Comments On Article: We Are Almost There

Today was my town day.  It had been Thursdays, but I changed it to Monday so I could do the grocery shopping before my kitchen day. I forgot, however, that I need help getting groceries in the house!  Luckily my husband works close to our house and I was able to pick him up and bring him home with me, then take him back to work after he brought in the groceries.  I guess town day will return to being a day he works from home and can bring in groceries more easily.

My next batch of errands got me thinking about libraries again.  I returned my borrowed state parks parking pass to my city library — it wasn’t due until 9/5 but since I wasn’t going to use it again I wanted to be a good citizen and have it available for another patron.  I had held books to pick from the country library, some of which were recommended here.  I pass the natural foods store on the way to the county library, so I stopped for soybeans.  Walking into the store, writing out my tag, getting soybeans from the bulk bin, paying and walking back to my car took 6 minutes, which is one reason it makes sense to combine it with the county library errand, as it’s a 15 minute drive each way.  I’ll be placing an Azure order for 25# of organic soybeans, so I bought just enough to tide us over.

While visiting the libraries I thought of more services they provide!  As I walked to the entrance to the children’s room, I was reminded of the lovely gardens on the library grounds.  There are many beautiful trees and bushes, and many rose bushes with roses in bloom!  There were also two fountains bubbling away, which was peaceful to hear.  I’ve mentioned before to my husband that once he retires instead of being people who hang out at the local coffee shop, we’ll go to the library and enjoy their spaces for free!  I realized I’d failed in my previous post to mention that most libraries offer free wi-fi!  I also forgot that libraries can be cooling spaces for the community!  I don’t know why I forgot that, as my mother would take us to the library on hot summer days, as we didn’t have air conditioning at home.

As I walked into the country library after going to the natural foods store, I stopped for a cool drink of water at the drinking fountain.  They don’t keep it set ice cold, but it’s cooler than tap water.  I realized I was thirsty at the store and I’d forgotten to bring my water bottle, but I knew this drinking fountain was here.  While checking out my books I noticed a senior citizen receiving a one-on-one lesson on not getting scammed on the phone and computer.  I’m guessing it was meant to be a class and they were the only one who came.  I also spotted the rows and rows of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, most of which are available to check out for free.

Oh no Stephanie G, I hope the cold frame serves you well!  Life is always throwing things at us and we have to think on the fly and adapt as best we can.

Ann W, one thing I found with the budget is that not keeping one had us underestimating what we spent.  For example, we consistently underestimated how much we spent on groceries and how much we spent getting take out.  Really, unless we never went got take out, in which case it would be true that we’d spent zero dollars, it would be difficult to keep track of spending in our heads.  I agree having  it written down, as you said, makes it easy to know where you can cut in a crisis

I forgot to add the photo of my library books and didn’t seem to be able to edit my post to add them there.  Someone mentioned before that their library shows how much money you save with your checkouts.  Mine doesn’t do that, but I am sure I am over $1000 every year, just borrowing an average of one book per week (which I certainly) exceed

The ABCs of Serging — I’m learning to use my secondhand serger and need some help

Traditional Meals For the Frugal Family — I love a good frugal cookbook and decided to see what this one has to offer

The American Frugal housewife — I think I saw this mentioned here someone in a comment

Money Secrets of the Amish — I also saw this one in the comments

Our library used to put it at the bottom of the receipt how much we saved by borrowing books. I don't think they do it any more. Now the receipt is emailed. But mine was in the $100s if not a few thousand per year. 3 cookbooks or 3 art books and that's $100 right there. Not to mention DVDs or magazines. 4 kids plus me for a time was a lot of library materials. We also can check out things like telescopes and GoPros. They also give out free crafts kits or have free crafting programs. Our library also no longer charges fines. They stopped that probably 10 years ago. They also automatically renew materials to the max time limit. Even if I can't get to the library building itself I can access a ton of stuff online.

It really is a fabulous resource for the frugal minded!

Margaret P, I think I got even more value from the library when my children were still children!  They would leave with tote bags full of books all the way into their late teens, and I would have my books too.  And we did so many youth programs, again, even into their teens.  You’re right cookbooks really up the value we receive!  My county library eliminated late fees too, but they don’t auto renew.  You can renew up to 9 times, for a total of 20 weeks.  My city library finally ended hold fees during Covid.  Neither of my libraries have telescopes or GoPros to check out, but the city library has framed art to check out.  I have read about libraries that check out sewing machines, small appliances, tools, toys, and more!

