How to Save Money With a No-Spend Challenge

January 5, 2018 By Deanna Piercy 6 Comments

Have you ever done a no-spend challenge? If “how to save money” has been in your Pinterest or Google searches lately you’ll love this. It’s a great way to recover after the holidays or to save money for a vacation. You’ll clear out your pantry and freezer PLUS exercise your creativity.

LWD 2018 No-Spend Challenge

Years ago another blogger, who happens to share my first name, issued a “buy nothing challenge”. For one month you could only buy food, medicine and absolute essentials. I accepted the challenge but since we were on vacation 10 days out of that month, it was only a 20-day challenge for me – not too hard.

Then another blogger began to share her story about what she called “a slow year”. Essentially she bought almost nothing for an entire year. It was rather inspiring and so very interesting to read as the year progressed. I was astounded by her creativity. She no longer blogs but you can follow her on Flickr and see some “slow year” posts here. Oh, and did I mention she lives in France? She’s an American married to a French man and they have charming young daughter. She is truly amazing and well worth following.

Both of these people inspired me to begin doing similar challenges. Periodically I challenge myself to a no-spend month. I have found that January is a good time for this after all the extra holiday expenses in December. But you can certainly do it any time that suits you best. If you have a prolific garden, late summer might be a great time for you because you can eat a lot of fresh produce. If you have a big expense coming up or want to save for something like a vacation, then doing a no-spend month shortly before can be a big help.

Here are some of the reasons I like to do a no-spend month:

It’s a good way to save money. Yeah, that one was pretty obvious.
It can help you do a re-set after the holidays. It’s easy to get into a spending habit during the month of December. Not only for gifts but since it’s often a busy time it’s easy to justify extra meals out or convenience foods you might not otherwise buy. Declaring a moratorium on spending can help you get back on track.
It forces you to be creative. Need a greeting card? Pull out those craft supplies and make one!
Making meals with the ingredients you have on hand can be a fun challenge. This is also a good way to get into the habit of baking your own bread, making yogurt, and other “from scratch” cooking.
If your pantry and/or freezer are over-stuffed <raising my hand> this is a good way to force yourself to use up this excess.

My No-Spend Month “Rules”:

I will allow myself $25 a week to spend on fresh produce and dairy. But no other food items.
My son’s birthday is in January so I’ll purchase his gifts, of course.
Obviously, if someone becomes ill and needs medication we’ll buy that.
My monthly hair appointment is exempt from this challenge. Because…it just is.
Pet food is exempt. I’m currently stocked up on enough dog food for Shiloh but will likely need more cat food. Not going to starve the pets!
We will keep meals out to a minimum but I already know we will be going out tomorrow night with our kids to celebrate Chris’ birthday. I won’t suggest going out during this month but if David really wants to I’ll go along with it. This is MY challenge, not his.

Now, let me just say that part of the reason I can do this is because I generally stay pretty well stocked up on most everything we use on a regular basis. I buy toilet paper by the case. When we open the last of something I buy another. We live in the country and are subject to occasional winter ice storms so I find it helpful not to have to run to the store very often. Your mileage may vary.

If you choose to accept this challenge, feel free to make your own rules. Make it challenging but not such that anyone in your family will genuinely suffer. Running out of a needed medication is a problem. Having to make popcorn because you ran out of potato chips is not.

Have you ever done a similar challenge? Would you like to join me? Leave me a comment. And if you have related photos to share on Instagram, use the hashtag – #LWDnospendchallenge and tag me – @life_with_dee – so I can be sure to see them. Let’s see how creative we can be with this!

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read more here.

You may also be interested in one or more of these:

Good Cheap Eats Pantry Challenge

A Bowl Full of Lemons 2018 Home Organization Challenge

4 WEEKS TO A MORE PRODUCTIVE LIFE BY CRYSTAL PAINE

An Interview With Lisa ~ The Retro Housewife Goes Green

February 28, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

I have a treat for you – a second interview for the month of February! This one is with Lisa Sharp who blogs at Retro Housewife Goes Green. And she just happens to be my daughter. I often say that if you do it right, you can raise kids who in turn teach you. Lisa is my inspiration to live an eco-friendly life.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

LWD Interview: Lisa Sharp, Retro Housewife Goes Green

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your blog, Retro Housewife Goes Green.

I’m a homemaker living in a small town in Oklahoma with my wonderful husband and our Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd rescue dog.

