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We have two paydays a month —- pension and social (in)security, but I pay all our bills on the first. It makes it easier to keep up with. Our Verizon is a lot less than yours with unlimited talk, text, and data plus two lines. I went to the local store and told them I would have to cancel unless the bill was adjusted down. They did. It’s worth a try! Our phone company offers just internet, so we have that as well without a land line. Our biggest expense is gas for heat and I pay that monthly all year long with an “even up” in May. We are working on adding more efficient heat for early fall and spring to bring it down. 

It's amazing how much we take for granted in modern life. Your example of your SIL and cake really illustrates how much of what we think of as "simple" is really a luxury. My mother was one of seven children and went to a restaurant exactly once with her family growing up. Nowadays, so many families go out to eat weekly or more. We go out around once per month and I feel like we could easily reduce that.

Look into low-cost carriers like Boost Mobile or Cricket for your cell phones! My husband and I pay $60 per month with Boost for two smartphones with unlimited data a minutes. They use the same network as T-Mobile, which gets good coverage in our area. Verizon and the traditional carriers are egregiously expensive.

I've been so proud of our new budget that I've made. I worked so hard on it and thought it would never come together, and then it did. :) It feels good to enjoy simple things again. I've been thinking about Christmas lately, and at Aldi's today they had large sticker activity books for $3.99! Anywhere else they would cost $15! We got an ocean-themed one for one of the younger extended family members, and it felt so good to get such a nice gift for so little money. :) But I have a budget challenge for this month with my son getting invited to an amusement park with his friends. His admission, usually $95, will be paid for him, but he's going to have to pay park prices for food and drinks all day, so I'm having to cut the weekly grocery money way, way down to cover it. We've got a lot in the fridge freezer and pantry, and the garden is producing steadily so we should be okay. 

I have been too stingy with buying clothes. I found out they wear too fast if you don't have enough. I'm buying clothes or making some to make sure we have enough. I have an old pair of sweatpants that I've been practicing mending on, but the seat finally got too many holes and tears to mend again. I'm going to use the material from the legs to make a whole new seat for them, inside and outside, and then I'll have some gardening shorts. :) I even got an audiobook from the library to listen to while I hand sew and hem them. :)

I feel like I'm hurrying, hurrying to get everything purchased, maintained, repaired, saved, paid off, done by the end of next year. I feel like my whole life got squeezed into the next seventeen months, having to accomplish in months what should have taken years. My husband's industry is headed for a bloodbath. He doesn't know how to do another job. We'll both work at fast food if we have to, and I'm planning for the worst. I feel like I can do it! I can make a happy life on very little. :)

We use Google Fi for cell phones. They are $25 per line, unlimited. They mainly use Tmobile and US cellular in the US, but they will connect to any tower in other countries. We live just a few miles from  the Canadian border and we sometimes bounce onto Canadian cell towers, and FI is the only one that ever seems to be able to handle it with no problems and they don't try to charge international roaming. 

I have managed to keep our grocery budget from going up. If it's made with flour, like bread and pasta, I make it from scratch. Avocados are now an occasional treat, when they used to be an almost daily breakfast food. We grow, forage, or trade for most of our produce, and we don't eat fresh produce out of season. It helps that I work for a plant nursery part time, so I get opportunities for free food from our vegetables and herbs when we cull them out. I also know lots of rival nursery vendors and we will trade our surplus. Keeping stuff destined for the compost is allowed by my employer.

I dehydrate and can a lot. I've been canning and dehydrating potatoes in various forms (cubes, shreds, slices all work well for dehydrating). I still have tomatoes, zucchinis, blackberries, and apples that must be done, but there will probably be other stuff depending on what ripens or makes its way to us over the rest of the harvest season. Our apple trees will be ready to pick in a month, and I am sharing some with a friend who shared with me two 5-gallon buckets full tomatoes last week. Today I am dehydrating homemade salsa. When we need salsa, I just boil it in a bit of water for five minutes then let it stand to thicken for 30 minutes. Dehydrating is easier than canning, but some things like jam and fruit, for eating plain is best canned!

This apple season I am going to experiment with making vinegar. If I'm successful, that will be one more thing we get for free. We recently experimented with making real sour cream (not the milk and vinegar recipe all over the internet, but the real stuff). It's really easy. You simply put 1/4 cup of a sour cream with live cultures (Daisy brand is a common one) into a quart jar. Top off with cream or a 1:1 mix of cream and milk. Shake well then set it in a bowl of the hottest tap water that comes from your faucet. Shake it once or twice over the next hour as the water cools. Once the water is room temp, take the jar out and set it on the counter for 24 hours. Voila! Sour cream. Now you just need to save 1/4 cup to make the next batch (we stick it in the freezer, just bring it back to room temp before making more sour cream).

Getting better at cheese making is on my list for winter skill building. So is winter sowing, becoming a better seed saver, and building and learning to use a rocket stove. 

We've cut out bills about as much as we can for now. We have our house payment, home insurance, car insurance, electricity, phone, internet, groceries and household items, car gas, pet expenses, medical, and a small amount so we can go out a couple of times a month. We have managed to get rid of all of our subscriptions except for the $3 monthly member dues to a farmer's grocery co-op. This gives me a big discount that I can use three times a year, which I use to stock up on locally grown organic meat for the next few months. 

We are big believers in fostering social capital. We tend to pick up usable things from the side of the road that others discard. If we can't use the item, we can usually find someone who can. I'll post free offers online or through our neighborhood Buy Nothing group. We have made friends doing this, and it builds up a social circle of people that help each other, which doesn't cost anyone anything but saves everyone money in the long run. 