Our city library hosts a repair clinic every 3 months.  It’s held by another group but the library provides the space and advertises it.  People volunteer to mend clothing, fix appliances and electronics, fix book bindings, repair broken ceramics, and more.  It’s another frugal resource for people!

Kimberly, I've heard of the fix‐it programs but our library doesn't do that. They do have a seed library and recently asked for volunteers to come and help package seeds for next spring's seed library. My daughter's library had a craft swap recently. I donated and then on the day I picked up a bag of useful things like fabric, embroidery floss and stickers for my grandson. I went last year and was able to get washable markers and crayons for my grandson in addition to fabric to sew garments for my grandchildren. I donated a ton of stuff as I now have a better idea of what I want to spend my time on.

Grandma Donna, I really love your blog, and have read it for years.  Thank you for all the effort to educate us in old ways of doing things.  My husband and I are retired school teachers.  We live a simple life on a little acreage in east Texas.

I've always been nostalgic for the old days, so I cook from scratch, sew, embroider, hang out clothes mostly, and try to be outside as much as I can.  I was going to mention that we only have our very cheap phones for email and internet.  We have no bills for internet, tv, or any extras.  We have no computer either.  We use Consumer Cellular.  They have very reasonable bills, and always get a real person everytime we call!  We bought a tv antenna on Amazon for 75 dollars and we get free broadcast tv, and it's all we need.  No monthly bills!  We are big sports fans, and we get most all the important games, my favorite PBS station, and usually around 50 channels all for free.  Just thought I'd let y'all know.  Also, one of my favorite books on frugality is The  Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland.  A very fun read, and a whole new mindset on enjoying your frugal life. After reading about funeral ideas, my husband and I really liked the cremation, no funeral one, and decided that's what we want to do.  I love the comments.  God bless.

I've just recently discovered your blog and am learning SO MUCH!  Thank you grandma Donna for the information packed posts and to all of the community for posting additional information.  My husband is very close to retirement, so this was a very interesting topic for me.

Like a few of you have mentioned, my husband has also resisted cutting the cable.  I have a question for any of you who have done so and are using alternatives.  His main concern is that he believes he cannot live without watching our local news every day live, and sports - namely golf, football and nascar.  Does anyone have another way these can be watched without our local cable?  It just makes me sick every month when I see the ridiculous amount we are spending for him to watch these few things.

Kimberly F. mentioned budgeting for the year based on last year's income.  I had previously heard of this method and have a goal of hoping to do that within 2 years.  I think it's such a good idea!  We have a very small income and, therefore a tight budget so it's going to be tough but I would really like to get there.

Thank you so much!

Stacie, streaming services are your best bet from what I hear.  For instance, Sling TV has packages that include ESPN and local major affiliates such as NBC, CBS and ABC. You have to pay an upfront fee to get local channels, but no more extra fees after that, as I understand it.  I don't have Sling myself, nor is there anyone I know working for them, I just took a quick look to see how they work.  I get streaming through Roku,  and before the hurricanes, I got local news on a small digital antenna  mounted outside.  You can look at Hulu, DirectTV, Sling, and Apple TV for starters to see what packages have what you want.  My son-in-law watches a lot of sports, and they use streaming services.  Cable is going the way of the dinosaur if they don't get more flexible in their choices and pricing.   Show your husband how much the yearly bill is for cable, versus the yearly bill for a a likely streaming service.  Talk with neighbors, friends and family about what they use, especially the younger ones.

We also get CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, local stations news and sports, me tv, grit, and dozens of other channels free with no streaming or internet with our 75.00 antenna.  Look on Amazon.  It hangs inside hooked up to our tv by a window. A one time cost.  No monthly bills!  Last weekend we watched the FedEx golf championship.  Hope this was helpful.

Stacie D, several of us use digital TV antennas (ours is on the roof) to get our local broadcast channels, which is where your husband could watch local news live everyday.  It is a one time cost and shouldn’t be very expensive.  To cover sports (mainly baseball and basketball), my husband does a few things.  He listens to games on the radio, he relishes when there is a broadcast TV game (several every season), he pays $40 per year for the Major League Baseball app which also lets him listen to games if they aren’t on the regular radio, and he pays for one month of SlingTV for the playoffs in the fall (sometimes he gets an offer and it’s free for one month).  Because we have Apple TV+ as part of our bundle for news/music/cloud storage he will also get a few games per season on Apple TV+.  And I don’t know why this is, but my son pays for HBO Max and there are sometimes games there as well.  When we had Amazon Prime TV there would be football games advertised so they must get some of them.

