New Lines

When we were out buying more wood for the Recycle Pallets into a Deck project I picked up some retractable laundry lines. I had quite a few lines up before but we had to take them down to build the bunny hutch and with the new walkway we, well...clotheslined ourselves on the hanging ropes. Often. 

I bought 40' lines (there is very little chance we will ever use all forty feet in this house, mainly because our property is only 30' wide but they can be taken down and moved with us) and put them up this afternoon.

It came with screws I felt were grossly inadequate for the job. See shiny screws on left? Bad. See my replacement screws on right? Much better.

I had to predrill holes into the hundred year wood that holds our house together. I stood on a chair to get the lines up high enough to walk under but not so high I needed a stool to put up the laundry. I also hung them above the airconditioner so when it kicks on the hot air will serve an actual productive purpose.

On a side note, I'm resisting the urge to paint them to look like fish. Tell me I shouldn't.

All in all, it took about fifteen minutes to screw in all three lines and the hooks on the opposite side. I also predrilled a hole into the fence before screwing in the hooks. I really love my power tools.

It was rainy today; sprinking off and on. So I have to wait to try them out. These give me a ton more linear feet of drying space than I had before and they retract. A huge bonus when various spiders spin webs across lines every single night. I used to take a stick and swipe it across the lines every day last summer before I could hang clothes. Some looked like tiny crabs with red spikes on their backs. Eewe. Plus these lines are coated so they won't get mildewy or wet.

I'm very pleased with the quality of the retractable lines even if they cost about a bajillion times more than the simple loose hooks and length of rope I initially had in place. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be airing my clothes outside!

Another Constant Reminder

I printed out photos of our property through Snapfish to post around the house. Visitors might think it odd to have such a picturesque landscape scotch taped to the bathroom window and the kitchen cabinet but it's our way of reminding ourselves what's important.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the rush of life. The very real needs and wants of seven people can override the dreams we share. I see these when I'm getting ready to go to the store. It helps me to remember what we're supposed to be doing. To keep us on track.

I see these and I think "Maybe we don't really need all those groceries...", "Maybe we shouldn't go to both stores." A tiny, gentle, yet poignant way to tell myself to stop unnecessary spending. Money is the key to our dream. Even if we get things recycled, second hand or flat out used, chances are they're not going to be free. Though we can hope, we're realistic too. From what I've read about others building their own homes mortgage free and by their own hands, everything you think costs one price is usually double and takes twice as long to do.

I can accept that and I can work towards being finacially okay with it too.

I love the Tax Man

The sentiment isn't well shared though and I accept that. We love him now but my not like him so much later when the five little tax credits aren't claimable. This year, though, he's a welcomed visitor. This year he's going to help me get closer to my farm.

Raising five kids isn't easy. There are times when more than half need new shoes and I cringe looking at the bill. They need fitting shoes. I wouldn't not buy them but it's still a kick to the wallet when it happens all at once. Somehow they all need something at the same time. Shoes, clothes, doctor visits, bikes, car seats. Like Mother Nature tapped a wand on our house and everyone grew out of everything overnight. Believe me, it happens like that a lot.

We work through it though. We manage even if sometimes it's only just.

I'm sure people look at our family and wonder why we'd ever put outselves through the financial strain of raising this brood. I know they do because there are those select few -who apparently have no social filter- that say it to me. I usually say to them "Pick one I should get rid of." They usually shut up.

Money is money. It's a thing. Something to be used to better life and make living easier, freer. I truly feel we lost that when credit came around. Young, eager and naive. Our lives were ruined by it years ago. We're still recovering from our mistakes.

But as I said, it's a thing it can't take first steps or learn to say "mama". But it can buy cozy socks for walking.

This year it's buying parts of a dream. We'll be going out to the land later this month, or at the latest early March, hiring someone with a tractor and bush hog to clear the land, getting a hotel room, and having a shipping container delivered the next day. We'll us the container to hold materials we find. Be a workroom during construction, then transform it into a side of a barn or a studio for my sewing and writing. I'm looking forward to that shipping container.

We'll use some to pay off debt and some for savings. A few car repairs will be thrown in there too. We might get the house plan we're trying to make work. Possibly build a chicken coop for the urban house we have now along with a few fat speckled chicks. If we play it right, we might get a used RV to boot. Sounds like something frivilous but it's a 6 hour round trip drive to the land. We can stay in a hotel to get work done or drive our hotel with us and just walk out the front door to work.

We might never be rich in cash -hell, I don't think we were ever meant to be- but we'll try and do good when we get some.

Things we don't do anymore.

