LRJohnson Saves

I'm in bed. At 6 pm. I slept okay last night but yawned like crazy today. Early night for me. Just exhausted.

Saturday I passed up garage saling; I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t want to force myself. The bad part of this is I realize I need to pay attention to my gift buying. I have a bridal shower and wedding gift to give, and today is my friend’s sister’s birthday. I need more “anybody” gifts, like picture frames, and also specific gifts for friends. I did make a large batch of bath salts; Epsom salts, milk, and oatmeal. I colored with a dash food coloring, added a dash of almond oil for silkiness, and cardamom and grapefruit essential oils for a wonderful scent. So with nine bags packaged up I added to the gift stash in a different way.



I have the materials to make labels, and I have a lot of ribbon to make the packages look pretty. For a while at least renewing this hobby will be no cost, because I have an inventory of essential oils, almond and grapeseed oil, glycerin, Epsom salts and miscellaneous other bath craft ingredients. Even if I have to renew my stash some items are very low cost; my bath salts are quite cheap-essential oils are the costliest component. Ground oatmeal and dry milk are pennies.

I don’t realize how much I use the internet until it’s down. This rarely happens and when it does, it’s usually for a couple hours. This time it’s been almost 24 hours; shocking and frustrating.

No internet means no regular blog posts and no reading the forums and blogs. No getting quotes from Car Insurance Places. No balancing checkbook online. No seeing if I could open a Roth IRA with Vanguard online. No Posting Items on Freecycle. No re-ordering Netflix queue. Grrr.

It is a beautiful day out. Yesterday I line dried a lot of clothes and will do the same today. We are going to a friend’s barbecue; we'll bring some potato salad and some marinated chicken breast; all food from home so there will be no extra expense.

Last few days had some expenses. I spent about $30 for a grocery run at the Canned Foods Outlet, with a couple dollars in toiletries. Our DVD player (the replacement one!) died, so we bought a cheap one at $29.99. That’s divided by two; and with some rechargeable batteries I have $21.71 in household expenses. My Guy tried to fix the DVD player but he kept taking off layer after layer and screw after screw and getting nowhere. I didn’t realize that they could be so cheap. The $30 one may not be fast or great, but it works, and a bonus is that it is so small and simple it can easily be attached to our little TV. The Little TV has no cable, and is sometimes in bedroom, sometimes in kitchen. This way we can watch DVDs in bed when we want; especially good for when we are sick.

A co-worker gave me a bag of clothes she had outgrown. She’s doing really well on Weight Watchers. I knew that most of the 2X clothes wouldn’t fit, because I’m a Misses 14-16 or a Women’s World 1X, but as I suspected quite a few of the tops will work for me. I’m going to list the remainder of the bag on Freecycle.

I got my pay stub today, and noticed my net is higher. Turns out that everyone at the agency got a raise/cost of living adjustment scheduled during the last round of contract negotiations. I was a little excited. In September I get a significant raise again. And September is a three paycheck month coming up.

Well, I realized I’m in month five of the challenge. So all this extra money goes to savings and investing. Which is good. And maybe I’ll stick another five bucks in my entertainment budget next month.

Robex’s blog hit the right spot for me tonight. She’s saving money and treating herself – undeprived and more financially secure. “Tonight [my husband] wanted to go to Dairy Queen and get banana splits…that would cost about $24.00…. I suggested we go to the grocery store…and make them at home…We spent 1/2 the amount and will have ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce left over!” She’s not giving something up!

Yeah, sometimes there are things it may make sense to give up. I've said myself that less frequent treats make treats...treatier. But sometimes, it’s nice to realize that we can have our treats at a lower cost. Food is an easy place to do this: some cold cuts for nice “deli” sandwiches, a couple of classy ingredients to make a plain meal sparkle (chives and sour cream on the spud?), smoked oysters for 99 cents of pampering.

I’m hoping that those of us working at building security, working at paying debt, aiming to avoid unconscious spending, take the time to make some sundaes now and then. It’s so not about doing without.

My flight was cancelled due to fog; be jealous, all my roasting friends. Though I am wiped out-got up at 4:15, left the house at 5, just now sat down at 7-I’m glad I had a productive day.

I belatedly put together a gift for a work friend.


Thirteen homemade magnets with dolphins and kayaks-her interests. Three used books of “good” fiction-another interest. The flower "bow" is a little tin of seeds from a garage sale. It’s a gift from many co-workers. It’s a nice thing that this is the third present for our “unit” in two weeks and everyone has been willing to have the gifts be used or homemade. It seems like the sentiment is shared that it really is the thought that counts.