I started blogging in 2008 as a way to share the things I was learning about green living and real food. Over time I found I also really enjoyed sharing my love of homemaking. Now I share all about homemaking, green living, cooking from scratch, and my other love, vintage.

2. When did you first become interested in environmentalism?

It’s always been there on some level. When I was around two years old my dad went to throw away my baby food jar and I told him “no daddy, we cycle.” To this day my family still often says “we cycle.”

It became more of a passion for me as an adult. I watched An Inconvenient Truth and started researching what was going on with our environment more and became very concerned.

I knew I had to do something so I started volunteering with the local recycling coalition, and ended up helping to bring curbside recycling to my town. I also started blogging and sharing green living tips to help others do their part.

3. In addition to your blog and your Green Oklahoma website, what sources would you recommend to someone interested in living a more eco-friendly life?

Two of my top book suggestions would be The Story of Stuff and My Plastic-Free Life. They are very informative and give some great advice. For homemakers, I also highly recommend Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck.

Some of my favorite green living blogs are:

My Plastic-Free Life
Groovy Green Livin
Mindful Momma,
Dr. Karen S. Lee
The Crunchy Chronicles
Bren Did
A Modern Homestead

They all share a wide range of information from organic food, reducing waste, gardening, natural health, and DIY.

4. What advice would you give to someone who wants to be more environmentally conscious but doesn’t know where to begin?

Start small! It can be easy to want to do it all but that is a recipe for disaster. It will become overwhelming and expensive.

Figure out which small steps will make the biggest impact in your family. Do you use a lot of disposable water bottles? Invest in some reusable water bottles.

Reusable bags are another thing I recommend. Buy them slowly and put them where you will remember them. You can save some money over time as many stores now give discounts for reusable bags and you will have less bags to stuff in a cabinet or dispose of.

The biggest thing is to take one thing at a time, let it become a habit, and move on to the next.

5. What has been your biggest challenge in living a green and eco-friendly lifestyle?

Giving myself grace. I have spent years feeling guilty anytime I wasn’t perfect. This is not a good way to live and not practical.

Last year I started really taking note of this. There has to be a balance between doing your part and being stressed all the time.

Now I try to follow more of a 80/20 with my eating and green living in general. Sometimes I eat fast food and sometimes I dye my hair. If most of the time I’m doing really well I have no reason to stress about the other time.

I wish I could be perfect but I really don’t want to live off the grid, raise all of my own food, and live a zero waste life. Maybe for a week and then I’d want to sleep for a week. There are some that can do all of that but I can’t.

6. I know you try to eat a mostly organic diet. Can you tell LWD readers why you started doing this and any benefits you have seen from it?

Several years ago I started suffering from a lot of health problems. I have fibromyalgia and it had gotten very bad. Most weeks I’d have at least one day I ended up in bed all day.

Conventional medicine hasn’t come up with good treatments for fibromyalgia right now. Your options are basically pain medicine and sleep aids. I didn’t want to go this route if at all possible so I started researching natural ways to treat it.

One thing I found is many people had a lot of success with eating an organic/whole food diet. Since I grew up eating a pretty natural diet, including having some organic food before it was popular, this was pretty simple.

I started by removing the worst ingredients and making more and more from scratch. I lost weight and started to feel better. My husband also saw health benefits from this change.

I’ve tried many things over the years to improve my health and reduce fibromyalgia symptoms and my diet changes are one thing that has stuck and made the biggest impact.

7. Do you make any of your own cleaning products? If so, do you have links to the recipes?

I don’t make that many cleaners because I clean almost everything with hot, soapy water. It’s very simple but has been shown scientifically to work. I just fill a bucket or sink with as hot as I can stand water and add a bit of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap.

I do make a daily shower cleaner spray and my own laundry detergent. I also use vinegar for windows and glass and anything that’s a bit smelly.

8. Organic food and “green” products can sometimes be expensive. Do you have any suggestions for “going green” on a budget?

Meal plan. We waste a lot of food and that can cost a lot of money! When meal planning be sure to check sale flyers and look for coupons. And be flexible. My last shopping trip I found grass-fed ground beef was on sale for almost half of what I normally pay. My meal plan had a fair amount of chicken in it but I decided those meals would wait and got a lot of ground beef instead. This saved me a lot of money on meat for the month. And of course reducing your meat intake will help. Try Meatless Monday for an easy way to reduce your meat intake.

