A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #36

Amy Lane Photography 2015

You know, sometimes a thrifty week isn't about the great sales you got or all the things you did. Sometimes a thrifty week is about what you didn't do. These are some of the things I didn't do this week.

I didn't...
buy a new Easter dress, shoes, and accessories...
buy new clothes for my husband or children...
go out to lunch with friends after Good Friday service...
fill Easter baskets (always from Momma and Papa not a bunny, they do get Peeps though)...
plan an elaborate meal for Easter dinner.

What I am doing...
Easter dinner
 Riblets (a gift from my father)
 Baked potatoes ($1.29 for 5 lbs on sale)
 Asparagus ($1.98 for 2 lbs on sale)
 Butter bought on sale for $1.89 a pound
 Dessert will be leftovers from the cafe.
 Sour cream and BBQ sauce are the big splurge. I just sent my daughter to buy it while I'm writing this.

Clothes
 All things we have on hand. I did send my daughter to Wal-Mart with a $15 budget to buy some dress shoes. She has only tennis shoes and flip-flops. If they cost more, she has to pay the difference from money she has saved.

So you see, it doesn't have to cost hundreds of dollars to enjoy Easter. One new thing we did this year is attend a walk through Easter program at a local church. It was magnificent.

Decorations
The girls decorated our home with flowers from the yard in their lovely spring colors of pink, white, purple, and yellow.

So, if you're feeling down about what you cannot do because of budget constraints, look around. What do you have at hand? What can you do with it? My Easter won't look traditional this year, but hey, who's it about anyway?

Bless the Lord! Jesus is risen from the dead. He died for our sins so that we, if we believe and trust in Him, may be made whole, be saved, and be reconciled to Father God. Praise the Lord!

Happy Resurrection Day!
Laura
Living the Lifestyle of the Thrifty & Frugal

My Daybook March 30, 2015

Join us at The Simple Woman!

