7. Make any needed adjustments, then put the cushion back in and zip it up. I tried not to take the foam in and out to often, or make too many adjustments, because I didn't want to damage the vinyl or the foam, which was being reused.

8. Now it's time to add the buttons! This was my favorite part.

Recover any buttons if neccesary. To recover my buttons, I cut a circle of suede around each button with about 1/2" extra on the sides. Then I used Super 77 3M spray glue to fix the button in the very center of the circle. When the glue had dried, I hand-stitched large stitches around the edge of the circle and then pulled both ends. This is just like gathering fabric. Then I tied off the ends and had a finished, covered button.

So, there are actually several steps to #8. Recovering buttons was the first step. Then you'll want to get your upholstery needles and heavy-duty thread out. 

Above is what the finished cushion looks like without buttons. You can tell that the top fabric is a little loose, and there are holes in the vinyl where the buttons were before. If you have vinyl cushions, use these original holes to avoid making more tears in the vinyl. If you are using non-plastic, brand-new fabric and foam, you can put the new buttons wherever you want. You can tell where the buttons were on used foam, so if you are re-using the foam, it will be best to put the buttons back where they were before.

After my cushions were put back together, I poked the needle through the vinyl side first (using the old hole), and out through the suede side. This was HARD! I had to push really hard to get the needle to go through the suede, and then I had to pull and stretch the suede in order for the needle to wiggle its way through. In the end, I got it to go through.

Now, thread the button and push the needle right back where it came from, being careful to come back through the original vinyl hole (if you are using vinyl).

Pull the thread so the button is tight against the cushion.

Lastly, thread the button on the other side and tie it down tight. If you pull the button(s) together tightly, they will stay without knotting. However, I always like to knot both ends of the thread with the knot being hidden under the button when you are done.

If you want more information on upholstery or attaching buttons, there are plenty of Youtube videos out there which are very helpful. 

The end result of my effort, while not perfect, was very satisfying. Once the cushions are in the RV, all of those imperfect seams and lopsided corners will be hidden, and nobody will know the difference.

As far as frugality is concerned, this project was not free. I bought brand new (albeit couponed!) fabric from Joann's in the color and type that I wanted. The fabric cost about $90.00. We also bought new foam for two of the cushions, at $25.00 per cushion. We felt that those cushions were squashed enough to warrant the new foam, even with that hefty price tag.

Apart from reusing the zippers, vinyl, and foam in two of the cushions, we were able to salvage one of the squashed cushions by cutting it down and using it for reupholstering the RV bed (the bed was 3" foam as opposed to the 5" back seat cushions). That being said, I might still have to buy more fabric to finish the bed. 
In order to frugalize the project even farther, we could have used free fabric to recover the cushions. However, I was being picky about the color and type.

I would not have reused the squashed foam, even to save money. If you are going through all the trouble to reupholster, you might have well have a NICE cushion instead of a nice-looking but nasty, uncomfortable cushion. One way to frugalize the foam would be to find a larger piece for free (you could use any old couch cushion), and cut it down to size.

Total cost for this project is/will be from $140.00-$170.00. That sounds expensive, but it will VASTLY improve the appearance of the interior, and new foam in the seat cushions will make the RV more livable and fun to travel in. It will feel less like 1986 and more like 2017. 

Til next time,
-Bethany

1. Shopping: I spent a grand total of $6.06 on groceries this week. With that money, I got: 2 avocados, 3 mangoes, 5 oranges, 6 boxes healthy spaghetti noodles, 1 box Annie's Organic mac 'n' cheese, a can of refried beans and a box of tortilla shells. Nothing this week was purchased at regular price.

Produce- mangoes and oranges were reduced produce, $1.00 per bag. One orange was a free sample. See below for avocados.

Avocados and shells- I used one printable coupon and an identical rebate ($1.00 off 1 Old El Paso product + 2 avocados), in addition to a $0.25 generic avocado rebate in order to get all of it (retail $3.50) for $1.25. The avocados were on sale for $1.00 each. Since I bought everything in order to get the avocados cheaper, I figure that my end price was $0.63 per avocado and the taco shells were free. 

Pasta- Spaghetti was on sale this week for "buy 6, end price is $0.49 per box". I took advantage of that deal to buy the more expensive pasta and also used a $0.10 Mobisave rebate to get a final price of $0.47 per box/lb. Two of the boxes (vegetable pasta) were only 12 oz., so they cost $0.63 per pound. Still cheaper than the Dollar Tree OR bent 'n' dent.

