Can you prepare for disaster on a budget?

Absolutely!

The typical emergency preparedness mindset is to simply buy whatever you need. However, I, as well as others, either can’t or won’t do that.

So here’s something easy and frugal that I do anytime I get some sort of bottle. I rinse it out, fill it with water, and stick it in the fridge.

Not only does this reuse the bottle, but it also helps fill up the fridge to keep it colder and use less electricity. Plus, if I need it, we have water stored.

Hi. This is going to be a pretty short post.

Most people don’t track the extra money they save by being frugal. Why do I do it?

I can’t work outside the home to earn money, but is a penny saved really a penny earned? I’ve found that if I don’t keep track of it, any money I’ve saved is forgotten and frittered away.

However, if I track it, I can actually put this money into the savings account. That way, a penny saved really is a penny earned.

I always start my day by playing a little bit on my phone. There’re games that pay you to play (not much, but it’s useful enough), and it helps me wake up and get my bearings so I can get to my coffee in the next room.

I usually only play for 10 or 15 minutes, but I played for nearly 40 minutes today… I must have gotten sucked down the rabbit hole.

Once I made it into the kitchen, I (of course) made coffee, but then I just took care of some normal stuff.

I replaced the trash bag. This is an empty bag of dog food. If I’m going to be throwing it out anyway, I’ll at least make the most of it. I know trash bags only cost 10 cents or so, but still …

And I rinsed out the bag I keep my homemade bread in. If the bag isn’t really dirty, I rinse it out and hang it to dry on this toilet paper holder I found in the house.

Then I got to eat breakfast.

It’s Monday, and on Mondays I always make sure to check the stock market, so that’s what I did after breakfast. I ended up making some really good moves by complete accident. Right before all this corona mess, I sold all the stocks that were doing well because I needed the cash. Then corona hit and the bottom fell out of the market. Everything I had sold plummeted down where I bought it back for a lot less than I sold it, and what I did keep didn’t seem to get affected. The coronavirus quarantines definitely have the potential to get bad, but for right now, my family’s been so blessed that the quarantine is actually doing good things for us. It’s horrible that so many have lost their jobs, but my husband’s job is “essential,” and I don’t work anyway, so our lives haven’t really been affected so far.

Sorry, I got side-tracked – down the rabbit hole. And speaking of rabbits, I clipped some more grass for them. As it’s getting warmer, the grass is growing faster and faster.

After that, I did some work in the garden – planting, weeding, watering – the usual. One thing that I’m really excited for… well, two things… is the wisteria I propagated.

Wisteria is one of those plants you have to watch or it’ll take over, but it’s beautiful. One good thing about it is that you never have to worry about it dying. I kept cutting it back and not knowing what to do with it for a long time. However, this winter I did some research. Wisteria is a nitrogen-fixing plant. Also, is one of the shows my husband watches, wisteria holds off demons, and that’s the most metal thing I’ve heard about a flower. Plus, it dawned on me the other night that “Wisteria Lanes” is a beautiful name. Because of all that, I propagated wisteria in a few places, and Wisteria Lanes Homestead shall be a reality.

I’m also excited about some Job’s Tears that I planted. They produce seeds that look like ornamental beads. I think it’ll be fun to play around with natural beads.

Time to rest and think (and time to write this post). I’m debating about working on a project I had an idea for. Right now, I’m using up some plastic straws that my mom had, but they’re running out. I don’t want to buy more plastic ones, but I also don’t want to keep buying paper straws. I also don’t like the idea of steel reusable ones, because if one gets really dirty, I’ll feel bad to throw it away. I did see some reusable bamboo straws, and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort to make some straws from the bamboo at my neighbor’s. I have the tools laying around and plenty of time, but I’m thinking it’ll end up being much harder than I think it will. I’ll probably try it and see.

Next I made some more cream of rice. It’s not even available near me, but I found it online, and I save $14 every time I make a batch. Plus, it’s pretty easy. I ground up some rice in the blender, sifted it, and mixed in some sugar and cinnamon.

I sewed a bit, and then it was pizza night!

My husband loves frozen pizza, so about once a week, I make 3 pizzas and freeze 2. It’s at least $3 per pizza at the store, and $15 to get pizza delivered. My pizza’s only $1 and some love.

Most of today will pay off in the future, but I still saved $25 today.