Dear Ladies, 
Hello!  It's a beautiful morning. In the time that it's taken to write this, the sun has risen and so has my youngest daughter. I've also seen my husband off to work. I'll soon wake up the other kids and make some breakfast. My Amy was thrilled to find we have cereal. It's usually eggs or oatmeal around here. ~smile~ I hope to get outside for awhile today. It's supposed to be a perfect seventy-one degrees and sunny! Thank you Jesus!
May God grant you the desires of your heart as you delight in Him.
God bless you!
~~~~~
Outside my window...
I cannot see a thing except a few headlights on the highway. It's still early. 6:23 as I type this. 38 degrees and clear. According to weather.com, it will be 71 today and clear. Yay!

I am thinking...

of planning a spring break week after Easter.

I am thankful...

that my van is working well and gas prices have dropped again.

In the kitchen...
Lunch will be odds and ends. I really need to make a trip to the grocery store. I think I'll make some ham and beans for supper. I have a pound of Northern beans that look lonely in the drawer. 

I am wearing...

my black night dress and my fuzzy slipper boots. 

I am creating...

I sorted through some works in progress yesterday. I have the following things "in the works": an apron for me, an apron for my Amy, a tea wallet, a kick pleat for a skirt with a high slit, some Christmas ornaments, too many projects! I need to finish some things so that I can make myself a new dress.

I am going... 
nowhere until evening. Yay! Last week was full of transferring kids and husband all over the countryside for meetings and work. 4 H season is upon us, and it cannot be helped since we have only one vehicle. Yes, I need to grocery shop, but we'll make do just for the privilege of being home all day long. 

I am reading...

still... just a couple of chapters left to go.

I am looking forward to...

some free afternoons during spring break.

Around the house...

I'm going to make a list of things I want to clean and fix. I'm hoping to work on cleaning and decluttering in the mornings and relaxing during the afternoons during our break.

A favorite quote for today...

Buy at allposters.com.

“What you want is practice, practice, practice.

...I feel that every time I write a page either of prose or of verse, with real effort, even if it’s thrown into the fire the next minute, I am so much further on.”
C. S. Lewis
Author of the Chronicles of Narnia

One of my favorite things...
the mums that line my back sidewalk. Weren't they beautiful? We cut them to the ground and they are just beginning to come up again. They were the little $1.49 plants at Wal-mart two Autumns ago. I've been thrilled that they've done so well.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Since it's Holy Week, we'll have an Upper Room service Wednesday night at church and share a Passover celebration. Thursday evening, I plan to have a bread and grape juice meal with the family. When they were very small, I started doing it as a "last supper" and talking about Jesus' last supper with the disciples. On Friday, we'll have a Good Friday service at noon at church. Saturday night we'll make Resurrection cookies. It's traditional that they fail. If they turned out right, the kids would be disappointed! It's crazy what can become tradition in our family!

Have a wonderful week!

Laura

Happy at Home

Spring Diet for a Penny?

Our little Penny thinks Crocus are yummy!

Penny's 11 months old this month. It seems like she's lived with us for ages, yet it's only been nine months. She sure has turned our household upside down at times. Our previous dog, Josh, was 15 when he died. We'd forgotten how much activity and trouble a puppy can bring. She's finally calming down a bit, and we're learning to live together peacefully. Spring brought softer dirt to dig in. That made Penny happy. Just try to stop this little Doxie mix! She doesn't want to leave my mums alone either! I hope you're enjoying early signs of Spring. Before you know it, it will be Holy Week! 

Happy week ending!

Laura

An Open Letter to a Lady Discouraged by Poverty and Poor Living Conditions

My friend Jes, of Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, recently received a comment on her post "Swept and Good Order" ~ The Mistress of the House. I felt compelled to respond to the comment and share it with you.

Dear Discouraged,

   I feel so glad that you chose to share your discouragement with Jes. She shared some good ideas. I know what its like not to be able to fix things up like you'd like to. Even after 28 years, most of what we own was either given to us (usually second hand) or bought second hand.

  Please don't be discouraged. You've got to get creative. Find the things that cheer you. Maybe a candle burning (often cheap at yard sales), music playing (try Pandora or Spotify on-line if you don't have a collection), the fragrance of supper simmering on the stove shouldn't be underestimated!

I find that when I think about what I can do instead of what I cannot do, it helps.

When I didn't have furniture for my living room, I baked cinnamon rolls and sold them to businesses in town for their break times. I bought my furniture from Craig's List. Perhaps there's something you could do to make a few dollars here and there.  I get to squirrel away all the money I make by selling books on-line to buy my school books and whatever I can use PayPal for.

As for hospitality,  years ago we had people over even when we had to sit on the floor,

We once went for Sunday dinner to someone's house and they served a simple bean soup with cornbread.  Inexpensive, true, but hospitality was given as they shared what they had with us, and we enjoyed our time very much. Their situation and home was similar to yours, but it was the friendship offered that I remembered.

If blogs and Pinterest discourage you, don't look at them! If you do look, just let them be jumping off points to think about what you can do with what you have available to you.

For now, think about the things you have that you do enjoy and how you might make the best of them.

Here are a couple of posts from my blog that might be encouraging to you:

40 Ways to Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without
A Few Ways to Enjoy Homemaking

Sincerely,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage



Wednesday
Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop
This post was featured at A Tray of Bliss Five Star Frugal.

 

My Daybook March 23, 2015

Join us at The Simple Woman!

Dear Ladies, 
Hello!  It's a beautiful morning. A bit chilly, but spring is coming! It wasn't a very productive week last week, but I'm hoping to play catch-up this week. I have much to do. Is it spring at your house yet?
May God grant you the desires of your heart as you delight in Him.
God bless you!
~~~~~
Outside my window...
a cloudy morning has dawned. I can hear the traffic from the highway and birds singing and calling to each other.

I am thinking...

what a blessed life I live.

I am thankful...

that God has blessed us with this home.

In the kitchen...
boiling eggs for breakfast. 

I am wearing...

My black dress with my black Crocs that I got after the tornado.

I am creating...

If I get myself moving, I'll be crocheting some dishcloths and maybe sewing an apron.

I am going... 

I went...

to my daughters' teen talent competition in Jefferson City over the weekend. They did great in interpretive dance and art. I wish their grandmas could have seen them.

I am wondering...
when I'll find time to do all I have to do.