Otherwise being green should overall be about using less. You don’t need all the latest “green” gadgets. When buying something consider buying used and when buying new, buy products that will last.

Ditching disposable products and gradually buying reusable ones will also save you a lot of money over time. I rarely buy paper towels anymore because I have a paper-free kitchen, I don’t buy bottled water, and one bag of plastic sandwich bags will last me years. These changes add up.

9. Where can LWD readers connect with you?

You can find me on my blog – Retro Housewife Goes Green, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and my Facebook group – Homemaking for Everyone.

10. Do you have any upcoming projects or anything new in the works for Retro Housewife Goes Green?

Soon I will have a spring cleaning challenge series. You will get tips and tricks delivered to your inbox to help you get your house in great shape for the spring. I will announce it on the blog and social media soon.

~~~~~

Thank you, Lisa! I appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions and share so many great resources.

Lisa’ Bio:

I’m Lisa. I’m a homemaking, vintage loving, green living, blogger, living in a small town in Oklahoma.

I’ve been married since 2005 to my wonderful husband, Justin. We have a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian Shepherd Dog rescue named Patience. She’s terribly spoiled but also very sweet.

I love to bake, craft, go antique shopping, listen to local music, and of course spend time with my friends and family.

Lisa’s Links:

Retro Housewife Goes Green

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Homemaking for Everyone

Reusable Shopping Bags

LWD Giant Green and Frugal Living Roundup

February 25, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

Running our homes in a frugal and eco-friendly manner is important. We all want to get the most from our financial resources and I dare say most of us are also interested in doing our part to protect the environment. The good thing is that these two goals are not mutually exclusive. In fact, in so many instances, the “green” choice is also the frugal choice.

Here are some excellent resources for green and frugal living:

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

Giant Green and Frugal Living Roundup

The obvious resource for both green and frugal information for me is my own daughter’s site:

Retro Housewife

Goes Green

As I began looking for a few of her posts to share I realized what a huge amount of content she has amassed over the years. Here are just a few:

15 Green Cleaning Hacks

How to Clean Your Mattress

Green Cleaning Essentials

Simple Toilet Bowl Cleaner

How to Have a Paper-Free Kitchen

Natural DIY Carpet Freshener

30 Frugal Green Living Tips

8 Depression Era Tips That Save Money

7 Vintage Homemaking Skills That Save You Money

7 Frugal Gardening Tips For Beginners

Real Food on a Budget: Meal Planning

Lessons From the Amish That Save You Money

10 Benefits of Line Drying

Do you want to eat a healthy, organic, grass fed diet but don’t think you can afford it? My friend, Victoria of A Modern Homestead, explains how they do it on less than $200 a month. Click here to find out how:

She has a number of other posts about frugal living, including this one in which she shares several unconventional ways to save money:

Crazy Ways to Save Money

One way to save money AND be eco-friendly is to make your own household cleaners. Bren of Bren Did has a nice collection of recipes. Here are a couple to get you started:

Fresh Lemon Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

DIY All-Natural Orange Vinegar For Cleaning

Frugal and/or Green Living Blogs:

Blue House Journal

My Plastic-free Life

Money Saving Mom

The 25 Best Frugal Living Blogs of 2016

101 Blogs Thrifty People Read

Best Green Lifestyle Blogs 2016

I wrote some posts about green living on another blog of mine which I’m no longer updating:

Homemade Deodorant

The cost of bottled water

Repair or Replace?

Other LWD posts you may be interested in:

That’s just nuts – soap nuts, that is

The Wisdom of Grandma

Eco-Friendly Laundry

Books on Green/Frugal Living

I’d love to hear your favorite resources for living a green and frugal lifestyle. Leave me a comment and I’ll check them out!

An Interview With Terri – Blue House Journal

February 21, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 7 Comments

I am very happy to introduce LWD readers to Terri Cheney of Blue House Journal. I first became acquainted with Terri back in 2005 when I started reading her newsletter, Penny Ann Poundwise. I don’t think she knows this but I used to print out her newsletters and have them collected in a three-ring binder. In fact, it was this newsletter of hers, as well as “Laine’s Letters” which initially inspired my first newsletter, “Tea With Dee“, which then led to my first blog.

Terri is one of my main inspirations for frugal living so I knew she would be a perfect choice for an interview this month.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

LWD INTERVIEW: TERRI CHENEY, BLUE HOUSE JOURNAL

Note: I’ve added a few personal comments. One of these days perhaps I’ll be set up to do actual audio interviews and have a genuine conversation with my interviewees. But I didn’t want to allow the lack of that setup to hold me back now.

1. Please tell LWD readers a bit about yourself, your blog – Blue House Journal – and your history of blogging.

About 11 years ago I started blogging under the name Penny Ann Poundwise, at the urging of my 12 year old daughter. I’d been writing an email newsletter under the same name and blogging was new at that point. My daughter has always been a little more aware of current trends than I. I’m glad I listened to her!