I’ve offered to get SlingTV year round so he can watch more games, and he says he likes it this way, because he can do other things while listening.  And when there is a free game to watch we make a big deal out of it!  The guys will eat dinner on TV trays in front of the TV.  My husband says he appreciates the games more this way.

As to my son and HBO Max, he subscribes because he watches elite cycling and it is one of the ways for him to see international races.  He also subscribes to another service for more cycling — clearly he is young and has a lot of discretionary income!

When it comes time for the Olympics, they can be watched on NBC with a digital antenna.  Peacock shows live events, replays, and some other content.  We had Peacock free as part of an offer, but it isn’t expensive to sign up for one month.

That’s sort of the big thing to remember.  Yes, annual streaming plans are cheaper, but how often are they used?  If we can get in on a good offer and will watch the service every month, we get the annual plan.  My son pays for HBO Max and we pay for Paramount+ (because Trekkies).  We’ve had Disney+ as an annual subscription but the price keeps going up so we’ll be moving that to only paying for the months we watch it.  For most services we pay for one month here and there as we want to watch things.  For several years now we’ve only paid for one month of Netflix each December.  I average 2 - 4 hours of TV watching per week, which is about 16 hours max per month.  Cable wouldn’t be worth it, and annual plans to several streaming services wouldn’t be worth it.  Right now we have two series we’re watching, so that’s 90 minutes per week but they both end soon.  We’re also watch YouTube commentary on the Vuelta España, which right now adds about 2 hours per week.  That will be over in 3 weeks.

Stacie D, I just looked and the live NASCAR channel is free on Fire TV, which you get when you make a one-time purchase of an Amazon Fire Stick. I know our local news channels are free on Fire TV, along with a lot of other free news channels. I'm not sure which sports channels your husband uses so I couldn't check those. If you have an Internet connection, the Fire Stick gives you a lot more than antenna or separate channels like Roku. You might have to pay for a sports streaming channel, but streaming is so much cheaper than cable. 

My late dh spent most of his awake time watching DISH and complained he couldn't get more channels.  I compromised and he compromised by sticking with one step up from basic DISH.  It was really necessary for his mental health since he could not do much physically.  

I guess what I'd do is ask your dh what he is willing to sacrifice to have his TV.  Simple fact is the budget is what it is and if he's going to have TV, then something else has to go.  If it important enough, he'll work with you on the budget to see what he's willing to sacrifice.   

I tried antenna but we are 200 miles from any broadcast tower, so it didn't work.  We picked up a station out of Des Moines for video and got audio from a station out of Mankato.  Interesting but not very useful!

Ann W, I love this advice!  It doesn’t place any judgment on Stacie’s husband’s wish to watch a lot of sports on TV.  You’re right, the truth is we can’t have everything so we have to decide what we’re willing to give up to get the things we want most.

If I lived alone, I would be happy with the digital antenna and just watch the few shows I want to watch on PBS when they air.  We don’t get every network channel with the antenna, but we do get PBS.  We had to get teh kind that’s mounted on the roof.  I’m not a big TV person, and I’ve never really been one.  I remember my siblings used to wake up early to watch Saturday morning cartoons, and I was happier climbing a tree and reading a book.  But my son and husband do like TV.  They don’t watch it excessively, but overall they like to watch 30-45 minutes every evening before getting ready for bed.  I suppose my son watches more than that because he watches on his tablet when he is doing other things, and my husband watches a lot of YouTube tutorials.

Our retirement is a good example of deciding what we’re willing to give up to get what we really want.  We’ve decided we want time more than we want money.  My husband could continue at his job — it isn’t physically strenuous — but we’ve been savings for decades and we’re willing to live on less money to have time.  I want him to be free of the burden of providing for us — he’s done an admirable job of it including funding the 401k.  I want him to have time for hobbies, to be free of workplace stress, to do what he wants when he wants to do it and not be rules by a timeclock

Thank you all so much!  Great ideas for me to explore.  I should have mentioned that we tried the antenna route, a couple of them actually, and we just couldn't get service enough to actually watch something without interruption of lines, skipping, and such.

Our budget is stripped right down and pretty bare bones with this being the splurge.  I would just like the splurge to cost less.  More to save! 

Thanks again for all of the suggestions.  I really appreciate it.

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Stacie D, I am happy that you found us and I can see that many of our forum family are helping to answer your questions.  Since Charles and I have internet we stopped our cable several years ago and have not looked back because there are so many other ways to get television with many of the methods that have been mentioned in the forum. With the money we were saving by not having cable we bought DVD's that we enjoyed watching. 

