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Hi GDonna!

We had a brief period of hard rain and wind on Sunday, but no damage in our immediate neighborhood of loss of power.  However, driving around on Monday, I did see a lot of downed tree limbs so i guess we were just lucky.  We have had awful heat here, and I do have the window air conditioner on in our bedroom at night.  It's been humid and in the mid to upper 90's.  Right now i have two fans on me (i cannot stand the heat) and am resisting the urge to turn on the whole house air conditioner.  I take the dogs out for a few short walks during the day, and we wait until almost sunset at night to take them for their longer walk.  They are chihuahuas and apparently hate the heat too.

Paperwork is the death of me too.  My dad is deceased, and my Mom lives in an assisted living residence, partly because of mobility but also due to memory loss.  I have slowly been bringing boxes of random paperwork to my house to sort through.  It's everywhere in my house, in boxes waiting to be sorted, filed, or shredded.  It's hard enough getting your own records in order (which I have been doing) but harder doing your parents records when you have no idea what might be important.

I love the look of your home!  I am working to have a more vintage look here as well.  I am not living as though i am in the 1930's, but my takeaway so far has been to double down on reducing spending, increasing savings, being creative about meeting actual needs, GETTING RID OF UNNECESSARY STUFF, doing things that don't require a lot of $, but I already live that way so not a big change.  Up until the recent heat wave, i had been doing really good with cutting back on water and electricity.  Hopefully we will be through this soon.  

~Debbie

I have been reorganizing too. I've rearranged a couple of rooms, and we got rid of a chair in the living room. We aren't going to replace it. We like the open space better. The garlic is almost done curing and we've begun harvesting the potatoes, and the onions won't be far behind. I want everything to go in my small pantry this year, so that's a major rearrangement of where everything goes. I want to keep less grocery store food around. We'll have enough on hand with the storage vegetables and the canning for any emergencies. I'm rearranging my schedule too, and just love one room proper. :) It keeps my house so clean. I iron regularly now too.

We're under the heat dome and it's not the heat but the humidity that gets me down. The plants are doing okay. The push mower makes fluffier grass clippings perfect for mulch, and we top up any plants that look like they could use some more. It's our rain barrel that's beginning to run out already. We plan to buy another one next year. 

I'm still trying to get my meals right. Counting calories helps. I watched some YouTube videos of body builders talking about the cheapest forms of protein. Cottage cheese and boneless, skinless chicken were in the top choices. If I had to produce most of my food, I decided cream peas, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, and greens would be the basis of my diet. 

Hello GDonna!
We're also experiencing a heatwave here at the moment. 36 to 40°C (97 to 104°F) and blue skies.
My grandmother also had a Singer sewing machine. When she died in 1975, my mother gave it away. I was still a child back then, but I fondly remember how my great-grandmother sat and worked at it. Today, I would love to have the machine for myself. What a shame.
But I bought an electric sewing machine many years ago and would never want to be without it again. A sewing machine is a true treasure.

Best wishes from Germany,

Oh my gosh, creamed peas are one of my favorites!

Yes I definitely am doing things differently and really enjoying the changes. I am able to relax more and read, because things are done and put away where they belong.

It took thinking I had lost the pressure jiggles for my pressure canner to scare me into re arranging and truly thinking about where to store things.

I picked green beans last evening, did not get enough for a canner load but am storing them in the freezer until I get another picking.  Trying to do outside chores while it is a bit cooler as we are also under the heat dome. Weeded the onions early this morning, fed the weeds to the hens. 

I have also been wearing clothes a bit longer I wear aprons so it isn't as if they are dirty, I try to air them a while on hangers outside. 

I have my AC going because I cannot take the heat/humidity for health reasons. I understand why my granny did her cooking early and always had a very short lay down in the heat of the day.

I really think the biggest help to me has been turning off the TV in the AM, after just a bit of local news. I am realizing that while I thought I was leaving it on for "back round noise" it was a horrible distraction to my mental and physical life. While I was not actively watching it, I was absorbing negativity.

I do wish I could learn how to cook less at a time, stuff does not go to waste but I do get tired of it.

I also have paperwork that needs shredding but my shredder died and I am not going to replace it, I will figure something out.

I love to reorganize and simplify and your study has been nudging me to pare down. This week I've been rearranging the books and items on shelves in our living room and office. I took a bunch of books to our Half Priced Books shop. They gave me a bit of cash for my old books, and my three year old got to pick out two new (to her) books. It was so nice to streamline and see how excited my daughter was to pick out a new book. I love books (I'm a librarian; it's a hazard of the profession!), but there are only so many I want to keep and re-read. 

I enjoy reading about your journey! I have a question: What are you and Charles doing about the medication that the doctor prescribes? Perhaps y'all aren't on any? I find that I'm taking more than I care to, and I'm working to get healthier so I can stop taking them, but it is also an expense. I'm slowly working to make changes in my life by getting rid of things I don't need and avoiding purchases that I don't need. I'm not necessarily living in the 30s, but it's not a bad idea!

I'm working hard on getting rid of unnecessary things so that what I do save earns it keep! 

I'm also working on decluttering countertops! The bathroom is done. Nothing on the counter. Everything I've kept has its place in the cupboard. I'm nealy there in the kitchen. Except for a couple heavy counter appliances my countertops will be clear. I found good, reasonable places for everything.  What propelled me to do this is I was getting tired of spilling something or even the mess from just cooking getting everywhere or on things and then not only having to clean the mess but all the items it got on!

It makes life simpler!