It's funny really, to think of the things we haven't done in a long time and don't plan to do again. Things that seemed so necessary before. This is what happened which got me thinking about the things we've either put aside or changed to be more self sufficient over the past year or so.

Its freezing cold here in Florida. If Florida can get bitterly chilly, we've passed that this week. Its downright arctic here. Emmy doesn't seem to care.

"Mommy, I want...a pop." For some reason Emmy pauses in her two and a half year old speeches, like her brain is processing. We love it.

"I don't have any pops Emmy, it's too cold."

"Mommy, give me...a pop!"

"Emmy, really I don't have any pops."

"Mommy, get...your shoes on....I go shopping." I shake my head and try and redirect her.

This has gone on for a couple days now. Then it dawned on me while I had torn up the kitchen this morning in a futile attempt at organizaiton; I have all the stuff to make juice pops in the cabinet.

This is one of many things we'd started doing without; premade juice bars/pops/sticks, what have you. I picked up the kid sized pop makers at Target for $1 each and they make 6 respectively. 100% juice pops were a staple in my house through this past hotter than heck summer. So, we made pops before nap time. As soon as Emmy awoke they were consumed.

So, here's the running list of things we do ourselves

1. Haircuts, we either don't do them or I do them. Boys get shaved, girls get trims.
2. The above juice pops
3. Ice cream. Gotta love the KitchenAid attachment for that.
4. Breadcrumbs. The heels add up, baby.
5. Dinners out (while this seems to happen infrequently now, we seem to be more and more disappointed in the quality and expense of the meals.)
6. Oil changes (Rob's pretty much always done that)
7. Movie popcorn -shhh, don't tell them I bring our own in the huge diaper bag
8. Regular cooked rice
9. Dehydrated fruits and veggies (read: dried fruit)
10. Alex's flannel pj pants
11. Air Fresheners (ok so this is a strech but I stopped buying the prefilled oil plug in things and now use real incense that you burn. Cheaper and smells better IMHO)
12. Regular popcorn -no more microwave bags

These are necessarily things we're doing without but things we've changed so that our financial and economic impact is lessened. Off the top of my head that's all I can come up with right now. Is it life-altering and world-changing? Not really. But the list is growing, folks. The list is growing.

My love/hate with Rice

Rice is a staple for a lot of cultures and diets. It's got some good stuff in it. I don't know what stuff it is, but it's good. While my grocery list has been evolving into a staples and supply list, I've changed from buying the white 5 minute boil a bag rice to brown loose rice. From my understanding, white rice is a poor substitute for its more colorful and varied bretheren; wild and brown rice. Plus those two hot shots of the grain world have a more varied and unique taste experience which I actually prefer.

Using the insanely simple ratio of 1:2 - that being one part rice to two parts water- I went about cooking my visually stimulating rice mixture that I concocted out of several different types of rice. I learned right away that I suck at cooking regular rice. The first time I burned the rice to the bottom of the pan and we had pizza instead. The rice side I made for last month's tilapia was not unlike oatmeal. At all. The egg fried rice I made last week was crunchy. Yeah, good stuff.

Last night I made rice stuffed peppers. Dinner is usually whatever time the kids look like they're about to gnaw off a limb between five or six. So, since starting the rice at four didn't work last time, yesterday's rice got cooked at two. An hour later I think I have some nice rice this time.

Now you may be thinking "Yeah, but isn't those fancy rices more money?" The answer is yes...and no. If you buy the prepackaged rices you will probably end up paying quite a tidy bit more. I found my rice in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. One pound of rice will last a good long while, remember it expands as it cooks. Also, if you mix the less expensive brown rices with the more flavorful fancy ones you get a good average price that isn't too far off the white rice prices. Remember, that additional packaging of the convinience rices costs money.

But for you economists out there lets take a look, if you were to buy your rice off Amazon for instance:

UB's Boil bag rice = 7.9 ounces x12 = roughly 90 ounces of rice or 5.6lbs. $34.78*/5.6 = $6.21 per lb
*price dosen't include shipping.

Lundberg fancy rice =16 ounces x6=96 ounces of rice or 6lbs. 15.91*/6=$2.65 per lb
*price includes free shipping

That's just a quick estimate. But you get the point. Eating healthier, harder to cook rice won't break the bank. Plus, I feel better about what my family is eating, the rice will last longer sealed in air tight jars than holey bags in a cardboard box and you can proportion how much you make, more or less. It's harder to throw in a handful of rice into a homemade chicken soup simmering on the stove if you have to crack open a specialy designed bag.

While I might not ever get down to Martha perfection on my rice making capabilities, I'm working my rice one meal at a time.