I don't know what we will do if we have to cut back more. We could give up the small amount we set aside to go out, but that wouldn't save much. Internet and phones are necessary for work, and a landline isn't an option because there isn't a phone line run out to our house. The closest connection is at the end of the county road, which is over a mile  from our house.

We use Consumer Cellular at home. Our bill is $30.37 for one line with limited data since we have Internet through someone else. We used to pay $25.50, but increased the data a little. My husband has a work phone with Verizon for $95+ a month. I'll be glad when we can add a line to the Consumer Cellular and get rid of his work phone. 

Jenny Wren, I appreciate your recipe for sour cream. We don't buy sour cream regularly but my occassionally I make tacos for my husband and I hunt for the cheapest but natural one I can find. It can add a significant cost to a meal. Would half & half be equivalent to the 1:1 proportion?  I saw some on clearance last week but since I never use it I passed it up. I will have to watch for it now. 

I have dehydrated things but never potatoes or salsa! I usually just make my salsa as needed from fresh or canned tomatoes. This sounds interesting.  I was under the impression dehydrating potatoes was challenging. 

Stephanie G, you're doing great. You should feel good!

Katie P, my mom likes to tell me she remembers when they got their 1st drive-in. My mom thought it was dumb to pay to eat in your car! I can tell you when I was growing up we rarely ate out. Maybe once or twice a year as we got older and the budget wasn't quite as tight. I used to have friends who ate almost every meal out at a restaurant. And if they didn't then it was take-out. I can't imagine having to do that for every meal. They did do cereal for breakfast. They had boxes & boxes of cereal. The mom proudly said she didn't cook.

We had a clothes rack in China that we could scroll up and down. It hung on the enclosed porch, which also served as our office/ computer space. But the ceiling was high and the clothes line overhead didn't get in the way. It was very space efficient and clothes dried well. 

It was like this one, but of course, just a fraction of the cost: https://a.co/d/2gLVHjT

So much here to think about!

I am fortunate that a family member insists on paying my cell phone bill. I would however like to point out that places like Mint Mobile can reduce a phone bill by a lot.
I am looking around for a cheaper internet provider because mine keeps going up.  Nothing is appealing right now!
I keep a notebook with my income and expenditures and I am planning my retirement budget. I had a talk with a rep from the company that holds our work retirement savings. He was very helpful and said he could give me advice for free even after I quit work. I am also seeking the advice of an independent insurance agent for when I lose my work coverage for dental and vision. 
I am taking an internet class on eating the healthiest options of food. I can’t have gluten or a lot of beans and grains so this is particularly important for me. I hope to find the least expensive options with the greatest nutritional value.

I often have the fabric around a patch tear shortly after patching. It’s as though the rot keeps spreading. Does anyone else get that

I look forward to seeing what others are doing. 

Donna, your budgeting and record keeping always impresses me. I love those curtains and the holdback. I bought heat and cold reducing curtains that look like just regular curtains. Living in Wyoming, it can get very cold in winter and very hot (well hot to me - 90's) in the summer.

Your meals always look delicious, also. I have to eat gluten free and dairy free, so that costs a bit more. Sorghum berries ground into flour make a good 1:1 substitute for wheat. I make up our own gluten free flour mixture which saves over buying the pre-made.

I rarely go shopping as my husband loves to shop and I don't. I make out the grocery list for him. Unfortunately, he doesn't really grasp a budget. He is doing better now sticking to the list.

We could eat for a very long time with our deep pantry, but do need to buy fresh vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, and A2/A2 cream for coffee. I am unable to eat eggs, although I love them. We use bananas in place of the eggs for baking. 1/4 cup of mashed bananas is equal to one egg. There are many egg substitutes. 

Thank you for another wonderful post. I always look forward to your new posts and to reading all of the comments.

Glenda

Jenny Wren -- How do you dehydrate salsa, please? I dehydrate onions and garlic to make my own onion and garlic powder for winter when the fresh won't keep, and I dehydrate tomato and fruit slices, but I have never heard of dehydrating salsa. And thank you for the homemade sour cream instructions. :) I'm going to try that tomorrow with some cream I have. I have a Kilner yogurt-maker jar I have never used that has a zippy jar coat to keep the jar warm. It's really too small to be practical for yogurt but probably the perfect size for sour cream. 

margaret p -- aww, thank you. :)

My husband and I use Visible for cell phones, with unlimited talk, text, and data.  It is $25 per phone, and we each also pay $5 per month for our watches to have cellular connectivity.  Our adult kids also use Visible at $25 each.  There are no additional taxes or fees.  Visible is owned by Verizon.

When I was growing up cake at home was a special thing to have.  We had cake for each immediate family member’s birthday, but if we were having a party with extended family that was the only cake, so we didn’t have cake on our actual birthday unless it was the same day as the party.  For holidays sometimes my grandmother would make cake on Easter if the strawberry stand didn’t have good strawberries yet, otherwise we would have strawberry shortcake.  I loved strawberry shortcake so much I started asking to have it for my birthday instead of a cake with icing.  Now that I’m an adult I understand why my parents couldn’t do that often, as strawberries were more expensive than the cheap cake mixes and canned frosting from the store.