Hello from QLD Australia, I have just started coming here to read your posts and have been so inspired. I have really been thinking about our finances and how to be a better steward of them, there is so much we can learn from the past and I love this process of looking back and learning. It seems to me we are and have lost so much wisdom and beauty in this modern world, from furniture to cars, even clothing. The home you have created with love and as you say patience is beautiful. We live on a homestead here in Australia and raise beef cattle, I cook from scratch, grow alot of our food, but fall short in areas such as sewing, it feels very hard to find the time in my days to sew, however I am trying to tackle small simple projects for my home to gain skills and confidence. Thank you for creating this beautiful space to come and visit, learn and to be inspired, blessings from my home to yours.

While I don't live it, I do have a huge interest in the old eras.  There's just something more homey about pre-tech times.The more tech, the more people try to cram into their day.  It's sad really.  I try to do my part though. I'd live much more old school than my husband would so I do have my dreams.  So far I've gotten rid of anything plastics and unnatural.  I look for cotton, glass, stainless steel. I've slowly dumped all the teflon. I have a perk coffee maker.  I rarely use my microwave, my husband mostly uses it. I'd like to start sewing and have a machine, but I live so far out that anything fabric related is a 2 hour trip in driving. I even dream of closing off about 1,000 sq feet of my house.  If something ever happened to my husband I could just make that area into storage or guest facilities.  Smaller is homier. Handmade is better.  It just seems that living like you, reflects the person and not the trends which is just so beyond wonderful. 

Has anyone had any experience with Zote soap? In my thinking about what I would do if we had no income, I decided to give Zote a try since it's supposed to do everything but make dinner. :) It's very inexpensive and you get a really big bar. It looks like the cheapest soap option. It's so big that you need to cut it up into more manageable pieces to use it. 

I didn't find Zote to work as well as Fels Naptha, but Fels is now so hard to find and really pricey. I think it'll depend upon how dirty your laundry is.  Honestly, I think in general, we use too much soap.  I actually add water to mine and have noticed no difference in cleanliness.  I have made my own soap with Fels, Zote, Dr. Bronners bar soap and Kirks soap along with the washing soda and borax. 

Your home looks so cosy, safe and warm GDonna. Your curtains are very pretty through your home. I often notice them and vintage linens are a love of mine. I used to love Rhonda Hetzels red checked ones too. Even though I am not doing the 1930s study I have been organising and decluttering our home for many years and the peace and orderliness it brings is wonderful. You and Charles are such a great team and always look prepared and organised to me! In fact I don't know how you manage it all, produce a wonderful garden and Charles still goes to work. It will be such a blessing when he retires soon. Best of luck to you both with the paperwork.

I look forward to and read all the comments and find them inspiring. This study is encouraging me to use my time better. Someone commented in the last post about the impact of screens on concentration.  I have noticed in myself that I am somewhat impacted by this. I noticed when reading a book my concentration wandered almost like I wanted to multi task and check snippets on my phone. So I am more mindful of being in the moment now. Also less screen time frees up a significant amount of time and with world news less depressing mind clutter. I think I am going to purchase a DVD player so we can watch the good old British films and series. Blessings to everyone.

I have minimal paperwork. In NZ we don't seem to need it to hold on to. Our big bills like rates, insurance are paid online and we have digital receipts for them. We keep paper copies of car and house ownership, the last car service and a few health records. We keep a small waterproof file for it that also has a very small handful of appliance instruction manuels in it. A copy of our wills and that is about it. I'm curious why people have a lot of paperwork. Do you have to keep paperwork and not digitise it in America? Is it work and tax related and it needs to be kept for a certain amount of years?

Only for laundry.  I shred it.  I have eczema so I only use white.  It's cheap and everything smells great so I guess it works pretty good!

Ingrid, besides insurance, ownership docs, and titles, we save a lot in case of an IRS audit.  We have to keep every prescription receipt, doctor receipt, etc. plus bank docs, investment paperwork and such.  It adds up!!  Some of it forever, or so I've been told.

My apron wearing makes me feel old fashioned and comfy. Not to mention less clothes washing as well Donna.

I brought 3 full skirts.... To long and I'm only 5 feet 1 inch tall. Shortened them from the top of the skirt. Elastic is a wonderful thing.

Paperwork. Like Ingrid I don't have a lot.. just a file for medical letters, Wills, Birth, Marriage certificates etc. When I homeschooled our children  I used to declutter at the end of each term , keep what was special and dispose of the rest.

I agree about smaller rooms being more cosy Ann E. We have a 12 foot high stud in the house and big rooms. Half the house is closed off in the cold months. I always dreamed of having a Snug In my home. Small room, fireplace, floor to ceiling bookcases, 2 armchairs and a push up window.

Living in Australia (Queensland), we don't need to keep too much in the line of paperwork either, just a basic file - we don't need anything for tax purposes or anything else so mostly just a year's worth of receipts for the council rates, house/contents insurance, car insurance and things like that as well as medical matters.  I have wills, BMD certificates, house ownership in a separate folder as well as pre-paid funeral plans.  Everything is shredded as soon as it's necessary so only a tiny filing cabinet (a box actually that I had my husband make for me) is sufficient.

We have decluttered totally - I asked myself if we were to have to move would I take it with me, and if the answer was no, it went - I then asked myself if my girls would be interested and again if the answer was no then away it went too.  I don't keep anything here that I don't use, and I feel so much better and more content without the clutter.

We rarely need heating here although the air-con does keep the place cool in summer - but not during the day as we spend most of our time in the downstairs section of our home where the fan is sufficient to keep it cool - we use the air-con on the teardrop setting at night when we sleep to make it more comfortable.  We utilise sitting out in the sun - the warm air is free and very enjoyable in winter although our winter temps are usually in the low to mid-twenties during the day.