Vegetarian stuffed pepper halves

My dance card is full

It took me two hours, not including the actual shopping. We inventoried all our goods, figured out what days we would or wouldn't be home, checked out cookbooks for recipes, and wrote out the list. We've got a solid plan for food now until February. Man, it feels good.

Going back to the money post, this is part of that plan. Strapping down the budget and using what we have, what's on sale and avoiding impulse spending. Much money goes to impulsively buying food because we didn't have a plan.

We're meat eaters so you see that a few times on the list. I try and keep it down though for cost purposes and because we just don't feel the need to red meat it all the time. Much of our meals are vegetarian. We've been on this new schedule for three days. By the Gods, the freedom! I don't have to pace nervously at 4 p.m. between the fridge, chest freezer and pantry because I'm not sure what's for dinner. So far, I've mostly come up with dinner plans because breakfast is usually just cereal and milk or oatmeal. Both of which we have plenty of and regularly buy.

The grocery list changed to more staples than convienience foods. Flour, sugar, coco powder, eggs, frozen veggies and the like. I took time to peruse the grocery flyers for Super Target and Publix adjusting the list as I found something to substitute for another. Used Excel to make a chart with quantity and estimated prices (if the sales flyer didn't list it). I did good, folks. I could have only done better if I had coupons, which I didn't since I just started this up but I will from now on.

I'm working on the entire month of January plus the remainder of December. Obviously, fresh produce and other perishables won't last that long and there will always be a few things -like milk- that we have to replenish but for the most part Groceries are done. We spent about $350 for the next six weeks. My usual budget per week averaged about $150. I'm thinking maybe another $100-150 for the perishables, buying produce in season plus the milk, to complete us until February. Still, if I can keep it to what I estimated we've shaved approximately $400 off the grocery spending. Not chump change, that's for sure. Another thing that will help is utilizing the cloth diapers we have already on hand and Max getting off formula in the next few weeks.

So far so good. I can alreadysee how we were so terribly loose with our spending. We got a little holiday bonus and our first thoughts were "how are we going to spend it?" We're really trying not to, though. I see buying that little voice's megaphone would be a good idea right about now.

Another day, Another dollar

With the impending arrival of the New Year just a few short weeks away and the onslaught of grotesquely bright and colorful ads shouting the merits of spending my money I thought it would be a good idea (before everyone redlines the credit cards) to talk about that horrific topic of Money.

We want a farm. That's no secret and it's no small order. We've wanted one for years. Sometimes the wanting is so bad I can taste hay on my tongue. That's it over there in the right. Gorgeous, isn't it? I can see the animals mulling around, hear the kids freely racing about, feel the hot Florida sun beating down on me as I kneel in a garden, smell the tang of fat ripe tomatoes so red they look surreal. I feel like a crack addict for something I haven't even had yet, just jonesing for a hit of that virgin land sitting three hours away. If we're going to get it, changes have to be made.

Those changes have to start being made or we're never going to get there. It's all well and good to talk about change but if it's not implemented it's just hot air in an already humid wind. I think impulsiveness is the detriment to any plan. With Money you have to have a plan. The economy is so upsidown right now I don't think anyone really knows what's going on. Debt is the harbinger of failure.

While we’ve been slowly modifying life to attain our goal, I’m happy with the progress we’ve made but we backslide. Too much. This last vacation we did well, kept the spending to a minimum and cut corners where we could but that necessary budget breaking food kept getting in the way. But there’s this little voice that says all that money would have made a great down payment on the skoolie. Even now, as we shuffle into the Starbucks line that little voice in the back of my mind that says we need to stop. I know we need to. This year we will.

This coming year is going to be rough. I know it is going to be hard, especially for the kids but looking at that land and knowing what we’re going to do is heady stuff. Makes a person not care so much about those skipped overpriced lattes. Makes you think twice about a lot of things.

Even if you're tasty dream isn't a farm but some other want you long for just as bad, I think you know what I'm saying. I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said a million times over by a hundred different people. I’m not an expert. Merely a girl with a dream she wants to see fulfilled.

I’m sending that photo over to Target today. It’s getting blown up to ridiculousness and printed out on high quality glossy paper. We’re going to post it in the house somewhere we’ll see it every day. Probably the bathroom. We’re going to bolt down a budget later this week and Gorilla Glue that sumabitch in place. I can hear the little voice cheering for us. We’re not buying groceries anymore but provisions and staples. No more spur of the moment travels or trips. If we don’t have it on hand I’m sure we can make due. We have plenty around here to keep us busy. The seed catalog is coming out and expansion for next year is underway.

Maybe one exception to the budget will be a megaphone for that little voice.

