Comments On Article: Spring Cleaning And Keeper Of The Home

If you would like to share your comments for article Spring cleaning and Keeper of the home, this is where to do it! 

Click the Reply To This Topic button below to post yours.

Thank you for another wonderful blog! I am spring cleaning as well. I do my house as well as my mom's. It takes me a bit longer as I get older, lol. I have my box fans cleaning set for tomorrow. I am about half way done both homes. It does feel good when I am done. I have cut groceries back and made changes as well. I have always eaten more beans or veg than meat, but I cook for my mom, partner and dog so I do buy meats. I try really hard to not run the AC til it is cooler out at night. I keep it cooler at night and shut the doors and blinds to keep the sun out. Thankfully, my house is positioned well and stays cooler than some.I work from home so thankfully I do not have the gas expense like many. I really try to run errands as little as possible and combine them to one day. Great read! Look forward to the next!

I have been thinking, lately, about severe food shortages. Our state had a very warm winter and hardly any snow, which isn't good for the water situation. We rarely get rain in our area of Wyoming. Drought is always a serious situation.

We are going to do gardening in the galvanized cattle tanks, like Donna uses. We purchased five large ones a few years back. Plus, we have thirty very large outside pots for planting. We have raised beds, also, so my husband decided to plant beets, potatoes and zucchini in those this year. Originally, we weren't going to plant the beds due to our age and health, but we feel that the situation warrants a new look. Food might not only be scarce but might not be delivered. If it is delivered, it might end up too expensive to purchase.

Thank you, Donna, for another wonderful post.

I have started Spring Cleaning but since I deep clean one room a week, sometimes more than one if nothing else is going on. My spring cleaning is more windows and baseboards in the rooms used the most.  It seems I am constantly reworking my pantry and deep pantry, so it is usually very clean and tidy. 

The baseboards seem to always need attention because of my pets hair. 

I am definitely cooking less at a time, and I try to waste absolutely nothing. Have seeds started and they are popping up! This makes me so happy to see.

Have been cleaning leaves from the flower and garden beds...so many leaves. It is frustrating to get them all cleaned up and then we get a wind storm and they need cleaned up again. But I just keep going.

Being very careful with fuel usage, the situation is concerning as many family members can't work from home.

First love the curtain pattern on the door.

As far as getting an interview & job.  Many don't see it from the employers side.  We have a listing currently looking for a certified welder.  We have had bar-tenders, apple pickers, janitors etc. apply.  We've seldom had anyone walk through the door looking for work.  Many just want to get unemployment. :-(

I'm getting the cleaning bug lately also, but we've had a lot of rain and I've been working long hours so haven't made much progress.  Windows are a priority right now as they are looking pretty scruffy.  It's amazing how much a clean window cleans a room. 

Another interesting topic.  On the subject of power, we use electricity - we have solar panels, have had them for many years and they do help, but fortunately for us, we don't use a lot and both state and federal governments contributed a set amount for each household so we haven't actually had a power bill in almost two years - and we're still in credit.  We do get a pension discount as well so every little bit helps.  We have a small gas cylinder on the BBQ and a small gas stove for emergencies.  We rely on our age pension for income so we do have to use common sense.

I have noticed that you - meaning many of you - include a large amount of beans/legumes in your daily diets - I might have one tin of four bean mix in the pantry and nothing else except split peas and red lentils for soup and boiling peas to make mushy peas.  We simply don't like beans, never have done, so we don't use them.  I do use red lentils to eke out mince dishes and the like.  We're not big meat eaters, and prefer lots of vegetables and fruit.  Chicken is still cheap as is pork, but beef and lamb, although we produce much of both here, are expensive, unlike they used to be.

I have a well-stocked pantry and a well-stocked freezer - hopefully the power supply won't be interrupted at all.  We no longer grow our own due to the cost of water and the toll it takes on us to bucket water to the plants from the small tank.  I do have a few pots that I keep going though, with basics.

With autumn cleaning, a couple of weeks back I totally stripped our bedroom and cleaned it from top to bottom - most of our furniture we have put on castors so it makes it much easier to move and clean underneath it - we have, over the years, tried to age proof our home as best as we can - even to the point of changing the way the doors open on the two toilets - once our little granddaughter passed out in there and with the door opening inwards, it was difficult to open it to get to her - and the same happened with my elderly father, hence changing them to open outward instead of inward.  I've washed curtains, thoroughly doing each room as it comes.  Now the man of the house is re-staining the patio furniture as it's exposed all year round - and we use our back verandah in all seasons.