I have not been biking the last few days and that’s thrown me on my Credible Threat Challenge. Not moving backward, but not moving forward. At first it was legit, not biking: bad headache. But it reinforces for me, yet again, how crucial habits are: since I wasn’t yet truly in the habit of biking it was easy to drop off. The same with good eating; the quality of food has been fine, but when I am grumpy I use food sometimes, so the quantity has been inappropriate. So today is a day to gain resolve, forgive the wobble, and move on.

$1 spent out on lunch. I had packed nothing due to flying (it used to be easier when driving) so I did not have my snacks and lunch ready. I used an old gift certificate (from Sept. 2005!) for most of the soup, but I used a regular dollar. That puts me pretty close to my entertainment budget for the month, dag nabbit.

I'm traveling to Sacramento tomorrow quite early, and will return late Tuesday, so no posts until Wednesday minimum. I may be able to go to my favorite thrift shop; it may compensate for the 102 degree weather.

I have no real reason to be cranky. We tidied yesterday, the bills are paid (electric hit below a $100-my share $47-wonderful), there’s food in the fridge, but I’m just a little cranky.

So I’m drinking tea (from the Free Box) with too much sugar, and I just had a little too much cheese. These are my vices now-comparitively they are fine.

I’m watching a bad movie on video under my comforter.

It’s so very nice to have a life where I can pout with tea and be warm safe and cozy. Is it possible to be cranky and grateful at the same time? Well, it must be because I experience both plenty often.

A whopping $3.30 today.

Four small Christmas Gifts (Ornaments)

A popsicle mold, plus enough “handles” for my other mold

4 packets of bath salts

An Index card Holder with Alpha tabs

A bunch of clothes pins

A small “travel” roll of TP for the glove compartment

A cute burlap bag, filled with
A ton of teabags, various types, plus sugar/salt/pepper packets, and

A bunch of creamer/spoon/napkin packs, perfect for camping

Nothing great, but good. The teabags themselves made it worth it-the tea and other food items were in Free Box.

I also got some Free Food from a friend who was cleaning out her cupboards. One nice thing about being known as frugal is that people know I might be willing to take these types of items. It’s funny; I’m grateful for these hand-me-downs, but I also think that sometimes when I get these items, the people giving them feel good about Recycling. It works for everyone.

I’m making a Clean the Fridge soup. Not as creative as some of my others, but some hand-me-down rice and barley, some almost wilting vegetables, and some hand-me-down green olives that I have been chipping away at for months, it feels like. I’ve got all these saved and frozen and wrapped and rescued foods, and it feels a little crowded. So any soup that empties 4 or more cottage cheese tubs is a winner.

Imagine that your income was going to be cut by $100 a month permanently. What would you cut out or reduce? How about doing it now? You probably thought of things that weren’t as important to you….if you love dining out, you might have thought of cutting cable; if you love your TV, you may have thought about cutting out going out to eat. What if you gave up what wasn’t super important, and were then able to pay down debt, or build an emergency fund, or fund something really important to you, like a “real” vacation? Would you be willing to give up the things that you don’t need, don’t love?

I’m watching the Oprah Debt Diet show, and she’s reinforcing for me a principle that I have been working at articulating. Don’t Upgrade. I could lose my job today and take a minimum wage job and be okay, today. That is such a freeing feeling. It doesn’t feel deprived or degrading, it feels very freeing.

In all areas, we were very slow to increase spending when we went from broke to doing well. Getting Netflix, at $19.29 ($9.65 each) was a huge decision for us. We have the very basic $9.95 cable; that too was a huge decision for us (somewhat forced by a class of mine having televised segments.) People making half of what we do have “full” $50 cable.

In so many areas we have either not increased spending, or increased it by so little, that we don’t have much to lose. We’ve learned what is important to us, and spend little in areas that aren’t important to us.

I have a job I like. I eat a good diet, including lots of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. My house has plenty of furniture, and we have a wonderful comforter on a great bed. I have a lot of books, and a few magazine subscriptions. We have money to spend on leisure activities that are important to us. I have a great computer and a high speed connection. I have a car with 35,000 miles on it and no payments.

If our spending followed our income, if we had upgraded, and spent more, we’d have so much we’d have to give up. Faced with a downturn, we might have had to give up fancy coffee, full cable, Department Store shopping, convenience foods, fancy paper or cleaning products, new clothes, cruises, timeshares, jewelry, steak, a housecleaner.