Grandma Donna, I love the patched towel!  I patch cloth napkins and sometimes I like them even better with the patches.  Today I got to know my thrift store serger (overlocker).  I made “family cloth” aka reusable toilet “paper” for myself (for urine only).  I’m challenging myself to use what I have.  I bought and washed the flannel more than 5 years ago, but then didn’t make more family cloth because what I’d already made was plenty.  Today I cut it, and for my serger thread I used polyester machine embroidery thread in nice colors to match.  When my husband bought me my (used) embroidery sewing machine as a Christmas gift he also had me buy a full set of thread in colors.  It isn’t strong enough for seams, but works well in the serger.  When I was sick my old family cloth got really threadbare, and I wasn’t up to hanging it to dry as one more thing to do, so I stopped using.  But the price of toilet paper is high and I figure I can save $5-$6 per month.  That might not seem like much, but if I can find 10 ways to save $5 per month that is $600 per year.  This time around I made the cloths bigger and then folded them in thirds after I sewed them.  I didn’t want them to be more than 2 layers thick so they will dry quickly on the line, but last time I made then small and found myself using 2 or 3 little cloths stacked together.  Making them bigger and then folding them means I have fewer individual items to hang on the line.

I used to wash up the dinner prep dishes as I went along, but now I am setting them aside and my husband is washing them when he washes the dinner dishes, so we can save on hot water and dish soap.  He still loads the dishwasher, but there are always pots and pans to wash separately.

This week I baked bread and made soymilk.  I don’t know how much money baking bread saves us, but making soymilk saves $40 per month!  I used a soymilk maker I found new in box at the thrift store a few years ago, for $12 after the half price discount.

One money saving tip I have for people who have a pet who requires wet/canned food is to make their own from dry food.  My little dog was having vomiting issues and we found that canned food helped, but the cheapest canned food had ingredients I didn’t like and the high quality canned food was way too expensive.  So now I grind up the dry kibble in a food processor, enough to last about 2 weeks.  At night my husband makes the food for the next day by combining one days worth of ground up dry kibble with lots of water.  It looks very soupy at first, but overnight turns into wet food like you get in a can.  We divide it into 3 meals and he is doing much much better.  I told the vet and she thought it was a great idea and said she would pass the tip to her pet patient parents if they can’t afford the wet food.

Gr.Donna, once Charles retires you might find savings in place you may not realize now but there will be higher expenditures in others. It seems to be a balancing act

I make my own yogurt because I can't drink regular milk but can handle yogurt and some cheeses. It is so much cheaper and easy to do. I am going to try the sour cream.

I make all sorts of vinegars, and have had great success making apple cider type vinegar. I would say if you are planning on using it for pickling test the acidity for strength, there is a litmus type strip you can get to test it. It is not a short process but when the vinegar is ready save the "mother" in a jar with a bit of the vinegar and use it to start the next type with it. The pineapple vinegar I made is deluxe in salad dressings. I will be canning pears later this year and will use the peels and cores to make vinegar.

I use vinegar in cleaning also, it cleans copper very well when mixed with a bit of salt.

We did not eat out when I was a child, my dad wanted to be at his own table in his own kitchen.

A similar grocery shop for the week cost £20.22p. The medium chicken will provide meals all week, chicken dripping, and then stock from the carcass. We have weekly rations for the two of us, 100g of cheese, butter, and bacon from the freezer, and make kefir daily. We have plenty of eggs from four ageing hens, and plums, blackberries and the first windfall cooking apples from the garden.  We make our bread, and I shall make a fruit crumble, a bara brith, and rock buns when the oven is on to casserole the chicken. 

Breakfast in summer is a small bowl of basic muesli, eked out with extra porridge oats, and fruit. In winter we have porridge with fruit. 

I enjoy reading Nella Last’s War. She wrote regularly for the Mass Observation project, an amazing resource of wartime diaries and reports written by volunteers. She managed the keep the family well fed on a low income and wartime rations, by keeping hens and growing vegetables in the garden. She would make the dining table attractive, serve soup before the main course, and a dainty pudding, to disguise the very limited amount of meat available. 

Donna. I was impressed with your patched towel. Another great idea to try.

I made a quilt in 1999 using curtaining fabrics as at that time my MIL made curtains for a business and had LOTS of leftovers.

About 4 years ago I noticed the top had seams starting to fray. I'd just sewn rectangles together. So I thought " what would pioneers have done" and thought " they would have patched it.". So that is what I did. Sewed patches made from small squares sewn together and narrow borders around them then hand sewed them on. You would never know it had been mended as the original rectangles were many colours.

I brought a stainless steel kettle and we have it on top of our free standing fire box. Hot water for free and for drinks all day, putting in the chicken mash etc

I really like your rocket stove. We always try to have several ways to cook without electricity. 

We have a 44 gallon drum cut lengthways that we use to cook on and also for the feeling of a mock vacation except when we are finished with our campfire we get to go upstairs to our comfortable bed instead of sleeping on the cold hard ground in a tent. We use kindling and wood from our yard and get hardwood offcuts for free from cattle truck manufacturing. Dried orange peels make excellent fire lighters, they are full of oil and smell lovely too. 

I walk my dog around the neighbourhood and sometimes find things on the curb. I have brought home a plant stand and some pots and saucers in recent months. We put out an old wardrobe that was no longer needed last week and it had found a new home within 24 hours. 

I keep my old flannelette pyjamas to make wonderful handkerchiefs as they are so soft. I cut them with pinking shears so I don't have to hem them. 

My family always gives me a hard time for pressing the sliver of the previous soap into the new bar. We used to call it soap welding when we were children. It saves wasting anything. 

Your patched towel reminded me of a story my mother in law told me. She said that when she was young they would buy calico for sheeting. When the sheets wore thin in the middle they would cut the sheets down the centre and turn the centre to the edges and sow the original edges together to make a new middle. That way they would get twice as much wear out of the sheets. 

My grandmother always used to say - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves. 