Mac 'n' cheese and refried beans- these were Free Friday deals. Lately they have had some great, healthy Free Friday deals at Kroger. It is worth your time to get a Kroger account just for the freebies.

2. Cooking: Made rice in the Instant Pot, made ham broth in the Instant Pot, made yogurt and had leftovers for several meals.

3. Worked on RV cushions. This was my main project for the week, as we are planning an upcoming RV trip. We did end up buying two new 5" foam pieces for the back seats, but were able to salvage one of the old 5" thick pieces to make a 3" piece for the bed.

4. Ordered a free photo book from Shutterfly (+$8.00 shipping) with pictures from our trip to Panama last year.

5. Lined dried two loads of laundry. My indoor line worked even better than last time. I washed two smaller loads, so I didn't have to use the shower curtain rod this week. I used an old milk jug to make a holder for my extra clothespins that I can slide along the line as I work. This makes hanging and taking down the clothes even faster.

6. Made rubber bands from a dish-washing glove that got a hole in it. I read about this years ago in The Tightwad Gazette, but never had a chance to try it. The rubber bands are actually quite sturdy. :)

7. Signed up for a free course with The Herbal Academy. Through the month of January, the online herbalism school is offering a six-part course on how to create your own materia medica notebook. I'm only two lessons in and I have already utilized several of their free printables. The company has other courses that you pay for, but this one is completely free if you sign up before the end of the month.


My New Shopping Tool

In the past few months, I have been working hard to improve my shopping skills. I've been shopping at different stores besides Walmart, to see who has the best deal on what... who has the best coupon policy, the best rebates and best sales. I like all of the stores, but they have different strong points and weak points. It is so hard to keep track of everything- what is on sale where, which rebates apply to which store, when they expire. And then there's coupons. Where to even start with coupons.

Last week, I made a printable grocery shopping list/comparison chart to keep track of all of the sales, coupons, and rebates at each store. This was my first week using the chart. All of the deals worked out like they should have, because I put all every piece of information on paper in an organized manner, BEFORE I went to the store.

​After being on vacay, it felt SO good to have a really frugal, productive week. Here were some of the things I did:

1. Got my indoor laundry line set up. I used screw-in-the-wall hooks on either side of the room to create a zig-zag clothesline that I can put up or take down whenever I want to. I chose our bedroom as the location, for three reasons: a) the laundry is hidden in case people come over, b) clothes are stored in the bedroom, and c) the ceiling fan gives a little more airflow than the other rooms.

My first two loads on the new line went pretty well. I could really use some more hooks to create a longer line, because I still had to dry some T-shirts and our beach towels in the bathroom over an extra shower curtain rod that I keep over the tub for that purpose. In order to make the most of my new line, I need to be putting socks and underwear on the collapsible drying rack first. That frees up more room on the line. Overflow items go on the shower curtain rod.

I am loving my new permanent indoor clothesline. By using it, I'll be able to save a dollar every week, just like in the summer. However, the clothes do take longer to dry indoors, and sometimes thick items like jeans take two days to dry. On the second day when most of the clothes are dry, I fold them and take down the clothesline. The still-damp items can be dried the second day either on the drying rack or in the shower/tub. This gets most everything out of the way after 24 hours.

2. Sold 1 dozen eggs.

3. Shopping: We spent $8.76 this week on groceries. I found bacon on sale for $1.85/lb., got a cucumber for $0.42 with a rebate, and we also got free organic tortilla chips from a Kroger Free Friday deal several weeks ago. Other things I bought were dairy products, salt, and some 50-cent candy canes to stir in hot chocolate. 

4. Cooking: I used up most of my frozen leftovers this week. Also made cheese and used the Instant Pot I got for Christmas (thanks mom!!) to make baked potatoes, carrots, and mashed potatoes. I cooked up one of the turkeys we bought in November for $0.68/lb. After eating our fill, I cut up all of the meat except the drumsticks and got 5 bags (6.71 pounds) of cooked turkey meat for the freezer. In addition, I strained about 2 cups of cooking fat from the bottom of the roaster, and used my Instant Pot again to make three quarts of bone broth, with I used with some of the frozen leftovers to make soup. 