Food, Family, Fun and Finances.

I'm sitting here writing with what I imagine to be fifty cubic tons of sludge in my frontal lobe slowly leaking out my nose. I'm sick. I hate being sick. But it's brought back a recurring theme: Food.

 Homemade chicken noodle soup and lingonberry bread

It seems a pretty straight forward thing; you eat something good for you and it makes your body work top-notch. Though I find in our stressed out, fast paced lives "good" tends to get left behind for quick, easy and/or cheap. Not that good food can't also be those things but I have a hard time finding the evidence. I've started working towards limiting my grocery list down to basics and bulk. Not only for financial reasons - because raising five kids on one income sure is financially challenging- but for ease. Making a large trip to a chain store once a week with 5 chicks in tow leaves me grumpy and irritated and significantly light in the wallet. Making a home cooked meal from scratch, while time consuming, using quality, basic ingredients, gives me a warm feeling inside when I watch those little chicks gobble it up. Involving them in the cooking process gives them an opportunity to do the same.

Homemade multigrain bread

I suppose this could be considered either an early New Year's Resolution or a really late one. The way I've been going recently, the former is probably more true. Though a resolution it ye be. (Yes, I realize I just turned into a pirate.)  This also coincides with our trek up to those 5 acres. Self-sufficiency doesn't involve weekly trips to the store, at least not mine.

I've already crossed off dried and frozen fruit (yes, I still buy it fresh and only in season but I dehydrate and freeze it myself) and ice cream, important things, ya' know? This year store bought basil has gotten the boot as I have the three foot mini-tree in the front yard that's been supplying me endlessly. Bread and butter were next on the list though the butter may wait. I'm getting quite good at the bread though. The milk loaf from about 1.5 weeks ago was so yummy I made an encore loaf today. The yogurt wasn't quite successful but I'm still hopeful. When we get those goats and that family cow expenses on those items will be greatly reduced.

So I'm boiling it down to the four "F"s Food, Family, Fun and Finances. Is shopping weekly pushing a stroller and pulling an overloaded shopping cart while trying to redirect three to four kids from all the sparkly and/or sugar coated things in the store fun? NO. Does it make for a good happy family? NO. Is it financially responsible when last minute impulse items are added just to "get it over with" or things forgotten making for return trips? NO.

Then here's the goal: knock it off. I'm working towards getting as basic as possible so homesteading won't be such a shocker. Already, we've found that going out to eat just doesn't hold the same appeal it did this time last year. That $70 average restaurant check can be applied to the new food dehydrator or pasta attachments for the kitchen aid. Neither of which will leave us regretting our meal choices or wondering where all the money went. 

Garbage to Sustenance

Ok, so here it goes. I'm picky about my fruits and veggies. If my apples have bruises, my bananas have "sugar spots" or my tomatoes and peppers are a little wrinkly, I just can't eat them. Possibly, this is some strange subconscious rebellion against my mother from when I was little and she made me eat fatty meats and less than perfect produce. But I digress. Fact is, I just can't bring myself to eat them!

Unfortunately, this has resulted in my very bad habit of either pawning it off to some not-so-snobbish member of the family, or just throwing it away. I really feel guilty and horrible about the latter. There are so many kids that don't get fresh produce and so much of Rob's money wasted buying it.

But wait! All is not lost! I found a wonderful way to redeem myself of this horrific crime. I sent Rob on a hunt to buy me a food dehydrator! I really didn't want to spend more than $40 on one and I've never priced one before but I was still concerned that we'd spend a lot of money on it then never use it. Well, I was in luck! On a hardware mission to Harbor Freight Rob found one for $25! It has 5 tiers and spins all by itself so everything gets equal dehydrating attention.

Today was my first day trying it out. It's very easy to use but I have yet to try the results (I'll post about those in a few days when this first batch is done).

I also bought a book at Target all about canning. I'm hoping to plan out our fruit seasons a little better next year since we have some amazing U-pick places here in Florida. The book is called Ball Complete Canning and was only $5.99. A pretty small investment for a huge amount of knowledge. It contains information on how to can EVERYTHING including meats and dehydrated foods! I do still need to purchase some Ball canning jars and a large pot to boil them in but I want to have things lined up before going to the expense.

I'm hoping that next year and into the following after that we will be opening up yummy jars of preserves, butters, purees, pickled and dried fruits and veggies and lots more with much less waste. This also goes with my plan to cut back on unnecessary spending and purchasing. We'll also be supporting local farmers at the U-pick farms. It will be a great opportunity for memory making when my kids can experience picking their own foods, preserving them and enjoying them later on.