There’s an epidemic sweeping the country. It’s not your typical virus, but rather a highly contagious disease of epidemic over-consumption.  The symptoms include compulsive shopping, high debt, overwork, inability to delay gratification, a sense of entitlement, obsession with externals and “having it all,” wastefulness, and stress. Concern over affluenza is more than dismay at the…

 Wait!  What??? Doesn’t everyone have a stash of food in their basement? I talk about having food storage all the time like it’s something that all normal people do.  I have to remind myself that the idea of having a food supply is alien to many and sounds very doomsday-zombie-apocalypse-ish. Why else would anyone have…

I’m in the process of converting my 40′ x 40′ garden into raised beds. The cost of materials to construct the beds and the soil mix make raised beds a bit expensive. So here are the details of how I am keeping the costs down on my raised beds. Keeping the costs down I used…

Thrift stores have become all the rage. And what’s not to like? You can get some super amazing bargains and you are helping the environment by using what would otherwise end up in the landfill. I’ve written before (like here and here) about some of the great deals to look for at thrift stores.* This past…

After raising three boys, it’s so much fun being able to sew for a girl. In case you’ve forgotten, last Christmas I made my little granddaughter a tablecloth playhouse, using fabric and trimming’s I found at the thrift store and on clearance. This year, my Christmas project for her was a princess dress. I found…

Do your children hate to eat the heels of the bread loaves? Quit fighting over the heels and let them dry out. Then put them in the blender and turn them into bread crumbs. Not only do you keep your bread from going to waste, you save money over buying bread crumbs in the grocery…

A couple weeks ago I was asked to give a lesson in a special Sunday meeting for the men and women at our church. The topic was mastering our money. I thought I would share with you a bit of the lesson and the questions we discussed in this meeting. Hopefully this will spark some…

Summertime is rummage sale season–the perfect place to find bargains on equipment, tools and supplies to help you become more self-reliant. This article has some good ideas on shopping yard sales for prepping items. I have a slightly different take on some of the things this article lists, but it inspired me to make my…

The new financial crisis The statistics on college debt are staggering: 40 million Americans have student debt, owing a total of $1.2 trillion dollars. The cost of going to school has risen 4 1/2 time MORE than the rate of inflation. College debt as a percentage of personal debt has tripled in the last ten years.…

If you are buying turkey and onions, you’ve probably tossed lots of plastic net bags that. Don’t throw them away! They have lots of good uses. Re-use the bags The larger bags, like the ones covering your turkey, are good for storing garden produce next fall. The onions and garlic from your garden will store…

It’s not your imagination It really is getting harder to make ends meet. While the average income has gone up 28% over the last 13 yrs, the cost of living has increased almost 31%. But it’s even worse than that: during that same period, the cost of medical care care has gone up 57% and…

I recently found a couple good deals at the thrift store and used them in a couple of quick and easy projects. I wanted to share what I did with you. Hopefully, it will inspire you to find some thrifty sewing projects of your own. From sundress to skirt My first project started life as…

When my youngest son goes off to college next year, I will lose a great help in the garden. So for the last two years he and I have been working on several gardening projects to make gardening less labor intensive for me. This spring we’ve already completed two big projects: new raised bed and…

A year ago my husband’s family began the complicated and emotionally fraught task of finding appropriate care for their terminally ill father. After his death, they were faced with a host of decisions of how to arrange finances to ensure the best care for his mother. Fortunately, many of these decisions were made easier because…

One of this month’s goals is to learn a new skill. How about learning to sew? Who sews any more? The art or skill of sewing has really fallen out of favor. When I was a kid, everyone took Home Ec (well, at least all the girls did. After all, I did grow up in Ye…

Have you ever had one of those weeks? The week where everything seems to go wrong and you find your finances, time and patience put to the test? Maybe you’re having a busy week shuttling kids to activities two or three times a day, lots of home and garden chores plus a rush of other…