A few days after we got engaged, Hubs took me to Frankenmuth to celebrate his birthday. We had a lot of fun walking down the streets and visiting different shops. At one point, we walked by one of those old time photo booths you see at carnivals and tourist traps. "Can we stop in there?" he asked me. "I've always wanted to have one of those pictures taken."

Of course I said yes, even though I thought those things were kind of like ripoff carnival games where you end up paying $20 in tickets to win a cheap stuffed animal. But I went along with it anyway. The photographer gave us some ratty 1980's-style western wear to put on, and had us pose with toy pistols and money bags. I felt silly doing it, but you know... for Hubs.

When we were done, we went up to the counter to pick out a picture to take home. When I saw the prices for each photo, I almost died. It was somewhere between $20 and $40. After that, none of the pictures that we had taken looked good enough to bring home. Of course Hubs was still excited about the whole ordeal, asking me which ones I liked and pointing out the ones he thought were best.

An Attitude Adjustment
I almost said to him, "Can we just NOT buy a photo and go spend the money somewhere else?" But then I remembered what he had said before we walked in. "I've always wanted to have one of those pictures taken." For him, it wasn't about paying $40 for a photograph. For him, it was living out an experience he'd always wanted to have, and better yet with the girl that he loved! 

Right then and there, I decided to change my attitude about the situation. I pasted on a smile and told him which photographs I thought were the best. It was not worth a $40 savings to ruin an experience that he'd always looked forward to. I didn't want him to look at that picture and remember the time I threw a fit because it was too expensive.

When we left, he looked at the picture again, beaming. "Thanks so much for letting us stop in there," he told me. "It really is a nice picture."

*****

Memories are permanent. Money can always be earned or spent, but once a memory is made there is no taking it back. Whenever I look at the old time photo of us, I'm reminded of the time I had a bad attitude and almost ruined Hubs' birthday. If I would have told him my concerns about the price, he probably would have honored my request and left without the photo, disappointed and sad that his fiance was such a tightwad that she couldn't enjoy the old time photo booth with him.

I am so happy that Hubs can look at the old-time photo of us and remember good things. Just the other day he brought it out again to show a friend and I was reminded how important it is to put memories before money.

What about you? Are there items in your home that you don't even like to look at because they resurrect bad memories caused by money fights? It's especially hard for those of us who are frugal. It's important to us to save money, so we have a conniption (disguised as "deep concern" that our spouse or friend is making bad choices) whenever someone spends too much. Even if it is not our money! In the case of our old time photo, Hubs was spending his own money on something he had always wanted for his own birthday. In my heart, I knew he was a wise spender and that he probably wouldn't buy another $40 photo for years, but still I felt the need to throw a fit about it on his birthday. Shame on me!

How to Handle Over-Spending and Eliminate Bad Memories
The good news is that we can begin making good memories and prevent bad ones, starting today. In a situation where I think Hubs is spending too much money, I always ask myself the following questions:

1. Can we afford it? We can almost always afford it.

2. Why is he spending it? In the case of the old time photo, he was doing something he had always wanted to do. Many times when he spends "too much" money on something, it is for me, or something to make me happy. Believe me, ladies- this should never be discouraged!! 

3. Is it worth making a bad memory over? If Hubs wanted to by a $40,000 boat, that might be something worth making a bad memory over. But a $5 sandwich at McDonalds is no reason to ruin a vacation or Sunday afternoon. See #1. 

4. When would be a better time to address this spending habit? Hint: not on his birthday. Or yours. Or any other time when it would ruin a potentially good memory. And never address over-spending when there are other people around, because that is embarrassing. 

5. What would be a tactful way to bring this up? Instead of staging a major protest and sharing my "deep concern" with tears or anger, I try to mention it in an offhand way without any emotion. This makes it more of a discussion and less of a fight. 

"Hey honey, I've noticed that you always buy the $5 sandwich at McDonalds. Did you know that two of the cheaper sandwiches give you more meat for less money? I know, it's crazy!"

"Dear, there is this brand I really like at Walmart called Price Smart. You can find it at the bottom of the aisles, with Spanish subtitles on every package. It would make me so happy* if you could buy that brand when I send you in to get something. Thanks!"

When addressing over-spending, I never bring up something wrong he did in the past to use as an example (although it is really tempting sometimes). This is counter-productive and will NOT change his behavior. It doesn't make him feel good about doing what I want. Plus, it can't change something that already happened. My goal is to prevent problems, not complain about them after the fact.

Memories Matter More
Remember that there will always be more money somewhere, but our days and hours on this earth are limited. Nobody ever lay dying and wished they could have saved just one more dollar. Tightwads have a bad name because they put money before memories.

Being frugal is important (especially to people like me!) but it is not the most important. We can't afford to have a lifetime of bad memories. We can't afford to argue about pennies. I challenge you to think about what is most important. It is worth more than money. 

-Bethany

*I really like using this phrase. Husbands can argue the logic of saving money, being healthy, etc., but they can't argue with what makes you happy. Oftentimes they don't even care about being richer or healthier, but every husband wants a happier wife. And don't forget to reward him with a double dose of happiness when he saves that extra dollar for you! 

Again, I had a crazy busy week!  We had a new baby goat born this week, did quite a bit of gardening and during the rainy days, a lot of reading. Here are my frugal accomplishments for this week:

1. Sold seven dozen eggs this week.

2. Got one pound of pasta for $0.53 using an Ibotta rebate.

3. Found a boxed dinner on clearance at Kroger. I don't usually buy these things, but it was on sale and box dinners are an easy way to try something new.