I was washing the dishes in front of an open window with a slight breeze, and I thought how there was nothing better I wanted to do than take care of my home. It's because a home is where life takes place. :) I can do anything I want here. My husband gave me a steel tongue drum as an early birthday present, and I've had so much fun learning how to play sheet music on it. It only has four bass clef notes, so my music is limited, but I've already corrected some of the songs in the book it came with that weren't using the most melodious notes. I don’t have to study music or be in an orchestra to make music. All I have to do is be at home. Home is the best place there is. :)

I am not spring cleaning. I am too busy! Maybe I will late spring clean when things settle down. I went to the dentist yesterday to get two fillings. They scheduled three hours for it. I don't remember fillings taking that long. They do all of these strange things now too, passing a lot of different tools in my mouth at different times. Three times I wanted to get up and run out of there! My teeth were subjected to so many different feelings. Scraping feelings, and goosebumpy feelings, and cold, and hot, and pressing and pulling. It was all very uncomfortable and awful. Today I am still not back to normal. It made me want to take care of my teeth so well that I never ever have to go back for something like that again. Good care of your teeth saves money too. It lets you stay home where you're happy, instead of in a cubicle with people making you miserable hour after hour! I've decided to brush my teeth three times a day. It's part of my cost cutting. :)

We expanded our front flower bed last year so that we could have more flowers and less lawn. We get a lot of volunteer plants in the flowerbed, so we're not buying anything to fill the expansion except for the packet of bee food flower seeds I bought. My son is out right now transplanting little columbine plants into the extension. The columbines are like weeds. They grow everywhere! He put in his first ever job application this week. It was at the privately owned hamburger joint where the owner personally knows the lady he works for at the museum at his volunteer job. The owners of the hamburger joint suggested he put in an application. No job was promised, and they made a point to say they would be interviewing a number of people, but still it was nice of them to encourage him to take this step. I'm glad I live where things haven't gotten impersonal yet. 

Am canning and other preserving everything I can these days. With beef being so expensive here I find from 1 kilo of stew meat I make 6 quart jars of stew that feeds husband and I at least 12 meals. Am making lots and lots of different soups. Never been a bean person but the soup mix I use in some recipes first have beans included plus I add dried chickpeas, lentils and split peas and the soups are thick and delicious. We live on a retirement income, no debt.

Freezing eggs while we have surplus.Planting veg after reading 2 of our own countries largest vegetable and fruit processors are closing their factories down which means fruit and veg will then be imported in which is crazy.

 Petrol here currently around $13.80 a gallon. Have looked at YouTube for how people budgeted their money in 4 different decades. Things changed after the 1970s. Lifestyles became more wasteful. In these times going to town which is 7 minutes drive time is once a week.

A great post Donna. Just what was needed.

yes I’ve started spring cleaning the doorways and trim. It will take a long time because it’s very hard on my body. I have arthritis and other joint problems. So I clean a bit. Then rest a bit. Then clean again. 

I can't complain about my lights/gas bill as it on a budget plan $100 per month.  That is remarkable considering we have to heat 9 months of the year.  I keep my thermostat set at 69º F in the winter and at 80º F when running the a/c.  My water/sewer/trash bill is now nearly $100 running in the upper $90's each month.  There is really nothing I can do about that as I do not water outdoors and am conservative inside.  It is one of those "it is what it is" situations.

I haven't started spring cleaning and probably won't.  I just try to keep on top all the time, so I don't have to do a major project which at my age is not a reasonable thing to do.

I challenged myself to clean and reorganize my pantry before the next post here came out, and I made it!  I took everything out, cleaned and looked at what I could do to make it better. I tossed very little food, I had stayed on top of that, but my spices, oh my, I had some of them far too long. I made a list of what to replace and will purchase smaller amounts this time. I buy my spices from the bulk bins at the food co-op.  I also repacked some staples so they were easier to stack and store.

I don’t use a huge variety of spices and I usually make my own blends, such as chili powder. 

I deep clean on a rotating schedule but I still have some things I do only in Spring or Fall, such as clean the grill inserts in the doors to the closets of my heat pumps’ air handlers. Those are times when I likely will have both units off due to nice weather so it’s a good time to scrub those grills. 

Gas has gone up here but it’s not like the 70’s during the oil embargo, when we had to buy gas on certain days and the price went up incredibly fast or like 2022, I think it was, when my fuel bill for my commute went to over $450 a month. 