Eventually I evolved from Penny Ann Poundwise to Blue House Journal. I wanted to be free to express more of who I am beyond just the things I do to save money. I wanted to incorporate many of the things that I felt made my life rich and full, those things that went beyond being frugal. As we have neared retirement age, the blog has evolved yet again, but the ultimate fact of living well on a budget is still the same.

Deanna: As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’ve been a reader since the old Penny Ann Poundwise newsletter days. I can’t recall how I initially found it. I wonder if we might have been in a Yahoo Group together. Terri, do you recall?

2. You blog about frugal living. Have you always been frugal?

No. I grew up with some frugal concepts surrounding me but no understanding about WHY being frugal could benefit my life. I lived poor for many years, despite having plenty of money at my disposal because I’d never learned to handle money properly. My parents managed money poorly. I grew up with the idea that more money was the answer. If you don’t know how to manage what you have, then MORE is not the answer.

When I became a single parent and had no child support coming in I learned to manage my finances better. Later, when I’d met my second husband and I had to leave a job situation that had grown far too stressful, I had to learn to manage on less. When there was NO money to spare I began to truly live in a frugal way and the more it was necessary the better we lived, which sounds crazy but it’s the truth! Eventually I was back at work. At one point I sat down and figured out what I made and what it cost us for me to work. That was very eye opening and I was making a decent wage at that time.

My husband and I talked it over and I came home. I have been a stay at home mom and wife now for over 20 years. We’ve lived on one income for all those years. John and I figured with the cost of living increases and the lack of raises in his position that we’re probably making about the same income we began on 20 years ago. And yet, we’ve managed to become debt free. We enjoy a vacation most years. We’ve had to replace a roof and air conditioner, buy new appliances and furniture. We’ve bought cars. We don’t finance through big finance companies. We finance ourselves and we pay it back as quickly as we can.

3. Where do you get your ideas and inspiration for living a frugal life? Can you recommend some resources for LWD readers (ie. books, websites, etc.)?

Inspiration can be as simple as having the desire to do something fresh and new in my home and then figuring out how I might use what I have to accomplish it. Sometimes a quote will inspire me, sometimes a situation that arises in another’s life. I find inspiration from my Bible readings some mornings. It’s amazing where inspiration for a frugal life can be found!

I don’t know very many frugal folks who haven’t read The Tightwad Gazette Books (note from Dee: Initially these were printed as a series of three books and those are what I have. Now they are available all-in-one). Those really started me on my frugal journey. Many of Amy’s essays helped me rethink some of the ideas about money I grew up with, and I learned to view finances differently. I also incorporated some of the things I’d watched senior family members employ as a result of living in the Depression Era. Jonni McCoy’s books were also inspiring and helpful. I love the vintage Heloise books because she really had some great ideas for both saving money and time. But I’d have to say that Tracey McBride’s book, Frugal Luxuries, was the transforming book of my frugal life. Suddenly I realized that living in a frugal way did not mean a life of deprivation but a life that could be lovely. I simply had to look at new ways to acquire the things that made my heart sing.

When I began writing my newsletter there were just a few forums online for people who needed and wanted to really save money in every way possible. I’ve discovered some really wonderful seasoned frugal bloggers. I loved reading an email forum from Laine of Laine’s Letters. Those are archived online now. Annabel Smith of The Bluebirds Are Nesting, Patsy at The Working Pantry, Brandy of The Prudent Homemaker all come to mind right away as inspiring bloggers who pursue frugal lives and live beautifully. I’ve been friends with you online for many years and follow along with your blog and your daughter’s. I have followed Rhonda of If You Do Stuff for many years and we’ve become close friends over that time.

Deanna: Laine’s Letters are a treasure trove of frugal inspiration. Like Terri’s newsletters, I also printed Laine’s and have a huge amount of them. I was disappointed when she quit writing them and then when her site disappeared I was deeply saddened. Fortunately they are now archived online.

4. What would you consider your greatest asset in living frugally? What is your biggest challenge?

My greatest asset in living frugally has been being debt free. When my husband first broached the idea of paying off all our debts, I didn’t see how we possibly could do it. It took all he was earning and all I could do to stretch it to meet our needs. But gradually, with lots of prayer and seeking wisdom, we managed to pay off one big debt after another. We discovered that $3 saved here and $2 saved there could add up to a nice extra payment by month’s end. It meant making some sacrifices. We gave up little things and saved those sums and eventually we paid off our first debt. Then we snowballed that amount over to the next debt, continuing to add in those small savings all through the month.