The boxed dinner was $1.89, and included tortillas, seasoning and about 1/4 cup of chipotle sauce. I figured that the tortillas alone were worth $1.10, so I ended up paying about $0.80 for a packet of seasoning and some chipotle sauce. I used some free canned chicken for the meat, and served the tacos shredded cheese, sour cream, cold frame lettuce and cilantro. It ended up being a very good meal. I think I will keep making this at home, but with homemade chipotle seasoning mix (and some liquid smoke in with the meat... that's what made it really good). We didn't end up using much of the sauce.

There was some leftover chipotle chicken meat, sauce, and tortillas after we had the boxed meal for lunch. I used the taco shells for dinner, and used the sauce and leftover meat to make pizza the next day. Which was pretty tasty, I might add!

​4. Much of our fruit is starting to blossom this week! So far I've seen pear, cherry, peach and even a few strawberry blossoms.

​My experimental free fruit trees are doing well. Out of seven cuttings, at least four are starting to revive and grow new shoots. This is good news.

5. I started some watermelon and muskmelon seeds indoors this year. Last year my watermelon got crowded out by weeds and other plants, because it took so long to grow big. I'm hoping that giving the melon seeds a head start will help them thrive and actually produce fruit this year.

6. I also potted up the curly willow branches that originally started as a table centerpiece. Using, of course, free pots that I found beside the road.

7. Lastly, I started experimenting with some of my new pygora wool. I tried felting soap with both the 1) waste wool and 2) good dehaired wool, but neither of the soaps felted like I wanted them to. Then I finished spinning what was left of the romney sheep wool I had for practice on my drop spindle. After spinning two of the smaller threads together (to make a 2-ply yarn), I knitted it. I was actually impressed at how well my crude homespun yarn looked in a finished project.

When I finished with the sheep wool, I started on some of the pygora. It was SO easy to spin! I was super happy with how it turned out. The only problem I had with spinning the pygora is that sometimes the thread would get so thin that it would break off as I was spinning. However, that was due to user error and not the fiber itself.

I will not have time to spin yarn to sell, but I do hope to use some as a display at my farmers market booth.

Goals for Next Week
1. Transplant broccoli starts into garden bed.
2. Plant green beans in garden bed.
3. Plant peas in market garden.
4. Plant kale in market garden.

Til next time,
-Bethany

Yesterday I woke up with the worst  eye twitch ever. My right eyelid kept moving around like crazy, and if you've ever had an eye twitch, you know it's almost as annoying as hiccups can be.

I'd had the twitch for about a week, off and on. It's caused by eyestrain; mostly two things: 1) lack of sleep, and 2) too much screen time. I decided that it was time for a screen-free day. That meant no phone, no computer. 

Find More Time in Your Day

What I instantly noticed- like, before 9:00 am- is how much extra time I seemed to have. Every so often I would start walking over to the computer, then I'd turn away and have to do something else. During the morning I fed my goats, cleaned up, read a book and ate breakfast. Then I made a 2-for-1 meal- stroganoff rice for lunch, and a lamb roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot for dinner.

After lunch, I looked up at the clock and it was not even 1:00 pm yet. I wondered how many minutes I would have spent at the computer that morning to "look things up", had I opened another tab every time I felt like it. I probably felt this urge at least once every hour, and if I spent a conservative 15 minutes looking up a recipe, looking for podcasts, checking Facebook, checking email.... that is 25% of my morning, gone like that.

Eliminating Interruptions

Another thing my screen-free day allowed me to do was FOCUS. I realized that I've been using the internet and my phone as a kind of "break time"/procrastination after I accomplish each and every task, instead of just moving to the next thing on my to-do list.

During the afternoon, I cleaned up lunch, collected eggs, did the dishes, and read a book. Then I read a different book. And another different book. I looked up and it was only 3:00 pm. So much time left!! I remembered that I wanted to make some puff pastry for the freezer, so I did that. Then I still had time left, so I decided to mop the floor and do some other cleaning. Read some more. Hubs came in early from work because he wanted to do some errands before we went to church music practice. "Will you be ready in 45 minutes?" he asked.

"Sure." I said. "I have dinner ready if you want to eat before we go."

"Perfect!" he said. He had a couple things to do outside, then came in about 10 minutes later and we had a nice, leisurely dinner before heading into town... early.

Books Are Enough
The last thing I realized is how much I appreciate physical books and I need to be reading them more them blogs or pithy little articles shared on Facebook. What I spend much of my time doing on the internet is "looking things up", or researching. However, using Pinterest and Google for research is actually very, very time consuming.

Reading answers to goat questions on forums, for example, is very redundant and you get the same answer about 10 times over, but even though I have my answer I don't have any background information to the questions. It's like getting the answer to a math question without doing the math. If I google "what to do if my goat won't eat", I get a million answers but I haven't done the background research to discover why my goat won't eat. Yesterday I got to read a good portion of The Goatkeeper's Veterinary Book that I ordered. Now I have a better understanding of different problems that can arise (BEFORE they've happened to me!), and I'll be able to answer questions without turning to a screen for help. I feel like a better goat keeper for having read the book, but when I read goat forums I don't feel informed in the same way.

One interesting thing that happened while I was reading: I read a tidbit in one book about Eleanor Roosevelt. "I would like to read more about her life," I thought to myself. Then I remembered that I had in my possession another book with a short biography on each First Lady. After I had finished the chapter in the first book, I found my First Lady book and read about Eleanor Roosevelt there instead of turning to Wikipedia, which no doubt would have led me on several researching rabbit trails and took far more of my time.

For those of you compulsive "looker-uppers" like me, know that for the most part, books are enough. Reading books (as opposed to short, pithy articles) will give you a deeper understanding of a wide ranch of topics, and you will feel more able to deal with circumstances as they arise. 