I have planted most of my raised bed garden. I have a couple of beds I need to empty, first, and some things I am waiting for more heat before I plant, like eggplant and okra. 

I am still mostly “cooking once and eating twice (or three times)” and batch cooking as much as possible.  I cooked a pot of rice but I will eat it at four meals most likely so I cook my regular amount.  I cook rice by bringing it to a boil then turning off the heat under the pot with the cover on, letting it cook with residual heat for 20 minutes.

I’m still trying to figure out retirement scheduling and  I’m trying to get in the swing of the 1940’s. I keep coming here for inspiration  Thanks!

I love the pretty lace pattern reflecting on the wall. It reminds me of a poem Rhonda Hetzel shared many moons ago by Grace Noll Crowell 'Simple Things' which I wrote down as it spoke so much to me.

               SIMPLE THINGS 

I have found joy in simple things:

A plain clean room, a nut brown loaf of bread.

A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings.

The shelter of a roof over my head and in a leaf laced square along the floor,

Where yellow sunlight glimmers through a door.

I have found such joy in things that fill my quiet days:

A curtain's blowing grace

A potted plant upon my sill,

A rose fresh cut and placed within a vase,

A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair and books I have long loved beside me there.

Ingrid M_2   - it's definitely the simple things that cheer us up - and I love that saying from Rhonda - it epitomises all that we have to be thankful for.

Karen S - I'm not at all au fait with home canning - sure, I do some relishes, sauces and the like, but home canning of meat products and things is way beyond my ken.

We eat our main meal at midday or thereabouts these days, better for our metabolism and with being retired for almost twenty years now, we have no need to have a big meal sitting in our stomach at night time - we're in bed by about nine each night so prefer to have a light snack for supper rather than a heavy meal.

I still have plenty of decluttering/organizing projects to do around the house, so I’m not “spring cleaning” per se. Husband is doing plenty in the yard though… trimming trees and bushes and such. Already had the leaves cleaned up. Had quite the leaf fall after our freezing Florida weather in Feb! 

One thing I took from your (Grandma Donna’s MIL was a whole chicken. I found that they are SO easy to cook in the crockpot. I believe getting a whole fresh chicken is much bigger than a rotisserie chicken. One chicken lasts us at least 4 meals… which is 4 days, because we only eat one big meal a day… at midday. 

As for gardening, there isn’t a point, as the squirrels would eat everything! We need to fix our porch screening, as they get in and dig into my potted plants. I don’t know why on earth they do that! I do enjoy watching them play in the trees and yard, but you cute little guys and gals… LEAVE MY PLANTS ALONE! lol  We also have rabbits in the yard, and yesterday I saw a rat! Yuck! Husband ordered humane traps that won’t trap a squirrel. 

Gas, well, I believe it’s up about $1/gallon. But, husband works from home, I’m retired, and we get groceries delivered, so we don’t have to drive much unless we choose too, which… we’d rather be home anyway! 

Oh, and I LOVE your front door and that picture is awesome! I’m glad you caught it for us! 

My husband was surprised to learn the other day that I grew up fishing. Today where I live you have to have a license and some areas are catch & release. As a kid we fished a lot of places. If we'd needed a license I doubt we would have fished. 

Thanks for another fine post! Something I am doing because of the increase in gas prices is not going anywhere unless I need to go to the Post Office or for religious purposes. I am trying to use up what I have at home instead of running to the store. I have been getting some decluttering done and I did take 3 carloads to the thrift store. I count that as a necessary trip also.

hello all

Donna: I would love to see a list of things you and Charles (hi Charles !) purchased in the past years as you began to plan for your retirement.  

Lissa 

margaret p That's good information to know. I think brushing three times a day is a good idea. My dentist always said brush once at night. I am the one that suggested brushing three times a day to the dentist! They said use this toothpaste and that mouthwash. When they caused problems, they tell me some others to use. Until this last appointment, they weren't listening to me when I told them what I thought was irritating my gums. Finally they listened to me. It's all the products they recommend! They told me to stop using them and try these other things, but I told my aunt that I've had enough, and I'm going to buy the products I choose. My aunt said all of the new methods and products are better formulated than the old ones. I said that if they are better, why do I get worse outcomes? Now, I am especially sensitive to chemicals and things, so I'm not average, I'm sure, but I am going to stop listening to the official recommendations and do the things that work for me!