I did the same shop in Walmart Canada to see if there was a cost difference. There wasn't until the buttermilk which was very expensive. It came out to $8 CAD more in total. It's interesting to see after the price exchange how the numbers were nearly the same for the shop... Food is expensive everywhere, isn't it?
Many of our towels don't get patched because by the time they have a hole, they are also thin and falling apart completely. It takes quite a while to get there, but then they become useful rags for dirty jobs.
I actually had to get a new pair of pants recently because my other one got patched. It was my only semi-formal pair. It's funny how long that pair of pants has been going, and I hope my patch will keep it going for another 4.
I am tired of the fact there are no payphones because it would be very nice to be able to rely on them. I have found even the cheapest phone plans include some kind of data, which is nice but also strange to me. I actually miss the days of having a flip phone. It kept things simple.
I got a simple budget book from the Amazon (unfortunately) and it has done wonders for keeping me informed on my finances. I can check them online, but putting it into my book allows me to see patterns at a glance. So useful, and such a simple little tool that people have used for years.

I am considering buying a pressure canner to make meals faster, saving the tempation of fast food. That is of course quite an expense, but I would save up for it.
It's a little thing, but I bought a 3 pack of soap that came out to $2 a bar. The cheaper option had sold out, but this is even nicer on the skin (goats milk).

My cats food is always a higher expense. Feeding him good food makes him happy, and us happy for him. It's very healthy for him, but definitely a cost that has to be budgeted for. Plus the yearly vet bill, and his flea/tick/etc medication. (which saves money on future vet bills)
Thankfully he is a young healthy little fella, so he hasn't needed much special care yet.
of course things keep breaking around here, so there is always something large to budget for. *sigh*

Grandma Donna, I love the patched towel, it looks more like a cute beach towel now.

Joan S., Yes I've had the same problem with fabric ripping out beyond a patch.  It's especially an issue in denim for me.  I think maybe I'm trying to make my patches too small, and need to get better at determining the entire weak area.

Stephanie G., Congratulations on making your new budget work!  

Michelle K., In one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books - I think it was in, "On the Banks of Plumb Creek" - her mother does that to a sheet.  It always sounded kind of uncomfortable to me though, like I'm not sure I'd want a seam down the middle of my sheet. (This may be due to a touch of OCD on my part though.)

And here's what I've been working on.  This is sort of a "before and after" photo, showing the door I haven't started restoring yet leaned next to the otherwise finished shed.  The whole thing had gotten equally dilapidated and really become an eyesore.  Yesterday I pried the old chewed up trim off that door, painted the background, cut and pre-painted new trim, so today I just have to assemble and hang that last door, and then it will be like having a whole new shed :)

Now that tariffs are in place, I don’t know if my suggestion applies. I use ingredients from other countries, as in chickpea flour. This is normally sold in the international section of the grocery store. Chickpea flour (in a 2:1 water to flour ratio) with some salt added can be cooked to a cornmeal consistency. It is then spread out in a flat container & refrigerated for a few hours. you then can cut it into squares and fried (you can use an air fryer). This recipe comes from the Youtuber: Ardent Michelle and is called Panelle, from Sicily’s. The flour is also used frequently in Indian cooking: they make parathas with it. Chickpeas are high in protein and cheap. I add vegetable from the garden to round things out.

I have been soaking up all your advice and wisdom lately, G Donna! The ladies in this forum are extremely helpful in these hard times, and I thank you all immensely. 

I've been shopping in thrift stores lately. It's not worth shopping for new clothing. I'm 48 with an ever changing perimenopausal body. Plus, I don't know if this is normal, but I have acquired such sensory issues with clothes! Waist bands and certain fabrics can send me into a meltdown!

I believe cake and other goodies such as restaurant meals should be more universally deemed as treats. I just wish more people were inspired to our frugal lifestyle for personal or ethical reasons, not forced into it due to the state of our economy. 

I have been reading your blog for years and love all that you do.  My husband and I are a few years away from retirement which has me really thinking about changes we can make.  One thing we did a few years ago was leave Verizon.  Maybe a suggestion for you as well.  We were paying high prices like I see for you here for two phones.  We switched to Spectrum which is only $30 per line endless, talk and text and data.  I can use a little bit of that time for data as well if I need internet.  We do pay separately for internet here at home as I have been lucky enough to work from home for the past 5 years.  However, there have been occasions where the internet went out and I logged into my cell data to work.  We also pay for certain tv subscriptions like Netflix and those are going to be the first to go.  

One thing I would really like to change is the amount we pay for groceries.  My husband insists on organic foods which are extremely costly.  I feel better about buying them as well.  However, I wanted to get your take on it.  Anyone in the forum know a better way?

My husband also thinks the economy is going to get worse before it turns around.  I'm concerned about this and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

I would suggest that you do research on the organic brands you are buying. Unfortunately, sometimes what we think organic means is not what is being done or presented.

One way of insuring you are getting good food is to try to grow your own garden and process it yourself. Of course I do realize this is not always possible. It takes extra time and research these days for most everything.....it can be very wearing.

Not trying to bring anyone down but I also think the economy is going to get far worse before hopefully turning around. For me that is a big reason for learning the old ways and being able to institute as many simple, cost cutting ways as possible while trying to not be fearful of the future.  I want to be informed not fearful.

