On Sunday evening, our dishwasher went out. In 15 years at this house, we have gone through three dishwashers already. With a large family, we run our dishwasher two to three times a day (plus wash fifteen to 20 pots and pans and large bowls each day by hand), so I expect it will break…
I hope you are warm and well wherever you are in the world! We borrowed a tractor to work in the garden (saving us the $1400 it would have cost to rent an excavator for the same period of time) in order to dig more of the beds in the garden. This was a much…
In between the work in the garden last week, I managed to read an e-book from the library, All Things Bright and Beautiful, which I enjoyed very much. I purchased two sweaters (one pullover and one cardigan) on clearance for my daughters. I sowed seeds for lettuce, spinach, and hollyhocks in reused nursery pots since…
The weather is beautiful here and it has been wonderful to work in such lovely weather in the garden. We borrowed a jumping jack to help us compact the new soil in the garden beds as we were filling it, to prevent it from falling later. While garden soil needs a certain amount of air…
Most of the week we were delayed on working in the garden due to weather, but we are grateful for the rain and the little bit of snow that fell. The mountains around us were covered with snow to the bases, which was beautiful. I sifted our previously purchased garden bed soil to remove rocks…
It’s been another week at home, as it has been for many of you, too! I cut a few roses from the garden to enjoy. I began pruning them back this past week to keep them healthy and productive for the year. I made some cuttings from my Thompson’s seedless grape, to hopefully start new…
The weather was beautiful by the end of the week. It felt like spring instead of winter with temperatures much warmer than normal. The warm, dry weather was perfect for working in the garden. We’ve been enjoying a mild, warmer than usual winter here. Here’s how we saved money last week: We harvested lemons from…
We worked on our garden project this week in beautiful, much warmer than usual weather. I’m grateful for this while working in the garden, but I’m also very aware that this is usually the month when we receive most of our annual rainfall, and it does not look like we will receive any. Last year…
The weather started to turn colder this past week. Here’s how we saved: We had a free family activity: We hiked a local mountain. We’ve wanted to go for years, but I was either pregnant or had a tiny baby that I didn’t want to bring up the mountain (which is all rock!), or else…
This year, I want to do more for my home and garden. I expect that this is where we’ll be spending most of our time this year, and I want it to be even more beautiful, as this is what we see every day. With that in mind, I’m planning my goals accordingly. The last…
I hope you all had a wonderful week, wherever you are in the world! Here’s how we saved money this past week: We watched Christmas movies online and popped popcorn several nights. There were many movies available to watch for free online, including on YouTube. I found a list here that includes some free Christmas…
I wrapped Christmas presents using the reusable boxes that I invested in a few years ago. I bought an online gift card for my daughter at college for her birthday. She can find something she wants from a place she loves and I saved the cost of shipping, as the gift card was simply emailed…