Within three years we’d paid off $20,000 in debt and then we began to tackle our mortgage. We had a windfall amount come in that was substantial following the sale of a piece of inherited property. We didn’t think twice about using that money to pay off the house, even though many financial experts advise against it.

Deanna: We received an inheritance which allowed us to buy our current home, mortgage-free. We, too, received advice from “experts” not to do that. However, we have never regretted than decision

It’s an incredible feeling to know that the home I live in and everything within these four walls are mine. For someone whose earliest memory is watching the household goods being loaded onto a truck because they were being repossessed, followed by moving from our home, which we’d also lost…That was a huge thing!

My biggest challenge is to not to let poor thinking intrude. We do have a small income. We do have a limited amount of resources. It’s easy to lose perspective and focus too hard on those things. In fact, we are blessed. I have a skill set that will see us through the hardest seasons. And they are just seasons. I have to remember seasons have a limited amount of time to run.

5. What advice would you give to a young bride (or anyone else, for that matter) regarding setting up and adhering to a budget?

For a newbie, I suggest taking it one step at a time. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with information. And once you’ve done one thing, then add one more. Living frugally is really about acquiring a new set of skills. You can’t learn it all at once, but you can gradually build up those skills, just as you build muscle by exercising.

And I think it’s important to emphasize that it’s not easy. It takes a lot of work sometimes, when it’s far easier to just pay for the service or buy the product. If you fail, just go right back to what you were doing. I found a quote the other day about being in debt that just seemed to cover frugal endeavors very well:

“Getting out of debt is hard. Staying in debt is hard. Choose your hard.” — Jessica Garbarino

It isn’t easy but it’s worth it.

6. What is your current blogging routine? Do you have certain types of posts on particular days of the week? Are you doing any type of challenge right now or in the near future?

I guess am a creative type in some ways in that I don’t stick to the same routines ad infinitum. I get restless and shake things up but the essentials of my blog don’t change: I write about how I save money, about my home life, about God, about the things that I find enjoyable in life.

What is working for me at the moment is a sort of schedule. I start my week with “This Week In My Home” where I’ll list menus, goals for the weeks and my plans for my leisure time. I find sharing my plans keeps me focused on what I want to accomplish and holds me accountable. On Friday’s I have “Frugal Friday”. I give a daily account of things I did that week to save money as well as ways I enjoyed the week. About every other week I have a Coffee Chat where I ‘talk’ about things I’ve pondered or special things I’ve encountered during my week. For the rest of my posts during each week I tend to focus on some inspiration area and try to carry that theme through the week but I also will do random posts about things I’ve learned about.

Currently I am working on a monthly challenge called Eating on a Tight Budget. A blog reader lost her home in a fire the day before Thanksgiving and I pondered on how it would be if I lost my home. I realized that my pantry and freezer would be gone, which I’ve always considered an emergency fund. How would I manage without those? How would I rebuild? What if my husband lost his job or couldn’t work? What if our savings were wiped out? How would we manage then? I began to look at various bloggers online who claimed they fed their family for small amounts per week but to a woman each relied upon a deep pantry and deep freezers. So that led to the current series of posts I’m working upon.

In January I posed the question of a $20 a week budget for two. It was tough! In February I allowed $30 a week and it was still hard but to put together three meals a day for two on that. To flesh out the posts I actually used some of the menu plans, made some foods from scratch, and shared my experiences. I also encouraged readers to participate and share their experiences.

Deanna: Do check out this “Eating on a Tight Budget” series. It is truly inspiring!

7. What are your future plans for Blue House Journal?

I see Blue House Journal as a ministry to reach and teach others. I want to share my personal testimony of my faith walk but also to encourage and inspire anyone who must live on a tight budget. It’s so easy to believe the hype that you can’t own a home or be debt free on a single low income but it can be done! There are a lot of financial folks who tell us we need a couple of million to retire. Well it’s not going to happen here. The fact is we started over from scratch in our late 30’s and raised five kids. We bought a home, paid for cars. We’ve a savings account but reality is that at any moment that could be gone. So that’s why I keep sharing. We’ll retire on a low income. We’ll make a life on what we have. I will keep sharing to encourage others to get up every day and do what they can.

I also enjoy the community we as bloggers are able to build between ourselves and other bloggers, with our readers. I want my blog to continue to foster that. Many people want a feeling of neighborliness that once permeated real life. They still seek that. It’s important to build that sense of community online, I think.

And to have fun along the way. It’s all about balance. So that’s really my future plans for Blue House Journal. It may evolve into something more at any point. I’ve discovered that blogs grow with us if we let them.