Shari B -- Aldi's has a line of organic food that I like a lot, and it's much cheaper. Their organic hamburger, both the 85% and 93%, are cheaper than Grandma Donna listed for hamburger in her grocery spending. And when it goes on sale, I stock up! If you have an Aldi by you, I would encourage you to check them out. Bring a quarter for the cart, but you get it back. Bring your own bags too. The other thing I would suggest is that if you have even a tiny piece of ground in the sun, that you consider learning to grow things. I save a lot of money growing herbs, and they are very easy to grow. The difference in savings between paying $3 for one vegetable at the store and paying $3 for a whole packet of seeds or a seedling is enormous! I couldn't afford to eat organic if I didn't grow some things myself. I think the economy is going to get worse too. 

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I wanted to say that I know there are cheaper data options for phone plans out there, but I only need data on my phone if we are not at home since we have house wireless, and I love that Consumer Cellular has customer service people here in the US. When I had to call customer service one time, the lady I talked with lived in the south and shared chicken recipes with me and told me about her family. I like that kind of thing. :) I'm willing to pay a little extra for such good customer service. 

Hi Grandma Donna:  just wanted to say thank you for your great review of your budgeting.  I have always budgeted but your two book system is great!  I have always made my own budgeting pages and your ideas shown here really are the icing on the cake.  Also, it is always interesting/shocking to me to see the prices of groceries in other places.  Here in Northern CA we pay about 30-40% more for many of the items you wrote about.  And don't even get me started on insurances, we are considering moving from here upon retirement because things have just gotten so out of hand.  Sad but true.

Alos, thanks to Jenny Wren for the sour cream recipe, I will try it!!

I think many of us are old enough now to have seen dietary guidance change and change and change again.  My final decision on diet is that no one knows what we should be eating.  Not one single person.  They all have theories and they all have research to back them up, but all the data change and are also incomplete.  We live in different places, we have different childhood backgrounds in terms of what we ate and the pollution/toxins we were exposed to, we have different body chemistries and different stress levels.  Plus men and women are really different in terms of our dietary adaptability, because of hormones and the potential for women to become pregnant and birth children.  We are each of us unique!  I have completely given up on following anyone’s advice other than the guidelines I decided to set for myself based on what makes sense to me.

While I think moderate protein intake is important, I also belive that carbohydrate intake is the backbone of human evolution and development into who we are now.  This push for more more more protein intake is only in affluent countries and among more affluent people.  Companies benefit more from selling us protein than carbs.  The only way to make a lot of money selling us carbs is to ultra process them, but now that the backlash against ultra processing is finally happening (it’s about time!) companies have to push protein.

In the developing world and in poorer countries and communities, carbs are still the basis for every meal.  Meat portion are smaller, legume and vegetable portions are higher.  I realized that to meet our food budget, we also have to base meals on carbs.  For the most part, I want these to be inexpensive complex carbs — brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole grain corn in the form of popcorn and tortillas, potatoes, etc.  Sourdough is considered a complex carb even when made with white flour, because of how fermentation changes the starch.  But I also cook white rice every week because of arsenic levels in rice (especially brown rice because of the bran) , which is an issue for my son who eats large quantities of rice.  My overall guideline for myself is to not worry about refined carbs in a made-from scratch diet that also includes complex carbs.  I also think it’s important to know that grains do have protein, little bits add up throughout the day and then we can add more protein without it needing to be half the plate

Thanks to all for the great information. I learn so much from the blog, but also from all the comments.  

When considering new cell service and getting rid of internet, consider a  cell plan that offers personal hotspot data. It will allow you to access the internet from your home computer- data is limited but at least you have the ease of a computer to do stuff rather than just a phone.  My husband and I travel in an RV  part-time (all over, including Alabama) and before we retired we needed an internet connection to work. We were often able to get a great connection just from our hotspot, which is part of our cell phone plan. It is very easy to connect your computer directly to your phone's hotspot- just open the Settings on your phone and turn on personal hotspot, when you go to the wifi connection on your computer- your phone will appear, then you hit connect.  For us, it is the same as our home internet.  

Another alternative to the regular internet is a mobile jetpack; our library has them available to borrow for two weeks at a time.  Not sure that all libraries have them, but it is worth asking.   

Thanks again, for all the great information, love your blog...

Re:the discussion on carbs. 

It might be a case of which came first, the chicken or the egg, but there are a lot of type 2 diabetics in the US now, which I suspect is related to the ever-changing diet guidelines and demonizing of fat, but the fact remains that a lot of even unprocessed carbs can cause issues for diabetics. Having had 3 Type 1’s in the family and several type 2’s, most of whom were always slim, we have had to forego the cheaper options of basing our diet on carbs, and now I have to avoid gluten and some grains myself, though not for diabetes. For many of us, watching our carbs is not going to go away. It didn’t used to be this way- we as a population are much sicker and diet sensitive these days. I wish I had a good answer for this. 

I signed up for Mint for my cell phone carrier. It is 5 GB of data plus talk and text for 15 per month( plus tax and fees)  IF you prepay for a year. Or 20 per month for 15 GB of data again if you prepay for a year. Sometimes there have been on boarding deals a little bit cheaper as well. They are much better service than the other big companies.  I tried it for 3 months and hardly used any data, and the service was good so I signed on for a year. I drive a 2007 Prius … it gets 47 miles per gallon. I will just keep it! I spend $20 per week for gas so you are doing well! I also mou the loss of my landline. Verizon has a deal now that I think is 50 per month. When my nest is empty I might ditch it . I unplug it at night. I love your blog. 

This is true, carbs won’t work for everyone anymore, not after the damage has been done, and I don’t have a clue what is causing Type 1 diabetes, although it has been around since Ancient Greece at the minimum (as they wrote about it).  As for type 2 diabetes, I think there are a few generations of us who were dietary guinea pigs with the ultraprocessed foods, artificial flavors and colors, preservatives, excessive sugar, etc.  I think Gen X and Millennials were most affected by these foods in our childhoods.  My own Gen Z children ate a far different — and better — diet growing up that I did.