By living low, I’ve actually created a better quality of life for myself than I might have if I had upgraded my spending without giving a lot of thought to it.

Camping was excellent, Sunday afternoon I felt pleasantly camping drained, and today Monday hit with a vengeance. Cost of camping: $12 for the extra vehicle fee (went with a couple who had a car too). Otherwise the only cost was groceries. I wanted very much to do no cooking, so I agonized over individual servings of applesauce at the outlet store; never has someone thought about spending $1.29 that long. Well, I didn’t eat them camping and now I feel funny eating them at lunch at work…..like I’m hurting my frugal reputation. I’m a dork.

Household
I count anything that is not edible outside of my grocery budget. My “Household Budget” includes long-term things like furniture, as well as short-term like toilet paper. I’m thinking about changing that. Last year I spent $184.89 (I thought I had spent 243, but that was for 14 months.) But the year before I spent a grand, so my more honest long term average is $50 a month.

Paper Products

We don’t by paper towels, paper plates, napkins, cups.

I bought paper plates for camping a few years ago; we still have some and use them as a treat rarely.

We use dish towels instead of paper towels. Old washcloths and hand towels become rags.

We use cloth napkins. I got a bunch at the dollar tree in three packs 3 or 4 years ago; 100% cotton, wear well.

We line dry our napkins and dish rags.

If we get takeout, we use cloth napkins and stick the paper napkins in a dispenser I got from the thrift store; the chrome spring loaded kind. We use those napkins as paper towels on really funky messes, or sometimes guests prefer paper to cloth.

I waffled for months before finally deciding that buying double rolls of toilet paper was worth it for us.

Cleaning Supplies

We are not big cleaners; our house is very uncluttered but we don’t clean surfaces too much.

We buy ammonia, bleach, dish soap and cleanser. That’s about it.

I know I could use vinegar and baking soda for some cleaning; I just haven’t yet.

We use maybe one cleanser a year, or less. One bottle of ammonia a year, or less. Bleach, maybe 2 bottles a year-I do use in the laundry.

I have spray bottles with diluted bleach and diluted ammonia as spray cleaners.

Oh, I do have some Windex.

Furniture

We don’t buy much. We make do with what we have, and add stuff we like over time.

I’m 35; I have the dresser my parents bought as raw wood and finished together when I was around 9. I got it from my dad when I was in my late 20s when he was paring down.

I have an armoire I bought in my late teens, early twenties; it was an irresponsible purchase at the time at $150, but I absolutely love it. One of the shelves is marked “woolens”-how could I not love it?

I have bookcases I’ve had since my teens.

It took us three trips to the thrift store to evaluate a $25 sofa five years ago. The people at the store found it funny. We could have “afforded” a new couch but didn’t want to buy one.

I did get a slip cover for the sofa; I like it partially because it’s washable.

Bought new: two computer chairs, my desk, and the coffee table. I think that’s it. Otherwise they are hand me downs or thrift store or garage sale items.

One of my favorite pieces of furniture is a wooden recycling cupboard; it was $20 at a garage sale, I probably could have gotten it for $15 but I fell head over heals in love and I was too dazed to dicker.

I will add vintage pieces over time as I find good deals. I did buy a vanity in 2004 for that I will own for decades.

Electronics

Our TV is 19”.

As high tech as our computer set up is, our TV and stereo is low tech. We use our PCs to play music a lot, instead of our low end portable radio.

Camping Gear

Yes, this could be considered entertainment instead of household.

We bought two cheap Sears sleeping bags and a used four man (fits two comfortably) tent. We are good to go.

My Guy got a picnic basket a while ago; we have it full of plastic cutlery (I wash and save from various sources), pots, salt and pepper, metal cups, essentially anything we need to cook while camping. Makes packing easier.

Other than that, we have the burner that screws onto the propane bottle, and a lantern. If we camped more I might get more gear.

Linens

We have one set of towels we bought maybe five or so years ago at 1.49 each. They are good quality but someone returned them to Ross washed so I was able to get the towels, hand towels and wash cloths cheap.

I think we’ve bought sheets maybe once or twice-we only used a bottom sheet and a comforter with a comforter cover (duvet cover). I know I’ve gotten sheets at garage sales, also Ross when I had an employee discount. The fact I can’t remember means it’s a long time ago.

I have had my super thick down comforter for a long time. It was a hand-me-down but I would have paid for one. I know they can be costly but I adore my heavy down comforter-perfect in winter and summer.

