Ok now that I have Begly somewhat beat

I feel sorry for Rocheshelle on some things that her hubby does around the house.  I think I have Ed just totally beat now around my place.  My own Hippy and myself do not fight on everything here in the house on anything.  NO OARNGE BERRELS IN MY YARD.  Tea cup roses and ladith takes care of that one if anyone did.  Pluss the new season of Liveing with Ed starts tomarrow on the green planet.  I have to laugh at Ed and Rochelle becuase I am Being frugal down right cheap at times also.  Ok Ed please top my cabbage soup from today in the solar oven that you have.  Well why put solar pannels on the can now.  I want to get out of here not stay here.  So when I do get a house instead of the can I will get solar pannels and a few other things.  I am still saveing nickles for the kitchen wood burnner for the new place.  When the Hippy and I get it of course.  I haven't stopped dreaming of the wood burner/coal heater for the new place.  Also it is extra heat and extra cooking space for the new place when we get it.  And I plan on going extra ultra cheap for the house and wood/coal heater for the place.  200 dollars is way to much for groceries for the household in my book.  In the same since most was meat for the next 3 months also.  So eather way I can not complain about it.  At least I have food in the household and no complaints on what I cook now.  The poor Hippy cringed when I said over the phone that we all have cabbage soup today and the next week.  Oh well have fun and play even harder.

The cabbage fest went well

The cabbage fest went very well on Sunday.  I had a ball sitting there watching the camera when I was there for the band Eletric Rodeo.  First time of working the camera for the day and not knowing what to do when to do it it's alittle shakey but I am hopeing for the best.  The 15 pound cabbage was my prize find of the day for 5 dollars.  So I am makeing cabbage soup as of 10am this morning.  It is smelling so good right now that it's not even funny.  The recipie came out of one of the booklets I picked up from Ft. Niagara in Youngstown NY when some of my family came up to see me 3 years ago.  It is a great educational tool around here besides the falls in the city here.  Along with Smokein Joes with thier museum in the smoke shop also.  I still like to walk around for an hour over there to see whats new and a few other places also.  The Cabbage Fest was free in Ransomville NY on Sunday to get in and pay for food and if you wanted anything from the other vendors also.  It was such a nice setting in the Ransomville firehall parking lot that I will not complain about it at all with family orianted stuff to do.  Once I get some video from the fest I will post that here of course.  I forgot my camera of course never fails with that becuase I wanted pictures of everyone includeing myself.  Well I do have a picture of the head of cabbage that was baught on Sunday and I will post that at a later date so you can see how huge this thing was.  It was still worth the money for it and then some.  The Eletric Rodeo is on http://www.facebook.com/ I know the band members well and LOVE them as my own family.  A bunch of wanderfull people in the band.  Ok folks before I go to much farther here I have more work to do around the house.  So have fun and play even harder.