It really Is the simple things.  This blog helps me to remember that.  

My husband and I are very careful to shop sales of foods we Actually eat.  Right now our store has a sale on butter for 1.99 a pound so we're stocking up and freezing it.  Also, ground beef at 4.49 a pound so putting that away in portion sizes.  I try very hard to keep canned food and dry goods put away so if our grocery stores were to close for a while we'd be okay.  

I'm trying to be more conscious of power use and am really looking forward to hanging laundry outside again.   Of course it's harder now with my arthritis but gotta keep moving....do a little,  sit a little.   Now more than ever it's smart to stay as strong as possible.  

I forgot to mention that here in North Florida the nurseries call that beautiful vine in he photo coral honeysuckle and it is native here as well. I have one yellow and one red planted and it is such fun to see the hummingbirds feed off of them. The lemon tree and horsemint ( monarda) I have also attract them. Giant swallowtails use the lemon tree as a host plant. I’ve also just planted cross vine, cigar plant, Blue Lagoon salvia and Ruellia, which the local native nursery tells me will all attract hummers as well as bees and butterflies. After our hurricanes the normal food supplies are diminished for pollinators so I am planting with birds, bees and butterflies in mind.  We need the pollinators!

Doctors and dentists both have pharmaceutical salespeople that visit them and tout their wares.  I ended up very allergic to a certain toothpaste and had to tell my dentist that it was in fact the culprit after testing it myself. 

We had severe storms move thru last night, gave me a real good idea of what it would be like without any power.....it was sobering and made me realize while I could power thru my Grands that live in my mobile rental down the road would really be up a creek. Their power was out for 10 hours and temps went from 80 to 40. They have a 16 month old baby, thankfully she is a warm blooded baby and they didn't miss the heat being off but we need to be prepared. I think I will suggest a kerosene heater for emergencies. It is not ideal but better than nothing.  They do know they can always come here, but just in case. I am also going to suggest some sterno cans and holder so they could heat food or drinks. We usually have them for our fondue parties. I will also suggest some instant coffee and powdered milk. It's really hard to balance emergency needs and safety.  

I had a large tree trunk come down in my back yard, it is actually from my neighbors woods but fell into my property. I will have to have family help to get it cut and moved. It isn't close to my home but still in the way. The sad part is it was a Pileated woodpeckers favorite tree.  

It seems every day I am finding things to work out in an emergency or simplifying so life runs smoother.

Stephanie G said: ...I am going to stop listening to the official recommendations and do the things that work for me!

yes! Good for you!

The newer isn't always better. Sometimes it's just so they can sell more products. 

My dental hygiene improved greatly when I brushed more often and flossed not because of any new product.

I've realized that trying the  simple things FIRST before buying is the prudent thing to do like brushing more & flossing before investing in expensive dental products.

TracyM - Cheapest butter per lb in NZ $7.69.   Ground beef ( cheapest) $14 lb.

We are one of the biggest dairy producers in the world but now everything is " global" we have to pay same price or more than overseas countries pay. I remember when NZ was a self sufficient country.

Stephanie G - Fluoride was put in the town and city water supplies here years ago and my question is why do so many children have rotten teeth that need extracting now??? I know diet also plays a huge role in that. Too much junk foods. 

Now our Govt has put man made folic acid into all flour you can make bread from ( organic flour is exempt) because if the 60-80 babies per year born with spina bifida but elderly, men and children don't need that.. I make bread using organic or standard flour which is not deemed high enough protein for bread making and I add an extra 1/2 tsp yeast and it turns out perfect.

I wanted to start spring cleaning a bit. We've been busy with emergencies and signing up for medicare, etc (where they want at least 3 months pre-paid which is absolutely absurd), a beehive that had to be professionally removed due to our pets. But I can't since now our septic is leaking outside.  My husband had a heart ablation surgery on Wed and I noticed it walking out the door. Great timing. I called 3 places.  None of which would unearth the septic, or come out in a timely manner, although one would only come out for $895 without a dig out. I said no.  So because of his surgery, he can't shovel or do anything for 14 days.  I have 4 herniated discs and yesterday I'm on my hands and knees scooping out the dirt above the tank.  We have a handyman coming after multiple calls, to move the lid and move it back. I think it's just the filter that needs to be cleaned.  All this brings me to wonder how can we make it easier to get these clean-outs shoveled out.  We did put sand over one lid a year and a half ago, so I was able to dig it out much easier.  We'll have to do that to the other as well, but this is just one more thing, that if something happened to my husband, one thing I can't do and that is dig.  We've searched high and low for something we can just put over the lid without digging - something to cover the lids and slide away, but to no avail and certainly nothing under $800.  It's not a raised tank. Sigh.  So I guess sand, but it won't be backfilled until he heals as I'm unable to schlup buckets of sand.  Which brings me to I'm not spring cleaning. LOL. Everything feels gross as we're only flushing when needed. So I guess I'll start my cleaning after that gets fixed. 

