I know from personal experience that this type of place appeals to horse owners on a budget. Usually they don't care so much about the interior of the house so long as it is sound, they are much more concerned whether there is water and electric to the outbuilding, if the place can be fenced or if it is fenced, if the fence is sturdy, grazing areas, a place to ride... It might be worth you while to advertise it as a horse place if horses are allowed and the questions here can be answered. This would be in addition to other advertising you may do to the more generic "back to the land" type folks. There is a growing market in many places for homes with land such as yours. That close to town can also be a selling point," live in the country, even if you work in the city". best wishes

Technically speaking, it's not legal to change an addressee on a postage affixed envelope. In reality, the post office isn't too picky about it. Technically, you're supposed to take it to the post office and have it replaced. Like I said, I don't think they're too picky, and have done it before. But we are talking about an organization who sued the Boy Scouts for putting their fundraiser brochures on mail boxes! Ob $aver thought: My favorite is paying bills online. Between postage, envelope and check fees, it's realistically 50¢ per bill saved. I'm saving $25/year easily, plus the gas of going to a mail box. Another favorite is my little "pantry". I hate going to the store and people who have to run to the store every day for something are nuts. Worst case, I can always make a can of soup. Plus I have a few groceries in case of a storm. Another phrase I enjoyed came from one of the spouse-swap programs where the minimalist/frugal wife's motto was "Do I need it? Do I love it? Does it make me money?" If not, toss it. Oh, and I was proud of myself... My washer was dumping water all over the floor and I thought I'd have to replace a washer after only 26 years of dependable service. Hey Joyful, shouldn't that have been under warranty??? ;) Being crippled up like I am these days, I can't do too much but I was curious to see if there was a chance of it just being a hose or something, plus I couldn't really wreck it, so, after tearing it open, sure enough, all that happened was two hose clamps lost their tension. A trip to the auto parts store, 2 - 25¢ hose clamps, maybe an hour, well, couple hours of "work" (more play and confidence builder) and I saved the cost of a new machine and disposal of the old. So what would that be? Anywhere from $100-$500 per hour pay, tax free, and I'm washing away again. Maybe I'll get another 26 years out of it? Well maybe not, but I'd expect a couple years of use anyway. Oh, other little things, like making a non-electric humidifier out of an ice cream pail sitting in front of the heat register. Cut holes in the top to keep the cat from playing in there. Plus I had to set it into a dishpan because she got mad and tipped it over! There's so many things, I can't think of them. But I enjoy reading others ideas too. I guess I try to make money spending an investment. For instance the Frugal Gazette books to me are an investment since they give you ideas and motivation. Use the library for movie borrowing & rental. Bought a few dozen popular movies for $1 each and share them with a lot of people. Shop for things on the internet to see what they'll cost, then know if it's a good buy when you go out. I had to buy a new dryer and saved $200 by buying a floor model at the "BB" Store. Researched things I wanted and checked reviews and the like. My $5/mo ISP has paid for itself so many times it's hilarious.

I hate, hate dusting. Always have. Luckily I only have to clean the stuff on top of the cabs (and our ceiling fan) every few months, or a few times a year. When the "shoulders" on the blue bottles on top of the fridge cabinet start to look dusty, I know it's time to clean up there, if I haven't already decided its time before I notice it. I'm pretty good at stayinopen top of checking out the (visible) dust situation. DH brings the 6' ladder up from the garage for me when I need to clean, and while its upstairs, I clean all the colored glass items on top of the cabs and the range hood chimney (the hood itself I can reach with my little step ladder, I clean that every week or two), and I'll clean the ceiling fan, then, too. I wouldn't want more stuff on top of the cabs, for aesthetic reasons (uncluttered look), and to save me from having even more stuff to clean!

I also have ROTS (roll out tray shelves--basically drawers without faces) inside of drawers, but they're in the under oven deep drawers that I use for small appliances. This gives me the depth I wanted for the appliances, but still a second drawer. Something I wouldn't have had if they'd been separate drawers. I made use of some lost space at the back of my island--a space that ordinarily might have been shallow shelves but which wouldn't have worked with my table brackets--as a cutting board pullout. It's extra heavy duty so that if I want to put a stone pastry rolling board in there, I can. Another piece of leftover space became a pullout next to the microwave for cereal, bread and snacks. I have a horizontal tray cabinet with 3/8" plywood shelves in slots spaced about 3" apart. The shelves can pull out if something gets lost in the back. There are cutouts in the bottom of the dividers of my cutting board pullout for the same reason. My platters are stored vertically with the thin plywood dividers, cut away in a modified C shape so that it's easy to get things in and out. The dividers are supported by a shelf for doilies. In the corners I have corner drawers because I hated the super susans in my old kitchen. Love the corner drawers. My pot drawers are 48" wide, extra heavy duty to support all my heavy pots. My baking things drawers are 31"+ wide. Wider drawers are much easier to store things in!! Some people like vertical dividers for filing skillets and other shallow pans vertically, though it's not the most efficient use of space. That's made up for, I'm sure, by the easy access. A spice pullout is always useful. Some people like them wide, with tall shelves, for the oils and all as well. I prefer a divider in a wide one to make it two sided and leave it to the spices, herbs, cake decor, etc. My new one worked best, however, single sided with slightly deep trays. It's taller than I am, and allows two standard spice bottles deep. This is great for when one accidentally has two of the same thing. It's also good for the bulk bottles of things like minced onions and sesame seeds. Because it worked out that I had a few taller shelves, I do keep some specialty vinegars in there, though they could be in the pantry just as easily. I was able to choose sizes for my perimeter cabinets that allowed me to keep the depths the same all the way around. I don't object to different depths next to each other, however, and I could have gotten one more drawer in, in some places, if I'd wanted to, but I didn't need the space. What I did was measure my tallest things (11") and figured out a comfortable height for utensils (I think it was 4"), and let the middle drawer be whatever was left (I think 9"). That's interior dimensions. Remember that's what's important. Don't go too wild with fitments until you're in and using your space. My kitchen flatware doesn't stack. I started with inexpensive holders from BB&B. Now that I'm sure that I like the way I've arranged my drawer, the cabinetmaker will make me some dividers. This is much easier than guessing! We also waited until I could unpack my pantry items to set the levels of the ROTS in the pantry cabinets. Without cans and bottles of particular things, I didn't know what heights I needed. You can do that before you pack up! By the time I was on to that decision I couldn't even remember what they were, so going to the store and measuring was out. If I'd planned better, I might have had a better layout, because the doors were already installed and the hinges were located in the way of some of the places I might have wanted ROTS. It worked out in the end, with the small things (cans, nuts, pasta, jars and short bottles) in shallow height ROTS at waist level, and tall bottles and beverages at the bottom. Oh, and a trash pullout is standard stuff, nowadays. :) Oh, yeah! I put a ROTS in the bottom of my clean-up sink cabinet. I don't often roll it out, but its a great way to get at a lost something in the back, and when I had the DW changed out, it was easy for the installer to remove with most of its contents in it, then easy to put back.