What A Sale!!

I am so excited right now. I just got our weekly, free newspaper. I was flipping through the sales fliers to see if there was anything good and darn near fell off my chair.

At A&P this week, whole chickens are on buy one get one FREE!! I couldn't believe my eyes! Now, the price per pound is $2.99 which is no great deal, but hey, free is free, right? Even if I pay $10.00 for one, I'm getting two chickens for $5.00 each.

And oh how I can make a whole chicken stretch! Did you know that you can get at least 2 meals out of one chicken? More if you make soup with the leftovers.

I am sending hubby over first thing tomorrow morning after he's done work to pick up 2 chickens, which will give us 4. I'm also going to stop by and pick up a few more when I go in to the Mission tomorrow afternoon. And I may just pick up a few more on Sunday when I go to my mom and dads for lunch. We'll have to see how the budget sits by then. I will definitely be getting as many as I can afford though.

God is so great!!

We Have Babies!!

If you were reading this blog when it was over at WordPress, you'll already know the story. For the benefit of those who weren't, I'll give you a rundown.

About 32 days ago, my goat Otis took an intense dislike to our bunny Sadie's cage. He used his horns to tear the chicken wire that keeps her in. I went out one morning and there she was hopping happily around the pen. Right where our un-neutered male was housed. Yikes. Rabbits are incredibly inventive and even though he was caged as well, I was pretty sure that they would have found a way.

And they did.

I've been watching her very closely for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday morning I noticed that she was pulling fur from her chest which is a surefire indicator that babies are on the way. Once they start pulling fur, you're looking at about 3-24 hours until there are babies. So, I kept checking and checking and nothing.

This afternoon I went in to check again and still I couldn't find anything. Just as I was putting her nest back together, I felt something warm inside her blanket. I carefully unwrapped it and sure enough there were two of the tiniest little bunnies. I almost squealed they were so cute!

So, we are now the proud grandparents to two new baby bunnies, one black and white just like Mama and one pure white. They are just so cute!! They are nice and fat and active and as healthy as all get out. Hopefully they stay that way. The mortality rate for bunnies is fairly high which is why the litters are generally large. But it will be as God wills.

I hope He wills they live!

I'll be taking some pictures later this afternoon when my son gets home from school. He's going to be so happy. He was hoping she was pregnant and hoping against hope that there would be a white one. For his sake alone, I hope that one lives!

Anywho, I just thought I'd share my happy news!

Introducing The Frugal Times!

In these uncertain times, we're all looking for ways to cut costs and live a more simple, frugal life. In fact, that is what this blog is all about, my family's journey towards living that kind of life.

I ran a poll on the first My New Homestead blog. The question was "With the economy in the shape it is, are you trying to live a more simple, frugal life?" or something along those lines. Quite a few people answered yes, but what I found mostly was that more people wanted to, but didn't know how.

I'm learning as I go. There is still a lot I don't know about living a simple, frugal lifestyle. But, I realized I'm not alone! Isn't that great? That means that you're not either!

So, to help myself and all of you, I've decided to put out a weekly newsletter entitled The Frugal Times. I'll be posting it here and it will have tips and hints, frugal recipes, cleaning tips, organizing tips, money saving ideas, frugal craft ideas, frugal decorating ideas, whatever I happen to have handy when I'm writing it. ;)

I'll be looking for contributors too. So, if you have something to share for The Frugal Times, email me and I'll be sure to add it in!

I hope this will be helpful to someone other than myself. But if nothing else, I will have fun doing it!

I'm working on the first issue right now. It should be up later today or tomorrow, then will run every Monday from there.

I hope you enjoy it!

I'm So Excited!

I just sold 5 dozen eggs! I'm so happy right now I could just spit. LOL! I know, that's disgusting, but it's one of my favourite sayings. ;)

I placed an ad on http://kijiji.ca yesterday for the eggs and also for some bulbs I've dug up from my one garden (photo's coming soon, I promise!). Today a couple came and bought eggs and took some bulbs too! Isn't that cool?

I now have enough money in my pocket to buy more chicken feed. Which is good, because I just emptied the bag this morning.

And I still have 3 dozen eggs in my fridge, not counting the carton we're eating from. And tomorrow I'll gather at least another dozen. I love having chickens!

Where Do I Fit In?

Where do I fit in? That's a question that has been plaguing me for some time now. I just didn't realize that was what was bothering me.

I've been doing a lot of thinking (as I mentioned in a previous post) about myself, God's plan for me, the state of the world economy, etc. And that has brought me to a realization that I am missing out on what God's plan for me really is.

I've been spending too much time lately in the carnal (self driven) world. I haven't been paying enough attention to what really matters, my relationship with God. The things I do don't make Him happy. They hardly make me happy for crying out loud!

Because I've been short circuiting the power that God sends to me with my grumbling and my carnal (self driven) thinking, I'm missing out on His blessings, and my ministry. God has a ministry for all of us. The problem is, what is it?

I'm going to be doing a lot of praying and meditating on His word, listening for Him, for His guidence. Where does He want me to be?

Do you know? Because I sure don't! ;)

So Sad.

I'm very sad. Devastated one might say.

