Thrifty Thursday

This was a thrifty Thursday. As I am focusing on lowering my utlity bills as much as possible, thrift is a great way to save money. Here are the things I did today to pinch the pocketbook:
***hung 6 loads of laundry to dry
using cold water on all but bedding and whites
***baked 2 more loaves of oatmeal bread instead of running to the store
***took round steak out of the freezer for supper and supplemented it with
what was in the pantry which was broccoli, mac and cheese and milk
gravy-powdered milk is great to have on hand for cooking
***let God wash my van with the rain, it was in bad need of a wash

My water bill has been a big area of concentration for lowering. It had gotten as high as $75 at one point. We live in small rural town and to me that is way too high. So to bring it down we are doing a few simple things:

-running cold water in a container until it gets hot for use when needing
hot tap water, this is used to water my outdoor plants
-my kids always leave half full glasses of water sitting in the kitchen so
use that to water my indoor plants
-use the water miser feature on my dishwasher, this saves water and
electricity as the cycle is shorter
-everyone gets a gallon shower
I read this tip from someone else. Fill a gallon jug with warm water
and use that to shower with. It sounds extreme but 1) we only have a
tub and no shower, 2) it is no different than getting wet in the
shower, turning the water off while soaping up and then turning the
water on again to rinse and 3) this way I know my boys are actually
washing and not just transferring water from the tub to the floor.
Granted this is an extreme measure but I EXTREMElY want to be out of
debt!!!
-filling a half gallon milk jug and placing it in the toilet tank to
make it a low flow flush.
-filling a dishpan to rinse handwashed dishes and using that water to
water the garden
-keep a pitcher of cold drink in the refrigerator to avoid running the tap
until it is extra cold
-using five gallon buckets and/or garbage cans out when it rains to
catch rain water to use outside. I don't have small children in my
house or neighboring me, but it is safe to use something with a lid to
keep accidents from happening. It's even better to attach a large
barrel to a downspout to catch the runoff.

Oatmeal Bread

We were out of bread and since the house was unusually cool I decided to make some homemade bread. If you notice a piece is missing off one of the loaves, I couldn't wait it was so yummy. Here is the recipe courtesy of Hodgson's Mill flour. I should say as with all recipes I substitute where I need to use what I have on hand. In this I used old fashioned oatmeal instead of quick cooking and it turned out fine.

Grandma's Oatmeal Bread

2 pkgs active dry yeast
1/2 c warm water
1 1/4 c boiling water
1 c quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 c molasses
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 c Hodgson Mill Oat Bran Flour blend
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2- 3 c Hodgson Mill unbleached flour

Coating:
1 egg white
1 tbl water
1/4 c quick cooking oats

Add yeast to 1/2 c warm water and let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine boiling water, oatmeal, molasses, vegetable oil, and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in 2 c oat bran flour blend and mix well (may use a mixer). To this add 2 beaten eggs and yeast mixture. Mix well. Add the remaining oat bran flour and unbleached flour to make a soft dough. knead the dough until smooth, elastic, and satiny, 10 minutes by hand or 4 minutes in an electric mixer fitted with dough hook. Put dough in greased bowl, turning once to coat evenly. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours. Optional Second Rising: Knead down and allow to rise a second time until doubled, about 1 hour.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 2 equal portions and let rest for 10 minutes. Grease two, 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Shape dough into loaves and put into pans, seam side down. Allow the dough to rise to just above top of the pans.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush loaves with mixture of 1 tbl egg white and 1 tbl water, sprinkle with 1/4 c oatmeal.

Bake for 30- 35 minutes until top is golden. Remove immediately from pans and let cool on racks.

Determined to be debt free

USE IT UP, WEAR IT OUT, MAKE IT DO OR DO WITHOUT...very wise words from yesteryear.

I am back on the frugal bandwagon after a time of falling off and hitting the ground hard. It pays to pick who you surround yourself wisely, as the Bible says in 1 Cor. 15:33 Do not be deceived:"Evil company corrupts good habits." I am determined to be totally debt free within the next three years. I would like it to be sooner, so it may not take quite as long if my motivation stays high. The two biggest things being the mortgage and the automobile payment. Here are some things I'm doing to help achieve the debt free life.....

***turned off the air conditioner since mid July. Even for Missouri,when it gets down in the 50s at night the house stays cool with just the use of fans.

***stopped using the clothes dryer. I had gotten out of this habit and just needed to get back into it. Clothes defintely last alot longer this way too.

***use cash to pay for everything other than routine bills or things that need a receipt. This was hard to get into, it's so easy to just write a check, but I hate to part with cold hard cash so it makes it easier not to spend using cash.

***make a grocery list and only shop once a week. Going to the store everyday really zapped my finances in a hurry with spontaneous spending. This makes planning ahead and being organized a very important habit.

***retraining my thinking. When I think I need something new I ask myself "Do I already have something else that will work instead?" So far I have always come up with alternatives to buying another widget,gadget or whatsit. Just this morning I was running out of clothespins (I think there is a clothespin monster lurking in the basement- ha!). I was debating on going to the store to buy more pins, but I didn't want to and I didn't think that the $3 I had in my purse would cover it. Then I remembered my mom saying she had extras. I called her up and she just so happened to have gotten them out yesterday. God is always at work paving the way. :)

I have more ideas that I will post later.