I have two family members who reversed prediabetes with carb heavy diets, which seems counterintuitive.  They both moved to plant forward diets and complex carbs, no red meat, lots of whole grains and legumes, and lots and lots of vegetables, plus daily exercise.  One went fully vegan, the other cut animal protein way down.  Another family member reversed hers with intermittent fasting.  But I also know people who choose low carb to manage their diabetes.  My doctor just tested my A1C because he expected it to have risen due to the steroids I’ve had to take for a year now, which cause the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream.  A year ago my A1C was in the normal range, but now it is in the prediabetic range.  I am hoping to go off the steroids ASAP to help bring my A1C down.  In the meantime I’ve cut all snacks between or after meals, all desserts and I’m following the natural human fasting interval from after dinner to breakfast (literally break “fast”).  But again, this advice doesn’t work for everyone — some people do better with more frequent meals but I was already doing that — and it might not work for me.  Because again, we are all unique, not machines

I agree with you. Too many entities pushing political food agendas and calling it health information. My PA suggested that I address my A1 C of 6.8 with twice daily outdoor walks and a plate that is 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs and 1/2 veggies ( and some fruit). Anything too detailed and restrictive ends up failing. Japanese menus appeal to me although there is a learning curve there. :

Cynthia L. Your plan for your plate sounds very practical and traditional!  ANd your PA sounds fantastic!  I am working my way up to being able to eat fruits and vegetables again after a long and severe IBD flare.  I ate green beans successfully last night and was so happy!  I’ve tried cooking Japanese style meals and following macrobiotics in the past, it it does take a lot of learning and I still can’t eat any regular beans or legumes, just the green beans.  I can also eat cooked zucchini, so now I am up to 2 cooked vegetables I can eat!

I think walking after meals helps lower blood sugar (or rather helps the body process the food just eaten through whatever human mechanism does that), and have a goal to walk around the block after breakfast and dinner in addition to regular exercise.  I’ve started looking at long lived cultures and the long lived people I’ve known, and walking after meals is a common practice.

My doctor is going to have some ideas about the A1C, and I am going to tell him I want to start with going off the steroids before trying any other medical intervention.  If I’m not successful with going off the steroids I’ll count carbs and test blood sugars daily and work on diet and exercise to reverse it.  But since he knew the steroids could raise my blood glucose, he should be willing to let me try going off them.  I’m not anti-medication — biologics are keeping me alive right now — but my home nurse told me that usual thing is to control the IBD with medications and then treat any conditions that results because of those medications with more medications.  He sees many patients taking steroids long term develop prediabetes and diabetes.  It’s a medication treadmill I don’t want to get on, for health and financial reasons.  My goal is to use the biologic to get into remission and then use diet to control my IBD.  I have been learning many of my food sensitivities in the past year, and my doctor says my continued intolerance of beans and legumes is probably not IBD related, but simply foods I’ve never been able to eat without symptoms.  The goal is to figure out all of the healthy foods I *can* eat, eliminate the foods I can’t tolerate, and continue with a low added sugar diet that contains zero ultra processed foods at home and very infrequent meals away from home.

I will finally get permission to work on weight loss!  My doctor said I needed to be in about 90% symptom remission before I could actively cut calories, and I was far too ill to exercise while I was in the autoimmune flare, but now I am able to walk more and more.  I would say I’m at 90% symptom remission now, finally.  Losing weight will also address the blood glucose levels on the A1C.

In the year before I retired, I haunted thrift stores to stock up on jeans.  I bought about 10 pairs but after 10 1/2 years of retirement those jeans are wearing out.  Before patching I always test the fabric around the hole to determine if it is strong enough to hold a patch.  A favorite pair recently failed that test so now I'll just wear them with the hole which on the front of the leg between waist and knee.  Also, do not use new fabric to patch as it will shrink and pull. If using a machine to sew on the patch, used a zigzag -- not a wide one, just enough to give the patch a bit of ease.   When I have to throw out jeans, I cut of the good portions of the legs and save them to use as patches.  

Last winter I had holes develop in my cotton undies.  I decided to give patching a try to see if I could make a comfortable patch.  I used one pair for fabric patches for the three other pairs.  Simple to do with a knit needle on the machine and a zigzag stitch.  Completely comfortable to wear.  I don't mention it elsewhere because I took a lot of flak when I did mention it!

Thrift shops often have good sewing machines for $15.  Even if you don't sew garments, a $15 machine will pay for itself with mending.

When meals are thrifty you can make them more appealing by setting a pretty table.  I prefer placemats and have a lot of them.  Some my dd made for me, one set my late m-i-l crocheted as a Christmas gift and the rest mostly came from thrift shops.  I have a deep drawer full of napkins most of which came from thrift shops.  It's not unusual to find matching napkins in groups from 4 to 8 or even 12 for $5 or less.  

When my kids were home, I almost always served something for dessert.  One that they still recall was cornstarch pudding and canned fruit alternated in a parfait glass.  (Parfait glasses came from gas station giveaways which were common in the 1950s and 1960s.)  Something as simple as a maraschino cherry on top of a dish of pudding or applesauce brightens appetites.  Cupcakes are an easy way of portion control.  When we had our own cow, I could serve almost anything with whipped cream on top and it was a hit.  Chocolate cake with a dollop of whipped cream instead of frosting was another favorite.  

Grandma Donna wrote,

I wish I could reply to all of your comments but I just cannot but know that I read everything!  I love all of your comments!  What a great information place we have going on here now.  