I am reading...

I am hoping...

that spring has truly sprung. 

I am looking forward to...

choosing a few plants for the garden in a few weeks. My children are going to study gardening in 4H. I have hopes that will help them be more interested in helping with the garden this year.

I am learning...

about healing using Kenneth Hagin's Bible Faith Study Course.

Around the house...

everything in a bit of disarray, because things have been moved away from the walls. It's time for Buddy the bug man to come and spray the house. We have troubles with ants in the spring and fall. We're trying to prevent them from getting to the kitchen. They've already appeared in the bathroom. Yes. I know. Chemicals are bad for you. We have tried all kinds of things. I just cannot stand having the critters in the kitchen.

I am pondering...

how to effectively teach my 11 month old puppy to come every time we call.

A favorite quote for today...

"Too many times, we get our attention focused on the wrong thing. When it comes to healing, we consider our own bodies and the symptoms that try to attack our bodies. That is what we are thinking about and looking at, and the more we look at the symptoms, the worse we get."
Kenneth Hagin

One of my favorite things...

I enjoy my old worn out, cover and spine glued together, notes all through it, New King James Bible. In fact, I got a new study Bible, but still use my old one most of all. In fact, even the zippered cover is wearing out.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Since my plans were set aside to work at the cafe last week, I've got to hit reset and try to do the things on last week's list. We'll also watch The Grace of God. 

A peek into my day...

Have a wonderful week!

Laura

Happy at Home

Rainy Day Thoughts

Do you love a rainy day?

These lovelies do!

Promise of beauty

A bright spot in sometimes dreary days

Hope after a long winter

God's mercies spring eternal.

Loving the last vestiges of winter and the rainy, colorful promise of spring.

~~~~~

ஐღLauraღஐ 

...doing what I can with what I've got where I am 
on a short shoestring budget!
~~~~~

My Daybook March 16, 2015

Join us at The Simple Woman!

Dear Ladies, 
Hello!  What a beautiful day it's been. The sunshine and warm weather made me want to just open the windows, put show tunes on Spotify, and dance through my housework! Well, I didn't get to do much of that before I had to go to the restaurant to help my husband, but I did enjoy bopping around to some fun songs from Singing in the Rain. My kids, 13, 15, and 17 love show tunes, too. The girls joined right in. What's your day been like?
May God grant you the desires of your heart as you delight in Him.
God bless you!
~~~~~
Outside my window...
Night is slowly falling after a warm sunny day.

I am thinking...

about making some homemade cocoa!

I am thankful...

that I was able to drop everything and help my husband today. It's something I couldn't have done if I worked outside the home.

In the kitchen...
I'm going to make that cocoa!

I am wearing...

My black dress with red cherries. It reminds me of Mary Engelbreit. I made it myself a year or so ago from a pattern my friend Laura gave me for my birthday a number of years ago. It's the Women's Panel Dress from Common Sense Patterns. I've made it up 3 or 4 times now.

I am creating...

If I get myself moving, I'll be crocheting some dishcloths and maybe sewing an apron.

I am going...

to my daughters' teen talent competition in Jefferson City.

I am wondering...

whether I'll finish half of my hope to get done list.

I am reading...

I am hoping...

to finish the book and post my review in a day or two.

I am looking forward to...

Sunday. I enjoy worshiping the Lord Jesus with my church family.

I am learning...

more about forgiveness and healing.

Around the house...

I see so much to do.

I am pondering...

how to do it.

Read my review.

A favorite quote for today...

"True Christianity finds all of its doctrines in the Bible;

true Christianity does not deny any part of the Bible;

true Christianity does not add anything ot the Bible.

For many centuries the Bible has been the most available

book on the earth.  It has no hidden purpose. 

It cannot be destroyed."

 Billy Graham in Quotes
pg. 58

One of my favorite things...

I enjoy candles burning. Be sure to let them burn long enough for the entire top to liquefy prior to blowing them out. This way they will burn more completely. It's usually about an hour per inch across.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

What I Hope to Get Done This Week!

A peek into my day...

This is our Royal Delights Philly Cheese Steak.

Have a wonderful week!

Laura

Happy at Home