Swiss Chard (Silverbeet) Soup This tip works regardless of where you live. This last week I’ve received letters from women in Denmark, Brazil, and Australia. I know that not all of the things that I am doing to keep my grocery bill as low as possible will work everywhere in the world (buying in bulk,…
I took some new photos of Ivory this week and I decided to print the one that you see above. I cropped it closer and turned it sepia for the dining area, but I also printed it in a 5 x7 to go on my nightstand similar to how it is above. (I ordered pictures at Sam’s…
Thanks to some unexpected summer rain and cooler temperatures (caused by a tropical storm) I was able to turn off the sprinklers and drip system for days, saving us money on our water bill. I also opened the windows in the mornings and was able to cool the house for a while in the morning…
Last week was all about making repairs. I mended a pair of pajama pants, a jumper, a handkerchief, a napkin, an apron, two dresses, a pillowcase, and a basket liner. I sewed a button back on a jumper, and I mended the embroidery on another jumper. I shortened the sleeves of a t-shirt for Elsa and I…
In addition to my listed goals, each week I also plan to bake bread, prepare a Sunday School lesson, make all meals and snacks, teach school to the children, do laundry, etc. This week I plan to make yogurt and granola, bake yeast breads 3-4 times, bake quick breads at least twice, and…
I’ve had several emails lately asking me about potatoes. Readers have written in to say that they are not seeing potatoes for .10 a pound; they are seeing them for .40 -.50 a pound, and they are wondering how I get them for so little. The answer is simple: I buy them for that price in season….
This past week was a week of freebies more than a week of active frugality. We were given a bag of apples from someone’s tree. We received 10 pounds of ground beef that someone was getting rid of, as it had been in her freezer for over a year. She gave it to us in…
I ended up spending most of my time last week working on organizing the sewing room (which still isn’t done) and on rewriting our school curriculum lists. It got quite hot again last week and I had no desire to work outside. Last Week’s Goals: Garden Goals: 1. Do some weeding…
The lava lamp experiment is from the chemistry set I have listed on my 5th grade page from Home Science Tools. I combined a 10% off sale with a $40 credit that they offered during a bonus Christmas sale on a microscope. My grandmother paid for the children’s microscope as a Christmas gift and had…
We have been having very unusual weather for August lately. I have lived in Las Vegas for 13 years. My first year here, I remember the weatherman announcing that it was 126ºF in the north end of town one day in late September. (The new zone maps show that Las Vegas has several different microclimates, from a…
Last Week’s Goals: Garden Goals: 1. Do some weeding and pruning, and fill at least 1 trash can I filled 5 1/2 trash cans (mostly with pear and fig branches) and I feel like I didn’t even make a dent in the summer pruning, so I will be upping my goal for…
Gleaning is the ancient way of providing for the poor. After the workers had picked the fields, the poor could go in and pick after them. The workers were also to let anything that fell stay where it fell, which the poor could then pick up. How do you glean today? Look and Ask: Look…