My crockpot broke.

Now, I know that might not sound like the end of the world to most of you. But for me, this is huge. Hugely huge. Big time depressing stuff.

I use my crockpot ALL the time. If I'm not using the whole unit, I'm at least using the insert for cooking in the oven.

I cook dinners and desserts in it. I adore my crockpot.

So, the big question now is, do I go out and buy new, or do I go second hand?

New will last longer, but second hand is less expensive.

What to do??

I'm taking the plunge today and putting an ad on Kijiji to start selling eggs. I'm really rather excited about it! It will be the first time I've ever sold something like this. Pray that we will be able to recoup some of the cost of keeping the chickens, please!

This homesteading, simple life, frugal living thing is tough. I know everyone already knows that, right? I just thought it beared repeating. ;) Over the years, we've developed some habits that we need to change. So, what we've decided to do is change one habit at a time. I mean, if we try to tackle them all at once, I think the whole family will implode. ;)

Starting Nov. 1, we are going to work on our frivilous spending in the form of eating out. We tend to stop in at McDonalds to grab something quick more often than we should. It's really just too convenient. But, we just can't afford it anymore.

So, to work to that end, I'm going to be bringing back the weekly dinner menu that we used to use, but during the selling of the house and the move went by the wayside.

Every two weeks, I sit down with the calendar and my meal list and schedule each dinner meal for that pay schedule. Then, using the recipe for each meal, I make my grocery list with only the ingredients used in each meal. Of course we have our basic need grocery list as well.

By using this method we can usually shave at least $50 off our grocery bill if not more.

If anyone needs more information on how to set up a workable dinner list, let me know. I can post a more detailed how to here on this blog.

Yesterday's Shopping

Well, it went great yesterday! Not only were we able to get some excellent clothes at an amazing price, my teenage daughter now believes me that second hand clothing isn't the end of the world!

We spent just over $100 and this is what we got:

Myself: a pair of jeans, two skirts, two sweatshirts

My Husband: a pair of jeans

My Son: 3 pairs of pants, a new fall/spring raincoat

My daughter: 2 sweaters, a new pair of pants.

It was fabulous! We will definitely be going back. It was incredibly busy there being the last Saturday before Hallowe'en and honestly, none of us do crowds very well. So we're going to go back sometime when it's not quite as busy. ;)

Taking The First Step Towards Frugality In Shopping

We're on our way today to make our first steps towards frugality and simplicity. Unfortunately, that means spending money, which seems a bit backward, doesn't it? ;)

Everyone in our family needs winter coats, snow pants and boots, including my husband and I. Hubby also needs new shoes, I need new jeans (the knees and for lack of a better word, crotch, are almost completely worn through and aren't going to last much longer) and dress pants. The kids both need some mucking around clothes for cleaning out the chicken coop so they aren't wrecking their school clothes. We're looking at close to a thousand dollars just for winters coats and boots! So, we're heading to a second hand store today!

We've never shopped in a second hand store, so this will be something very new for us. We're having a hard time convincing our teenage daughter that it will be ok for her to buy something there. I'm hoping that once she gets there and is able to see the quality of the clothes that she'll start to understand that it's not the end of the world. Being in highschool, appearances are very important to her and she's afraid. She doesn't want to be teased by her friends and those who aren't her friends.

This is a huge step for us! I'm excited and very proud of my husband and I. Normally we would just head to WalMart or the mall to buy these things and spent way too much money. This is a great step in the right direction.

I'll be sure to stop back in and let you all know what we got!

Fall is my absolute favourite time of the year. I love everything about it. I love the cooler days and nights, the crunch of the leaves beneath my feet, I love the smell of the air. I can't honestly think of one thing I don't love about the fall.

My favourite thing about this wonderful time of year, though, is the changing leaves. And the best part of that is when they fall. I absolutely adore walking through them, kicking them out of the way as I go. The sound of them rustling against each other is like heavenly music to my ears.

I've been noticing something this year that is really bothering me. I don't know why I never noticed it before. I know it's always been there, but for some reason, this year it jumped up and bit me on the nose.

It all started about two weeks ago, when the leaves really started to fall. I was driving through our little town on the way to the grocery store, admiring all the colours of fall when I noticed a lady in her front yard, raking up the leaves and throwing them into the garbage. I wanted to stop the van and ask her why? Why are you doing this?

God, in all his infinte wisdom and kindness has given us a great gift in the fall. When everything else is dying and withering He gives us a glorious riot of colours in the trees. Then, He allows them to fall from the branches and carpet the ground. It's stunning!

Take some time this year to really look and appreciate the gift God has given us. Don't just automatically reach for the rake. Actually look at the carpet of glorious colours God has given you. And say thank you. Thank you for covering everything that is dead and wilted with this colourful bounty. Enjoy it. Don't just rake it up and throw it away. Appreciate the beauty of it.

We're given a wonderous gift in the fall, aren't we?

A New Look!

I've decided to move the My New Homestead blog and give it a facelift. I hope you like the new look! I'll be doing a lot of work on things over the next few days, getting everything transferred and working smoothly.

I hope you'll come back to check in on us!