Starting in on cleaning

I have started the washer already.  Partial cup of laundery deturgant and fabric softener.  The Aldi red bottle deturgant has went really runny of course so I have to use a little more than what I am use to.  When the next 2 and a half bottles are done I am going back to Purex.  I am thinking that Aldi has caught on to what I have been doing with the laundery deturgant.  Normally the red bottle from there lasts for about 3 to 4 months in my place.  Not any more.  So now I have used Purex before and I am going back to it.  I am still wishing that I can find Fresh Start again.  It worked well and dident adjatate my skin.  Oh well at least in that since I am streeching out the dollars in the place.  Now yesterday I found the baged bird seed is cheaper than the one in the canister.  So I will start buying the 10 pound bag and useing part of my storage bowls for the seed.  I wont have to worry about pet food for awhile after yesterday.  I ended up with 30 dollars for the dog, cat, and bird.  That's includeing the food, litter, and the scratch paper.  So that turned out well on my part anyway.  So now I dont have to worry as much about that.  I haven't started cleaning the bathroom yet and stressing yet.  I am thinking on it for the moment.  With the washer being in the bathroom it makes it hard to do more than one thing in there.  And yes I did make my list out last night and I am still adding things to it this morning also.  Even though I am not that far behind in the house work any more it is knowing the fact that I have to do it anyway in time.  If I dont get to all of the list I don't freek out over it nor do I go into hastarics.  I just leave it for the next day and try to do it all then in what I dident get done the day before.  The list that I make up are used on the paper that I have cut the coupons out on that I have printed.  Sometimes there is only one or two that print on the page.  That leaves me enough room to make a double sided list out becuase I do use both sides of the paper.  Some people do not like it and in how I say they don't live here nor pay my bills in the place.  So I do what I can and go from there.  It does get pretty funny around here at times.  Becuase some people say well I use paper plates and I can not live without them.  Paper plates are a habbit and a bad one at that.  As far as I am concerned they are a waste of money.  Along with wipeing your hands on paper towels all of the time.  I have a ton of hand towels for that.  Other wise I would be going thru at least 8 rolls if not more in a month instead of the 1 and a half rolls.  So there is alot of things that I just can not force myself to waste money on like some people do.  It is just not worth it at all.  So now I can say it is a fine line of being cheap and frugal and a bit of being tight with my money.  If you can leave out paper napkins at all cost also along with the paper plates.  You have to do dishes anyway and laundery so a few more items will not hurt at all.  You use the same amount of water if you wash 3 dishes as you would a whole sink worth.  Along with the dish soap.  Just like laundery get a full load at all times if not set the water settings on the washer.  That's why there's a large, medium, and a small load setting on there along with the cold, warm, and hot knob also.  Now the yellow sticker on the washer when you first get it is a guide line.  I have seen this work also.  It may take a few months to see if your bills go down if any at all.  Now I had seen a dramatic fall in my power bill with my washer.  The extended spin works wanders.  The power bill has kept dropping also.  I have a gas hot water tank.  I really havent seen much of a drop in that, it goes along with the gas oven also.  If you first move into a new place make yourself a pest at the power company.  They base your useage off of the last person(s) there before you when the guesstamate the bill.  So every month call them and get a true reading or get the reading yourself and give it to them.  And tell them this is what I used and get someone out here.  The power company readers all know me by first name around here.  And yes I put up a stink with the head office also.  My power bills went down by 75 dollars if not more a month when I started hollaring.  I dident have a fridge nor a dryer at the time.  And the guys took note of that right away and put it in the computer in the car also.  Then also I had an old window unit for cold air.  I found out When I blocked the hallway up along with the windows and the front room that the bill with that was only maybe 150 a month.  Now when I say old window unit it was mostly made by Harison Radiador and Fridgidaire also.  So it went back some years.  It kept the place cool in 2 rooms let me tell you after blocking up the windows and a few other things.  Still to this day I have windows blocked off and rooms blocked with vents covered with foil to save on the A/C and keeping the place cool.  All you do with the foil is get a piece big enough for the vent/grate and cover the bottom of the grate.  Then stick it back in the floor or cieling and what a differance it makes.  And use fans also to help move the air around.  You knotice a cold spot get a floor fan and point it in the direction you want the air to go to.  Ok folks have fun and play hard.

Cutting your bills

Cutting down or cutting out on the bills are worth every effort in the household. Now for me it is useing coupons and turning stuff off in the household. Pluss several other things that I do. Just like I DO NOT eat out at resturants as a general rule in the household. It is ok on the rare occation but not all of the time. The only way to get me out to eat is free stuff like sandwiches or free of something and it really has to be a big saveings for me. Now another thing that I do is when I hit the grocery stor or the Walmart super center is that I look for the cheaper cuts of meat. You will be surprized If you know how to tenderize cuts of meat that are tough. Pluss there are this day only specials at the meat counters also. I really like to sweet talk the butchers and I can get more soup bones and other things for cheap. Like deli ends are a good thing around my house. A chest freezer is a nice thing to have also. When whole chickens or turkeys go on sale for like below 50 cents a pound that is the time to buy them and put them back for later use. There are sales all over the place now adays. If you can catch the sale item pluss use a coupon it drives the cost down even more. Just like the Buy one Get one Free stuff did you know you can use 2 coupons for that sale. Just like last month there were frozen pizzas that were 2.50 a piece. I had several coupons for 2 dollars off of a piticular brand. So it is really up to you in what you want to do with it all on the coupon part. I know some people don't use coupons at all. I say if they are out there the companies want you to use them. They would rather take a loss on some of us folks becuase they know some people like to pay full price on the items that they offer. Well with the power bills shooting up now a days and new TAXES being on them in some MONEY HUNGERY STATES some of us have figured out how to keep the cost of that down also. In the summer time I hang out laundery to save from extra heat not going into the household. The washer is energy star rated and it was worth the extra 100 dollars on it for everything like useing less water also. It costs maybe at most 3 dollars a month to run the thing at all times. I genorate alot of laundery in my house hold also. I try to use the dryer as little as possible anyway only becuase it uses alot of power to use it. Now for the computer I do use mine more times than not. There are days that I have it totally off along with the modem also. The only bad thing is that the phone is on the modem also. I have a cell phone to make alot of calls off also. And it does help when the power goes out around here. People say drop one for the other and I say what if MYSELF or OTHERS are stranded out on the road. The kindness of people help and I have returned the favor that was done to myself also on that. But shop around for the best plans for the cell phones. Another thing about the power bills are that you have to unplug the PHANTOM DRAINERS. Like power cords that are not in use. I have saved over 50 dollars on the power bill by unplugging charger cords that are not in use. Pluss I have alot that is unpluged also while I am at it. You don't need the mixer plugged in 24/7 do you? All of the appliances in the kitchen are unpluged untill we need them in my house. Most of the lights are not burning niether. I may have one light going if that during the day. Pluss during the winter months I have a candle burning when I am in the kitchen. Another energy drainer is when you leave the computer going 24/7. Mine gets shut down at night. Pluss it saves on the mother board and hard drive. And it gets shut down when I leave the house also. Another good thing is if you have the bundle packages for alot of things like the cable, internet, and phone on one bill. It saves money most times. Now for my household also I have had to learn that a quiet house is a good thing around here. I can say after you get use to the idea that it is quiet you may not want stuff on like the T.V. or the radio on constantly. Now there are times when I do an alday search on recipies. Eather from the cookbooks that I have or over the internet. Then I mix them up to make them my own. All I can say is be creative on it and do not overload your husband and kids with a week of new recipies. Do it maybe once a week or so and see if the kids and others will like them if its not a hit then toss the recipie. Also I have learned over the years that some kids are very picky eaters. As the old saying goes if the parents put thier foot down then the problem wouldent be there. Unless there are food alergies. Anyway there is still alot of tricks of the traid out there and more that I dident mention so far in this one. So try new things and do not be scared to do so niether.