My Guy bought wash clothes at Wal-Mart (I have never been). The washcloths were lousy quality, we were bummed.

Due to the above experience, I am less inclined to buy new towels unless they are high quality; ours are white and I want yellow or blue, but such is life.

Appliances

We are renters, so the fridge and gas stove come with the kitchen.

I don’t like dishwashers, to My Guy’s chagrin.

I get closer and closer to buying a freezer every minute.

Our washer and dryer are used. Both were bought refurbished. My Guy has fixed the dryer a couple times.

Other than that, it's a coffee maker, a coffee grinder, a vacuum, and that's it.

I’m packed and excited and will be driving into the redwoods shortly. Two nights camping, back on Sunday. I packed very simply: the one thing I don’t like about camping is dealing with cooking. So I have pre-made sandwiches, muffins, hardboiled eggs, carrot sticks and edamame. A treat: chips! I also got great deals on fruit: a pound of cherries 1.99 and 4 pints of strawberries for 3.99. No cooking, just luxurious eating.

We’ll be by the river, and be very relaxed and happy. Oh yeah, baby.

I had what I call fish jerky today. That, and Ray teasing me about funky popsicles and soups, made me realize that I am a lemonade out of lemons kind of gal.

Fish jerky? Not frugal, you say. Salmon jerky is very pricy. Well, cod jerky is cheap…especially if made unintentionally by overcooking. Yes, I over baked fish into hard strips. And I called it fish jerky and ate it for lunch.

Don’t get me wrong: If I didn’t like the Freak Soup or fish jerky, I wouldn’t have eaten them. I am not into frugality, pre Challenge or now, to punish myself and feel deprived and wring out every cent out of everything at the expense of my happiness. I like my odd concoctions, my spur of the moment “wow! It’s soup!” creations. But I’m sure part of it is being willing to like them, trying them with a sense of curiosity and pleasant surprise.

If I tried over baked fish and expected it to taste incredible, to equal a $20 dollar take out dinner, I could be disappointed. But if I just am a little open-minded, maybe there’s something I like about that jerky.

We have so many opportunities to feel disappointed, but we don’t need to take them. Every time we watch a regular network TV show, we don’t have to compare it to a five star movie. When we are camping in a park, we don’t have to think of how much more fun the beach…in Florida….might have been. I have spent too much time wanting what I didn’t have, and I’m done with that.

We grilled today, mostly using up what we had at home. Foil wrapped potato chunks, zucchini, sausages, hamburger patties, and some chicken breast. Very good and low cost. It tasted extra good making do with what we had.

I did browse at the 4th of July event in town, but my largest purchase was some beets and zucchini at the adjacent farmer’s market. I looked at a lot of jewelry and passed. Not because of The Challenge; all of it was great but nothing knocked my socks off.

I did eat a little bit of fair food, but again being thrifty goes with eating less junk: I had one egg roll, and three of us shared one order of Indian Fry Bread with honey and butter.

So my expenditures equaled $2.20 for my share of groceries, and $3.50 for fair food (including for someone else), for a total of $5.70. I had taken $60 out of the ATM just in case I found great gifts for people or jewelry I loved. I anticipated spending more. Huh. Funny how I stay frugal even when expecting not to.

Today was another no spend day. We're grilling tomorrow with stuff on hand. Going to a street fair; there is a possibility I will buy jewelry for myself or gifts for other people; that's okay. That's part of why I spend very little at times; when there are things I'd like to buy I can.

I do like buying from local craftspeople and merchants. And I like grilling, and sleeping late. Tomorrow promises to be a good day.

Here’s my Month Four Summary on my (Modified) Minimum Wage Challenge. I’m doing well, and can even see buying a freezer later in the summer. My spent of $1073 is $519 less than my average per month last year. (I know have some banked, but it will be spent on non-monthly budgeted purchases.) Adding back in the $39 I put into "savings" under the challenge, I saved an additional $558 for the $20 challenge. This makes for $2232 in savings in four months for my $20 Challenge.

1) My “savings” fund has $156 in it; $39 a month for 4 months. My newly started combination emergency fund/large purchase fund has hit a whopping $21.20; what I added to it in June was triple what I added in May, so there is progress there. It shows a balance of zero because it’s not in my main “account” in my budgeting spreadsheet.
2) My total to spend is less than $1073 (plus $1 extra income) to account for any overspending in any categories from last month. See prior posts or the YouNeedABudget site for more details.
3) $395 is the sum of the positive numbers; that’s the amount I have banked and unspent for non-monthly expenses.
4) The $983.64 comes from $1073 less the overspending in 3 categories in June, $89.36.