When Charles mother got sick and we needed to move her in with us we had to bring her television to our house because we had given our televisions away.  We got the fire stick and started using ROKU.  We also bought a $35.00 digital antenna for another television for her to watch in another room.  That was enough to get many of the shows that she liked and she enjoyed watching football games. 

We got used to not having television so after Madge passed away we gave her televisions away.  We watch news on the internet and we have a DVD player for movie night. That is cheating with our 1930s study but people went to the movies very often during the 1930s.  We make sure to pop popcorn. :)

I think that location is important to know what will work for you the best.  Thank all of you for helping Stacie D with your answers, all good options.  Donna :)

Donna,

            You mentioned that you moved your lemon balm to a different bed because it was taking over. I planted lemon balm because I like its scent, but I wondered what you actually use it for.

Becky Sue

Grandma Donna Wrote,

Becky Sue K,  I have been growing lemon balm for many years, I love having it around and like you I love the scent.  I use it to make tea, I have many herbs in our garden and I enjoy sitting down to a cup of tea from made from fresh herbs.  Some people mix herbs but I like to make simple tea from just one herb at a time so I can enjoy the flavor.  If the mosquitoes are bad I will pick some lemon balm leaves and rub them over my skin.  

We also mince some of our herbs to put over our food.  I like to mince fresh lemon balm over fish mixed in with a little olive oil. It also can be added to salad. 

I have several very good herbal books and my favorite herbal book is called The Complete Book of Herbs, a practical guide to growing & using herbs by Lesley Bremness.  It is my most worn book. :)

One of the very special things I learned from the book is how to use the herbs for cleaning and disinfecting the house. Lemon balm leaves can be crushed and squeezed for their oil, it only takes a little and what I do is pick some leaves and bring them in and crush them in my cleaning cloth shake them out and use the cloth for light dusting but I also will make a tea and then wet a cloth and go around wiping things down.  Thyme is especially good to clean with if there is sickness in the house.  I use either, Thyme, oregano or Lemon balm wash to do a go over after cleaning the bathroom, I use it in other rooms too.   

Oregano, Lemon Balm, and Thyme are three herbs that I use most often. 

My most favorite herb in our garden is oregano.  I sip oregano tea at the very first sign of a cold, it is just something Charles and I do that works for us, I am not a doctor so I cannot give medical advice but only tell you what we do.  

I gentle simmer for fifteen minutes and you can see a bit oil streak on the top of the water.  I do not know how to explain how many leaves to water, I just pick a small amount of leaves to steep.  I also use it as a steam to breath in with a large cloth draped over my head.  

Another herb I grow in the garden in the summer is basil and many of us know that basil is used as culinary in food but if I am feeling brain fog or stuffy, I bruise the leaves and hold them under my nose to smell the leaves, it seems to awaken the senses. 

One time my grandson was all stuffy and we went out in the garden and I picked a few basil leaves and had him to crush them in his fingers and sniff them and told him to just keep smelling the crushed basil.  His nose opened up and he was amazed, he said Grandma, it worked!  :)

I am editing the word Chip to Charles in this post so you know who I am talking about.  Sometimes in my blog I will use the word Chip.  I noticed that I did this twice lately.  Charles family was big into nicknames and each of his family members have two or three nicknames.  When Charles and I first met I wondered where all of these people that they talk about were.  Come to find out they actually had a small family with many names.  Charles continued the tradition with our little dog Kathrine.  He called her Katherine, Katie, Louie, Kate Kate,  Lou Lou, and she learned all of her names.  Our dog Maggie he called Margarite or Maggie. :)  For some reason Elizabeth and Bernadette we have no nicknames for them, to me they are lovely names and I like calling them by their proper name. :)

Charles name was Charles, Chip, Dummy, Dirt road sport and yes they used the entire phrase as a name and even named a boat after him, Dirt Road Sport.  He enjoyed playing on the dirt road when he was a child. His father sometimes called him Dummy and called his mother Lummy. Madge had several names as well, Lummy or Sister.  His Aunts and Uncles had so many nicknames I thought I would never figure out who they were talking about or who was who!  

I use both names for Charles and at times will slip up calling him Chip on my blog.  His formal name is Charles. :)  Donna has been my name all my life other than when I was a child, the kid next door had a speech impediment and called me Quirter because he could not say Donna.  My brother called me that at times because well, brothers would just do that kind of thing.   Donna G stands for Grandma :)