Back to looking again

I'm always looking for samples and free stuff out there along with good deals on and off the net. As I say if they dident want you to have samples and coupons the manufacturers wouldent put it out there for people at all. Some people laugh at me about what I have got thru the mail already. Pluss the free stuff i have got with being out and about also. Down to free tee shirts to bags to rolls of T.P. There are several ways to get them from signing up in sweeps to just asking for them also. I rememmber one time I was out with friends and i had a certian beer in my hand and I ended up with a free shirt out of the deal. The couple that I went out with were in shock. Well all I can do is laugh sometimes about it. And it pays to get the free stuff sometimes becuase they all do send coupons also with the sample or freebie. Then there's free stuff if you ask for it also in the resturants. Anywhere from a free kids night out to free sandwiches to free drinks. Some you have to go really looking for and others you do not have to. Or you can make a few phone calls and ask what promotions they have for that day week or month. Or of they have coupons to dine at that piticular place also. I know it sounds like some of us are begging for free food and it's not like that at all. Saveing money when you can is always a good thing. Just like I got a box of goodies for my dog thru UPS when we first got her. Ever since then the dog has liked the UPS guys and the mail men. Pick a treat that they like and go to thier web site and see if they have coupons and or treats under thier promotions. Works like a charm. Even if you go to a web site and ask if they have coupons that they can give you. The worst they can tell you is No. I have also got cat samples. And yes for the most part everyone gets along. It's like haveing 3 2 year olds in the house at times but it is well worth the fun times in the house hold. OK folks have a good one and I will be back.

Being cheap as always

Dinner tonight out of the blue is homemade mac and cheese. All of the stuff to make it up was off brand which my partner and I don't mind as always. I just dont like running the big oven on really hot and muggy days but it couldent have been avoided today. The convection oven is a great invention to save on heating up the house when its to bad outside. It doesent blast heat like the other oven does. Pluss it saves on the a/c from running constantly also while I'm bakeing. Anyway now lets see how cheap I can really get for this up coming month on everything from groceries power and other things in the house.

As I have the house open

Well I had to turn off the a/c unit today all the stale got to me. Pluss all the kids in the neighborhood were flocking to my house also with the windows open and myself bakeing as normal today. Anyway at least all the bakeing was on the cheap side as always and dinner under a dollar for the both of us again. Aldi has great flour for bakeing and other homemade goodies that I do make. The waffels that i made were not bad from www.hillbillyhousewife.com i could have made more the froze what we all diden't eat for dinner. Oh well next time I will do that just to save my sanity for another dinner. Pluss today i went thru some of the frugal sites that I have collected to see if I missed anything to try to get my household even cheaper than what I have it at this point in time. Tomarrow starts out another day also on cutting the tv out and a few other things during the day.

Looking for when i do get a house

Well I have been looking at wood burner cook stoves and i better start saveing my pennies now. Oh well at least I can still pick up cans along the way also while I'm at it all. Well At least the bread did turn out well after kneeding it for the 2nd and 3rd time and letting it rise for about 2 hrs. What people don't tell you from the beginning of makeing it. Oh well lets see what I can do for the next time.