~~~~~

Thank you so much, Terri, for taking the time for this interview. For LWD readers who don’t already follow Terri, she has a brand new grandson who has needed a little time in the NICU. Meanwhile, Terri has been helping with the baby’s older brother. I truly appreciate her making time to share her frugal story here in the midst of a busy time. Please join me in sending prayers and good thoughts for baby Isaac.

If you’d like to read Terri’s series, Eating on a Tight Budget, here is the link to the first post in the series:

Eating on a Tight Budget: Challenge #1 Mother Hubbard

Terri’s Bio:

For years now I’ve shared my frugal skills while raising a family. Now we’re empty nesters and are looking ahead to those retirement years. These days I’m honing my old frugal skills, learning new things and doing my best to live well today while saving for tomorrow.

Terri’s links:

Note: The “Tea With Dee” newsletters I mentioned above are still available to read if you are interested. When I started this blog I changed the name of the newsletters to “Life With Dee”, thinking I would use that same format for blog newsletters. I ended up starting my current email newsletter (sign up available at the end of this and every blog post) instead but if you’d like to see where it all began, here is the link:

Tea With Dee/Life With Dee

Eco-Friendly Laundry

February 14, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

Laundry is one of those household tasks that not only takes a lot of a homemaker’s time but can also have a big impact on the environment. Detergents, bleach, fabric softener, and dryer sheets all have potential issues. Not to mention water usage and energy consumption considerations. But we can take steps to lessen the environmental impact by adopting some eco-friendly laundry practices.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

Eco-Friendly Laundry

First up, let’s consider laundry detergent options. There are now a number of laundry detergents which are safer for the environment.

And some people make their own laundry soap, although these vary in their safety. For instance, many recipes call for borax which may not be as safe as some think:

Borax: Not the green alternative it’s cracked up to be

For the first 30 years or so of my marriage I used Amway laundry detergent. It was expensive but it did a good job on our clothes and at one time it was amongst the better commercial options. It can be hard to change a three-decade-long habit but I have successfully made the switch to soap nuts.

Soap nuts

I wrote about how I use soap nuts a few years ago. You can put them in the little muslin bag that comes with them and just toss in the washer and that works relatively well in warm water. However, I prefer to make a liquid from them which seems to work better, at least in my front loader. Here is how I make it:

That’s just nuts – soap nuts, that is!

Not only is this one of the most environmentally friendly options, it is also cheap! It costs about 10 cents a load compared to over 30 cents for Amway.

Bleach

There are many environmental concerns about chlorine bleach. Here is a recipe for making your own color safe bleach:

Make Your Own Color Safe Bleach

Fabric Softener

It’s no secret I love the scent of Downy fabric softener. My mom and grandma both used it and I just adore that “April fresh scent”. However, I know it’s not the most eco-friendly way to soften fabrics. Liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets contain many untested chemicals which are suspected hormone disrupters:

Don’t get slimed: Skip the fabric softener

12 Endocrine Disruptors You Likely Have in Your Home

I’ll be perfectly honest here and admit that I still use Downy occasionally, especially on my sheets. However, I use vinegar in the rinse cycle for most other loads. Maybe someday I’ll kick the Downy habit entirely but at least I’ve cut my use substantially. Baby steps, folks. Baby steps.

Dryer balls

I’ve never been in the habit of using dryer sheets but while vinegar is a decent substitute for liquid fabric softener, it doesn’t always reduce static enough during the dry winter months. That’s where dryer balls come in. I like these wool dryer balls:

Not only do they help soften and reduce static, you can also toss them in the dryer with washed pillows to help them dry faster and fluff them up.