During the time that I was earning an income, I invested in many high-quality textbook-style reference books, centered around my interests. These will be more than enough to provide a quality learning experience for me, WITHOUT the time-wasting and eye twitch that comes from spending hours on the internet trying to sort the useful from the not-useful. If you are a researcher, invest in yourself by purchasing books or borrowing from the library, and further invest in yourself by giving yourself a Screen-Free Day every once in a while in order to read those books.

Conclusion & My Challenge

Based on my findings from Screen-Free Thursday, I'll be attempting to limit my computer time to 30 minutes a day, or an hour on days that I write. I realize that being an writer, it will be difficult to limit screen time. However, it will be easy to limit internet time, and that I will for sure limit to 30 minutes. This will be more than enough to check social media, use my favorite phone apps and keep up with my two favorite blogs, every week.

To handle my unavoidable Google questions, I'll keep a piece of paper on the table and write down anything that might come up. Then during my computer time, I'll look those things up in an efficient manner, without going on rabbit trails. 
Have you tried having a Screen-Free Day? Could you really use a Screen Free-Day? I challenge you to treat yourself to one!

-Bethany

P.S. Screen time today is 48 minutes so far. Not bad for writing this whole article!

I borrowed this book from the library (possum points for me!). Today I thought I'd share a little bit from it, as well as my commentary/thoughts on how we can translate some of the author's strategies into modern living.

How to Live Well Without a Job and Almost No Money

Possum Living is a 1978 book written by and 18-year-old girl living with her dad. As the book title suggests, it is part handbook and part hilarious commentary on "how to live well without a job and almost no money". The book includes chapters on raising & preparing food (about 1/3 of the book), housing, clothing, transportation, "law", electricity, income and daily living.

The first two chapters are an introduction to basic concepts (why you would want to quit your job and "live like a possum"), and also a breakdown of Dolly's yearly cost of living. I thought this was very impressive. Yearly expenses for Dolly and her father (their household at the time) were just under $1500 in the 1970s. Below is their yearly spending by categories. I've gone ahead and also put the totals in 2016 money in green, so you can have a better idea of how much they spent (and of course, compare your own budget to theirs!).

Dolly's "Possum" Budget:

Food: $268.89.....$1024.18
Moonshine ingredients: $98.37.... $374.66
Soap/paper products: $47.45....$180.72
Fuel oil: $161.66.... $615.72
Cooking gas: $87.01.... $331.40
Electricity: $101.24.... $385.60
Home improvement: $335.43.... $1277.57
Property taxes: $286.00... $1089.30
Clothing: $13.33.... $50.77
Luxuries: $25.05.... $95.40
Other (tools, laundry, fish hooks, etc.): $74.32... $283.06

Total: $1498.75.... $5708.40

Income
For the small amount of money that you WILL need, Dolly recommends handyman or temporary work (her dad often worked during the winter) and selling crafts. Some of the information on work is obviously outdated (for example, she says you can make more money selling crafts than selling used stuff). Nowadays there are plenty of ways to make money online and off. To make extra money, I've personally sold things on online or at farmers market/craft shows, sold eggs, done farm-sitting, house-sitting, sewing work, garden work, and taught music lessons. I think this is one part of possum living that we can do better than Dolly herself.

The Basics... FOOD!
A large chunk of the book is all about the most important thing- FOOD! Included are all sorts of unorthodox ways to put food on the table; everything from keeping rabbits and chickens in the basement to fishing and shooting pigeons on public grounds, to foraging and buying grains from animal-food elevators. As for all other groceries, Dolly says, "buy the cheapest brand and largest size of everything." And don't forget to check behind the store for produce to give to the rabbits.

​Transportation
Dolly and her dad used bicycles, their own two feet, and at one point, a horse to get around. If they really needed a vehicle, they would barter for use of a neighbor's automobile or get things delivered to their home.

Housing
The author admitted that living largely outside of the money economy would not be possible with rent as a monthly expense. Owning your home outright and doing your own repairs is the way to go.

Clothing
The book recommends buying clothing at thrift shops. Dolly says she had a sewing machine but never used it because you couldn't make clothing for as cheap as you could buy it. I think this is still generally true, but in 2016 there are so many sources of FREE clothing and fabric (hand-me-downs, garage sale free boxes, etc.) that, with a sewing machine and some skills, you would never have to buy clothing, even at thrift shops. I've also noticed that thrift shop prices ($2-3 for shirts, $5 for jeans) are comparable to off-season clearance clothing at the mall. Why buy used clothing if you can get new for the same price? But if you are whole-hog possum, why BUY clothing at all if you can get it or make it for free? Plus I think Dolly could have alleviated a lot of winter boredom (something she talked about in the book) by upcycling old clothes/fabric into new clothes for herself during the colder months.

Not In the Budget
Some things not on Dolly's list are car-related expenses, insurance of any kind, vacations, hobbies, Christmas or income tax (obviously... no income, no tax). The book explains why they chose to go without these things. For example, Dolly and her dad lived in town and were able to bike or walk/run everywhere they needed to go. They also seemed to be "homebodies" whose entertainment consisted of bird watching or reading books.

Though Dolly was opposed to taking "welfare" or government help, in today's world filing income tax could actually bring in some needed cash. For example, if someone with several kids (or other deductions) files an income return with only a little income, they'll probably get a nice chunk of money back from the government and not have to pay anything at all.

Is It Possible to Be a Possum in 2016?

Of course, as I read through the book, I thought of all kinds of things I could implement our own household economy. We COULD go whole-hog possum, but that would include having to break the law, not have insurance, etc. that personally I'm not willing to do. However, I love the idea of it- that is, freeing oneself from the money economy.

