Saving money is so expensive!

[cafe]

I'm in my motivated spring mood and I have all these ideas for things I'd like to do around our place to make things more pleasant or convenient or to save money.

The thought of paying for water to spray on the garden when I've got water pouring out the downspouts now is bothering me. I want a rain barrel, but it appears they are not cheap. This one is really nice, but it costs $150.

I'll keep looking locally and online.


Yesterday, I dug a composting pit for the dog poo. I saw plans online that called for a dismembered plastic garbage can to use for the purpose, but I don't really have a garbage can sitting around that I want to dismember, so I just went with a hole in the ground. It's about 18 inches deep and I lined the bottom with some river rock so it can drain.

This is with the first deposit of poo and grass clippings covered with a few inches of dirt.

This is with one of those little disc sleds as a lid.

I have to decide if I want to add septic system additive or worms. I'm thinking I'll try red worms because they are my favorite fishing bait. If they don't work, I'll try night crawlers. If I'm not happy with those, I'll get the additive.

I'm also thinking about wanting a clothesline. Thing is, it's so humid here that clothes seem to take a long time to dry. I'm probably just spoiled from when we lived in Kansas.

We've become addicted to Gold Peak sweet tea.

It's expensive and I don't think we have a good place to recycle the bottles. I've been saving the bottles with the intent to make sun tea to put in them. I've got a gallon sized pickle jar I saved for making sun tea, but the lid still smells strongly of dill and vinegar and it flavored the first batch I made. I'm hoping running it through the dishwasher will work. I'm going to have to do some odor removal research if it doesn't.

I still have some projects on the inside of the house I want to work on. What I don't want to do, though, is set myself for a bunch of stuff I'm going to have to keep up with later on when I'm not feeling as motivated as I am now. I'm sure the neighbors would not appreciate a 12x12 garden gone weed patch flourishing in our front yard.

 

[cafe]

Woot! I found out that a local container company sells 55 gallon rain barrels for $60. I'm going to try to check them out today.

Edit: I got one. It's not set up yet because (Oh! The Irony!) it's pouring down rain and I think I'm going to have clean the clogged down spouts and do some sawing to get the one I want to size. It'll probably be a project and Don will likely be cautioning me about safety and stuff, but I'm excited that I found such a good deal.

When I get it up and running, I'll post a pic. I hope the neighbors don't mind the 55 gallon blue monstrosity, but too bad for them if they do.

 

[heart]

Yes, saving money is expensive!

It can work if a person is organized though. alas I am not oragnized....

It sounds like you've got some good energy going to make some great long term changes though. The rain barrel is a great idea!

 

[cafe]

What we really need are a heat pump and replacement windows, but they are out of our reach for the immediate future. The storm door will hopefully be a big saver because we have a large shade tree right out front. The rain barrel won't be a huge saver because water is very cheap here. We pay $50/month for a family of six. But the thought of having plenty of water available for free and not using it just bugs me too much.

I will see if I can do anything about a clothes line and I think that will have to be it for the time being.

I'm not very organized and it seems when I start adding new things to my (and I use the term loosely) routine, I start dropping the plates I currently have in the air. Like, since I've been doing the yard stuff, I haven't been cooking and we've gone through nearly all our frozen meals and the laundry is behind again.

This week, I guess I will get easy food so I can catch up the laundry and finish some more yard projects, but next week I really ought to start cooking again.

The lucky thing right now is the weather. Sixties and seventies with lots of rain. I prefer it warmer, but it's comfortable in our house at those temps with no heat or AC and I don't need to water the garden.

 

[Geoff]

Hmm, yes I need a solution for water in the canadian holiday home. How about one of those rain water conversion kits... hmm...

 

[cafe]

That's the other thing about a rain barrel. God forbid there is a tornado or something that knocks out utilities for more than a few hours, but if there is, we will have water that can be boiled or treated with bleach to last for a little while.

I think I have an idea for the clothes line: I'm pretty sure I can run it from the front deck the the dying maple tree.

I am also thinking about digging up one of the saplings that are popping up around the maple and planting one at the south side of our house for shade. It might not work, but if it doesn't, I haven't lost any cash in the deal.

So many things to do. We need to hire someone to take down the tree and we need a dry place to store the wood from it.

I'm also wondering about putting some blocks of soapstone in the fireplace to absorb and release heat. I've seen soapstone wood stoves online and cookware and hand/boot/bed warmers, but nothing like I'm thinking of and I'm wondering why. It seems logical, but most concrete logical things people have been doing for a long time. Why not this? Maybe it doesn't work well enough to be worth it? It's not an expensive project, so I may try it just to satisfy my curiosity.

I will need to clean the fireplace first, though. Ugh! Oh well, I've wanted to try making my own lye for awhile now, so I might try that out, too. I'll have plenty of ash to do it with. I won't want to used any soap I make from it for skin, but it can still be used for laundry.

Go to sleep now, Heather.