My income for the month included my regular $1073 CA Minimum Wage (see prior posts for details) plus $1 dollar from a survey; no recycling or books sold on half.com this month.

The miscellaneous this month is my half of the Costco membership. We’ve weighed the benefits, and for us membership is worth it; partially because of the significantly cheaper gas at Costco, partially on some computer related items. I’ve also now found that I can get significant cheese savings at Costco, now that I’ve started an official Price Book.

My medical expenses have calmed down and I have been spending less by habit; it takes less and less effort. My grocery average is now down to $93. I’m now using a Price Book, cooking more from scratch, and doing a lot of garage saling and thrift store shopping. I’m also going out much less, and enjoying it more when I do.

I cleaned out my clothes closet, and posted a couple nice blazers on Freecycle. (Excellent condition, sleeves too long, worn a couple times in 7 years.) I was rewarded for my Freecycle post by finding, in a purse I had gotten from Freecycle, a bag of jewelry. There are 5 pairs of earrings and 2 rings that I'm keeping-such a nice little surprise.

For $9.50, I got

Eagle Creek Travel Toiletry Bag, never used
Five new picture frames
Cake pan
Popsicle mold
Candy thermometer
Small bottles for travel toiletries
Drying rack’
Misto Oil Sprayer (makes regular oil into a Cooking Spray)
Mostly full roll of Press'n'Seal
Two Tupperware tubs
A ton of photo paper
Some printer labels
Two gift bags
A ton of blank and greeting cards
Some OTC cold medicine,
A lot of soap.

Total $9.50; $4.75 gifts, $3.50 household, 75 cents toiletries, 50 cents Medicine.

I’ll give the Travel Bag as a gift; I have an Eagle Creek bag now and love it. I’m not usually brand minded, but I am awfully fond of the high Quality of Eagle Creek products. Some of the soap I may donate a work for “Clean Kits” for homeless folks. The photo paper will be great to make magnets for people as gifts. The drying rack is an excellent find for fifty cents.

The Misto sprayer means I don’t need to buy cooking spray for my muffins. (The Misto bottle pumps air into the oil so it comes out in a fine spray; very nice.) Looks like these types of bottles are usually $10 or more. Here's my Misto in front of my muffins and granola.

I know I got a good deal on the photo paper; this item is usually so pricey.

My discovery of blender soups has led me down strange paths. I bought a ten pound bag of carrots because the price was right. I knew I could not eat them all as carrot sticks, so I steamed some for blender soup. When we grilled last Sunday I realized we were at the bottom of the ketchup and mustard containers (we bought more). So I took some water and put it in the ketchup and mustard bottles, shook’em up, and poured into the blender along with some dry milk powder and carrots, blended, and made Mustard Ketchup Carrot Soup.

I tasted it and I’m almost giddy……it tastes great. I’d serve it to guests as Cream of Carrot soup, though.

My Guy was in the mood to go out tonight. We decided on a little local Mexican place; we’ve been going to it since it opened, and we quite like the owner. Since I’m trying to eat lighter, I ordered two incredible tacos instead of a meal. One adobada, one carne asada, both on tasty corn tortillas with cilantro and chopped onion. Wonderful. A glass of water, and chips and salsa. $4 plus tax and tip totaled $6. It’s great how my Credible Threat Challenge and Minimum Wage Challenge can come together like that. We had a great time, great service, great food, I’m not over stuffed, and I’m not out big bucks.

I got a lot done today. Walked to work and back, powered though quite a few tasks at work, did six miles on my recumbent, at a good dinner, wrote a crazy freakin' long entry about laundry.

Now it's time to check some other blogs, nuke some popcorn (my daredevil living paper bag method), and sleep the sleep of the content.

That's a misleading title for an entry that really should be called:
Laundry: Washing and Hanging

I think my method of handling laundry is fairly easy and fairly cheap.

Quantity

•I don’t automatically toss clothes I’ve worn in the hamper. I certainly don’t re-wear stinky or soiled clothing, but often I’m able to wear a shirt or pair of pants more than once.

•I take off my work clothes as soon as I come home, most times. At first it was just because I liked being in my jammies, but then I realized that it was enabling me to get another wearing between washings.

•Sleep clothes especially can take a few wearings. I even re-wear my "sleep socks," since they haven’t been walked around in.

•I only wash full loads, without over-packing my washer.

Frequency

•I used to wash once a week. Now that I’m doing almost all hang drying, I find it better to wash more frequently, so that I have enough room on my line and rack for all the clothes.

