Tuesday, December 8, 2009

thinking about being frugal

The winter holidays are upon us. Most of us are running around like we are chickens with no heads....sigh

Old man winter is giving us our first taste of the season here in OH.I can tell you this old body isn't ready at all BUT food wise I am ready.

I did go to the store yesterday for fresh veggies which are all nice and cozy in my refrigerator after being cleaned and cut with the peelings in to a gal freezer bag that went into the freezer to make veggie broth later when I am baking cookies for the kids and grandkids later this week.

I was asked what the hardest part of being frugal was...I would say that it would be time. Being frugal takes time. Our pioneers didn't have the time a lot of us think they did.If you think about what a woman did during the normal day of milking cows, churning butter, preparing 3 meals along with the bread, cookies,pies and cakes. cleaning without a vacuum. Dishes washed after every meal because they were the only ones. Fire for the fireplace and stove. grinding coffee beans by hand, dealing with the kids, schooling the kids, medical issues as they came about.Not talking of washing the laundry,by hand and drying it on a line outside or across furniture in teh house during the bad weather,making ALL the clothes etc....I could go on and on. Their dutch ovens was the forerunners of our crock pots.I still use my dutch oven when times get pushed. Frugal meals come out of it easily, a tough roast with root veggies. a soup or stew with or without dumplings. My kids,including the sons use the crock pot for the same things.

some thing to think about as we run around this holiday

Blessed be