Clothesline

While many (most?) of us here in the United States have clothes dryers, that’s not necessarily the case in the rest of the world. While I’m not interested in giving mine up, I am interested in having a clothesline. When we first moved to our current home, there was some clothesline stretched between three trees in the backyard. It wasn’t always the best option during pollen season but I did hang some of our laundry at least occasionally. There is truly nothing that smells better than line-dried sheets.

Eventually those lines rotted, we took them down, and they were never replaced. David doesn’t know this yet but I have a little project for him soon:

I have figured out the perfect place for a clothesline…away from trees and close to the house. I’ll be sure to take some pictures after David installs this.

My daughter has a clothesline and wrote about it here:

10 Benefits of Line Drying

Indoor drying rack

I may not have a clothesline yet but I do have an indoor drying rack like this one:

I keep it set up in the tub of our guest bathroom (unless we have guests!). I use it for delicate items or things that can’t go in the dryer. It’s not big enough for all of our laundry, largely because it doesn’t dry fast enough indoors. But it does have its purpose.

Wall mounted drying rack

In addition to the outdoor clothesline I’m hoping to have soon, I also would like to install a wall-mounted drying rack in our laundry room. This would give me additional indoor hanging space during rainy weather.

Do you use any of these eco-friendly laundry practices? Do you have any others to add?

The Wisdom of Grandma

February 10, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

If we are fortunate there will be someone in our life who provides an example of a life well-lived. For me, that person was Grandma. I grew up next door to my grandparents and spent much of my childhood in their home. I continued to spend a lot of time with Grandma until she died at the age of 94 and her life influences me to this day.

When I think about Grandma several words and concepts come to mind:

Frugal

I’ve heard the family stories of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. My dad picked cotton as a 5 year old but got to quit early to go make cornbread for the family’s dinner. No indoor plumbing until they moved to California when my dad was twelve. A house with no insulation and milk that would freeze in a bucket on the floor overnight.

They never went hungry but sometimes they ate squirrels Grandma shot, cleaned and fried. Grandpa always worked very hard but sometimes work took him a long way from home.

Even though my grandparents had a comfortable living later on, those early years instilled a natural sort of thrift in Grandma. She never seemed concerned about money during my lifetime but I think she was so used to living on very little that it just never occurred to her to desire more than they had.

Looking back on my childhood growing up next door to my grandparents, I recall a simple, relatively frugal lifestyle. I sincerely doubt Grandma would have used the word “frugal” and I know for a fact she would have told you she had everything she needed. They always had plenty to eat and to feed any of their eleven grandchildren who happened to be hanging around.

I don’t remember ever having soda/pop at their house but Grandma always had a pitcher of her delicious sweet tea available for thirsty kids (or adults!). Saltine crackers were also a mainstay and we were always welcome to them for a little snack.

They built their house themselves. It was simple but adequate for their needs, as well as all of us grandchildren who considered it our second home. Their household furnishings were comfortable and well cared for but not expensive. Grandma never drove and didn’t leave the house very often except for church. Grandpa did the grocery shopping from her weekly list so she rarely shopped for much herself. She used what she had until it wore out and then she replaced it with something similar.

They didn’t eat out very often but once in awhile they might take a couple of us kids for a hamburger. Grandma cooked three meals a day in a small kitchen without a dishwasher as a matter of course. That’s how they grew up and I honestly don’t think they ever seriously considered anything else. I do recall her adult children buying Grandma a portable dishwasher. She thanked them for it and then continued to wash her dishes by hand. It did provide some much needed counter space, though. One of my fond memories is of her pies cooling on top of that portable dishwasher.

The one thing she loved which might seem frivolous were fresh flowers. When we lived in the desert she grew lots of beautiful flowers, including my favorite – lilacs. She always brought me a bouquet from the first blooms each spring. In her later years my mom and I both made a point of bringing her fresh flowers often. I don’t have lilacs but I always brought her some of the first blooms from my daffodils.