•Since I wash more frequently, I can get by on fewer clothes. I seem to be wearing the underwear at the front of the drawer and not getting to the ones in the back, due to frequent laundry.

Detergent

•I use to use the cheapest of the cheap powder. I then got a huge bottle of liquid as part of a product survey, and I kind of liked it. (Don’t voluntarily upgrade….you can become discontented with what used to be satisfactory.) I’m now back to my cheapie cheap powder, but I do have a bottle of the cheapest liquid if I feel like splurging. (What a splurge, huh?)

•The cheapest powder is actually not hard on my clothes, because I use a half measure. Our clothes aren’t heavily soiled: we work in offices. In all my time using less detergent, I’ve been perfectly happy with the results.

•When I use the liquid, I drop the cup in the washer so all the soap is used up.

Additives

•I do sometimes use bleach on my whites, maybe once a month.

•I never use liquid fabric softener.

Washing

•A couple years ago, the hot water stopped feeding into the washer. It probably wouldn’t take too much effort to fix it, but we’ve been happy with just washing in cold. Cold wash, cold rinse on everything. If I fixed it, I might use warm on towels. I don’t have any kids or immuno-suppressed people in the house, so I’m not worried about germs the way other people might need to be. Colors never bleed, either.

•I use the short cycle almost always. Again, mostly light wear on the clothes, and I’ve been happy with the results.

•If I want to soak clothes, I leave the lid of the washer up and my washer stops part way though. I get to soak without using the soak cycle.

•Doing the short wash and cold all the time, I’ve found that I don’t need to sort laundry. I can wash a blouse with undies with a white towel with a pair of jeans. It’s a madhouse.

Drying

•I’ve just moved to line drying all the time, instead of just during the summer.

•I re-spin clothes in the washer to get extra water out.

•For some shirts, work slacks, and blouses, I do use the dryer. This way I don’t need to iron. I know I could hang them then use the dryer the last few minutes, but I’m okay drying one load a week.

•If I have to choose what to line dry as far as space or time limitations, I always line dry the big heavy items: jeans, towels.

•I use a half dryer sheet sometimes when I think of it. The last cheapo off brand box we bought has lasted over a year. Sometimes I reuse them. Our clothes smell fine and don’t cling without them, so I guess I could give them up. But hey, sometimes I like to live it up. With a dryer sheet.

Line drying

•I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how cool it can be outside and clothes can still dry. I’ve heard over 60 degrees is outdoor drying weather.

•I’ve been pleasantly surprised that clothes can dry in the house overnight.

•Hanging in the house for me means pinning even jeans to a hanger, so that everything is on a hanger, then finding places to hang the hangers. I could get an indoor clothesline; I haven't ruled it out, I'm just not unhappy with the status quo. Shorter items can go on door knobs. I found more things I could put a hanger on than I expected.

•The first time I hung clothes it took a while. I can now do it quickly. I worked at being patient with myself.

•I bought 2 packs of clothes pins at the dollar store years ago, and they are still going strong. I also love them for other uses (closing food bags, etc.)

•I use a small wooden folding drying rack that I bought at a garage sale years ago; I can’t remember the price. This is what I use for socks, undies, dishtowels, and napkins. Line drying has made my underwear last longer-no fried elastic.

•Outside I have a retractable line: on one side of the house permanently mounted, and can be pulled out and attached to a hook on the opposite side of the yard. We’ll take it with us if we move.

•I hang t-shirts and knit shirts and nightgowns on hangers; this gives me more room. If I didn’t have space considerations, I might hang them by pins upside down (under the arms seems to dry faster that way).

•I don’t mind stiff clothes. If I did, or had guests using the towels, I might throw them in the dryer for a minute to soften.

•Line dried clothes smell fabulous.

Whew. I’ve mentioned my unmentionables.

I know there are other methods and strategies. This was not meant to be a comprehensive list. This is just what I do, a gal who has a decent income but who has chosen to live on CA Minimum Wage for a year. A lot of things I had already been doing. On The Challenge I have become much more consistent and paid much more attention.

I’m closing in on the end of Month Four of my (Modified) Minimum Wage Challenge, success in sight. June has been much easier than April and May, actually; I’m very comfortable with my new spending habits. I am more at peace with my money than ever before. Four months will be one third of the year I’m planning to be on the Challenge, which is also my $20 Challenge.

