Weekend Wonders Does the Laundry!
This past week, my washing machine decided to up and die on us! UGH! If you have ever had this happen, you know what a hassle it is to try and wash clothes (especially when you have a TON of the them) at the laundromat.
My husband got on Craigslist and found us a washing machine that was well within our budget–$10.00! It came with a working dryer for free. A man and his wife were moving and just wanted them out of the way. They work wonderfully! The dryer is tucked away in the garage just in case we need it one day. The washer, though, has made its home as our new baby, nestled in the laundry room!
I love when I find deals like this one!
What did you find this weekend??
Continue reading Weekend Wonders Does the Laundry! …
From Econobusters.
A Reader Shares Camping “Fun”
Dear Molly,
While recently visiting my daughter and family in Toronto I read your Spring 2010 issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. As I read several of the camping stories I was reminded of the Biblical statement about laughter being good for the soul. It has been a long time since I have laughed so heartily.You asked your readers to relate some of their camping stories. I hope your soul will be lightened as you read the following account.
We camped often with our daughters when they were young and had wonderful, usually VERY eventful camping trips. It had been a while since we had camped. Our girls had gone off to college and then they were married. Now, mind you, we were tent campers, we didn’t have a big, fancy motor home. Is that really camping??
Several years ago Mike and I decided we would go to Virginia Beach for a couple of days. We got everything in our van and headed out. When we got to our destination and got our “stuff” out we began to set up our tent. We had decided, since it was a short trip, that we would just take our little 2 man tent. So we laid everything out and
proceeded to set up the tent. Much to our dismay, we did not have the two long poles to hold up the tent. What to do? Well, fortunately, my husband had packed his golf clubs Yes, two of the clubs were almost the right length. So the tent was looking almost normal, except for the sagging roof line. Oh well!We went off to town to do some sightseeing and shopping, and enjoyed the time. While we were gone a storm blew up where we were. Hopefully it had not hit our campground too. With fear and trepidation we returned to the campsite. Horror of horrors, the tent had collapsed and everything inside was soaked, including our foam mattresses. Several hours in the local laundromat left us somewhat discouraged.
Since there was several inches of water in the bottom of the tent we knew we could not sleep there. Well I always had wanted a conversion van for such occasions. However, our van was just a plain old van.
By now it is way past midnight and all of our neighbors were enjoying their nice, dry motor homes. Well, we moved some stuff around in the van to make room for sleeping. There was only enough room for one in the back. So my husband reclined the driver’s seat and I got the back of the van. Because it was still raining we had to have the windows up. The heat and mugginess were unbearable. So, we put the windows down….but the mosquitos had arrived due to all the rain and they were also looking for a dry spot! So we decided to hang some towels in the windows, hoping that would let air in and those pesky mosquitos out. Nope, didn’t work.
Then, of course, we had to use the restroom. At least the mosquitoes weren’t attacking us while we were walking in the rain. Back to the van, what to do next? The only solution was to roll up the windows, try to sleep for a bit, then turn the engine and AC on for a bit, turn it off, and continually repeat this scenario. Sleep was sparce and morning could not come soon enough!!
Guess what, we are still tent campers. We plan to take our 16 year old grandson on a camping trip to Michigan in a couple of weeks. So, do you suppose he might think we are a little old-fashioned? Probably! Will we have a good time? For sure! Will we have stories to tell? You bet—-but we WILL be making NEW memories!
THANKS FOR LETTING ME RELATE THIS MEMORABLE TRIP.
SINCERELY,
DIANNE
If you want tips for making your camping trip fun, organized and as hassle free as possible, check out my new E-book, Molly Goes Camping!
Continue reading A Reader Shares Camping “Fun” …
From Econobusters.
Why I Do What I Do
Who is one dimensional?
Frugal people are not.
Frugal people are stereotyped as going way out of there way to save a nickel. Although this is sometimes the case, this is rarely the only cause for going out of ones way.
Sometimes, going out of one’s way is the scenic route.
Here is why I do things that are frugal:
FOR MY CONSCIENCE
-Over consumption of resources means other people around the world are left with less. I see this as a form of stealing.
TO TEACH MY KIDS
-My husband and I believe in a strong work ethic and we want to demonstrate that to our kids. Just because I don’t get paid for work I do around the house doesn’t mean it has no value.
TO LEARN
-This one is huge with me. Knowledge is power. The more I know how to do myself, the less I have to rely on others to do things for me. There are things I do where I am unsure if I will save money at all, in fact the goal sometimes is to break even, but I am becoming a more capable and well-rounded person by doing them myself.
FOR FUN
-There is so much I do just for fun. Sure, the activities may overlap in other areas, but fun is my primary motivation in soap making and sewing.
FOR HEALTH
-Many things I do that skim a few pennies off a meal add massive amounts of nutritional value. I may or may not have done them just for those pennies, but no matter what our income is in the future, I will continue to make food from scratch for our health.