Flouride should never be put in water, imo.  You're not supposed to ingest it!  It's proven to be detrimental in a lot of ways and especially to young men's testosterone levels. I agree it's about junk food - sugar in everything that is rotting teeth!  I think dental hygiene is best.  Brush, floss, floss afer eating and brush and floss before bed as the mouth "sits" for so long.    

Ann E,  you are having a lot of issues all at once and this can be very difficult to handle.  I just wanted to mention using a composting toilet until you can get it fixed if necessary.  Walmart carries the toilet lids that go on the five gallon buckets.  We keep coco coir on hand, this come in bricks and you wet them to dampen them, they swell up and turn into a wonderful mixture that looks like damp peat moss or dirt.  It is from coconut. 

You can check with your city/county codes of disposal. Urine can be diluted and put out around bushes to help the soil.  There is a lot of information online about this.  I hope that things settle down soon for you both.  Hugs, Donna

You're exactly right, Grandma Donna, you can't just walk in and apply for a job anymore.  Now days, prospective employees have to go through job sites, give detailed resumes, provide what their goals were in previous jobs, and whether they met those goals or not, what their goals will be with the job they're applying for, and all kinds of other extensive information about their former employment.  They also want to know everything about you - things that used to be deemed as personally improper and even illegal to ask you.  Companies now also want employees to put them first in their lives, above everything and everyone in their life, including family members.  Frankly, I'm happy to be retired.  

Gr. Donna... Thank you. It's been difficult.  A composting toilet is a great idea.  Why didn't I think to do that?  Thank you for the recommendation.  And, I love that it sounds cheap!  I live in the boonies so there are no codes that I'd check, but I am going to research further.    

I do want to add for those who are on a septic (although I suppose most people's septic doesn't fail all the time).  We just removed our garden tub for a shower for safety reasons. Complete with handle bars!  All set for us oldies.  BUT.... after this septic issue, I realized that the first place we backed up was our garden tub as it's the closest to the septic.  So now that's a stresser, because if (or I should say when) it does back up into the house, it will have no where to go but the floor.  This is not good.  I also realized that we opted for a shower handle that turns on counterclockwise (on), and clockwise for off. And the showerhead has no pause button.  We wanted to keep the water use low today by shutting it off in between sudsing/rinsing.  The mechanism we chose goes off or on and that's it as the temp is set by where you stop the handle.   I thought this was good since it didn't put stress on the handle itself by pushing in the control for on/off - a problem we had before.  If we had our "pull-on-push-off handle, we could drip the shower in between, keeping the temperature regulated.  But this is actually bad since now we can't regulate our useage or temperature!  Not sure if this makes sense.  But in a planning way - don't do this!!  I'm going to have to fix at least the showerhead.  I'm starting to like that outdoor shower idea!  So that bathroom upgrade wasn't necessarily such a hot idea.  All these things you don't realize and I'm thinking those women without running water and having to dump it all outside - God bless them!  Not sure what I'll ever do if the septic backs up into the house.  FWIW, we had so-called friends lie about their family having done septics, so we've had nothing but problems - annual pumps for 20 years and a new leach field and tank fix in 2020.  And now their putting filters in septics and we don't have a tank that is easy to change the filter (requires unearthing, and removing concrete lid).

However, and this is good... our laundry drains as gray water.  So we can do laundry through all this since it doesn't drain into the tank - one plan that was a good one!!!

I will say that cleaning will be a godsend when I start!

I forgot to say that I love the sun shining through the lace. One of the many reasons I love lace!  

I can't imagine getting a job through some online method. Horrible.  But I checked a listing for my husband's business about a year ago, then I proceeded to get a ton of spam from the site.  More junk, you know?   I crave how it used to be. I really do. Not all was good, but it wasn't crazy and people cared about servivce.

Ann E, I have a Nature's Head composting toilet and really like it. It has a urine diverter, so everything is separate. I have a separate compost bin for it.

