​Hi everyone! I thought I'd pop in with an update. I'll be taking a break from Frugal Accomplishments for at least three months, but that doesn't mean we're not doing fun and/or frugal things around here. 

House Project

We started on our home renovation this week!!! We will be putting an addition on our new-to-us house. We've been thinking and planning for this project since last summer, so to see it actually started is pretty cool. First, we have to tear off part of the old part. When we planned the renovation, I told Hubs I didn't want to see the old chimney go. I don't know, there's just something cool about an old chimney, even if it's not functional. Well, we made a compromise; we're tearing the chimney down, but I'm keeping some of the bricks to make something with. I think it will probably end up being a raised bed or fire pit in the back yard.

After Hubs got the first few rows off, it pretty much fell apart. All I had to do was tap (some of) the bricks with a hammer, and they came loose. It was in pretty bad shape. I think the mortar will come off most of the blocks pretty easily.


Block Scheduling

Several weeks ago I implemented a new scheduling system that I learned about on Youtube. It's called "block scheduling". Basically, you give every hour a purpose. Then you do that thing for an hour, and when the clock strikes a new hour, you move on to the next project. Here's an example of my summer schedule:

7:00 am- Wake up
8:00 am- Free
9:00 am- Daughter awake, dressed, breakfast
10:00 am- Chicken chores/House project
11:00 am- House project/cooking
12:00 pm- Read w/daughter, Lunch
1:00 pm- Weed strawberries
2:00 pm- Daughter nap, more weeding
3:00 pm- Projects
4:00 pm- Projects
5:00 pm- Projects
6:00 pm- Dinner
7:00 pm- Wash dishes
8:00 pm- Free
9:00 pm Prepare for bed (plan tomorrow's meals and events, pick up house, set out clothes, brush teeth, etc.)
10:00 pm- Read
11:00 pm- Fall asleep

Of course we don't follow this to a T, but it gives enough structure to help me be more productive. It also helps because it keeps daily chores like laundry, cooking and cleaning "contained" to certain hours. For example, I try to do a whole day's cooking, if possible, before lunch. When that hour is up, it's up and I move on to other things. There is always more cooking I can do, always more cleaning. During the summer, though, I really need to stay focused on outdoor projects. If the strawberry patch or garden gets out of hand, it's a nightmare to deal with. By doing at least an hour's work in the garden/strawberry patch, I can keep that functional. The same goes for household tasks like laundry and dishes. 

Another thing I did was make a "Do Not Do" list for summer. You guys know I love projects, and my interests are all over the map. Sometimes I just have to tell myself "no". No knitting or sewing during the summer. No extensive research projects or reading. No excessive blogging (which is why you're getting mostly pictures now). No working on book projects. No extra cooking from scratch or decluttering. Spending more money on food has really helped pare down housework during this busy season, as well as using the clothes dryer and disposable diapers. It's not necessarily frugal, but it's only for a few months. Once we're settled into the new house, I look forward to having more regular, garden-variety frugal accomplishments again.


But I Broke My Own Rules

I broke my own "no excessive reading" rule this week, though. I ordered a rare book from the library, and it came!!! It's a collection of annotated Civil War letters written by a soldier who lived down the road from us. The author/compiler really did her research, and the back of the book has family sheets and extensive indexes so you can figure out who's who and even what happened to them after the war. I already knew who several of the people were from my own research, but reading the letters answered some questions I had, and really gave me an idea of what the culture in our area was like. If I could pick a super power, it would be time travel... and this is the next best thing.

​The book was more or less self-published in the 1980's, so you can't buy it anywhere (unless, perhaps you found it at an estate sale or something). Thank God for our library interloan system!!! To have the letters all cleaned up, typed out and annotated is like a dream come true. There are more letters from our community that I'd love to get my hands on, but they're buried in the archives at CMU. I would love to get those cleaned up and typed out as well, or even photographed and put on the internet so at least they're easily accessible for research.

Anyhow, so that was probably the highlight of my week.


Amazon Alexa

We had new internet installed at our house, and the company was doing a promotion. They gave us a free Amazon Echo Dot. I know, I know, these devices spy on you and listen to your every word in order to sell you more stuff (or so the conspiracy theorists say). But I installed ours, and found out that it can read my Kindle books aloud!!!! That means it can turn all of my free Kindle ebooks into (albeit low-quality) audio books that I can listen to while doing projects, cooking or cleaning. That means I can do excessive "reading" without sacrificing productivity! 


Garage Sales

Hey, so there was something frugal this week after all! I went to some garage sales and bought a few things... mostly for Princess. But I also got a book for myself:

​And you all know how much I love books.

Til next time,
-Bethany

I hope you all had a wonderful Resurrection Day!
-Bethany

​Below is a video I made with special announcement:

Yesterday, we stopped at the grocery store. I bought two hams for $0.77 per pound. They didn't have any of the cottage cheese left that was on sale for $0.89/lb., so I got a rain check. But you know what else we bought? A full-priced pound of summer sausage, for $5.00. Guilt-free!

I know the video above was a long one, so if you didn't watch it, here's the gist: I won't be recording our grocery spending on the blog anymore. In short, it's because I don't want to be tied to the $10.00 per week budget. Of course I'll still be sharing grocery savings, but I want to have the freedom of buying full-priced food without compromising honesty and integrity here on the blog (that is, leading you to believe we're on a strict budget, when we're not). The video has more whys and wherefores, if you're curious.

So, here's to celebrating the transition from "extreme" frugality, to just regular frugality! It's been a fun five years. Now, let's talk about what impact this has had on our finances and what it can do for you.


How Much Did The $10.00/week Plan Actually Save Us?