Green

As I said, I doubt Grandma would have used the word “frugal” to describe herself but I’m absolutely certain she wouldn’t have called herself “green”. The notion of being environmentally conscious wouldn’t have occurred to her and yet in many ways she was. For instance, while she had a dryer, most of the time she used a clothesline. The dry and windy conditions in the California desert where I spent my childhood were perfect for this and no doubt every bit as fast as a clothes dryer. How well I remember the delicious, line-dried scent of the sheets I slept on when spending the night at my grandparents’ house. And because she didn’t replace sheets until they were paper thin, they were the softest thing imaginable.

Another thing she did which today we might consider eco-friendly was to cover bowls of leftovers with a plate rather than foil or plastic wrap. She learned to keep house before those items were in common use and while she did use them for some things, she continued the practice of using a plate all her life. I have one of her melamine plates and I use it for the very same purpose.

Routines

Grandma was a creature of habit. She arose early each morning and went through a similar routine each day. If it was very early, she was outside watering trees, shrubs, and her beautiful rose bushes and lilacs. Mealtimes were regular so we knew when to find her in the kitchen. I don’t know exactly what her housekeeping schedule was – I wish I had thought to ask – although I do know that she cleaned out her refrigerator every Saturday morning. Her house was always clean and orderly so I’m sure she had a regular cleaning routine of some sort.

Faith

Ever since I can remember, Grandma had a little handwritten sign on her dresser mirror which said, “Prayer changes things”. As she went about her daily work she was nearly always humming or whistling old hymns and this wasn’t lost on her grandchildren. She used to love to tell the story of me as a toddler walking around singing, “Oh, Jesus, I sure do like you” – my interpretation of “Oh, How I Love Jesus”, one of her favorites.

All of her grandchildren have fond memories of the Bible she kept on the small wastebasket in the bathroom. I remember looking to see where she was reading each time I went in there. Many years later that Bible met with an accident. A little boy she was babysitting wet on it and she had to throw it away. However, I was honored to have been left her “good” Bible upon her death. It’s one of my most prized possessions.

Contentment

If I had to choose just one word to describe my grandmother I think it would be “content”. She never seemed to want anything more than what she had and was grateful for her blessings. Her life was centered in her home and around her beloved family. Along with her strong faith this seemed to be all she desired from life. While my dreams are bigger in some ways, I am still often reminded that when it comes right down to it, a good life doesn’t require much. Food, shelter, people to love and care for, faith, soft sheets and fresh flowers. That was plenty for Grandma.

LWD Book Club ~ February 2017

February 1, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

It’s the first day of February. Do you know what that means? That’s right. New selections for the LWD Book Club! It’s also the beginning of a new theme for LWD blog posts.

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LWD FEBRUARY BOOK CLUB SELECTIONS

February’s theme here on Life With Dee includes frugal living and “going green”. There is so much overlap between these two topics that it only made sense to do them both together.

This month’s LWD Book Club selections all reflect the monthly topics this time.

I have read another of Sophie Uliano’s books, “Gorgeously Green” and enjoyed it. It’s no longer available on Amazon although you might be able to find it in your library. Instead I selected “Do It Gorgeously“, a handbook of sorts on how to make less toxic and less expensive products yourself. I’m looking forward to learning more about this DIY aspect of going green.

Do It Gorgeously

This next book was written by Beth Terry. She blogs at MyPlasticFreeLife, formerly known as Fake Plastic Fish. My daughter, who blogs at Retro Housewife Goes Green, became acquainted with Beth through a green blogging group several years ago. Beth included an essay about Lisa in this book and then invited her to speak with her at an event in Tulsa a few years ago. I went with her and we both had the honor of meeting Beth, going out to dinner with her after the event and then back to her hotel room where the three of us talked until 1 a.m. It was as though we had all been friends for ages. If you’re interested, you can read the blog post I wrote about it here: Plastic, Wikipedia and Field Trips.

Plastic Free

Many, many years ago when I quit my job as a R.N. case manager for a hospice company in order to homeschool our kids, I was highly motivated to cut expenses. After all, our income had been cut in half. That’s when I discovered The Tightwad Gazette books. Back then there were three of them and I own them all. Now they are available all in one book. Convenient and frugal! I consider this the bible of frugal living. Some of the ideas are pretty out there for my taste and these days I’m much more interested in eating a healthy, mostly organic diet than is reflected in this book. Still, there are hundreds and hundreds of worthwhile ideas contained in these pages.

The Tightwad Gazette

If you have any favorite books on frugal living or going green, leave me a comment and I’ll include them on the resource page I’ll do at the end of the month.

PREVIOUS LWD BOOK CLUB CHOICES: