Avoiding Frugal Burnout

If you're anything like me, the easiest part of saving money is when you first decide to save for a big, important goal. You're all excited about your plans, and so it is easy to cut the expenses to the bone. But as time goes on, you start to lose that clear picture of the goal. You start to focus more on what you are giving up now, and that makes it all too easy to justify outrageous splurges. For example, in saving for a down payment on a house, you feel like it will be forever until you finally get that home, but tonight you could really use a nice meal out. You've been working so hard. Then, feelings of guilt kick in, and you start to concentrate on how you slipped up on your savings goal, and that bums you out, so you get a little sometime to cheer yourself up. Vicious little cycle.

Plan ahead to avoid this. Frugal burnout happens to the best of us, but doesn't have to set you back in saving for your goals.

First, break that big goal down into manageable little goals. Rather than setting a savings goal of $18,000 towards buying a house, break that down. You have $3k in closing cost, then break the down payment amount into smaller chunks. When I was saving for my house, I broke it down into goals closing costs, then closing costs plus 5% of the down payment, then 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%. I drew a simple chart that I would mark each time I made a deposit into my savings account. Every time a goal was met, there was great celebration. I hung the chart up on the refrigerator so we could see it every day and stay excited as we inched closer to the main goal.

No one wants to feel deprived. It's hard to keep focused on some future benefit if you don't enjoy anything now. Rather than trying to do away with all splurges, and then pay for it with unplanned excessive splurges, plan to treat yourself. Enjoy small things on a regular basis. For example, I love good cheese, so every payday (every other week), I allow myself to go to the cheese counter at the grocery store and pick out a small chunk of good (we're talking that $25/lb stuff) cheese. I only spend around $4 each time, so this doesn't derail my savings goals. However, I really enjoy that cheese. I add a tiny bit to my salad or sandwich, or eat a small piece with a cracker. It lasts around a week, and enriches many meals. If by spending that $4 (annual total of $104/yr), I don't need to go out to a nice restaurant once a month at $50 a pop, I save around $500 a year. Plus, I get several special meals each month.

It doesn't even have to be money out of your pocket. Maybe it's just time. Rather than buying yourself something, give yourself permission to spend the entire day in bed reading a great novel. Eat a good dessert. Blow off the housework for one afternoon and go for a hike. Enjoy these moments, and look forward to them. Since they are a regular part of your life, you can enjoy the now while saving for the future.

Look for different ways to save money. If you feel like it's just the same-ol-same-ol, look for ways to switch it up a bit. Read some good books on frugality and find a few new ways to save money just so there's some change in your routine. Maybe try line drying clothes as an excuse to be outside on a warm, breezy day or bake bread from scratch. You'll save a little money, and it's fun.

When most people decide to save money/be more frugal, they make a grave error. They slash the entertainment budget. Sure, entertainment isn't absolutely necessary, and it's usually costly for dinners out, movies, concert tickets, lift tickets, takeout, etc. However, I feel that this is the surest way to frugal burnout. If all you do is sit at home thinking about how much fun you used to have when you were spending money, you'll be miserable. Instead, increase your entertainment carefully. Spend an afternoon googling free or cheap things to do in your area. Maybe there's a concert/play/movie in the park series that you can go to every weekend. Many a coffee house has a free jazz band on Tuesday nights. Maybe a museum is free on Sundays. Start doing these things more often than you used to go out when you were paying. You'll find that your life is more rich and full and you're saving money.

What are your favorite ways to prevent frugal burnout?

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Thrift Store Drinking Glasses

At our housewarming party, our friend gave us a beautiful set of tall and short drinking glasses. We absolutely love them. However, it is inevitable that glasses will occasionally be broken. When I broke a short one, I was upset and dismayed that eventually enough of the glasses would be broken that we'd either have to get rid of the set or have mismatched glasses. Then one day at a thrift store, I found a glass that matched the set. It cost $.59. I scooped it up, happy to have a full set again.

Now, every time I'm at a thrift store, I scan the glasses for both tall and short glasses in our set. It is a fairly common design, so I've been able to scoop up several. We now have extras and when the occasional glass breaks, it's no big deal. I pay between $.25 and $.90 per glass. This is cheaper than the cost to buy a new set.

While for certain sets, it may be a long shot to find replacements, it is definitely worth a quick scan when you are at thrift stores or yard sales. You just may find a cheap fill-in to stretch your set.

This Week...Beyond Money 11/3 - 11/9

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* Aphids got into the house! Not sure how, exactly, but one day I found one container of peppers covered in them. This was the container of plants that I was going to continue harvesting all winter. I quickly took it outside and picked all of the little peppers on it and let the frost have it and kill the aphids (hopefully). I've watched the plants indoors and they seem fine.
* The indoor planting of lettuce looks fantastic. Very small still, but beautiful. Can't wait!
* I peaked outside at the shade garden. It has been frosting most nights and has been really cold a few days. Surprisingly, the volunteer pepper and tomato plants are still alive. Two of the pepper plants even have flowers that survived last night's frost! They are both filled with tiny peppers. Another tiny volunteer plant had a 1.5 inch pepper. One of the tomato plants had produced 2 small tomatoes. I picked them all and will leave them to see if anything else grows.

Cooking/Groceries:
* Made an incredible leftovers pizza. We had a little leftover BBQ pork, but not enough for a meal of sandwiches. I spread the pizza with blue cheese dressing, then spread the BBQ pulled pork over the top, smothered the whole thing in caramelized onions, sprinkled with chopped mock pickled peppers from jalapenos from the garden, then topped with cheddar and a drizzle of BBQ sauce. Wow. Incredible.
* There is a local grocery store that is kind of expensive for most things. However, they always have really good produce sales as a way to lure you in, and occasionally have good prices on non-produce items. I do not shop here often, as it is on the other side of town, but whenever I see that there are fabulous deals, I'll make a trip and stock up. This time I got: parsley ($.50/bunch), cilantro ($.50/bunch), cabbage ($.50/lb), onions ($.50/lb), 7 lbs of bulk popcorn ($.99/lb, half the price at work), 8 lbs butter ($2.99/lb; $1 cheaper than the cheapest sale price for store brand I ever see elsewhere. My stash had gotten down to 1/2 lb so I was worried. I do not use margarine and like to make pop tarts from scratch, so butter is a necessity), 3 6oz packages of raspberries ($1.50/each, I rarely buy berries because they are so expensive, so I do indulge when I find them at a good price. They are usually $4 for the same sized container here), 1 6 oz package of blackberries ($1.50/each) and a large bunch of spinach ($1). This store sells really good ends and pieces bacon for $3/lb and is therefore cheaper than the cheapest store brand on sale. Unfortunately, there was none there this time. I still have a few packages in the freezer at home, but always try to stock up when I'm there since I don't know how soon I will return.
* I made an enchilada casserole. I had some tortillas that were crumbly and not good for using for tacos. I layered the pieces with ground beef (a small container from the freezer leftover from another meal), refried beans, a can of tomatoes (sale+coupon=$.25), and covered the whole thing with enchilada sauce and cheese.

Food Preservation:
* My homemade vinegar turned out wonderfully. I'm very excited. It smells and tastes great. Now I'm thinking about making apple wine...

Fun:
* Trucker had bought a Living Social deal for a local miniature golf course. 4 rounds of mini golf and 70 pitches in the batting cages for $12 ($30 value). We weren't able to get there right away and it closed for the season three days before we got there. The owner was there cleaning up and said that we could go ahead and play so he got out the leaf blower and cleaned the courses for us. We had a fantastic time. It was the most beautifully landscaped course I've ever seen. Afterwards, we went to a local ice cream shop for sundaes. I had a coupon in my Entertainment book for buy one get one free, so it only cost $4.50. Our entire date cost $16.50 and it was incredible!
* We went to a benefit spaghetti dinner for the local food pantry. We each donated several items for the silent auction and raffle. Trucker donated some books he had duplicates of (purchased at thrift stores for less than $1 so we could give them away when someone said they wanted to read it, for gifts, etc) and I donated a hand crocheted scarf and two sets of washcloths. We also donated some canned goods that I had gotten really cheaply from combining sales and coupons. We paid $10 each for dinner but considered it worthwhile since it benefited the food bank. We had a wonderful time with our friends and enjoyed the music. At the end of the event, they auctioned off a couple items that hadn't gotten bids. One of the items was a $50 gift certificate for a nice Italian restaurant. No one else bid so I got it for $15. This will provide two dates for us.
* Went grocery shopping with a couple friends. Short, fun and didn't cost me anything (except for the groceries I was going to buy anyway).
* Coffee and writing/studying session with a good friend at a local coffee house.

Nature:
* Every nice day we went out for a short walk through the neighborhood. Just a half hour, but we get a bit of exercise, a bit of sunlight.

Frugality:
* When I went out for coffee with my friend, I reused my coffee sleeve. It was my 10th time reusing it, so next time I get a free drink. I don't go to this coffee house often, but make sure I always have my sleeve when I do.
* When I went to a grocery store that was on the other side of town, to maximize the value of the gas used, I combined the trip with getting together for coffee with my friend that lives just down the road. We met another friend at the store. Whenever I have to go out of my way for something, I try to combine as many errands/experiences in that area as possible.

Waste Reduction:
* Planned to use leftovers and random items instead of wasting them.
* Made vinegar out of apple cores.

Work:
* Some changes at work mean my work schedule will improve in the coming week. Very grateful as some changes (to cover vacations, plus a change in management, plus complete elimination of third shift work) had meant for weird scheduling for me. It's going to be better from here.
* Trucker got some free bagels and english muffins from his job that would otherwise have been thrown away since they had expired.
* I brought apples from the orchard for my lunch each day. It's cheap and just enough to get me through the day.

Preparation:
* Bought a couple cans of canned shrimp for the stockpile. I don't eat canned meats on a regular basis, but do like tuna or canned shrimp on occasion. I found it in a clearance bin for $1/can and bought a few.

Future:
* Rough start to National Novel Writing Month. I've had trouble hitting my word count as I'm still getting used to my work schedule completely changing the way I live. (This week I've had two hours when first waking up before heading off to work and an hour after work before getting ready for bed...hard to cram everything into those time frames). That being said, on one day off I wrote 2500 words.

This Week...Beyond Money 10/27 - 11/2

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I was able to harvest some lettuce seed from the front garden containers. I'm beyond thrilled. This lettuce was in a black container in direct sun. I planted it in spring and it didn't bolt until early autumn. That's definitely something I want in a lettuce, so I definitely wanted to save seed. I've never saved any seed before this.
* Lots of little tiny greens have germinated, but none have their true leaves yet. The first of the Ruby Red swiss chard has germinated too so there's a bit of color. I just threw in random seeds I had leftover from this growing season. I love the idea of having some mixed salads all winter long and it doesn't cost me anything since I've already bought the seed (and between Trucker and I, we always buy more seeds than we can possibly grow on our 1/5 an acre...I think he gets more excited about it than I do!)
*Speaking of, the first of our seeds for next year arrived. Trucker ordered them from individuals in this state and one state over. So far...basil, parsley, gingeng, venus fly trap and bat flowers.
* I was able to harvest a few more green tomatoes (to harvest on the shelf) and peppers from the garden. Not much, but something.

Cooking/Gardening:
* I had some crab apples leftover from making crab apple candy, so I mixed them with some Rome and Fuji apples for a grilled apple crisp.
* I made BBQ Chicken pizza on the grill. I par baked the crusts in the oven, then slid them onto the grill, topped with BBQ sauce, chicken, pickled jalapenos and cheddar cheese. Delicious!
* After 7 PM at the grocery store I work at, all breads made in the in-store bakery are half off. I bought two loaves of bread: a cinnamon swirl bread that was usually $4, marked down to $2 and an everything bread that was usually $2.50, marked down to $1.25. My employee discount took off $.20 from the cinnamon bread (now $1.80) and $.13 off the everything bread (now $1.12). I had two coupons for $1 off a loaf of bread, bringing the final cost to $.80 for the cinnamon swirl bread and $.12 for the everything bread. I bought 5 bags of organic carrots for $1/lb bag.

Food Preservation:
* Dehydrated 3 loads of apples.

Fun:
* My favorite novel as a teen was The Giver. Trucker took me to the cheap theatre for a $2 showing of the movie. I cried the whole time. I love that story. $4 and it made me so happy!
* Strolled around Half Price Books while waiting for our movie to start. I found a few Ray Bradbury (my favorite author) books I didn't have. They were half off the cover price of $.75. So excited! I got The Illustrated Man, Golden Apples of the Sun, S is for Space and The Martian Chronicles.
* We hosted a beer tasting at our house. Every time we bought beer, we saved one beer until we had a nice assortment. We had a few friends over and split each bottle among everyone. I bought chips on clearance and served with salsa. I also made a pear crisp and an apple sauce. It was cheaper than going out for drinks with friends and we had a blast.

Nature:
* We went for a long walk at a metro park near us. It was meadowland and forest. I particularly loved the diversity of the edge areas and enjoyed looking at different seed pods and dried grasses.
* I took a 6.5 mile walk through the city and parks.

Frugality:
* One day I was off and Trucker had to work. After doing some stuff around the house I walked to his job-6.5 miles away-for free coffee, free wifi and getting out of the house. Sure, I could have driven somewhere, but this just got me some exercise, saved me gas, I got free coffee, and didn't have to have the furnace/lights on at home.

Waste Reduction:
* I had some apple cores leftover from making apple crisp, so I decided to try my hand at making vinegar. I put them in a sugar water mix in a gallon jar, covered with a cloth and am going to let it ferment. After several days I tasted it. It tastes like a mild hard cider right now. It's kinda lovely. I may try making hard cider with the next batch of cores, but I'm really excited about having a gallon of apple cider vinegar.

Preparedness:
* Put up a few jars of dehydrated apples.

Future:
* I started National Novel Writing Month to write a frugal living/personal finance book. I am a little behind on my word count, but I have not had a day off yet. I'm off a couple days next week that Trucker will be working and plan to write at a coffee house the entire time he's gone. I'm very excited and enjoying the challenge.

What did you do this week?

This Week...Beyond Money 10/20 - 10/26

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* I potted up 4 pepper plants to overwinter and plant again next year: one of the Jimmy Nardello plants, 1 serrano pepper, 2 jalapeno. These were my top performers. I did not pot up one of the unnamed hot peppers. While they were all wildly prolific, they didn't taste that great.
* I forgot to open the blinds a couple of very busy days and all of the lettuces indoors died. I replanted the container to: arugula, kale, lettuce, spinach, mustard, swiss chard and basil. As of Sunday night, they have sprouted nicely. Hopefully I don't murder this batch. I need some winter greens.
* Harvested a few dozen carrots (most of them little finger), several radishes, 4 cups of mixed salad greens and edible flowers, dozens of small peppers, some green tomatoes to allow to ripen on the counter, 1 c green beans of various types.

Cooking and Groceries:
* I redeemed my birthday coupon for a free half gallon of store-brand ice cream from my job. I got Chocolate Moose Tracks. Awesome birthday gift from my boss. LOL
* I bought a couple of pepperoni rolls from my job for $.44 each. These have pepperoni, cheese and spices are a filling lunch by themselves. I used these for a day that we would be gone from the house from 5:30 AM til 6:30 PM. $.88, plus a couple apples from the orchard makes for a $1 lunch for two. Cheap, relatively healthy and keeps us from scary fast food.
* I bought more apples (at the 300lb mark now!). My mum and sister went to an orchard I love. They had seconds for $14/bushel (so about $.31/lb). Looking at them, I have no idea why they were seconds. They are beautiful and unblemished. They are Rome's which is my favorite apple so I'm thrilled. Rome's are great for crisps, which I make like crazy during the autumn.
* I had a coupon for $1 off $5 worth of produce from the grocery. I found celery on manager's special for $.75 each (marked down from $1.80) and got three. Potatoes were $1.88 for a 10-lb bag. Two heads of lettuce were bagged together for $.99. Total for produce: $4.12. I also had a coupon for a free loaf of bread with $10 purchase.
* We went salvage grocery shopping. Got lots of great deals and stocked up to help keep winter grocery bills manageable without the garden.
* One night we had stir fry with 100% veg from the garden. I served it with rice cooked in homemade chicken stock. By cooking the rice in stock instead of water, it's more nutritious, more filling and we are perfectly content with no meat in the stir fry. Saves a lot of money.

Food Preservation:
* Dehydrated a load of apples. Dehydrated crab apples for crab apple candy (which are absolutely awesome!). All you do is quarter and core them (very labor intensive, just warning you), toss in sugar and dehydrate til chewy. Wow!

Fun:
* For my mum's birthday, we bought her canning supplies and two Butternut trees. Practical, and she'll love it.
* We had dinner with my parents, sisters and Grandpa. It was a wonderful evening.

Nature:
* I went for a run late one night (10 PM). It had rained hard all day, so the air was clean and perfect. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold. I  loved watching the tree branches float across the low-hanging clouds drifting by the stars. I fell absolutely in love with everything.
* One day was just absolutely perfect so we worked out in the garden just as an excuse to be out there.
* There were several evenings that were just so perfect we had to go out for walks. So lovely.