The Prerequisite: As Dolly states, the first step is owning your home free and clear. This is a major hurdle for most of us because the $50k, $100k or $200k price tag for a house seems impossible to pay off. In fact, most people buying a house take 15 or 30 years to pay it off. However, I think this is totally unnecessary. I realize that there truly are people out there who need to spend every dollar they make, but most middle-class families in America spend tens of thousands of dollars each year on frivolous "stuff". It's the little things- clothing, food, magazine subscriptions, new books, haircuts (cut, color, perm...), coffee, pets. At one point I thought about getting highlights in my hair for fun, but not only do they cost a lot... you also have to buy special shampoo for dyed hair! There are so many things in life with added costs that we don't even think about. That is why life seems to cost so much more than we anticipated.

All that being said, I think owning your own home- even as someone in their 20's- is very doable in 2016. It just requires 1) not buying more house than you can afford, and/or 2) diligent saving. I know of one newly-married couple who bought a livable house for around $10,000. How cool is that!? Yes, the house is small and they had to do some fix-up work, but they won't have the average $1000 monthly mortgage payment until they are 50 years old.

Which Radical Do You Want to Be?
After paying off your home early, there are two different "radicals" you could be.

1. Going Without a Car:
Getting around with only a bicycle and your own two feet is a fantastic option for city people. And it is actually becoming quite popular. However, I am just going to give you my own experience with biking as actual transportation and you can decide if this option is for you or not.

I tried biking to work once, when I had an office job. The distance was about eight miles both ways. The bike trail I took was awful (it was after a storm; branches down ALL over and I literally had to lift my heavy mountain bike over fallen trees). In addition to that, on the way home I had to cross a busy highway when everyone was getting out of work. This required some tricky maneuvering because Michigan drivers are NOT used to sharing the road with cyclists. Technically, I was going straight at the intersection and should have used the car lane. But what I ended up doing was pretending to look at my phone on the right side of the road, and then when no cars were coming I zoomed across.

The League of Bicyclists website has a good article here on which states are more bike-friendly. Michigan ranks somewhere in the middle. I know our local towns are trying to be more bicycle friendly (like making bike trails and bike lanes), but it's still not a socially acceptable form of transportation here. If people know you ride your bike to work, they might start giving you money or offer you a ride or try to lend you a car.

That being said, in the country I feel safe riding my bike anywhere within a 5-6 mile radius. This is mostly pleasure/pop can riding, but it has included biking to do chores for a neighbor and going to some local garage sales. This summer I'm hoping to take the back roads into our local small town to get books from the library, mail small packages, etc. But we will NOT be selling our vehicle.

2. Producing Your Own Food:

The other extreme thing you can do is produce most of your own food. And by that, I mean get all of your food for free somehow. Many people have the idea that if they raise a beef cow and can strawberry jam, they are self-sufficient. Instead of being dependent on grocery stores, they're now just dependent on the feed elevator. And there's nothing wrong with using strawberries to make jam, but you can't LIVE on jam. You have to make something you are willing to eat all year round.

This is one area I've had a lot of success in. Dolly advocates raising chickens and rabbits in the basement, but since we have 5 acres to work with, I can keep the animals outside. As of this year, my chickens can support themselves (I sell extra eggs to cover costs of feed), so they provide us with free eggs and meat. My little dairy goat supports herself as well. During the fall we try to get venison one way or another, so meat, eggs, and dairy are pretty much free.

Obviously gardening is a no-brainer if you want to spend less money on food. Last year I was able to grow most of our veggies for the year (except carrots, onions & potatoes), 90% of our fruit and some herbs and spices as well. AND I fed some of the produce to the animals. While we don't buy our grains from the feed elevator as Dolly suggests, I have made corn meal and hominy with free corn, and buy other grains in bulk. 

Dolly says, "You don't have to be weird to leave the money economy,", but people instinctively know that you're weird. In the best case scenario, you are an avid cyclist perpetually training for a marathon who LOVES gardening and hobby farming and has done fantastically well financially in order to pay the house off early. In the worst case scenario, you're a paranoid lazy bum hermit who acts homeless but really does have a home.

Health & Possum Living

The author's opinion on buying health products and services is one that I tend to agree with. She says that someone who is eating home-grown vegetables and wild or home-grown meats and using their legs for transportation is NOT going to need a lot of health care or doctor's visits. Furthermore, she makes the point that people who regularly visit the doctor or dentist tend to need those services more and more. It is kind of like taking your car in for a repair; you get one thing fixed, and another thing broken! For non-emergency health issues, it's better to not go in in the first place.

One thing I disagree with, however, is Dolly's use of moonshine as an all-purpose home remedy. If you look at her yearly spending, moonshine ingredients are 25% of food/drink spending. There are plenty of herbs that you can grow or forage for FREE and use as home remedies. These remedies will not be expensive, fattening OR intoxicating.

Bethany's Notes:

Here are some interesting random ideas I found in the book (and I'm putting here for my own future reference):

1. Alternative chicken feeds: corn, soybeans unused fishing worms, crushed rabbit bones, fish innards, crushed eggshells, bunny greens.

2. Alternative rabbit feed: corn, apples, pears, soybeans, green or dry maple leaves, weeds and grass, discarded fruit and vegetables, clover/alfalfa. In the winter, maple branches or twigs.

3. Alternative fishing baits: worms, minnows, grasshoppers, katydids, grubs, japanese beetles, grayfish, caterpillars, things found under rocks, artificial lures.

4. Gardening things to try: foraging "yellow rocket", wild ginger, purslane, wild mushrooms.

5. Grain. Buy from grain elevators; potatoes, wheat, soybeans, rolled oats... tell them it must be clean. Buy a wheat grinder to make bread, breakfast cereal. Use wheat in soup like barley. Sprout soybeans as vegetable dish. 