Donna, I appreciated your points about how you and Charles are being more careful with portion sizes. I have been looking for smaller dinner plates, and I found two at a thrift store the last time I went to town. They are 9" plates, which are much smaller than my other ones were.

I also wanted to thank you for putting a link to your other post at the bottom. I know I can read all the posts at any time, but it is nice if you link to a former post with information somewhat similar to your current post.

I wondered if you will be making anymore YouTube videos.

Ann E,  another thing on water use right now.  Charles and I do bucket baths when we are conserving water.  We fill a bucket in the shower starting with the hot water because cold water will come out of the hot water faucet first and by the time the hot water is there it will blend well.  Then we dip the water and pour over to wet our body and then soap up all over with a soapy cloth and then dip to rinse.  Our skin actually feels better doing this and it is crazy how less water we use going down the drain.  Any water left we use it out in the garden.  I wash my hair outside so the water goes out to the ground to water something.  This keeps water from goin down to the septic tank.  I

Here in town our sewer bill cost almost three times of what water we use coming in to the house so we watch what we use.  This would help you with less water coming in.  

Charles has sensitive skin with psoriasis and the bucket bath is so gentle on his skin that we prefer to bathe this way and we get very clean.  Right now with your septic tank on the blink just think as if you are camping, we like to call it glamping.  We find sensible ways to save but make it easy to do.  

Becky Sue K, I have thought about making more youtubes but I dropped my music subscription and the program I bought to make the videos is very complicated.  If I can remember how I did them I might post some more some day. :)  

TimeWarpWife, when my 21 year old grandson applied for some jobs, I was shocked at what all he had to go through to even get an interview.  They made him go through a insane application and just as you said, asked too many personal questions.  He had applications all over the place just to get an interview.  He finally landed a good job but it was months of filling out online questionnaires.  His girlfriend was going through the same thing and I realized gone are the days to just go apply for a job.  I see both sides to this after reading from a business owner and also after posting about this and some of the responses in the forum I realized there must be some smaller towns that will still accept applications.  However it is difficult for people to find jobs today. 

My other grandson in his late twenties went through the same thing. 

I made a "composting toilet" for emergency use (septic tank issues) years ago. I used a bag lined 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat and I used horse bedding pellets from the farm store. It's all I could think to use at the time. Used paper went into a paper bag and was burned, at the time we burned trash.   I live rural so I buried the used pellets in layers with leaves and it worked well at the time. I have used the horse pellets in the cat litter box before and they served the purpose for an emergency cat box filler.

The pellets are odor absorbing, and they absorb liquid and fall apart. I had horses when I was younger so I knew about the way they work.

I didn't know about the coco fiber, good to know. I think I will get some for just in case.

Grandma Donna. The sunlight through the lace is very beautiful. It made me happy to see it. Thank you for continuing to post in this crazy world. I have been experiencing many strong feelings of late with happenings around the place and a little sanity is nice, so thank you. I enjoy reading all of the comments in the forum too. 

Stephanie G. When I was young my dentist had a poster that said, Only floss the teeth you want to keep. I always remembered it because I thought it was amusing, but now that I am older I see that it was very good advice! :) 

Ingrid. Thank you for sharing that poem from Rhonda. A kettle as it sings. What a lovely line. 

I was listening to the radio this week and they asked for people to ring in with simple things that gave them happiness and one gentleman rang in and said his was when he uses the microwave to heat his drink and the microwave finishes with the handle of his cup pointing towards him. It's the small wins in life, isn't it? 

I filled up this morning with premium unleaded and paid $2.68 per litre Australian. Diesel was $3.21 per litre. 4.5 litres equals 1 gallon I think? 

I have continued to quietly build on our deep pantry. As I use something I write it down on the shopping list so that it can be replaced and maintained. 

With our garden we are concentrating on staples for vegetables and high yield producing fruits. For us here in the sub-tropics that is papayas, bananas, citrus and passionfruit for fruit and lettuce, rocket, radish, cucumber, tomatoes, silverbeet, broccoli, cauliflower, green onions, cabbage and beetroot for vegies. I also placed an order for heirloom seed for the coming twelve months so that I can continue to plant. 

I dug out all of my garden beds last year and replaced them with raised beds. I wish I had done it sooner. 

We eat quite simply already, so haven't changed much. The only beans I've ever eaten are baked beans. Our equivalent for a cheap protein meal would be an egg based dish. I made a zucchini slice this week, for instance. 