I will say to Ann W, I think everyone here in this forum would agree with what I am about to say.  Ann, you wrote, Last winter I had holes develop in my cotton undies.  I decided to give patching a try to see if I could make a comfortable patch.  I used one pair for fabric patches for the three other pairs.  Simple to do with a knit needle on the machine and a zigzag stitch.  Completely comfortable to wear.  I don't mention it elsewhere because I took a lot of flak when I did mention it!

You said there at the end, I don't mention it elsewhere because I took a lot of flack when I did mention it.  I do not think anyone here in "this forum" would ever give you flak with saying this, most of us would embrace it and start going though our undies drawer to see which ones we could patch. Lol!  Donna

Rose P., Thanks:)  It took me a long time to choose that trim color.  I kept wondering if it was too purple, or just the right degree of purple?  Now that it's actually on the shed, I'm definitely pleased with how it looks.

Ann W., Good for you for patching your undies!  I've set a few well-worn pairs aside with a mind to do that myself, but haven't actually gotten to them yet.  I like your idea of using one pair for fabric.

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To the general discussion on what role diet might have in diseases, I think it's important to remember that part of the reason things like food allergies and type 1 diabetes seem "more common" today, is because they are no longer commonly and rapidly fatal.  Even something like severe IBS, if people weren't getting a diagnosis and guidance on what to avoid in order to calm the inflamation, would have just resulted in wasting away from "unknown causes."  Some people are only around to be "less healthy" because they are "less dead" than they would have been if they'd had the same condition 100 years ago.

That’s a good point to make, Tea S, that in the past a lot of the chronic illnesses we see now would have seemed less common is because they were killing people.  Without EpiPens, anaphylaxis would have been incredibly deadly.  Children with type 1 diabetes and cystic fibrosis rarely lived to adulthood.  And in a darker turn, children with autism, Down Syndrome, and other medical or psychiatric disorders that made them different from what was accepted as mainstream were typically institutionalized as a matter of routine rather than a last resort option.

Some of our current diseases are diseases of diet and (lack of) activity, and some are thought to have links to other things, like chemicals and pollution.  Asthma rates are higher when children live very near to rail yards and freeways.  Ulcerative colitis is suspected to have a link to glyphosate used on grain, as might other autoimmune diseases.  But it’s also likely that autoimmune diseases are in part triggered by our much cleaner existence and move to living more inside than outside.  It seems the Amish have a very low incidence of allergies, which suggests well functioning immune systems.  But all of these disorders did exist in the past.

Donna you read my mind :)
Mine go thin before they need patching. Or they just stretch to the point of unusability.

That said they could become a rag for dirty jobs! Especially something involving grease where it has to be thrown out. Might as well get another use out of the cloth before throwing it in the bin. And saving paper towels at the same time/

I have found that having a good serving of protein with every meal has been the key to my satiety. I love carbs, but would undereat proteins if I didn't specifically make sure to add them to meals.
I don't need as much food as the very physically active, or just an average sized man. So I have to ensure that my carb portions are reasonable, and there are lots of veggies!

That said plant proteins are excellent, and a small serving of fish or meat gets the job done.

I would use something like protein pasta to make a zucchini pasta dish. It would make it more satiating than normal so I don't need to add any additional protein (lentils, chicken, whatever)
But yes there has been a strange trend towards (sometimes) excessive protein consumption. Not every snack or dessert necessarily needs protein. I like my little treats to be on the healthier side, but full of delicious carbs. :)

I've been lurking for several months and have enjoyed reading both the blog and the comments. It's sad that when so many of us are reaching (or are at) retirement age, we have to face so much uncertainty when we just want some peace of mind.

Budgeting has been a big interest of mine. Several years before I retired I wanted to know for a fact that we would be able to live on our retirement income so I started writing down all of our expenditures in a MS Excel spreadsheet and categorizing them in a pivot table, which allows me to see how our spending compares to our budget both on a month to date basis, and also on a year to date one. Until I started budgeting, I never realized how comforting it is to KNOW that money has been allotted for various uses, so it's okay to spend it in those ways. I tried to explain this wonderous discovery to some friends of mine (all approaching retirement), and they told me that keeping track of everything was just too much trouble!

I also wanted to mention that another option for people who aren't big cell phone users is Tracfone, which is a prepaid service. Right now, QVC has a nice TCL flip phone with 1200 minutes of talk time, 1200 texts, and some data for 59.98. It also includes a year of service. My Samsung smart phone was a $100, same deal. I have home internet, so unlimited data isn't an issue for me. I have had both Sprint and Verizon in the past and I can't tell the difference in service quality between Tracfone and the expensive carriers.

The Hazda people are considered the last modern hunter-gatherers. They eat seasonally according to what food is available, and this means that sometimes their diet is very limited and they eat the same thing each day. They mostly eat game that they kill, some fibrous berries, and tubers that they dig when find them. By US dietary guidelines, they should all be dying of malnutrition, but they are very healthy. 

I don't think it's what you eat as much as it is avoiding artificial chemicals in food and overeating. Overeating causes a lot of our health problems in the US. If you eat what brings you good health, it's got to be the right thing. Tea S's point is well made about the reason there are more sickly people is because they didn't die already from their ailments. Very pithy, Tea! :) :) By the way, I like your purple too. I looked at it and thought purple? It works! 