I was curious to see if our $15.00 turkey would be worth it, but I think it was. We got two fresh meals out of the meat, plus almost seven pounds of meat to freeze, plus three quarts of broth and a pint of fat.

5. Unfortunately the insert that came with my instant pot was two inches tall and doesn't leave a lot of room on top of it for food. Instead of buying a new insert online, I found a steamer basket at the VOA 50% off sale and used it (propped up with a canning ring) to cook vegetables in the instant pot. It worked great, and only cost $0.50.

6. Printed coupons off the internet. We'll see if I actually use them.

7. Used a discount McDonalds gift card to buy lunch.

8. Made a memory shadowbox for our trip to the DR. Total cost was $1.00 that I paid for the box at a garage sale.

9. Printed new pages for my daily planner.

10. Reupholstered another RV cushion.

11. Created an Amazon "Household". Hubs has Amazon Prime for his business, but up until last week I was still using my regular account to order small items and purchase ebooks. Amazon Prime has a lot of benefits that EVERYONE in your home can use if you create a household. By linking our two accounts, I can now borrow ebooks and get free shipping on many things I order without logging into the "business" account.

12. Made a chalkboard inventory for the freezer! This has been on my "to do" list for a long time. I used chalkboard spray paint on the side of the freezer to make the board, but then I got frustrated when my chalk inventory kept getting wiped off on accident. One of my friends got me a chalkboard marker for Christmas (thanks Ruth!), which made it so, so easy. I did not even know those things existed, and I just thought everyone at the farmers market was super talented to be able to create such beautiful chalkboards without smudging or breaking their chalk. The chalkboard markers are perfect because they don't smudge like regular chalk, but you can still wipe it off with a wet washcloth. It's perfect for my freezer inventory.

I Didn't Take Advantage of Grove Collaborative's Free Offer

I got out my debit card and typed my address and card number in all the boxes. My cursor hovered over the "submit order" button. I looked over my order one last time. To buy or not to buy? Buy or not to buy?

If you follow any of the popular health/wellness blogs, you've probably heard about Grove Collaborative's new customer offer. The offer is: if you place an order of $20.00 or more, they will send you a free cleaning caddy, free orange oil, free glass cleaning bottle, and free walnut scrubbie. You also get free shipping on your first two monthly orders. 

My eyes got big at the sight of those beautiful, high-value freebies. All I had to do was sign up and buy $20.00 worth of stuff. I figured that the freebies alone were probably worth $20.00, so what the heck. I could order cleaning tools that would last a long time instead of buying consumables. It would be an investment. Plus free shipping! I could pick out my items, buy them, and then cancel after the first month. Well, I signed up with my email. I picked out $21.00 (as close as I could get to $20.00) worth of pretty cleaning tools, which amounted to three scrubbing brushes. Then I asked myself, do I really need this? Between the free and purchased goods, the average price per item was $3.00. I asked myself if I would buy it at a regular store for $3.00.

a) Cleaning caddy. While it was nice, I knew I could get a similar caddy at the thrift store for $0.50. I already have a cleaning cart that I use for storing cleaning supplies, anyway.

b) Orange oil. I already have orange oil.

c) Glass spray bottle. Although I think this would be cool, I already have plastic cleaning bottles. I can understand the health benefit of using glass bottles for drinks, but you don't drink cleaning fluid. There are no advantages to using a glass bottle, especially if you re-use plastic bottles like I already do. In fact, there is a DISADVANTAGE to glass cleaning bottles, and that is that they are breakable. Plastic bottles won't break if you drop them on the tile.

d) Walnut scrubbie. I already have scrubbies that I never use.

e) Dish brush. All of the brushes I picked out had pretty bamboo handles with some kind of all-natural bristles. That aside, I already have a dish brush. The white plastic one I have is easy to clean, unlike the wood would be. Plus I can buy a replacement at Walmart for at or under $3.00.

f) Tile brush. Again, I could probably buy one of these at Walmart for at or under $3.00. I've actually never used a tile brush and don't have one. But the fact that I've never bought one might hint that I would never use one.

g) Glass cleaning brush. I thought this was cool, and I might be able to make my own replacement head instead of buying it from Grove when the first one got old. However, then I remembered that using newspaper actually works very well for me, and newspaper costs $0.00.

