Official SS Poll: What do you do to eliminate bills / cut down expenses?

[Mini Horses]

By far, raising & preserving our own food is the most selected options. Probably the smaller livestock would be the MOST raised -- chickens, rabbits, pigs, goats & sheep.

For me, my biggest "next" effort is to raise more of the feedstuff necessary for my animals on a year round basis. They get the leftovers, extras from garden, excess eggs & goat milk. I have been putting strips of some "mixed" forages in many pastures by lightly discing & broadcasting some mixed varieties of seed -- clover, rape, peas, grazing alfalfa, various grasses, turnips, millets, etc. I have about 13 acres of heavy pastures.

This year the pigs have been placed in the field I would most like to convert (as to weed/grass variance) and I hope to get it lightly hit with the disc & graded to remove their over enthusiastically plowed areas. Don't want little ponds everywhere. Then I hope to put a heavier blend of forage that could be a permanent goat graze lot, used, rested, used.......thru the season. In this I hope to have a couple strips of milo, which will be left to mature & seed pods collected by hand. MAY have to hotwire that to preserve it from the grazing of the balance of the field. You see I have been thinking about this

Three sisters will be planted in another area. Plan to harvest for self as it is prime, then let the corn & beans dry for storage -- and feed to chickens as I cook a pan for them. Corn can use for all and pumpkins will be used for same -- animal feed -- seeds were selected with this in mind. Turnips & mangel beets have a spot and I have had them go into winter in the ground, harvesting as needed. Mid winter they can be harvested and stored in hay, for later use.

I will never get equipment to hay due to expense! Older units? I am NOT going to deal with repairs, etc. Just not. BUT have considered a side cutter, then raking & storing "loose". Have plans downloaded to make a hand baler.........not done, just at ready. Since the feed situation is the one thing I would like to get self-contained, I watch for seed on sale. Food plot seed for deer is a good source at end of season to buy mixed for better $$.

What's working for you?

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm an avid dump picker

Me, too! Unfortunately our County has decided there will be NO items removed from these dump sites. They have open hr supervision!

I've got an in, however. Two guys who "look out for items I might want" and unless the head supervisor has been there looking around, I get a few things now & then. One guy has even taken things home for me that I pick up later. LOL.
All this for just some donkey, goat & chicken info/help.

Works for everyone.

 

[Hinotori]

Hubby wanted to buy some of those Belvita breakfast things. He always makes me look because he knows I read ingredients and can decipher it. When it hs 3 to 4 different sugar types to disguise just how much sugar is added it's nothing more than a cookie with a hyped up name.

I told him if he was going to eat cookies for breakfast I could do better and cheaper.

So since it's hot out he's just got no bake peanut butter oatmeal cookies right now. It's at least got enough protein to actually keep him full for a bit, unlike the processed crap he wanted to buy.

The recipe is amendable to mixing in pretty much anything dry, so I can add nuts or chopped fruit to the oatmeal later. Mom suggested I just use a square pan and cut it into bars instead of spooning it out as cookies. She figures if I play with it enough I could make a very decent cereal bar for him.

 

[tortoise]

The local grocery store here has started selling nearly-past-date items. I found 24 yogurt cups for $2 - put those into the freezer for DS10 to take to school for lunch. A gallon of milk for $0.49 and plain yogurt for $0.49 also -- time to make yogurt! LOTS of yogurt this week! We like yogurt flavored with lemon curd, so I can used up some eggs that way too! I also like yogurt flavored with home-canned blueberry lemonade concentrate. Yum!

 

[Mini Horses]

I've read & contributed to this thread. I can say that some things are harder to do than say. I am embarking on a "trial" FULL retirement (in the next two years) Set retirement income is tough! I don't care how you planned, we all know "life happens". So this year I am making myself work harder toward my own self sufficient life. Raise own foods, raise animal foods, etc., everything mentioned in this thread.

Everyone should take a trip down this path to know where you are and what you can REALLY do. Our visions & our actual doing can sometimes walk on a different path. Do a test run before you find you are in trouble.

I MUST till and plant this next week.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Part of my money saving is switching to livestock breeds that require less commercial feed and forage better. That means I need to invest in fencing but that's semi permanent so that's OK!

I wish a lot of us lived closer together. @tortoise has the property, @frustratedearthmother can run a tractor and I can do the grunt work. Lol!! We'd get some serious hay moved!!

 

[tortoise]

I am thankful my house has main floor master bedroom and laundry. When we were house shopping, those were essentials for me. We're not even close to wheelchair accessible though, which might become an issue someday. I have suggested to DH that when we remodel our bathroom (sometime in the next decade), we should put in accessibility features like a walk in tub and grab bars. Walk in tub being a "just in case" want, but I really should have grab bars in there already.

I am hoping to put in self-sowing, perennial, and creeping plants for my flower garden so that even when I'm not able to tend it, it doesn't turn into a weed patch.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

My big pet peeve is the electric bill. I'm fanatical about turning things off, or thermostats up, or thermostats down depending on the circumstances. Instead of running electricity to the barn (besides it being hard work and expensive) I bought two solar motion detector activated lights and mounted them on the barn. They work great!

Also hate to pay interest, so we pay cash whenever possible and never carry a balance on a credit card. We use an AMEX almost exclusively (pay it in full every month) and there are reward points associated with purchases. Last year we had enough reward points that we were able to get gift cards for all the kid/grandkids for Christmas and it didn't cost us a dime!

 

[tortoise]

Hi Mini Horses! I can't stay away from here for too long! Kids are good! DS9 is as sassy and oppositional as ever, and Baby is 18 months old and a little spitfire! A very responsible spitfire. Guess which one of my boys cleans up after himself? LOL, the Baby! Baby loves trucks, tractors and animals. He was born into the right family.

 

[Mini Horses]

If you can find a source for "close dated" fruits & veggies, jump in & ask if you can pick them up. Sometimes travel cost & time make it less productive BUT if you work near or pass by a small grocery, they toss slightly damaged veg/fruit. Your animals will eat it gladly! The waste is shocking.

I often cut my big water heater off for 24 hrs, on for 4-8, of 24. Depends on what I am doing -- laundry, dishes, etc. It is well insulated and even after 24 hrs off, I can take a hot shower. Takes some remembering but can save a good amount.

Too bad to hang clothes out? Have a garage? String a line. Or, use some indoor racks. Overnight usually has them dry and not in anyone's way, really.

Back to veggies in stir fry....a lot of the peels, ends, tops are not used in some of our dishes but, they still have value & taste, just less in the "looks" department. So toss them together for some broth/stock. Do you know that many restaurants are now using such items for these things? cutting expenses!

Leftover veg from a meal -- not enough for another meal? mix with a compatible other veg (think succotash) or keep a plastic bag in freezer to continue to add to it. Veg soup! Add that beef bone and extra meat from a roast. We can sure work at less waste. Yeah, often dog, cat, pig, chicken get these. Just options.

For most of us, it is heavy hay use time. Save those strings. Gardens are coming and we can use it for so many things!! Not everyone has a few extra cattle panels but, you can tie the bale twine to sticks/posts to support vines, keep supports hooked together, etc. FREEE I tell you. Heck, I keep a few along the fence line near a gate.....you can make a fast halter, lead, tie up an animal if you find a need and didn't expect/come prepared.... or tie a bucket to a fence/post, etc. I generally have a few tucked under seat of truck -- never know when I might need to tie something in & forgot straps (darn yard sales!)