Na Na pinches her pennies
Shh… don't tell anyone I'm poor. They all think I'm living frugal and green just like everyone these days. This is a blog about a senior citizen living a frugal life, on a fixed income, in a low income food desert, and passing along knowledge from lessons learned. Some she learned from her Grandma Mama many years ago and some learned only a few days ago.
Clear kitchen first
When I recovered from the illness I had over the holidays the first thing I wanted to do is get my kitchen into a somewhat workable order so I could work on my healthy eating goal. The repair work has ended and it’s time to put things back in order again. Well I have the kitchen almost back to normal use. Some boxes have been emptied and the room is almost clean. I still need to mop the floors. This is before:
And this is another before picture:
This is the after:
Another after:
I put the shelves back in place in the utility room and have kitchen stuff on them for easy access. Now that the corner cabinet is gone I’ll be able to put more shelving in there. Eventually. Not right away.
More shelves with more kitchen stuff.
As soon as I finished that project I started canning. I made turkey stock and canned 10 pints. Next I canned 10 pints of white beans and yesterday I canned 10 pints of collard greens. Almost all the water syphoned out of the greens. Less than 1/4 of the water is left so it wouldn’t be safe to leave them like that. I’ll opened and transferred all of them to plastic bags for the freezer. At least they are already portioned.
As part of my new healthy eating goal I switched to whole wheat flour to bake my bread. It turned out soft, fluffy, and tasted very good. It looked like the bread Grandma Mama used to bake now and then when she was expecting company. She baked biscuits for us to eat as everyday food.
Between Christmas and my birthday I was gifted money from several people. Thank you so much! I went for the orthotics appointment on Wednesday. The mold was made and I can expect them to be ready sometime in February. That’s when fitting and adjustments will be done.
One person has gifted me Target gift cards. I had planned to buy shoes but now I believe getting shelf stable foods will be a better choice considering the worsening conditions of our food supply chain. My believe is that as the year progresses our food will become much more expensive and possibly more scarce. Scarce doesn’t mean total disappearance. It mean less not zero. Maybe I watch too much news.
My next project will be getting the studio cleared up enough to actually begin creating. Geeze, it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve made a quilt.
Na Na pinches her pennies 
‘Maybe I watch too much news. ’
An interesting question, but I believe it depends on news sources in America particularly, where the sources have become less than honorable or balanced, and part of large advertising and business concerns.
I have not seen many supply chain interruptions in Houston, except the usual seasonal and weather-related gaps, and my mechanic tells me some car parts are on back-order. Prices are largely coming down here, but there is a lot of competition.
What I have noticed is that the quality of some goods is not as good, I’m not buying any more nets of onions for example, there always seems to be one of the six which is rotten to the core! And I enjoy a microwave green bean casserole on cold days, but canned green beans almost always have bits of stalk in them now. Small concerns in the general scheme of things, but those are my observations.
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I did send you my ‘Cardinal bird’ watercolor Anita as a belated birthday. I actually wonder if ‘cardinal quilts’ might be ‘a thing’? It’s a memorial symbol for many people here in America..
You seem to have a huge home there compared to my last few places, what abut renting a room to someone like us, seniors with integrity and creativity who do our best to change the world for the better?
You would need to be very selective, but once you found the right person it would be a benefit to all.
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The card arrived yesterday, thank you so much. I love it. The quilt category at the fair is to take a postcard and create it in fabric. I wanted an original card instead of one bought from a store. The cardinal is the Kentucky state bird which will help with the competition. There are many bird quilt designs and many fabrics with cardinals. I haven’t yet found anyone I would trust to live in my house.
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I think you’re wise to not buy new shoes until you get your orthotics. They will definitely affect the sizing/fit of your shoes (my better half has had orthotics for decades).
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I was told I need the shoes for the orthotics to be trimmed to fit the shoe. If that’s the case then each time I buy new shoes I’d need new orthotics?? Is this true?
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My husband doesn’t need to get a new pair every time he buys shoes. He just makes sure the orthotics fit any new pair he buys. Eventually he has to replace the orthotics but that doesn’t happen very often.
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Thank you.
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Oh I know the feeling about getting back to crafting. I am crocheting a baby blanket for great-grandson #3 due in February and yes it feels like eons since I have crocheted. At first I had to go slow, my hands have some nasty arthritis and raynauds but it has actually turned out to be pretty beneficial. I’m getting more dexterity back in my fingers (yeah). I am so inspired by your canning. I used to can most of our foods, years ago but I need to conserve more of my strength these days. Perhaps I can get back to it on a limited basis. I do, however freeze, a lot. Thank you so much for your inspiring posts!
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It’s good that the crocheting is helping with dexterity. Maybe you could do small batch steam canning? Steam canners do the same thing as waterbath canners but without the heavy weight of water. You can do as little as one jar. You can only do fruits, jams, and pickles by steam bath but it could save a little money or space in the freezer.
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I might try that. I’ve been hankering for some nice low sugar jelly 🙂
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