After I went through each item, I still tried to justify myself in buying it.  Even if I had no reason to buy the stuff for myself, certainly I could give it as a gift! But then I remembered that I could buy almost everything at Walmart for half the price. For the number of items, it would be a very pricey gift. After looking over my order, thinking, and rethinking, I finally decided to not buy.

In the end, I saved myself $21.00 on (albeit pretty) things I did not need. Sometimes the free stuff is worth it, and sometimes it's not. If you like all-natural products and buy them anyway, Grove's offer is open until Tuesday, January 17th. If you like that sort of thing, it really is a good deal. I just didn't need any of it.


Sidetracked By.... Everything

If you are trying to save money for a goal, it's important to stay focused. When EVERYTHING is a priority, nothing is a true priority. I see this a lot with food (I want healthy, I want local, I want cheap, etc. etc.), but it can happen with anything. The cleaning supplies are a great example. I like nice stuff just as much as anyone, but having paraben-free candles or eco-friendly cleaning supplies is not all that important to me.

Every $20.00 (or every $5.00 or $10.00, for that matter) that I spend on non-priorities is $20.00 that I will never get back to spend on things that are important and/or fun for me. I don't hate all-natural products, but if I had to choose between organic cleaner or generic cleaner PLUS $3.00 to spend on thrift store books, or ebooks, avocados or herbal tea, I would pick the generic cleaner every time. YOU TOO have a choice about how you spend every dollar. 

If you're not focused, you can get sidetracked into spending money on things that are not important to you. People will start pushing their own priorities on you (probably unintentionally) and you will lose track of YOUR goal. Pretty cleaning supplies are not a priority to me, but looking at the beautiful pictures and high-value free items made me think otherwise. "This will be a good way to upgrade my home supplies," "It will make cleaning more fun," "I deserve to have nicer stuff than Walmart," "My bottle brush is getting squished on one side, so I need a replacement," "It's so hard to reach the corner of the windows with my crumpled newspaper," "We can afford it," and a million other voices told me to get the freebies. I had seen this particular offer on several blogs and Instagram feeds that I love, and those messages had been working on me for the past week. "All the cool people are doing it" was the last message I got.

What happens when I spend $20.00 every week on "upgrades" that are not part of my goals? Nicer clothing, newer books, a magazine here and there, another herbal supplement. Organic rice, another animal for my hobby farm, new organizers for the stuff I have. There are a million things I can think of that would be fun to buy. Sometimes I buy this stuff, but every purchase should be a legitimate investment and wise use of money according to what I value. It would be nice to wear brand new clothing, but when push comes to shove, I don't really care. $1000+ per year can make a HUGE difference in your life if spent wisely. Just $20.00 per week can have that big of an impact. Can you think of a $1000.00 item that you would like to have? Cut out $20.00 of non-priorities per week (that includes grocery items, people) and you will have it at the end of a year. Do you truly care about the stuff that you are buying? Remember, YOU HAVE A CHOICE. Every time you buy a "meh" product that you don't need, you are sacrificing a "wow!" product that would truly make your life more enjoyable.

Thoughts for the day.
-Bethany

*Once again, I don't mean to bash all-natural stuff or Grove Collaborative. I think they are offering a great deal to people that regularly use those kind of products. Some day, I might stock my cabinets with all-natural cleaners and diapers and paper plates. That being said, I thought I would share and document my "no-buy" moment and reason behind doing so.

Well, I'm here to announce that there were almost NO frugal accomplishments last week! We hopped on a plane and flew down to the beautiful island of Haiti/Dominican Republic. 

Earlier in the year we planned to go down to the DR in order to see Hubs' sister, who lives there. She works with victims of human trafficking; in particular, girls under 18. It is so sad to hear about things like this. Even though SIL works in the DR, human trafficking is everywhere- probably in your own hometown. Renting Lacy  is a good book that my SIL recommends to anyone who wants to know more about this tragic "industry" that has gained more media attention in recent years.

In addition to seeing my SIL and learning more about the ministry she works for, we also got to meet her fiance, who is a Dominican. While my sister-in-law is white and short with stick-straight hair, her man is black with curly hair, and very, very tall. They are complete opposites, not only in personality but looks as well. He was super nice, and a very good cook. :) We got to be the first  family members to meet him before the wedding this spring. Which makes me feel kind of privileged.