6. Food preservation: Dried mushrooms, herbs, pickled vegetables/herbs, canned turtle meat, catfish, carp. Store nuts, herbs, and root vegetables. Smoke cure fish or other meat... brine and smoke.

7. Sugar content of different fruits: apple 15%, apricot 13, banana 23, blackberry 11, cherry 17, grape 15-35, orange 11, peach 11, pear 15, plum 11, raspberry 13, strawberry 8, sugar beet 17. 

8. Interesting note on the grapes of wrath. misery suffered by people was caused by 1) non home ownership and 2) reliance on the money economy.

9. Alternative wood sources: cardboard/wood shipping crates, old newspapers, dead branches and trees, old wood buildings.

10. Electricity; a real bargain for the money. Don't have an electric dishwasher, clothes dryer, air conditioner, TV, or any other toys.

11. Interesting note about boarding horses; rent out a shed, use boarded horses for transportation and manure.

12. Winter is the most boring time of year if you don't have a job.

1. Went to garage sales this week with my mom and sister. My best find was an exercise ball, brand new in the box. There wasn't a price on it, so I agreed to pay $5. Later on I saw that Walmart had an exercise ball, brand new for $20, but $5 is still a good deal. I'm using the ball as my computer chair. In fact, I'm bouncing on it right now as I type. Sitting on an exercise ball is supposed to be better for your posture. Plus, it's just more fun.

I also got a few other odds and ends- toys for my piano students' "prize box", a tablecloth, some hand towels, and a few other odds and ends.

2. Sold 2 dozen eggs.

3. Made more queso blanco this week.

4. Picked up some $0.50 videos at a thrift store.

5. Went for a few bike rides and collected cans to recycle. I also picked up some plastic pots on the side of the road for transplanting. For some reason people love to throw old plastic pots in the ditch. They had a few dents, but otherwise were perfectly usable pots.

6. I helped Hubs make a display/carrying box for my goat milk soap. This will be great for the farmers market in a couple of weeks! We used mostly scrap lumber and hardware. The dividers are removable, in case I want to use the box for something else.

7. This week the fiber mill in Frankenmuth called and said my pygora fiber was ready to be picked up. That was fast! On Saturday we went to get it, and were able to do some errands on the way. 

I wasn't expecting the fiber to be done until the middle of summer, but now I'll be able to have it for sale during my first weeks at the farmers market. I got back about two lbs. of finished wool- that is, 32 ounces. I plan on selling the wool by the ounce, priced from $5-$10/oz. depending on the market. $5/oz. would cover my costs for processing ($100) and care of almost two goats for this year. If I sell the fiber more slowly at $8/oz., it will cover the cost of processing and care of almost all of the pygora goats for this year.

In addition to the two pounds of finished fiber, I also got at least two pounds of "waste", which is the coarser fiber not fit for spinning. There has got to be something useful I can do with the waste!

8. In the garden I sowed lettuce, cilantro and radishes, hopefully some of which I'll be able to sell at the farmers market. I also cleaned up my market/fodder garden so when the tiller is fixed, it can be plowed under.

***

So, that's it for last week. I didn't do any rebates because we didn't go grocery shopping. Most of my time was spent doing farmers market stuff, book launch stuff and we had several social/people events this week. April is one of the harder months for me because I'm finishing up winter projects (the book, for example, and we're also in the final weeks of a Dale Carnegie course) and starting new spring projects at the same time (garden, farmers market). Social events seem to triple during the warm weather, so evenings and weekends fill up pretty quickly on top of regular spring projects.

I miss quiet Sunday afternoons of reading and drinking tea...

Goals for this week:
Plant onions in garden
Repot curly willow starts
Package fiber for market
Fine-tune editing for print edition of book & order copies 

It's LAUNCH DAY! My new book, One Season of Farmers Market, is officially for sale now on Amazon. You can buy it as an ebook, and in a couple weeks you'll also be able to by the physical book (like the one I'm holding above). I'll also have physical copies for sale at each farmers market I'll be attending this summer.

If you enjoy attending farmers markets, this book will give you a vendor's point of view. What it's like getting up super early every Saturday, making sales, making products, the Story of the Flying Canopy Tent and more!

If you are more interested in being a vendor, this book will help you for sure. I've included actual profit & loss numbers for each week, how much I made for my time, and in the back of the book there are BONUS links to free spreadsheets and printable records (the same ones I will be using in a couple weeks' time!).

It is going to be a beautiful weekend here. I'll be spending some of it in my garden, planting stuff to sell at my booth and playing with my baby goats. Oh yeah, and printing off some of those record sheets for my market folder!

Have a fantastic weekend!

​-Bethany

Last year for several weeks, I tried couponing with the help of the Krazy Coupon Lady. The website would tell me each week what the deals were. Then I would spend about 20 minutes printing out coupons, liking Facebook pages, and doing whatever else required. Then I would spend an extra 10 minutes at Walmart looking around for the thing (because it was probably something weird, like Glade scent warmers or multi-purpose cleaner or ranch dressing mix). 

After a few weeks, I quit. It just wasn't worth it! I wasn't good at collecting Red Plum adds, I didn't have a phone to download rebate apps (because there are like a HUNDRED of them!), and it took too much time to get a free product that I would never use.

Recently, Hubs gave me his old phone and I've been experimenting with rebate apps again. And guess what... it's worth my time! Using the apps only takes a couple minutes each week. I get FREE produce and save money on groceries that I actually use (unlike the ranch dressing dip, which is still sitting in my pantry). 

My 15-Minute Strategy for FREE Produce & Saving $$$
Now that those two things are out of the way, let me share my system for using Ibotta, Checkout 51 and Receipt Hog. You can download all of these programs from the app store for free.