FOR THE PENNIES
-I am God’s steward of every penny he lays before me. I feel it is my obligation to think through my decisions and use his resources to the best of my ability. Yes, the pennies do come into consideration, but they are not the only thing.
TO SAVE TIME
-It takes less time to tumble my Wonderwash
As I think through many of the things I do, making pasta, line-drying clothes, sprouting foods, the reasons for doing these things are dynamic. For each of those, at least five of the seven reasons factor in.
What other reasons do you have for doing the frugal things you do?
You might want to check out my new comment policy .
Copyright Under $1000 Per Month, 2009-2010
Continue reading Why I Do What I Do …
From Under $1000 Per Month.
Laundromat Savings
From: Cati
Hi there. I love your website and have shared it
with LOTS of people in Roseburg, OR and anywhere
else I might meet someone that could benefit from
your advice and expertise. THANK YOU 
I just wanted to share that my family and I (husband and
4 children plus one more on weekends) live in a
small apartment with no washing machine or dryer.
They do have a small room with laundry facilities
on site but we can’t afford it for the amount of
laundry we do!
I have an arangement with a good
friend of ours to clean her house in return for
using her washer/dryer. This works out very well
for us. I wash in the morning and clean up her
house which takes about 30 minutes to an hour
(each day during the week but not weekends) and
then swing back by later in the day and dry the
clothes then pick up the kids from school.
This arangement not only saves me TONS of money but it
also saves my friend money and time not having to
spend so much time cleaning. I admit I do not to
a perfect job cleaning her whole house. I merely
sweep and mop 1-2 days a week, load or unload her
dishwasher and wipe everything down.
I also take the time to fold any laundry she has in the dryer
or sitting around and do her laundry also (if she
has any). I wish that more people could pull
together to share resources in this way…
Continue reading Laundromat Savings …
From Living On A Dime Blog » Living On A Dime Blog.
XXV, Laundry, and Carrot Cake
Today, I am officially older than I have ever been before. I have now technically lived for one score and five years. I was recently discussing with a friend the unique feeling in turning twenty five, especially when you already have three kids. In my mind, it is the doorway to aging. Some older readers may disagree.
We have a small Christmas and birthday budget for our kids because they get a ton of toys from relatives. Dan and I don’t get toys from relatives. We mostly get gift cards and checks, which usually go into savings or general funds. So, we give the big gifts to each other. We could get each other little gifts, then spend the money we get on big gifts, but that’s just not how we like to do things.
The Old Laundry System
I hand washed everything. Diapers were soaked, then scrubbed and washed in the sink. Regular clothes went into a large Rubbermaid bin that lived in the shower stall. The best way to describe the general wash was a ten to fifteen minute kneading of clothes in water with soap nut liquid. Then I dump out the water and refill the bin with clean water for a five minute rinse cycle.
If someone doesn’t have a washing machine hook-up and finds the laundromat inconvenient and pricey, this works. A good video that demonstrates my basic kneading technique on a smaller scale can be found on Ridiculously Extraordinary.
All of the clothes were then line dried. I would bring the tub into our room, where the largest line is. The line just goes from one wall to another, like outdoor lines go from tree to tree, attached with heavy duty S-hooks. I would hang everything to drip dry over the bin on hangers. After a few hours when the dripping stopped, I would spread the clothes out over the line to finish drying. I have two lines going across the window frame in our bedroom, one above the other, so that the diapers can hang in the sun, which helps kill bacteria.
The New Laundry System
I got the Wonderwash
The barrel part of the Wonderwash is a work of genius. I can do the wash cycle in three minutes and the rinse cycle in one minute. It uses much less water than the Rubbermaid bin method. It also uses less soap nut liquid and the clothes come out cleaner. The drying is the same, except we do drip drying on the line in the shower stall, then transfer the clothes to the line in our bedroom or the one in the kids’ room, depending on whose clothes they are.
This gift is truly a luxury, as it was not necessary, but makes my life easier. It does seem like a better long term solution. Right now, we can still do one load a day, plus diapers. Some days I have to do two loads, but it is still less time than one load with the old method. By the time I have to do three loads a day, some kids will have learned how to do this for themselves.
Here is my other birthday luxury, lovingly made each year by Dan (with supervision).
Carrot Cake
Beat with blender until fluffy:
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
(I used the stevia baking blend I got from NuNaturals with some old molasses instead of brown sugar, but otherwise would have used maybe a tablespoon of stevia and a cup and a half of white wheat flour with molasses.)
Add in:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
Blend together, then add:
2 cups grated carrots
1 can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coconut
Bake at 350 for forty-five to fifty minutes, or in crock pot for about an hour and a half to two hours on high.
Luckily, cream cheese frosting is the easiest frosting to make with stevia. I am using this recipe, with my crock pot cream cheese, but adjusting the measurements until it tastes right. I also add lemon juice to cream cheese frosting because that’s how my mom taught me. I didn’t calculate the cost because I used expensive NuNaturals stevia ingredients that I would not have used if they were not given to me.
Continue reading XXV, Laundry, and Carrot Cake …
From Under $1000 Per Month.