Went out "rummaging" last Saturday. Spent a morning of pleasant talk time with DH while enroute. Got a little exercise getting in and out of the pick-up, walking up and down the street (there was a neighborhood sale on one block). Bought some nice t-shirts in several sizes (DH and I wear XL, DGS wears L, DS and DD wear 2X) for 25 cents each. They were all glad to get them, and I have stained up most of the t-shirts I currently have, painting and gardening. I always watch for things that might make good Christmas presents for my family. They like to get rummage sale stuff because they know I have a set amount that I spend for Christmas and they'd rather have more stuff than just a few. I found a Cuisinart food processor, clean, didn't look like it had even been used, with the book, both blades and also two stems and a julienne and grating blade, for $10. I tested it out before buying and it works perfectly. DD will be so happy to discover that under the tree! I found a large, brand new, still-in-the-box George Foreman grill for $10. (no book, though) Used it to grill hamburgers last night. The weekend before I found a nice Fossil watch, still in it's original box, for $10. One of the DGS' will be the recipient of that. The weekend before that, I found a brand new Eureka Hot Shot steam cleaner that I had been wanting, still in it's original box with all attachments and the book, for $5. Sometimes, I don't find a thing I want. But even then, I get out and meet people and I enjoy my morning. Out of the garden this week, I got cabbage, beets and beet greens (they were yummy), plenty of romaine and a few onions. Last month we had baby lettuce, watermelon radish and asparagus. The beans are beginning to form and I have some green tomatoes on my plants. No squash this year as I still have some in the freezer. Next year, though, I'm going to dehydrate some like Grainlady does. There are tiny cucumbers on the vine and the dill looks like it'll be making umbrels right on time. I'll be using MIL's old recipe for garlic dills this year, that you can make a jar at a time. The sunflowers are heading up. I garden without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Every fall I collect my neighbors' leaves that they bag up and put on the curb for garbage collection. I save the leaves by sticking the bags under my porch, where, as long as they are there, they insulate the foundation along the east side. They keep the wind from blowing things under there and they keep weeds from growing along the edges. Then, as I need them, I use them for mulch all over my garden. I happen to have come into several bales of hay for free and I find that if I put a little "slice" of hay on top of the leaves, it keeps them from blowing away. By the following spring, that mulch becomes healthy soil. I did get some cow manure from a local rancher this spring but I think I will not do that again. Lots of weed seeds, though not nearly as bad as the horse manure I had several years ago. Cows must be more selective in what they eat than horses are. I get heavy cardboard from a local furniture store. The boxes are large and some of them are sized perfectly for fitting down into the spaces between my raised beds. Bermuda grass is a problem here, it gets into everything and chokes things out, sending it's long, sinewey roots clear to China. The only way to control it is to shade it out. I have to admit, I did splurge on seed buying from Baker Creek, as they are offering free shipping till the end of June. but I got things that you just can't pick up anywhere, and even if the package of seed costs $2.50 and $3.00 (isn't that outrageous?), I use my seeds very carefully and so just one plant that produces well will more than pay for the seed and the rest is "just gravy". A package of seed, stored carefully, will be viable for years. We always batch our trips, so when we get done rummaging we go by the grocery store and buy whatever we need, usually on sale. I hear gas prices are going to be going up again, so even if you do happen to have a 'gas guzzler' vehicle, you will get more for your $$ if you learn to do as many of your errands at the same time as you can. DGS got a ticket for not wearing his seatbelt! The officer told him it would be only $20 but what he didn't tell him was that if he waits for the court date and appears then to pay it, he will have to pay court costs too. Luckily we discovered in time and informed DGS of that, so he went to the court house and paid his fine and avoided paying court costs. Let this be a lesson to him, wear that seat belt!