1. Take 5 minutes per week to unlock rebates. I've found that Thursday is a good day, because both Ibotta and Checkout 51 have added new rebates by then (we shop on Sunday). 

2. Only unlock rebates that are "any brand". I typically find one usable rebate on Checkout 51, and 3-4 rebates on Ibotta. These are for things like onions, carrots, bananas, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bread, pasta or milk. Don't bother looking for name brand rebates, because you will just end up wasting time and money.

3. Add these items to your grocery list.

4. At the grocery store, be sure to spend LESS money on each produce item than what your rebate is worth. For example, I often get $0.25 rebates for "any brand banana". One banana costs $0.20, so if I only buy one banana, it is free (and I get an extra nickel!). During my latest shopping trip, I also had $0.25 rebates for tomatoes and carrots. I bought one single tomato ($0.17) and three bulk carrots (@$0.67/lb=$0.36). So for this trip I spent $0.73 on extra produce, and will get $0.75 in rebate money.

In addition to getting free produce, I also use "any brand" rebates for things that I might buy anyway, like bread or milk. Then I always pick the cheapest brand. For example, if I have a $0.25 rebate for bread, I will buy hotdog buns that cost $0.88. Or a $0.25 rebate for milk, and I buy milk that costs $1.79 instead of $2.00 or $2.50.

5. Go home and take a picture of your receipt with your phone. Ibotta only requires you to capture the QR code at the bottom of the receipt, but Checkout 51 still makes you take an actual photo. The receipts will upload and rebates added to your total amount earned.

6. Also upload pictures of your receipts on to Receipt Hog. This is a new app that I've been experimenting with. While you can't get rich with it (my average receipt is worth $0.02-$0.05 to upload), I figure that since I have my phone and receipts out anyway, I might as well snap a few pictures. The nice thing about Receipt Hog is that it also accepts receipts from non-grocery stores like Sears or the Home Depot. Instead of "coins", for these receipts you earn "spins" on a digital slot machine. Sometimes you win coins from spins, but more often than not I don't win anything. But it's still fun. Recently I tried uploading a McDonalds receipt. It was accepted, but instead of coins or spins, I only earned a drawing in the "sweepstakes", which is actually probably worthless.

I haven't come to a conclusion whether or not the Receipt Hog app is worth my time. If I entered one $10 receipt every week, it would take me almost two years to earn a $5 Amazon gift card. However, you do get a lot of coins for signing up, some free spins, more coins for adding your email address, etc. And with the occasional coins from spin receipts or "leveling up", I'm hoping to earn a $5 gift card in less than a year. After that I will probably find a new app to use.

How to Use Rebate Apps Effectively
1. Realize that rebates are not "free money". You have to SPEND the money before you get the rebate. If I have a $0.50 rebate and buy a $0.50 apple to use the rebate, I get a free apple- NOT a free fifty cents. If you spend less than what the rebate is, you get free products, and maybe a tiny bit of free money (remember how I bought $0.73 of produce and got a $0.75 rebate?).

2. You must only buy things on your grocery list, unless your rebate makes the item absolutely FREE. If you go out of your way to purchase a $3 box of cereal because there is a $0.50 rebate, you are still spending $2.50 on a box of cereal that you never would have bought without the rebate. However, milk is something I buy every week and if Ibotta has a $0.25 rebate for it, of course I am going to use that rebate.

Hourly Wage
Using Ibotta and Checkout 31 saves us about $1.50 every month in regular purchases and gives us about $3.50 in free produce. I think this is worth doing. If I can get $5.00 of value per month with one hour of work, my hourly wage is $5.00. This qualifies as "worth my time" because it is 1) over $4.00/hr., and 2) enjoyable for me.
​
Another Tool in the Kit
Like shopping at a bent 'n' dent, rebates are another small thing you can do to cut grocery costs. Saving only $5.00 per month really adds up. Over the course of a year, you could save $60! 

What are your favorite rebate apps? Do you think they are worth your time?

I feel like this week just flew by.

1. Adi had her baby goats!!! She had two does on Saturday evening. They seem to being doing well. All of Saturday (and this includes the wee hours of the morning!) I spent running out to the barn to check on her in between doing other things. This might seem paranoid, but last year I lost both kids to freezing cold temperatures because I wasn't there to help keep them warm. Despite my efforts (breeding for April instead of late January), Michigan STILL managed to have snow and wind and temperatures below freezing on Adi's due date. On Saturday afternoon we decided to move her into Hubs' shop where there was heat. A couple hours later, she kidded!

I sat in the kidding pen with her for several hours. Except at one point I really, REALLY had to use the bathroom. Better go now than later, I thought, because she is still standing up and hasn't started pushing yet. So I ran over to the bathroom, and less than one minute later I came out to discover her licking off an tiny black thing in the corner of her pen. WHAT?! She purposely waited until I was gone... that goat! Needless to say, I helped her clean it off because it was still a little cold. A minute or so later she paused the licking and pushed out the second baby. I was there just in time to catch it and stick it under her nose. Thankfully she started licking that one right away, too. I stayed there until both kids found the nipples to suck off of. Then Hubs came back (he had the great idea to go get pizza!) and we celebrated with dinner.

This was my first ever experience with kidding. Though checking Adi every hour for like 24 hours was probably overkill, it helped me get familiar with signs of kidding. I'm glad I could be there for the whole process. I was surprised at how well Adi gave birth on her own. It was like the kids just popped out. I had all of my "supplies" all ready to use and hardly had to intervene at all. Which I'm thankful for.