Frugality:
* I passed up "deals" that weren't really deals. I found a pack of the pretty green canning jars. It was a six pack that was missing 3 of the jars....marked down 20%...seriously? Also, there was a sale on bacon that made it $1 cheaper than I usually find it if you bought 5. However, if I bought it, I would have to drive back home across the city, before driving back past the store to go visit my parents that day. It would have saved $5 on the bacon, but cost me $5-6 in gas, plus the wasted time. Not worth it.
* Trucker needed new socks. We darn socks and mend holes while they are small as long as possible, but his current set was getting pretty old. I bought a few 10-packs of the same socks (store brand that was $3 less per pack) so that when we do laundry it's easy to match.  As they wear out beyond darning, we can throw away one sock (or get creative with it!) instead of a pair. In this way, we can stretch socks out for years.
* Trucker makes cash tips at his job, so we use that for general living expenses instead of using the card or stopping at the ATM. As he's been giving me cash, I've been squirreling it away for savings. I  had $160 saved up that I deposited this morning into our savings account.
* While we walked, twice we found piles of change. I don't know why people do that, but I'm fine with snagging it. Once we found 22 pennies; the other time we found 16 cents. Yes, picking up change isn't going to drastically change our lives, but it's still worth doing. It takes about an extra second to reach down and pick up a penny. You could do that 60 times a minute. So, hypothetically, if you picked up pennies every second of every minute for an hour, you'd make $36/hr, tax free. That's more than I make at my job, so I consider it worthwhile. The time I found the 22 pennies, it took about 5 seconds to pick up the extras. I could have done that 12 times in a minute, so my hourly rate that time was $158/hr. We save our change all year for a special weekend trip, so we are always happy when we find change.
* Used the library extensively. Checked out several books and two movies. We got a brand new branch this month right down the road from our home. It's a bare-bones branch as an experiment. If it gets used a lot, there's a chance they'll expand it in a few years, so we are trying to do our part to see that they do!
* I keep a blanket downstairs for covering up while at the computer. Since I work in a bakery, I get chilled rather easily when not directly in front of an oven. I've also gotten out the nice thick socks. In this way, we can avoid turning on the furnace.

Waste Reduction:
* Planned so as to avoid wasting any leftovers.

* We had used up as much of the hand soap (purchased during a holiday sale for $.25/bottle) as would come out of the pump. I used the rest for a bubble bath. Frugal indulgence, and I used up the last of it.
* When I dehydrated the apples, I used my apple peeler-corer-slicer gizmo (purchased for $2.50 during a half off sale at a thrift store). I was left with a lot of peels, so I dehydrated those to use in teas in winter.

Work:
* I worked overtime 1 hr this week to help out a coworker. Not a ton of money, but a little something. The extra pay is earmarked to get out of state to visit an ailing relative.
* The uniform at work changed. While we used to be able to wear nice jeans, it is now khakis or black pants. Before hitting the thrift stores to scoop up new pants, I checked some boxes in the closet and found 2 pr of black pants and 2 pr of khakis that I can now fit in (I've lost 25 pounds since I started running). No need to buy any, and I saved myself $10 (at least) on the uniform.
* Trucker got two free cinnamon rolls from his job that were a bit dry and therefore weren't able to be sold. We made a bit more icing to drizzle on them and they were delicious.
* When he closed one night, he was able to take home some things that didn't sell: 2 english muffins (that I used for two mornings' breakfast sandwiches), 2 muffins, a couple cookies and a scone. We took the desserts with us to my parents house for dinner.

Preparation:
* Heavy stockpile for the pantry from the salvage grocery store. Between the best-price store buys and the food from the garden we preserve, we never have less than a 6 month supply of food, even right before the harvest starts coming in. Granted, if we were eating exclusively from the stockpile, by month 4 it would be getting boring, and by 5 months it would be positively bland, but we wouldn't starve.

Future: (New section....anything that is getting me closer to where I want to be on my 5-, 10-, and 20-year plans)
* I went with a friend, my mother and sister to a talk on urban homesteading at a local library. It was a free event. It was given by a local urban farmer/homesteader that I'm familiar with. I've visited her beautiful property and loved it, so it was great to get to hear her talk. I got to ask a few questions to help me as I answer some questions for myself about where I want to go from here while I am still living in the city.
* I'm taking a free permaculture design course through the Regenerative Leadership Institute. It's unaccredited, but I'm taking it for the education, not for credits. I listened to one of the lessons and took notes.


What did you do this week?

World's Longest Yard Sale Adventure, and tips

Late last night Trucker and I got in from our annual adventure to the World's Longest Yard sale. This yard sale runs from Addison, MI to Gadsden, AL for a total of 690 miles. Some regions there are only a few sales per mile, and some regions go all out and have festivals, city-wide yard sales and church rummage sales. At some point over the years we've gone, we've covered 150 miles of it.

Bottles were $.50 apiece. Bottle cappers/stoppers were $.10-.50 each

I worked a short morning shift on Saturday, and Trucker met me at my job so as soon as I got off work, we headed out. I'd packed a lunch for us and we ate before heading out. We arrived at 127 at 1 PM and had about 5 hours of shopping before most of the vendors were closed for the evening. We visited several yard sales, a few barn sales (always my favorites), and many church rummage sales and flea market style sales. The latter two are wonderful because you park once and hit a dozen yard sales at once. It's time efficient and saves on gasoline.

