Free Bakery Buckets, Five Dollar a Bag Thrift Haul and Looking Forward

 

   Oh my goodness, we had a busy weekend and I am worn out at this point.  I had planned on heading down to the library, but have a case of vertigo, so no walking down or driving for me today.  Instead I am trying to get some things done around here between dizzy spells (it is just all a part of my Fibromyalgia, so nothing to worry about).  I have all the bathroom rugs in the washing machine and will be hanging those out to dry once they are done washing.  It is a gorgeous and warm sunny day in the 40's, so I am taking advantage of that before we drop below freezing again and get more snow.

*While I was writing this post they got done so I took them out to hang.  OMGosh, bad vertigo attack so I finished up and came inside to sit for a bit.

   I am hoping that everyone of my sweet friends that reads my blog is stocking up as best they can with the turmoil in the world.  I thought it was bad during covid restrictions, but the situation in Ukraine and now possibly with China going into Taiwan here soon is horribly scary.  I think it behooves us all to really follow what all is going on and look at sources that are not from the mainstream media to get a more accurate picture.  Gas prices are rising like crazy and so are food prices.  News just came out that oil rose to $130 a barrel, which is going to affect prices on things even more than they already are.  I am trying my best to get even more stocked up and stored properly.  Saturday I really lucked out with finding free food grade buckets for free from Safeway and the lady there told me to stop in every time I am in town to see if they have more.  She also let me know that there is another woman doing the same thing I am.  I will decant that huge 50 lb bag of flour that I have in my pantry into these and seal them up good.  We go through a lot of flour here with all my baking and I plan on doing even more as prices go up.  My next flour related project is learning how to make tortillas.  I have a tortilla press here that Rachel gave me and am anxious to try it out. 

   Jeff and I stopped by a thrift store in a small town near us and they were having a $5 a bag sale.  I was able to find a popcorn air popper machine (air popped popcorn is better for us and does not use oil, which saves money since cooking oil prices are going up), 2 pairs of Sketchers shoes (one looked brand new and the other had very little wear), which are some of the only kinds of shoes that work for my feet, a Coach purse dust bag and books.  One of the books was a science experiment manual for children, so I gave that one to Heather for the boys already.  The other books were some for fun, some children's books for the grandboys to read as they get older and some gardening books.  It is so important to have books to look information up and some of the older gardening books have amazing information in them that has been forgotten over the years.  I threw the shoes into to washer to get them good and clean and set them out in the sun to dry.  I now have them put away to get out as my other Sketchers shoes wear out...this is where the "looking ahead" comes into play.

   As of Friday evening, gas prices in our little town (which typically raises its prices a day or so after other places do), was $4.11 a gallon.  Jeff filled our two 5 gallon gas cans with gas before it goes even higher.  I noticed that the GasBuddy site cannot even keep up with all the multiple rises in prices that happened within a 48 hour period. 😬 I have no idea what the gas prices are as of today, Monday the 7th of March and to be honest, I am a bit scared to find out when Jeff gets home because I know he will be looking at the prices today while he is in town for work, and that is in Idaho where gas prices are lower.  Because of this, I am parking my car for the most part and told Jeff that we should only run it about twice a month to save on gas and just use his car for errand when we are not picking up grandkids or doing a big shopping trip.  I feel really bad for Jaysn and Rachel since even after getting her car back from the repair place, is still having problems with it.  Jaysn is driving our truck to and from work and that thing guzzles gas!  Jeff is going to talk to his friend at work that also works on cars on the side and see if he might know what is going on with their car.  I hope he can solve the problem and do it frugally too!

   I had some clothing that I was going to donate to a thrift store, but am now thinking I may keep some of the t-shirts to repurpose for making soft pillowcases, rice bags to heat up and put on aching muscles (some of the ones I have really need to be recovered or have a separate washable cover to go over them now) since Jeff uses these almost daily, and for other projects.  The stained t-shirts are already used for rags, both here in the house and in the garage shop that Jeff has set up.  The ones I use in the house are cut up into both small and larger rags, and if it is a really yucky mess I am cleaning up, like cat throw up, I can just toss them away.

   The inventorying continues as I go through things in my cabinets and get them organized.  It has been really helpful to get these things done as I can see where the "gaps" are in my supplies.  I keep a running list of things that I need to get to fill in those gaps and I am also examining each thing if I am thinking of donating it and seeing it is has another use.  I did this with some stuffing bags that I found in my stash.  I was going to donate them until I realized that they were muslin bags that I could use for other things, so I kept them.  It's always good to try to think of other uses for things before tossing or donating.  I'm saving all my coffee cans to grow things in and am starting to stockpile all my used cottage cheese and large yogurt containers once more to send berries home this growing season with the kids and grandkids.

      I urge you to look ahead to see what might be in short supply soon.  Grains, cooking oils, gardening supplies and car parts, along with oils and filters for them will be harder to find.  Stock up on these now if at all possible, but please do not go into debt to do so.  Interest rates will be rising, which means for most people, the interest rate on your credit cards will be going up also.  I took some money out of our savings to have here on hand and may take out even more, just in case.  The way I see it is IF you can afford to stock up on things now, like those mentioned above, along with canned goods, the worst thing that will happen if the world somehow rights itself again quickly, is that you will have bought things you need and will use at lower prices.  If not, you will be way ahead of the "game" and not have to be so stressed about not being able to find or afford what you need.  Oh, and please buy some Crisco or the generic version of it...it will come in handy as an oil source to cook with and is pretty much shelf stable for a long time, and can also be used as an emergency candle.

   Finally, learn all the skills that you need to save even more money now, before you need them.  I'm watching videos on gardening methods that I did not know about, how to make more things from scratch, edible plants in my area, and some sewing tutorials.  I learn better by seeing things done, than just by reading, so even though I do stock up on books, I also try to learn as much as I can via YouTube.  Be blessed my friends!