Hi,

Thanks for another lovely post G Donna :) I always read but don't always comment, however I thought I would simply answer your questions this time.

1.Have you started spring or autumn cleaning? Yes I am doing a little bit of inside cleaning of shelves etc, are con units and we have a lot of tidying up to be done in the garden, pruning fruit trees, weeding vege gardens etc.

2. Are you experiencing changes due to the fuel shortages war impacts where you live? Not really at the moment, but the govt announced on the news the other night (watched via the internet as we don't have TV), NZ is operating in stages, currently they are just 'monitoring' the situation. I think stage 2 was that their will be restrictions on petrol sales, with priority going to freight trucks carrying goods and essential services.  Stage 3 said their might have to be limits on food purchases at stores. That's all I can remember. They said we have something like 45 days worth of fuel still (planes, cars, and diesel vehicles) 

3. Are you planting a garden, a container or trying to grow something for the war garden for the study? I am not participating in the study, just following along joyfully :)

4. Have you made any changes in the way you cook due to food costs?  Yes I am always adjusting our budget and trying to be more frugal, along with working on my deep pantry, canned and dry goods etc. This year I froze a lot of fruit from our apricot and peach trees. We had a good harvest of pumpkins, corn and potatoes, plus a fantastic yield for tomatoes. I canned a lot of things: salsa, relish, jams etc and made my universal tomato sauce - just stewed down tomatoes with 1 chopped zucchini, reduced until thickened, seasoned it and then I freeze it in 1 - 2 cup amounts so it can be added to various meals. We make our own sourdough bread and like you we have meatless days (I love tofu meals) and even taught myself to make it from scratch with non gmo organic NZ soybeans :) It works out super cheap and is a great complete source of protein. I normally cook the tofu cubed in the air fryer (cheaper than heating the oven) and serve with stir fried vegetables and noodles. Or I make tofu taco's. Theirs lots of fun ways to serve plant based meals. Another great cheap to run appliance is the Instant Pot. If beans are soaked overnight they don't take long at all to cook, plus it makes great soups (like lentil, vege and chicken breast). It's one of the best gadgets I ever purchased.

Finally I also loved the reflection from the lace curtain and just the excitement I feel when you've done another post Donna. Thanks for sharing part of your life here on your wonderful blog !!

Blessings ~ Linda

@Michelle K

How wonderful to be able to grow bananas and papayas :) lovely pics too!!

Yes, I was tickled to see the bananas!  I remember being so surprised that they grew upside down...in my mind, at least!

Gr. Donna:  I could do that on bathing, but my husband would NEVER. LOL  

Joyce C: That is an incredibly cheap option. I love it!

And this, Michelle K absolutely made my day:

 Update: Our septic filter is fixed and cleaned and septic is working now. It is set for a clean-out in May (they are that booked) and will get installed a riser on the end that we need to clean that filter. My husband didn't want it, but I said yes, otherwise it'll never get done.

Michelle K- What lovely photos of your garden and produce. They are so inspiring. In NZ where we are in the North Island I'm starting to think that it makes more sense to vegetable garden from early Autumn not Summer. The climate has changed so much. We have a battle with garden pests (even with all sorts of preventative measurements) and wilting moist heat in Summer. I have leeks, broccoli, silver beet and lettuce on the go. Even our strawberries are still producing at a handful a week.

Ingrid M 2:  I love that Simple Things poem.  The first page of a journal I started has a list of the simple things I love - the little things.  

One thing was when I took my husband for his heart appt last Wednesday at the VA, you can NOT park any where and we were able to get one right in front of the entry door. Big win! 

Other simple things:

The intoxicatingly wonderful smell of laundry on a line, the shade of leaves that sprinkle on the grass, a gentle breeze coming through (yes) lace curtains, the smell of freshly cut grass, a slamming wood screen door, tweet of little birds,  the reflection of a tree in a clean window, a rocking chair or swing on a porch, chirp of crickets on a summer night, a clean house, clean crisp sheets, little weed flowers in a windowsill, fresh cookies placed on a table, a kitchen table under a window, doing things slowly and enjoying the moment, a phone ringing on a wall....

Thank you, Grandma Donna.