Hi again folks, When I worked as a personal financial advisor, I talked to clients about "financial freedom" adding to one's peace of mind (in addition to providing the worthwhile liquidity that some envy in others but lack it themselves). The person who is deep in debt, owes on credit cards, and worries when the phone rings as to which creditor is calling, this time ... does not know the peace of mind that comes with financial freedom. The homeless person doesn't, either. When a person has come beyond the age of retirement and lacks enough money to pay for all of needed medications, food, housing and the fuel to keep it comfortable in winter ... which is getting more difficult as some of the basics of life have recent substantial increases in price ... that person lacks the luxury of financial freedom, also. But I also said that I wanted people to boss their money, not having their money bossing them. The people who have adequate resources but squeeze the buffalo on a nickel till it bellers ... aren't making best use of their financial freedom, either. To my mind the rich old guy in the restaurant who made a fuss about refusing to pay because one item on the buffet was lacking was, to my mind, just being boorish. Though I lived on pretty thin income for a number of years during my career, now that I'm near age 80 and don't have to worry about paying for some (of the rather few) things that I want, or about leaving my executors so strapped with regard to my estate that they have to go fishing for extra money to pay for my burial ... that level of financial freedom pleases me. Plus I have some to help pay for my extra care before death, if necessary. If I'm at a party where it's to go on for several hours and they're using styrofoam cups ... for juice now, possibly for water later (and I eschew bottled water, at home) and perhaps for coffee, eventually ... ... I've been known to use my own pen, or hunt up one of theirs, to put my name on my cup in order to use it throughout the period. Not so much for frugal/tight reasons, as for reusing things - reducing our wasteful use of scarce resources, plus making less garbage (and that was true long before I lived within a couple of miles of what used to be a local garbage dump [pardon me - "landfill"] but recently had their licence heavily expanded - then were sold to a major city over a hundred miles away). A city that now trucks their garbage something like 250 miles ... and over an international border. It took millions of years to make the petroleum ... and we've been using it, often wastefully, for the past hundred years - did you hear that: "hundred years" - like it's going out of style. It's not going out of style, in fact, the demand is increasing. Unfortunately - it's availability is decreasing. In addition ... have you heard U.S. folks recently whining about the increase in cost of gas (Canadians, too, but we've been paying some more for some time)? In those threads, we had some Europeans telling how they've been paying $5.00 or so for gas for some time. Have you ever heard the saying that, "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Guess who have been studying, working on, building, evaluating and revamping, various means of production of electricity from renewable resources in recent years. It was the Europeans ... not us North Americans, continuing to walk (no, "drive") along our paths of cheap energy availability. Much less, until recently, concerned to find alternative sources of energy. Additionally - cheap food, which has been our policy for years, is finished. Not only was our food cheaper than in many areas, the fact that our incomes were larger meant also that it consumed a much lower percentage of our total incomes. By the way ... some time ago, on a similar thread, I reported another frugal situation, which someone said that she'd never thought of, but was impressed by. I took some hamburger and peas out of the freezer a while ago ... to let them warm up in the expensively heated air put out by the furnace. I'm cooking a pot of rice ... so took the lid off of the rice cooker and put an aluminum pie plate on there, then put the peas on it, then another aluminum plate with the hamburg on that, with another plate or the pot lid set down on top. Two/three birds - one stone. Good wishes for making good use of a lovely spring weekend - it's snowing, here ... again! ole joyful

Too early to tell but the one piece of advice I have clung to, I got it out of some kitchen magazine, is that less expensive materials can look much more expensive when they are installed well. I always remember this kitchen (see link) not for its' soapstone counters or beautiful lacquer\painted off-white cabinets which are lovely (and important to the overall effect of the room) but for that composite vinyl tile floor. The custom pattern, the great colours it's fantastic and I am sure many have spent more than 20 times as much on their floor to not achieve 1\2 the impact. What I take from that is while $$$ dictate that you may have to compromise on materials to stay on budget you don't have to lower your standards in terms of the quality of the design and workmanship that goes into the kitchen your working on. One of the reason I chose the box store I did is because the installer is excellent and he gets paid the same to install my stock "Instant Kitchen" as he does someone elses Kraftmaid semi-custom "Venicia" kitchen that cost 4 times as much. So I suppose you could say that I saved on the cabs and splurged on the labour. Time will tell if it was a smart trade off or not. Here is a link that might be useful: pics of mjsmama's kitchen

I found a locally owned store that sold Chelsea flooring that we just installed. What I liked about it was that I got a great floor made here in the US, and supported local business as well. I did have to make, at least for me, a huge compromise. I wanted walnut so bad, but it would have been at least $2,500 more. Wasn't in the budget. I still got the brand, but had to go with a darker ash hardwood flooring that is wire brushed. Do I like it as much? Not even close. But I got it for $5.35/sf (product only), in a combination of 3", 4" and 5" laid in a random pattern which turned out beautiful. I got a Home Show discount. I think I got a great deal.