As I mentioned in the video, I was spending about $50.00 per week, or about $2,600 per year for the two of us. I came to marriage with a lot of skills, though (cooking from scratch, canning, etc.), and with experience shopping on a budget. Our personal savings over the past five years was about $1500 per year, or a total of $7500. Since it took a little while to whittle down to $20.00 from that original $50.00, let's call it an even $7000.00.

Looking back, $1500.00 per year doesn't sound like much. But you have to keep in mind that our transition was from "frugal" to "extremely frugal". Saving money is kind of like losing weight. A woman who weighs 200 pounds and loses 50 is going to look dramatically different. A 150 lb. woman who loses 15 pounds is still going to benefit, but not as much.


Is It For You? How to Calculate Potential Savings

Is the $10.00 per week budget for you? Let's count the savings and see if it's worth doing, even for a short amount of time. Tip: You can adjust the actual number to the cost of living in your state. This can range from $10.00 for cheaper states, to $20.00 for the most expensive states, like Alaska and Hawaii.

1. Determine goal budget. (Example: $10.00 per person, per week.)
2. Multiply goal budget by the number of people in your family, to determine weekly budget. (Example: $10.00 x 2 = $20.00.)
3. Multiply weekly budget by 52 to determine yearly projected spending. (Example: $20.00 x 52 = $1040.)
4. Multiply current monthly spending by 12 to determine average yearly spending. (Example: $50.00 x 12 = $2600.)
5. Subtract the first total from the second. (Example: $2600 = $1040 = $1560.)

And that, my friends, is how much you could save by switching to an "extreme" grocery shopping (or not shopping... lol!) protocol. 


Is Extreme Frugality Worth It?

1. Yes: Think about how much money you could save by dramatically reducing your grocery spending (most folks could easily do 50% like I did). Over the course of five years, many people I know could buy a house with the extra money they spend on groceries! Ask yourself if the grass-fed beef is benefiting you as much as getting into a home of your own (or buying better shoes, more books, donating to charity, etc.). I think even a short-term stint of extreme frugality would benefit most of us, in more ways than a fatter bank account. Frugality teaches us to be creative and thankful. Extreme frugality even more so.

2. No: I wouldn't trade home ownership for a lifetime of grass-fed beef, but some aspects of extreme frugality aren't beneficial long-term. Decades of eating conventional, cheap foods (especially highly-processed ones) can be problematic for many people. It concerns me that so many children are starting out life with weight problems, bees are dying, hormones everywhere are being disrupted. These are things we need to consider before committing to a lifetime of cheap food. 

3. Maybe: There is a difference between long-term and short-term frugality. Everyone can do short-term frugality, but not everyone likes it. Long-term (or lifetime) frugality is only possible if you enjoy it. That means it will look different for everyone. Some people are okay with a lifetime of thrifted clothes, but not okay driving beater cars forever. Other people are happy to give up restaurants, but not travel. One housewife loves to cook, and another one would rather use coupons to buy prepared food. As time goes on and we get ahead financially, we can all embrace and benefit from our favorite forms of frugality forever, and ditch our least favorite parts. Isn't that good news?

So, I guess that's my tidbit for the week! I'm really looking forward to sharing new projects and frugal endeavors with you in the coming weeks and months. 

Til next time,
​-Bethany

​Well, I warned you all that we might get busy around here, and I'm excited to see the spring starting to show her face! Of course all Michiganders know that it takes two or three months for her to stop playing peekaboo and actually stick around (by which time you call it "summer", not spring), but we are excited nonetheless.

​
Basket Liners

I made two basket liners in anticipation for our garden harvest. I used to think basket liners were tacky and outdated, but if you're actually using the basket, it makes cleanup so much easier. Instead of having random seeds and bits of dirt stuck in between the cracks, you just remove the liner, dump it out and throw the whole thing (the liner, that is... not the basket) in the washer.

​The big basket is for our regular everyday garden harvests; rhubarb, asparagus, lettuce, radishes, etc. The smaller basket is for herbs and to use as a backup harvest basket. 

It was more of a pain than I thought it would be to make the liners. I had to draft a pattern, finish the edges for durability, etc. Since the liners were custom made to fit the baskets, I probably won't be able to use them with other baskets (but I'll try). Before I invest more time into making basket liners, I'll make sure the baskets are sturdy and will last for years. Many of the baskets I have now are already on their last leg. So that's something to keep in mind if you, too, are thinking about making a liner for your harvest basket.

​
Honey Harvest

I'm not the best beekeeper. Actually, I'm a pretty rotten beekeeper, but it turns out that even rotten beekeepers have their rewards.

I cracked open the old hive on Saturday and this is what I found:

​If any of you can help diagnose the problem, that would be great! I contacted the people who I bought the bees through, and they suggested that the queen probably died. Obviously, all of the other bees died as well. But before they died—bless their hearts—they left me some honey.

I was able to harvest almost a whole gallon of honey!! I'm super excited about that, since one of my goals this year was to eat healthier (raw local honey is so good for you!). Not only that, but I wasn't expecting any harvest. Now I have honey AND beeswax to work with.

Even though beekeeping won't work for me this year, I plan on trying it again during a less busy season. I'll be keeping the equipment and hopefully reusing everything. Another bright point is that I found a free way to harvest the honey, without the use of an extractor. I used this tutorial. Hubs made the wood piece with some scrap lumber, and I made the bag out of cheesecloth that I already had.

Even though the value of my little harvest doesn't nearly cover the cost of equipment, it really encouraged me to keep on trying. Beekeeping is something I've wanted to do for years, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to try it out in 2018. Now that I know the ropes (or at least, a lot of what NOT to do), I hope next time will be more successful.

I think that's all for now!
-Bethany