I plan to do spring cleaning when the school year is over, since I homeschool and it takes up so much time. When our summer break begins, I simply continue with my regular cleaning schedule, but I do a deeper cleaning in some areas. We are approaching the break, so I have been formulating a list of tasks for the summer. My oldest three children, who are in their early twenties and still living at home, have been an enormous help. I hate to polish, so they have assisted me with that, and many other things.

My husband now has an additional part-time job(he's trying to get his own business going), and the interview process went on for a long time- and the training period has been also lasting for weeks. The hours are nearly "full-time", but we are thankful for the income.

The theme of this post was timely for me, so thank you. I'm hoping to be able to buy a good amount of groceries very soon. There were some good reminders for me here today. 

Ann E.... My husband made me a swing for in one of our trees. Engraved my name into the seat. It is beautiful to swing and listen to the birds in the other trees.

Ingrid M_2... Like you I'm in the North Island of NZ and agree with all you have said about the challenges in gardening now.  I am planting my Autumn garden under cloches as the white cabbage butterfly has come back with a vengeance.

Linda C...the petrol prices where we are had meant I now have to  save money over about 3 weeks so we can visit our daughter whose about 1 hour 10 minutes drive time away and refuel the car to where it was when we return from the trip. Other than that town once a week is the norm for us. To go to hospital use the Community Shuttle. No parking problems that way and the cost less than taking our own car.

It brightens my day to see a post from you GDonna.

I have been spring cleaning and de cluttering the house and garage for several weeks.It is definitely a work in progress.My mother who is 92 gifted me her favorite set of cookware.She purchased them from a traveling salesman in 1954, the year she and my father were married.He told her they would last 100 years and although she laughed at the time his statement may very well be proven correct one day.

We will be planting a variety of vegetables and herbs in our raised beds and containers. We have reduced our meat consumption and portion sizes,  eat more beans, rice,soups, salads, homemade bread. We try to grocery shop every two weeks to conserve fuel since the price has increased. My husband and I are both retired so our gas expense  is greatly reduced thankfully. We are trying to live as simply and frugally as we can.Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Angela

To Everyone, If you could grow two edible plants or herb what would they be?  I will start it off, butternut squash because they store so well and longer than many vegetables and oregano because it has culinary and medicinal uses.  You only get two choices. :)

Goldenseal herb because it is an excellent source of Berberine, a natural antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory. It lowers blood sugar, also, so diabetics must be careful. Oregon Grape herb possesses many of the same qualities, so there is a choice depending on where someone lives.

Lovage because it is a wonderful substitute for celery. It is a leafy herb and I dehydrate it, grind it, then vacuum seal it in jars. Celery is not always fresh where we live, so I researched a good shelf substitute.

I would definitely grow comfrey not only for it's medicinal uses but also because it makes a great all around natural fertilizer. 

I would also grow acorn squash for it keeping ability and versatility in cooking.

butternut squash hands down

Can use it in lots of dishes- savory & sweet. I've kept mine for months. Which means I don't have freeze, process or dry it to save it.

Apples-I don't have any apple trees yet (considering it). I'll get ones that keeps but I'll dry and process too.

I would grow sweet potatoes because they grow so abundantly in my garden, and Swiss chard because it grows most of the year and it's so nutritious and easy to grow. I could dehydrate the leaves for winter too. Speaking of dehydrating, I bought some celery because mine got caught in the hard freeze we had recently, and what I didn't use is chopped and in the dehydrator right now. I plugged the dehydrator into one of my solar generators so that I didn't add any energy costs to my attempt to save money! 

Sweet potato (kumara) and capsicums - butternut squash which we call butternut pumpkins are great but I don't have the room for them to sprawl.

I would grow sweet potatoes because they are easy to grow and store long term. Rosemary for both medicinal and culinary uses.

Bananas because they are a versatile high yield producing fruit. They only take 12-18 months to flower and set fruit. Permaculture teacher Linda Woodrow blogged recently about picking a bunch of hers green to turn into flour. Bunches produce between 150-200 bananas on average so good to trade or share. Good source of carbohydrates and starch. Spent plants rot down to make wonderful mulch in garden beds. They take up very little space in the garden. (Each plant only fruits once and then must be cut down. You pick the strongest sucker to make the next plant).

Silverbeet/Swiss chard. Very versatile, easy to grow and prolific. Most people know how versatile the leaves are, however the stems are also delicious. I slice them, add a little garlic, add salt and pepper, pour over cream, add some cheese and a sprinkle of breadcrumbs and bake in the oven and golden and bubbling. Much like a potato gratin and absolutely delicious.