Half apron for $1.

Around 6, most of the vendors were covering their tables with tarps, so we just drove to the hotel. I knew that generally we cover 30-760 miles in a day, so I made reservations at a hotel that was 55 miles from our starting point. We were about 8 miles from the hotel when most of the sales had closed for the day, so we didn't miss much. There was a pool at the hotel so we took a short swim. Since I'd packed all of our food and drink for the trip, we went out for dinner (When travelling we do one meal out per day and eat from the cooler for the other meals). I'd found BOGO coupons for a Mexican restaurant that was located a half mile from the hotel. The next morning, we got a free continental breakfast at the hotel which, while not the healthiest, was good enough to start the day.

Before we headed out in the morning, we took everything out of the car and rearranged it. We packed small items in multiple bags into fewer bags, and played tetris with the wine cabinet, barbell set and garden tools we'd purchased the previous day. The car had seemed to be almost full since everything was tossed in haphazardly the previous day. By rearranging, we freed up over twice the space. We filled our travel mugs with coffee from the hotel room (terrible though it was) and we were off!

We were a little early getting started at 8 AM, so we drove past several sales that were still covered up. We hit a lot of community sales on Sunday and most places were ready to haggle. We would both wander around and pick up everything we wanted from a particular sale, then go together to pay so we could offer a slightly smaller amount for the lot. We were rarely turned down. The only time I had a bad experience was when a woman snapped at me for not wanting to pay the price she stated for a wooden crochet hook. I hadn't needed one, but thought if the price was low, I'd buy it to put in my gift stash. Oh well. Otherwise, I didn't have any bad experiences.

$5 for 6 lbs of Kentucky Wonder beans and $1 for 3 lbs of squash

Most of the people were lovely. I talked with one person on dehydrating. One woman's grandmother had recently passed and they were selling the contents of her house. She told me a couple of endearing stories about her grandma. A little boy had set up a stand to sell his garden produce, but he was off petting a puppy someone else was trying to sell, so I talked with his dad and grandpa as I loaded up on chemical free, homegrown squash and green beans (I paid $5 for 6 lbs of green beans and $1 for 3 lbs of squash)



Driving through the back roads of Kentucky, I fell in love with the hills. It seems every half mile we were hitting a spot with a view. At one point, Trucker pulled over to hit a yard sale and when I got out of the car, I gasped and called him over. We stood at the top of a hill overlooking a meadow with a pond tucked away off to the side and a view of rolling, wooded hills. I told him, "Now THIS is what I'm talking about when I say I want to move away to the country."

I bought this dehydrator for $5. It's
older and cheap, but it will help as I
preserve the harvest this year.

Socket set for $15 and was on Trucker's list.

All told, we spent $50 on the hotel (hotel.com deal, along with swagbucks points earned, along with credit card cash back), $40 on gas (And how I love the gas mileage our new car gets compared to the truck!), and $150 in cash for all food purchased out, yard saling, and incidentals. We had budgeted $300 in cash, but were picky in what we purchased. Some of the purchases were to resell or to use in crafts to sell online this winter. Other items were on our list to purchase at some point within the next few months. We spent some money on books and CDs and a couple oddities, but the non-essentials totaled around $40.

Two of my sisters work for a nursing home.
I found these scrubs for $1 each.

I like to keep an eye out for things that friends and family members need. This year, I was looking out for yarn for one friend, a giant stock pot for a coworker, an industrial mixer for my boss (I knew it was a long shot, but I was sure hoping) and scrubs for my sisters. I found some yarn and scrubs, and loved being able to find a good deal for the people I care about.

Bench Scraper for $1.

Tips:

$1 for a book by my favorite author? Yes please!

* Make a list, but don't stick to it. I always make a very detailed list to carry with me. On it I list everything I need for the house or projects I'm working on with measurements and other items needed such as seasonal clothing, items for hobbies, or the last few Ray Bradbury books I don't have yet (he's my favorite author). I have a missing drawer pull on my desk, so I wrote down that I needed 7 drawer pulls (so they'd match) and the measurements needed. However, I didn't find any drawer pulls or the fluted pastry wheel I was looking for. I did find Bradbury's Zen In the Art of Writing, so the list was useful. Generally, make the list, and read over it in the morning before heading out and perhaps again in the afternoon. This will remind you to look through the boxes of kitchen utensils or tools for items that you might forget to look for otherwise. However, don't be a slave to the list (this is one of the few times I will ever say this). Sometimes you'll find something perfect that you just wouldn't think to add to the list. Case in point, I found reusable bottle caps. I never would have thought to put that on the list, but now that I ferment water kefir and am going to start home brewing beer, these will save me a lot of money.

This small cast iron skillet cost me $3.

* Clean out the car before you go and pack light. Take out an items that you absolutely don't need and don't pack extra stuff if you are planning on making a multiple day trip of it. Every item you bring takes up space that you might need for a big purchase. You don't want to have to pass on the bargain wood burning stove that you need for the house you're building because you packed a second bag for the overnight trip and now have no room in the trunk. Packing light will also save you on gas, at least for the first half of the trip.

Cloth napkins for $.25 each.

* Budget. Figure out how much you are okay with spending and pull that much out in cash. Lock your credit/debit cards in the glove box. Spend only the cash you have (exception, if there is an item that you need to purchase that you find at a fantastic bargain, you could always hit an ATM). If you are going for multiple days, divide your cash into an envelope for each day so you practice self control the first days and don't blow the entire trip's cash right away.

$1 for the tea ball; $.25 each for the jacks and thimble.

* Bring small bills and coin. It's easier to haggle when you have small bills than to ask someone to come down from $20 to $15 for an item, then hand them a $20 bill and ask for change. I like to have a roll or two of quarters to avoid having to fuss with change.

Outlet covers for $.50 each for the bathroom redo.

* Bring all of your tote bags. A lot of folks come prepared with a year's supply of plastic bags for their yard sale, but some people don't have bags on hand for you. Plus, you may not want to bring any more plastic into your house than you have to. Sometimes you'll park the car and walk around a town-wide sale, or a flea market style sale. At these times, it's really helpful to have a tote bag to slide small purchases into so you don't have to walk around with armfuls of stuff while trying to shop. When it's full, you can just toss it into the trunk and grab another. It's also helpful to have some larger totes so you can place medium-sized items in them to keep items from rolling around.

* Bring your own food and drink. It will save you money over going to a restaurant or buying from one of the stands set up. It will also allow you to stay on the road and not have to stop and wait for your food to be prepared. Since these sales only last a few days, you don't want to miss a moment! We bring travel mugs and a thermos with coffee for the morning and a small cooler of iced drinks for the afternoon. Don't bring too large a cooler or you'll waste valuable space that could allow you to purchase that bulky item. Bring a lunch that won't go bad like pasta salad with a non-dairy salad dressing. Bring some dried fruit, trail mix, granola bars or easy-to-eat fruit like bananas or apples.

Lavender scented candle, free the last few hours
of the sale.

* Be prepared to haggle. Sometimes people are weird about their items and think that because they paid $20 a decade ago, you should be willing to pay $15 for it. Most people will consider reasonable offers, so it can't hurt to ask. The best times to haggle are Saturday evening right before closing because some people aren't going to set up on Sunday and all day Sunday is fair game. The last couple hours of the sale, some people are willing to take pretty much anything. Last year I was at a sale at closing bell where a woman wouldn't consider even budging on her $15 cookbooks, but this year there were many sales where people were saying "All items on the tarp are 4 for $1" or "Everything except the furniture is free."

* The first day of the sale is the best for selection. The last day of the sale is best for bargains. Plan accordingly.

I found this leather purse in a $.50 bin.

* Make it fun. In other years, we'd go for one day then come home in the evening. This year we made a trip of it. There was a pool at the hotel, we went out for dinner (using a BOGO coupon I found online) and enjoyed relaxing in a new city for the evening. The next morning we headed back out, refreshed and ready to go. If you start to get burned out, take a break. Just drive for a bit, or stop at a park for an hour to just relax. Stop at a coffee shop.

$5 for three medium sized woven rugs.

50 lb scale, $10.

* Control your spending for the first few sales. At first, you may get excited and think you're finding some great deals and spend a lot right away. However, I've found that a lot of items pop up at many yard sales at various prices. By not buying right away, you leave yourself open to finding the same item in better condition or at a lower price. For example, I have been passively looking for a vintage scale for awhile. I wanted to be able to weigh my garden produce to see what varieties are powerhouses and which ones aren't pulling their weight. I saw a couple for $50 and that was too much for me. I was at another yard sale when I saw another, right before a woman picked it up. I heard her haggle with the vendor and she bought it for $30. I was disappointed, but two yard sales later, I found one for $10. I knew that it was a great price since I'd been comparison shopping all day long and didn't hesitate to scoop it up. Another time, I was looking at some woven rugs, but didn't buy them because they were a higher dollar amount and would take up the rest of the cash I had for the day. At the very next sale, I bought 3 smaller woven rugs that were equally beautiful for 1/4 the price of one larger one.

Knives were 2 for $5; wrench was $.50

* Be careful when going off route, especially later in the sale. While you drive the route, you'll see signs for yard sales off the beaten path. These can be fantastic. Since most people don't go off-route, you may find a better selection, and since they haven't gotten as many customers, they may be more willing to haggle with you. On the other hand, sometimes you'll follow signs for 8 miles before hitting the sale only to find a few odd items. When deciding whether to go off-route, opt for "Huge sales", "Barn sales" and "Multi-Family sales" as these are more likely to be worth the time and effort. If you are going on the last day, don't go off road for any sale that doesn't list that day as many people don't have sales on Sundays, but don't take down their signs.

Cast Iron pan, $3.

Here are some of the weird things we found that didn't come home with us.

To find a long yard sale near you, check out the list at Frugal Living.

Have you ever gone to a long yard sale? Any tips you have that I missed? Any fun stories or fantastic finds?

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Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Do you crave chocolate milk? How about a sundae with chocolate syrup drizzled over the top? As for me, I love chocolate syrup in my morning peanut-butter-and-banana smoothie. What I don't love are all of the scary ingredients in a bottle of the store-bought stuff. Fortunately, whipping up homemade chocolate syrup is not only doable, it's ridiculously easy and tastes just as wonderful as anything you can buy. Here's how!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED
» 1 ½ cup organic sugar (You can use white, raw, brown, or a mix, although brown makes for the richest flavor.)
» 1 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
» 1 tsp salt
» 1 cup water
» 2 tsp vanilla extract (Make your own using the Homemade Extract 101!)
» Whisk
» Pot, large enough to leave 2 inches of headspace for expansion
» Storage container (mason jar, old syrup bottle, empty vodka bottle, etc.)
» Funnel

WHAT TO DO
Sift together the sugar, baking cocoa, and salt, breaking up any clumps.

Put those dry ingredients in a medium pot then whisk in the water until the consistency is uniform. Heat the pot over medium low heat, stirring frequently to keep from burning and occasionally scraping the sides.

Boil until the syrup reduces by a quarter or so—about half an hour. You want the syrup to be thick, but don't worry if it still seems a little runny. It will thicken considerably as it cools.

Remove the pot from heat and let cool 10 minutes before stirring in the vanilla extract. Pour the results into your storage container, using the funnel to avoid a hot, sticky mess. Allow the syrup to cool completely before putting a lid on your container. Your syrup will keep in the fridge for several months.

I don't like wasting a single bit, so after I have scraped as much syrup from the pan as I can, I add some milk and heat the reamainder for a wonderful hot chocolate.

This recipe is flexible, and after you've made it a time or two, you might want to experiment. You can try using honey or agave nectar instead of granulated sugar; just be sure to decrease the amount of water. You can mix half white sugar with half brown sugar. You can add orange extract for a chocolate-citrus syrup or mint for a HOMEGROWN peppermint patty effect. Make it your own!

I originally published this on Homegrown.

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Antique Jewelry

I love jewelry. Not fancy, expensive jewelry (Years ago, I actually told Trucker that if he bought me a diamond I'd say "no"), but fun stuff. What I don't like is paying high prices for something that is boring and everyone else has. I don't like going to discount stores at the mall for jewelry that was cheaply made. My solution? Go antiquing!

I like to browse antique stores with Trucker, but I never thought they would be a good source for my cheap jewelry fix.  Then one day I saw it: a bin of costume jewelry, $3 apiece. I dug through the bin and found a few pieces I loved. Now, every time I go to an antique store, I look for a bin of cheap jewelry. Often, it is $2-4 apiece. Sometimes it's only $1 per piece.

If you go to the mall or department store for cheap jewelry, you can expect to pay $4-20 per piece. The costume jewelry bins are at least competitive, and often much lower than similar pieces bought new.

You do have to sort through some broken, ugly, outdated or just plain weird jewelry. Don't let that dissuade you. There is likely some really good stuff buried beneath it.  

The jewelry I find is interesting. It has personality. It is different than the stuff I would find at a mall. I have never seen anyone wearing a piece I own. I am able to find jewelry that fits my style and my personality. Many of the pieces I find are very fun and quirky.

Each of the pieces in this post were purchased for $1-5, most of them $1-2. Except for the cactus earrings and the insulting pin. Those stayed at the store.

Thanks to the Bookworm in Wanatah, IN, for letting me take photos and for talking with us! If you are ever in the area, check them out!