Now, however, I've got to some choices to make. If the kids were bucks, it would be easy- just castrate them and sell as pets. But because they were does, I'm faced with 1) do I keep them or sell them, and 2) do I register them before keeping or selling them? I've chosen to register both of them, but now I have to navigate through a lot of paperwork and eventually learn new skills like ear tattooing. I think I will sell at least one of them to cover 2016 goat keeping and registration costs. If I keep the other one, I could technically breed her this fall, but I'd want to use a different buck than we have, which could get complicated. Perhaps I'll just sell them both. In addition, I'll have to decide in the next few days what the milking schedule will be, bottle vs. dam-raising and other things I never had to deal with last year.

2. Sold 6 dozen eggs.

3. I found some orchids at Walmart for $5 each and decided to buy one.

4. It was pretty cold this week, so I ended up making a lot of soup. I used chicken and broth that I canned last year to make yummy, nutritious soup.

5. This week I transplanted my fruit tree cuttings into compost. I'm hoping that at least a few of them start growing in the soil!

6. I also transplanted some delphinium starts for my garden.

7. I started some cabbage seeds and more lavender seeds. I still want a bed of lavender this year!

8. Hubs and I updated the household Quickbooks. While this wasn't frugal in itself, I think you could call it an accomplishment. Afterward I did some nerd-numbers and figured out things like "how many bottles of shampoo did we use in 2015?". This will be helpful for me when bargain shopping, because I know how much "a year's supply" is for us. Last year I found a great deal on brand new, non-expired name-brand toothpaste at a garage sale (thanks, couponers!). However, I wasn't sure how much to buy because I didn't know how much we used. So I just bought two tubes. We actually used about 4-5 tubes last year, which means I could have saved $6+ had I just bought them all at the garage sale.

Goals For Next Week
The next few weeks are going to be rather busy for me. Thankfully I'm almost done starting seeds, but the rest of the month is going to be ALL about gardening and farmers market.

1. Start cantelope and watermelon seeds.
2. Plant my "greenhouse bed" with lettuce, cilantro and radishes.
3. Send out email newsletter and book launch on Friday!
4. Print labels for granola, lip balm and jam.
5. Start making puff pastry.
6. Start making pie crusts.
7. Buy several lbs. of butter.
8. Send in registration paperwork for American Dairy Goat Association.

Hope you are having a great Monday!
-Bethany

Last week, I went with my mom and a couple of friends to a little discount grocery store. We call this kind of store a "bent 'n' dent", because most of the goods are slightly damaged or otherwise un-sellable for major retailers. Bent 'n' dents are commonly owned by Amish and Mennonites, so you're more likely to find one in an area with lots of those people. 

Bent 'n' dents have a TON of awesome deals. Most of what I bought was at least 50% off retail price, if not more. Here is what I got from last week's trip:

What I bought, with prices:

2 packages of napkins, 500ct- $1.50/each (these were $0.003 per napkin, as opposed to $0.005 per napkin at Walmart)
Avocado ranch dressing- $0.50
Key lime bars mix- $1.25
3 boxes caramel turtle brownies mix- $1.25/each
No bake jello cheesecake mix- $1.75 (If you do the math, sometimes buying dessert mixes on sale is cheaper than making them from scratch because you're not buying walnuts, cream cheese, key limes, etc. Plus they ALWAYS turn out tasty.)
2 packages of Stretch Island fruit leather, 20ct.- $0.50 each
Miracle whip- $0.75
Cheddar microwave popcorn 3 ct.- $1.00 (This was not a great deal because only half the popcorn popped. I guess that's why it was at the bent 'n' dent!)
3 boxes fruit pectin 2 ct.- $0.95/each
Goldfish crackers- $0.50
2 bags Cheez-It Crunch'd puffs- $0.75/each (I think this was a Cheez-it flop... it tasted like cheese-flavored cold cereal. LOL)
Dreamfields spaghetti pasta- $0.75
Chex mix muddy buddies- $0.50
Sweet n salty pretzels- $0.75
Tomato paste- $0.20
Brown sugar 1 lb.- $1.00 (This is actually not a good deal... you can get it cheaper at Walmart.)
4 Mccormick spice mix packets- $0.25 each
Italian herb spice grinder- $0.75 (Eventually I would love to replace all of my plastic spice jars with glass ones. I bought this just as much for the jar as for the spices in it.)
2 jars mulling spice mix- $1.50 each (I bought these because they have whole spices in them... whole spices are super expensive at the regular grocery store.)
3 packs Captain Wafers cheese cracker sandwiches- $0.20 each
10 Cliff-like energy bars- $0.20 each
6 packets ramen noodles- $0.15 each
Bandaids 30 ct. $1.75 (I'm not sure if this is a good deal or not. I bought one just in case it was.)

What to Buy at a Bent 'n' Dent
As you can see, a majority of my list is junk food. Bent 'n' dents are FULL of junk food. They are also good for non-perishables like baking supplies and mixes, spices, canned goods and pasta. As with any other store, you have to compare prices to make sure you are really getting a deal.

Here are some things I plan to buy from this store in the future:

1. Salad dressings
2. Baking mixes
3. Pasta
4. Canned goods
5. Random baking supplies (sprinkles, nuts, etc.)
6. Paper products (after checking prices)
7. Junk food of all kinds

Hubs and I are generally healthy eaters, but we do enjoy junk food on the weekends sometimes or if we are going on a road trip. I'm constantly amazed at how expensive gas station food is. Last week we took a walk down to the corner store, and bought a snack. Our snacks and drinks (one snack and one drink for both of us) cost a total of $8.00. Crazy!

Other times we buy junk food are if we're having an at-home movie date or need something to take last-minute to a potluck. By purchasing these items ahead of time at the bent 'n' dent, I can avoid "impulse" buying and spend half as much on junk food.

Lastly, we LOVE buying tons of junk food on vacation. The next time we head out for a weekend getaway, I'm going to remember the little discount store. Instead of spending $60 on a junk food binge, we'll be able to do it for $20.

A Tool In the Kit
I don't think you should do all of your shopping at a bent 'n' dent. Nor do I think you should do all of your shopping at a bulk food store or a regular grocery store. However, each new way to save money is a tool in your bag of tricks. If I garden for free produce, butcher and barter for free meat, sell surplus for free eggs, coupon for free bananas, bulk-buy for beans and rice, and bent 'n' dent for steeply discounted processed food, my yearly grocery bill is going to be very, very small. 

I'm hopeful this year that we can get our annual grocery bill for two people under $500 per person*. Last year we spent $1104 on groceries. The savings from shopping at the bent 'n' dent is about $2.50 per week (I normally spend $5 per week on junk food, pasta, dressings, misc., etc. and have the ability to cut that in HALF using the bent 'n' dent store).

$2.50/week x 39 weeks left in 2016 = $97.50 estimated savings

$1104.00 - $97.50 = $1006.50

And guess what... I'm only $6.50 away from my goal! I'd encourage you all to visit a bent 'n' dent if you want to save money on groceries.

Til next time,
-Bethany

*This doesn't include non-food items (shampoo, toilet paper, etc.), nor does it include eating out. We eat out 1-2 times per week, which is a lifestyle choice for us. I realize that this is technically a waste of money. However, I would rather save $25 gardening (enjoyable) and use that $25 to eat out (enjoyable), than NOT garden (*tear*) and not eat out (*sniffle*). Some people have the idea that frugality is awful because you never get to do anything. These people are the true cheapskates that (as Dave Ramsey says) "only come out on triple-coupon Thursday". Real frugality is fun and rewarding. It creates abundance, not lack of gain.

March was a big month for our hobby farm in good and not-so-good ways.

Goats
I separated one of the pygora goats, Fiona, as well as my Nigerian Dwarf, Adi, into a kidding pen in anticipation of having baby goats.

During the middle of March, my pygora goats got a haircut. Shearing was less complicated than I thought it would be. With the help of a friend, the job was done in a couple hours. We ended up with about five pounds of raw wool.

A few days later, Fiona up and died on me. :(

I have not seen any of the goats in heat lately. If my calculations are right, Alex should be due to kid in the middle of April, and hopefully Robin is due at the end of July. Weird timing, I know... I've had some trouble with her coming into heat again and again, and hopefully this is the end of it. If it turns out that she's not bred, I'll wait until October to try again.

Chickens
Egg production has been up, thanks to the warm weather. I'm collecting about a dozen eggs every day. This allows me to sell 4-5 dozen each week and still have enough for the two of us to eat. It's optimal!

Thankfully there have been no deaths in the chicken department. However, I've noticed that some of the roosters have been fighting with each other. One of my goals for April is to clean out some of the rooster collection, if you know what I mean, and put them in the freezer where they won't fight so much.

Profit & Loss
We didn't buy any chicken feed last month (since we buy several bags at a time). However, I know that our chicken cost is about $30.00 per month. The chickens are officially supporting themselves AND turning a small profit!

The goats are another story though, especially this time of year. They are still eating hay and grain, but have not had any kids yet! This means no milk and no money. The goats are still costing me $31.00 per month in feed, and are not yet bringing an income.

Income:
Eggs- $40.00
Total income: $40.00

Expenses:
Salt block for goats- $5.00
Flea & lice powder- $6.49
Goat feed- $17.59
Fiber processing- $65.00
Total expenses: $94.08

Bottom Line: -$54.08

The Cost of Fiber
One HUGE thing you'll note on my list of expenses is the fiber processing. Last week I sent all of the fiber to Zeilinger's Fiber Mill (in Frankenmuth) to be dehaired. The dehairing process includes cleaning, carding, and all the other stuff done to wool. Unfortunately I could lose half of the weight after processing is done (wool is sold by weight, so less weight = less money for me). If all goes well, though, it will come back to me in "clouds"- little puffs of wool that can be spun into yarn or felted. 

The fiber processing was a lot more expensive than I thought. By the time you pay for shipping TO the mill ($10), processing ($65), and gas money to go and pick up the wool ($20), the cost for my fiber is up to $95.00. If I get back 2.5 pounds of finished wool and sell it for $8.00/oz. (the going price on Etsy), theoretically I'll still make a profit of $225, which is more than enough to pay for the goats' keep for a year.

However, currently I have no market for the fiber. As I learn more about spinning and dying, my hope is to find a good market for the wool, but until then the pygora goats will have to be supported by Adi's goat milk soap, the chickens, or farmers market sales (produce & baked goods).

Stockpiling Fiber
My plan for shearing the goats in the future is to do an autumn and spring shearing, but NOT send the fiber to be processed until I sell the stuff I already have. It doesn't make sense to spend $100 every year processing fiber that I can't sell. Until I sell or use all of my 2016 supply, I will just stockpile the wool each year. The good news is that fiber never goes bad! Plus you get a discount for sending in more lbs. of wool at a time.

If you don't count the cost of fiber processing, pygora goats (like any other goats) are pretty low-cost animals. My monthly cost of keeping a goat is almost $4.00 in the winter (November-March), and $1.50 during April-October; about $32 per year. So in order to break even with the pygoras, I'll have to sell 20 oz. of wool ($160 worth of wool products/goat babies).

If the chickens keep up their current egg production through September, they'll be giving the goats a $10 subsidy each of those months. This would cut my total yearly pygora cost down to just $90. And in all reality, the goats will probably receive subsidies from the garden, my baked goods and Adi as well, until I get the fiber sales thing figured out.

Til next time,
-Bethany