My trouble is that I’m spending very little, but not necessarily explaining how I am spending a little less than $1073 a month and still having a full rich life. I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise; frankly my income would accommodate willy-nilly spending, and my belt-tightening is purely by choice.

I’m working on writing down my strategies specifically; thanks to Tightwad Kitty for the idea. I’ve got ideas for breaking down particular areas, such as food, entertainment, and the like, as well as general themes, such as “Buying Less Means Clutter Free” and “Lowered (Not Low) Expectations Mean Met Expectations.”

Not only do I not want to have a boring blog, I want to have a record for five, ten, thirty years from now to keep me grounded and have a base to build on. If I get in the company of spendthrifts I’ll need to remind myself how good it felt to be in control of my spending and be able to put a lot in savings while still feeling undeprived.

(I’m still going traveling in September. As stated pre-Challenge and pre-ticket purchase, the one thing I don’t want to pass up is opportunities for world travel. So this is the one area I will spend outside the Challenge. We got a deal to London round trip for $450, so we are flying to Europe. Most of our time will be in Croatia and Serbia, with a little time in London. My friend and I did some planning yesterday, and I am getting pretty excited. I will be tracking all trip expenses, because another thing I do want to convey is that world travel can be done with moderate spending. As yet, the $450 is my only expense. I’ve had no luck searching for recent used Croatian guide books, so my next expense will be a new guide book. I’ll live.)

We had folks over for grilled oysters and barbecue this evening. A great day in the yard, and a productive large grocery run.

Some one was posting about whether feeding guests would be considered entertainment or groceries. I do a little of both. If I buy something that would only ever be bought for a guest, maybe a dessert or a fancy cheese, I might call that entertainment. However if I feed guests the same thing I’d eat, I call it groceries. That’s even if it’s a treat, because the truth is My Guy and I sometimes have small treats ourselves. We love grilling up oysters.

The house is clean, I am relaxed, did four miles on my stationary bike, and I’m ready for bed. Work promises to be jam-packed this week, and I want to go into it with a positive, solution-oriented attitude.

The grocery run was $109, split between the two of us. I was able to add a lot of items to my price book. We did quite a bit of stocking up on peanut butter, oatmeal, sugar, powdered milk, and the like. It’s very satisfying to have a full pantry.

I don’t understand why people love shopping. I really don’t. I was in Sacramento for three meetings in four days, and I was really surprised at how many people mentioned the shopping opportunities (Downtown mall with a –gasp-Macys, Arden fair Mall, etc.). I had time between my last meeting and my flight, and people were actually incredulous that I wasn’t going to shop.

I mentioned to a couple that there wasn’t anything I needed right now, and they suggested I window shop and try things on for fun. To me, that’s actually a very unpleasant way to spend time. I just can’t see doing it voluntarily.

I’m glad I’m like this, I guess. My mother was a shopper but it never caught on. I’m kind of tomboy frugal hippie non-conformist nerd. I’m okay with that. It saves me money.

Now, if there was a series of great garage sales or thrift sores, maybe I could have gotten into that. Still need to do Christmas and other gift shopping. I really enjoy gift-giving. Since I had to fly, I decided not to try thrift store shopping since my bag was full. Perhaps next time, I can bring only carry on to Sacramento and check a bag on the way bag if I hit the thrift store.

I’m so very glad to be home. Usually travel is okay, but these meetings stressed me out a little-I had to be on my best behavior. Also, it seemed longer than usual.

The house is tidy and I’m having a low key day puttering, hanging laundry, tidying, and relaxing.

I did spend $3.49 on decaffeinated black tea, 60 bags, at Trader Joe’s. At less than 6 cents a bag it was a great deal for decaf black. I was able to update my new price book. Other than that, no spending.

I love my peanut butter tubs; I use them for bulk foods. I use Red Vines Licorice tubs, which are behind the PB tubs, for items I use more of, like milk and flour.

At my work, it seems like all sorts of people bring in licorice tubs. I love them, and also use them for my “on its way to compost” bin.

I didn’t label all my tubs at once. I know some of these were labeled years ago, some in the last month. I think overall I have made labels - used a Sharpie on Post Its and taped to tubs - three times. (Yes, I know the beans aren’t black. I’m now on the pintos, but I kept the old label.)

I travel for work this week. Yes, again. I have a regular two day, one night trip a month, but it seems like there has been an extra trip or two every month lately. I leave tomorrow quite early and fly back Friday night. I may get in a trip to the fancy thrift store.

I spent money today: $10 at the cobbler shop, to get some shoes repaired. I needed my mary jane Dansko’s fixed, because I’m wearing dresses (!) in Sacramento. The cobbler was adorable; three kids, all MDs, one just got her PhD, and he had the commencement announcement right on the counter. I am not usually into the proud papa deal-goes along with not being interested in kids, therefore not interested in parenting-but I loved this guy. He had no doubt I'd be into hearing about his kids. Two of his children came out of med school with no debt. This man just glowed. I think he might be a first generation American, and he was so very proud of his children. I could tell he worked very hard for them.

Here's the bulb I bought at a garage sale, that I couldn't explain. It's in our one bare bulb fixure in the laundry room. It's not my usual style-I tend to like simple and plain-but this little bugger called to me.

Here is a picture of my pretty little dinner.

Aren’t the shells nice? I use regular tortillas, in my new little molds, $1 at a garage sale. If someone was interested, I’d recommend maybe just folding an aluminum pie pan into the right shape, or snagging a pot pie pan from a spendthrift bud. Bake at 375 after spraying with cooking spray. Or you could go old school and oil it.

I’m still using canned refried beans. I know I should be making my own from dried beans-I’m getting there. The shredded cheddar/jack was a nickel a pound less than the block; unusual, and good, since I have better luck freezing shredded than block cheese. I’m not interested in making my own tortillas yet, but someday I may.

My Guy set it up so I can download pictures from his digital camera to my computer. It’s a bit too exciting-watch out!

I’ve been thinking about buying a freezer for many years. Often with a big purchase I contemplate for a really long time, so that when I buy it I’m sure.

About a year and a half ago, I finally committed to the purchase. After three farcical attempts to buy it at Costco (I’d call, they’d have one, I’d drive there, it was sold five minutes ago, etc.) I gave up. The message seemed to be "it is not the right time."

Now I’m having pangs again. Costco has a 7 cubic foot, dishwasher size, for $199.99. I don’t know what the energy usage is. Sears has a 5 cubic foot for $169.99. The energy usage, on a scale of 166 to 245, is 242, which is disheartening.

We have really old wiring in the house; some might be original-we see the actual cloth wires on the outside of the wall. We haven’t had big problems, but we have had minor problems, and My Guy has a valid concern that a freezer could strain the wiring.

I periodically see chest freezers for free on Freecycle, but they are older. I know that Amy Dacyczyn isn’t the final word on everything, but freezers were one of the few new purchases she recommended, due to the significant increases in energy efficiency in newer models. I know I want a smaller one, so many of the free ones might be too big.

We aren’t big meat eaters, so we wouldn’t use a freezer for that much. I would use it for plums from our tree, because they all get ripe at once and I can’t process that many for canning all at once. I’d use it for thrift store bread. I want to make two serving dinners in big batches-lasagna, chili, stew, casseroles. I’d use it for blackberries. (Lay on cookie sheet, freeze, then put in bags, to avoid clumps. That way you can have a handful at a time.)

I’d put in par-baked pizza dough-I’m intimidated by baking, and if I could make 4 or 5 pizza bases at one time I’d be more inclined to learn. I’d freeze large batches of grains, like oatmeal and flour, for 24 hours to prevent bugginess.

I think that five cubit feet would be fine for me. I would be using my Minimum Wage Savings to buy this, so it would come out of my $39 a month, for $156 so far, and the rest I’d have to just take out of other categories-I just can’t see cheating on The Challenge.

My Guy suggests waiting until later in the summer, when I actually have fruit to put in it. He’s not really for the idea; he thinks it would take up too much space and strain the wiring, though he’s not anywhere close to invoking a veto.

(We use the “veto” to judge how strongly someone thinks about something. “Do you want to go on a grocery run?” “Not really” means you could be talked into it. “Veto” means end of discussion. We try not to overuse it; it’s a really nice way of conveying firmness in the refusal without being argumentative.)

I’m thinking of watching Freecycle for a couple months, then taking a chance with a Sears or Costco freezer at the end of the summer. I am concerned about getting an old one, but maybe Amy D’s advice is outdated-a 1992 freezer may have been light years better for electric usage than a 1986, but a 2002 freezer might be as good as a 2006 freezer. I’m gonna call some local places to see if they have used, refurbished freezers. I looked at Target’s site, and the options were more expensive than Costco and Sears. I don’t have a Home Depot or other building store, or any other department stores that I think would have freezers.

I welcome any opinions, from the grocery aspect to the electric usage to the old wiring to the cubic feet part. Also any other uses that freezers have that I didn’t mention, and any other plusses or minuses on brands, etc.