Sunny, Cold Day

We've been saving our coffee pods. Today I dumped all the coffee out of them and tore out the filters. I washed them (probably unnecessary) and lined them up in a cardboard pie box.

I'm going to go fill them with potting soil and plant some seeds, then put them in a window.

I am so in love with reusing things.

If I get a new phone today, I will take a picture for you.

So I Wrote an Ebook

I wrote and wrote, story after story about my experiences as a nursing home nurse. I wanted 10,000 words, but came up with only 9,300. I probably could have written one more chapter and reached my goal, but I got impatient with wanting the thing to be done. And I wanted to see what it would be like to have my writing "out there."

 It's out there now. I posted the news in a few online fora and had a nice response. I ran into my son's room last night and said, with self-deprecating mock excitement, "I've made almost $3! I'm a professional writer!"

My son said, with no excitement at all, mock or otherwise, "It's all from people you know."

"Well, yeah, but still..."

So then I decided it would be a milestone when someone who doesn't know me buys a copy of my ebook. One friend has very graciously posted the book on his own facebook page and recommended it to his followers. I'm hoping one or more of them will do as he suggests and snap up a copy of this very "well-written" and inexpensive ebook!

I used the self-publishing aspect of Amazon.com to format and "publish" my book. I recommend it. It's straightforward and simple for a non-technical person like me. And they have a nice selection of free cover art. If you have something to say, this is a nice way to get it said.

Go buy it, please. I have bills to pay.

Nursing Home Sketches: My First Year As a Nurse. On Amazon.com, Kindle Books.

https://kdp.amazon.com/title-setup/AN9ZO0RBW32R4

Let's Talk About Student Loans

I'm a pretty responsible person. I don't carry balances on my credit cards. I never pay anything late. I avoid financing fees when I pay my car insurance. I rarely ever buy anything new. I work. I don't overextend myself.

But I experienced a serious disconnect when I took out my student loans. The first time I needed money, I accepted only the subsidized amount. But later on I thought, how much interest can there be on these little student loans? And I took as much money as they would give me. When I wasn't working, I used it for living expenses.

The answer to my question above is: a lot!

6.8%.

That's higher than a mortgage rate.

So when I checked all this out I panicked a little.

And then I found out how much my monthly payment would be.

And I panicked a little more.

But I came up with a plan. It's not going to accomplish any miracles, but at least it's a plan and I can sleep at night knowing it's in place.

I want to save up six months of living expenses. When that's done, I will put every extra penny I have on the biggest unsubsidized loan I have. I've done my research. I know where my loans are and the percentage rates on each one. Now I have at least a modicum of control.

It might be twenty dollars a month. Some months it might not be anything. But I do have a plan. Now when I sell something on Ebay or in a consignment shop I can apply the money to a loan and feel a sense of accomplishment. Hopefully it won't take the typical ten years to pay them all off.

Also, if I get a chance to take a job as a school nurse, I will jump on it! If you work for a government entity, your payments are cancelled. Yes, CANCELLED.

Finally, a Sewing Day

Yesterday I cut and, with this project, it was really kind of fun. Today I sewed. I challenged myself to get all the pieces sewn together. I can do the hem and elastic another day. The idea that hit me while looking through the men's tee shirts at my favorite place, The Clothes Closet, was to buy tee shirts with words or slogans and piece them into a skirt. I had the perfect pattern with lots of pieces. I've almost finished the skirt and it's pretty cute. It's not as busy as I thought it would be because it's hard to get all the words and pictures and still keep the grain the right direction. But I think it turned out cool and the next one will be even better. Two extra large tee shirts were enough for all the pieces of my pattern. My shirts were different shades of white and I used the two colors at random. Love it. I will show you when I get my camera fixed (or a new phone). The next idea I had is even better! I usually ignore the ladies' shirt section because outdated shirts are too short. They are useful only for fabric and there's not that much fabric in a ladies' top. But then I realized that an extra large ladies' blouse will be long enough. I can alter these blouses to fit! I found a nice, white linen blouse with tons of pin tucks. I can't wait to cut it down and do something cute with it! Tomorrow I work. As in earn money. And that, my friends, is a blessing.

Random Acts of Thrift

I am in love with glass jars. I love to empty out a nice pickle jar and wash it and remove the label and see that I have nice, new, free jar. I have started using jars to put my silverware in. One for spoons, etc. I keep them in my tiny pantry. I have almost no storage in my kitchen.

My favorite jar right now is a Marie Callendars's Cole Slaw Dressing jar. It's thick and substantial and has a neat shape. I put coffee in it. I like the way it feels in my hand in the morning when I make coffee.

I put flour in another jar and keep it in the refrigerator. Jars just seem like free canisters to me. I don't know why anyone wouldn't keep a good jar and find something to put in it. Everything looks nicer in a glass jar.

One time I bought a huge jar of pickles just because I liked the huge jar they were in. Of course, with number 3 son, I had no trouble emptying it. I keep tea bags in it next to a pretty little teapot. It's another little thing that makes me happy whenever I see it.

I found a turkey in the "almost gone bad" bargain section of the grocery store and cooked it for New Year's Day. I cooked down the carcass and saved the broth in an empty ice cream bucket. I love buckets! They are also free and very handy, and large enough to save a lot of broth. I keep these buckets of broth in the extra freezer. I don't buy a lot of ice cream, but my son does. We have a lot of buckets!

I picked the meat off the turkey bones and made a pot pie!

Today I made my son turkey quesadillas and I still have more meat. I put it in an empty tortilla bag and closed it with a clothes pin. I guess it's time for soup.

This turkey cost nine dollars and I got several meals from it. The only thing is, I get kind of tired of the taste of turkey after a while. There's always the freezer!

How I Saved Money This Week

The very best thing I can do to lift my frugal spirits is to visit our church's clothes closet. Every clothing item here is 25 cents. It is an endless supply of affordable fabric, buttons, and even clothes to wear as, well, clothes.

I got my younger son two shirts for school, my older son a long underwear shirt that he has already worn to an outdoor Halloween event, a tee shirt for my fiancee, and
drum roll, please...

a manual typewriter I've been promising my younger son since I couldn't find one for his birthday!
It was $3.

Don't tell him. He thinks it's wonderful and that it must have cost a lot of money.

On Friday, I was cleaning up a little and found three hot dog buns that were dried out and two bread ends. I almost threw them out, but changed my mind.

(Ok, I did throw them out and then dug them out of the trash when I got an idea.)

I cut all this into cubes, rolled them around in melted butter, added some parsley flakes and salt and garlic, and put them in a slow oven until they were crunchy.

Now I have homemade croutons. I put them in a cleaned pickle jar. I can't tell you how happy this made me!

I used to think that watching grocery ads was a waste of time. I thought it would save money over the long run to go to one store, get what I need, and come home and cook. This week I watched the store ads. I used a store coupon to get 9 pounds of frozen chicken breasts for $1.58 per pound, and bought 6 pounds of grated cheddar for $2.50 per pound. I like this method and will try it again next week. I hope to build up a nice supply of cheap groceries this way.

Our Walmart had small bags of sweetened cereal for $1.00 each. This comes to 10-11 cents per ounce, which is good. But I went home and found a Malt O Meal coupon online for $1.50 off three bags of cereal. So the final price was about 5 cents per ounce, which is fantastic! We have cereal to last a while now, because I let my kids eat sweetened cereal only on weekends.

What I want to stress here is that I found the product, then found the coupon. I didn't buy something just because I had a coupon. Find a good deal on something you buy anyway, then look for a coupon to further increase your savings.

See What Happens

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