Time To Relax

​We decided to stay in a resort town on the coast. This was not so much a "travel" vacation, but one of relaxation. We picked a few things to do each day- walking on the beach, buying souvenirs, eating out, sleeping, reading on beach, eating out, taking a nap... you get the idea. The sun really zapped our energy, so afternoon naps were a must.

I posted a few short video clips, for those of you who are on Instagram. Some of the new experiences I had in the DR: 

1. Packing three adults on a tiny motorcycle. These were called "moto-conchos", and were usually 100-200cc bikes. Oftentimes, depending on the size of the driver, we would have between 450 and 500 pounds of flesh on one of those little bikes. If you think about the fact that our Honda Magna motorcycle is a 750, we should be able to haul fifteen people on it, for the amount of power it has.

2. Eating octopus. I ordered an octopus salad at one of the restaurants. The salad was good. I ate the ends of the octopus tentacles with ease (and they were pretty good). But when I got to the bigger, chewier parts with more suction cups on it, I lost my appetite. The idea of chewing on the suction cups kind of ruined it for me. The taste wasn't all too bad, but the chewy texture (like that of clams) and visual picture I got was enough to make me hand my plate over to Hubs, so he could finish it.

3. SEGWAYS!!!! We went on our very first segway tour. I was a little concerned that only old people would be there, but it turned out to be all couples that were our age. We went through a nature preserve, through a closed-down resort and beautiful beach area, plus we got to see a bunch of exotic farm animals, which was VERY cool. I thought that was the best, after buzzing around on the segways, of course. To anyone who has seen the commercials on TV and wondered what it was like, segways are just as fun as they look. It took a little while to get the hang of using your balance to steer and control speed, but after that it was super, super enjoyable. Only one girl could NOT get the hang of it, so the instructor had to pull her segway behind his, with her screaming at every little bump or turn. It was kind of hilarious.

4. Ziplining. In the middle of the week we decided to do a zipline "adventure" outside of the resort area. The ziplining was kind of fun, but for me the equipment was uncomfortable and I was unsure when/if to brake at the end. Even though the instructors said that the zip lines went as fast as a roller coaster, they felt kind of slow to me. It would be more fun the second time around, I think. My favorite part was seeing the starfruit trees and cacao pods while we waited at each station. It only took 45 minutes or so to complete all of the ziplines, and most of that time was spent walking to each station. I'm not sure if I would do it again for $65.00+ per person. The segway tour was a lot less work, more fun, and lasted longer for the same amount of money. 

3. Dominican salesmen. In Guatemala, where we have been to open-air markets, salesmen will often yell out prices and solicitations. "Good price, good price for you! Five for the bag! Good price!" Sometimes they will even follow you, lowering the price every ten seconds until you are out of earshot.

Dominican salesmen, however, are even more direct. Instead of chasing after you, they step in front of you so you can't get away. "Hello friend, how are you doing. Where are you from. Will you please stop in my store and see what I have? See, I will show you what I have." When you try to step around them or say no, they still persist. "What are you looking for? Come look in my store for just five minutes. Please, stop in my store. I have mamajuana. You want mamajuana*? You want cocao, you want jewelry, you want souvenirs? Okay, okay, you come back later." And after five minutes, you are finally free to continue to wherever it was you wanted to go in the first place.

Some of the encounters we had were so funny that I tried to capture them on video. One night as the sun was setting, we heard someone come up behind us. We kept on walking.

"You looking for souvenirs? Come see my shop. I have everything you want."

"No thanks." Hubs said, still walking.
"Just come back and look for a minute. I have souvenirs, I have hats, coffee, mamajuana. What you want?"
"I want my bed." Hubs said.
"You want chocolate? You want... what?"
"I want my bed." The salesman paused a moment.
"You want bed?? You funny, you funny," he said, and then finally turned around.

You can see in the photo-bombed photo above, the salesman is going after the lady... the husband has already turned around to try and get away.

Another morning we were on our way to the beach. A bunch of Dominicans were sitting outside a barbershop. As we walked by, one of them yelled out, "You need a haircut?" Hubs said no. Without missing a beat, the same guy said, "You need a moto to rent?" We are still laughing about that. Haircuts and motorcycle rental- what a business plan! 

So, another stamp in the passport.

Til next time,
-Bethany

*Mamajuana is not a drug. It is an herbal concoction soaked in honey and rum, perportedly for medicinal use. But no, not a drug... although some of the salesmen tried to sell those, too.