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I'm expecting a package with more birdseed today. I had to put a chair in the middle of the walkway to the door with a note that says to put the package there. Our baby barn swallows have gotten big enough to get out of the nest, and they like to hang out on the porch where the packages are usually put. I don't want them getting stepped on since they have no fear of humans. Our one goldfinch couple and cardinal couple are still coming around. In the backyard, the house finches bring their young'uns to the bird feeder where the babies flutter their wings and cheep-cheep until papa puts some bird seed in their beaks. :)

Janet W   Thanks for the recommendation for Nella Last's War.  I am adding that to my list of books to read.  I see that there is also a Nella Last's Peace: The Postwar Diary of a Housewife.  Have you read that? 

 Jenny Wren  I never heard of making sour cream.  Whats more, I never thought about the name "sour cream".  Literally, sour cream!  I had to laugh at that.  Thanks for the recipe.  

GDonna  Thanks for sharing your weekly grocery purchase cost and how you record it.  I was thinking it might be interesting to compare how much the same purchase would be in different parts of the country or world. 

Michelle K   My grandmother always used to say - look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.   I like that saying.  I read a book last year where the elderly main character (based on a real person) owned a general store/bakery/post office.  She was passing on her business to her grandson, who was surprised at the extent of his grandmother's wealth and asked her how that was possible, as she lived quite modestly.  Not the exact response (since I didn't write it down a the time) but is was basically "Little streams feed into a big river".  I have thought about that a lot.  It goes either way.  Little savings add up, money put into CDs where the interest adds up, all of our choice's good or bad, add up over time.  Of course, life being what it is, we are affected by things out of our control, but it really made me mindful about what I can control. 

Rose P  You have certainly have challenges!   How late does your growing season run?  Can you get a fall crop in?  I know nothing about East Texas, and just assume it's always warm.

Regarding mending towels... I use old towels as rags, especially for cleaning up after the dogs who still pee in the house from time to time :(  Our local thrift shop has a bundle of towels (5-6 hand towels) for $3.99, so I look for the sale color of the week and get them for 50%-75% off.  Occasionally there are nice ones that can be used for the dishes or the bathrooms.  Of course, my old worn towels are rotated into the rags for cleaning as well.

Grandma Donna Wrote, 

Charles came home from work yesterday and saw my newly patched bath towel (my favorite one I use) and he came out and said, I like the patched bath towel.  By his tone he sounded a little envious because now mine is whimsy.  I said, I can patch yours even though it doesn't have holes sot you can have a patched on too. :)  I think that he secretly does want me to patch his towel.... so I will...

I do not wash towels each time I bathe, I use my wash cloth to dry myself while still in the tub/shower.  I wipe, squeeze out, wipe squeeze out, over and over until I am nearly dry before I step out.  I use my towel to finish getting the dampness off.  It is amazing how much water squeezes out of the cloth that did not go into the towel.  When I wash my hair that is a different story.  I hang it on a special line on a special line that I have to dry, and wash it weekly.  Not that this is the right thing to do, but somehow I feel I am cutting back on laundry and saving wear with the towels.  Charles does not seem to have the same routine or convinced to have the same routine so I change his towel out more often.  I dry them on the little indoor line before putting them in the laundry hamper. 

Tea S,  I love your little shed and the shape of the top of the shed.  I showed Charles how you have been repairing and painting.  We both like the look and trim color and it looks whimsy.  Life needs more whimsy today.  Very motivating that you are repairing the doors and the shed by yourself. 

Like the rest of you I am battening down the hatches as best as I can.  For my cell plan I have been using Mint mobile. I pay once a year but the cost per month is just $15 and it has been fine.  I work from home so I have internet there and rarely travel so I pay for extra data only on very rare occasions.  I basically prepare all of my food myself, keep the basic ingredients on hand, always trying to buy things when they are on sale.  Not gardening anymore as I just can't find the time with full time work and everything. I do have the knowledge though and if I want/need to get back to it I am going to move to using 5 gallon buckets which will be easier to manage and could be brought inside at the end of the season. 

Last fall I used dark polar fleece to add as a liner to most of my curtains (that I made myself). Keeps the house darker and cooler by blocking out the sun and also blocking the cold from the windows during the winter.  Trying to remember to scale up in the heat by first tolerating it : ) , then I move to a fan and if that isn't enough I will put on the room a.c.   And then I try to remember to scale it back as the sun passes by and the room cools down a bit.  This has really reduced the number of hours that I use the air conditioning.  

For cooking, I use the instant pot more and more as it reduces cooking time considerably.  Of course it is an adjustment after cooking with gas burners for so many years but I have been very happy with my experiments. I cooked whole potatoes last  week in just 15 minutes with very little added heat to the kitchen and we just reheated the as needed in the microwave.  This morning I used it to cook some beets.  

I keep myself quite happy with little expense by using audio books from the library, reading books I already own, various sewing and crafting projects, working out with weights and exercise bands and YouTube videos, playing some music on instruments I already own, and  some writing and journaling (I use the school supply sales to stock up on composition books at $.50 each!).  Wish that I had more in-person companions who enjoyed the same kind of life but most people around me seem to be just going about their regular materialistic lives. 

I am lucky to have supportive friends, but they don't can, sew, or just learn the old ways of thrift like i do. Not everything I do saves money, but it can also be a good learning experience. Once I have the equipment the costs also go down.
I would love to live with less AC, but my body won't tolerate it. I am always impressed by people who purposefully limit it as you do. :)

Today my dad went to Best Buy to renegoiate his phone plan. He had been locked into an awfully high plan ($85 CAD) and was looking to massively reduce it. he ended up changing 3 of our household plans and saving $73 a month. Still with unlimited talk, text and some data for everyone. I think Canada must have some inexpensive phone plans or something. Because you can get quite a decent plan for $35 CAD. Less if you don't need data of course.