Thrifty Thursday:: Pocket Watch
You’ve noticed those gas prices going up, haven’t you? Too quickly for folks to adjust. I don’t have any qualms about prices being that high here in the US. We lived in the UK where prices were that high and higher. My complaint is that the rise has been meteoric. I doubt that most families’ incomes are keeping pace. We are blessed that the folks we have working for us can work from home. They don’t have to worry about commuting, so their incomes can go a bit further. We also work almost exclusively from home, and our bus has broken down - which just might be a blessing in disguise. It would cost well over $100 to fill it (at yesterday’s prices here, it would have cost nearly $120).
One of our classmates works in Hartford, CT. He’s been watching the prices at one roadside station closely over the last few weeks. Prices yesterday were $4.29/gal for regular. Another classmate owns a heating oil company. He gets faxes throughout the day with increases in prices, it’s hard for him to keep pace. Please be kind to your oilman. He’s dealing with a lot right now. He’s feeling the pinch, too. Come next winter, he’ll be finding it harder. The numbers of people needing fuel assistance is sure to increase - that means a lot of extra work. If our last fill-up was almost equal to the mortgage payment (it really, truly was), think how much more your oilman is paying - and having to pay to deliver it…
Gas prices affect everything. You’ve probably noticed that your grocery bill is climbing at about the same pace as your fuel bills. It is likely that other utilities will go up, and that the increased demand for alternatives will drive those prices up as well. I’m worried that the firewood Brian wants to order (uncharacteristically early) will be considerably higher than last time. Natural gas has gone up as well. And Dow chemical company released a statement today that they will be raising their prices as much as 20% because of rising fuel costs. This will drive up prices on lots of common household items like cleaners and disposable diapers. If you haven’t switched to homemade cleaners and cloth dipes, now might just be the time.
I saw a report that clothing prices are soaring as well. With a house-full of kids and a belly that is scheduled to expand rapidly again over the coming months, I’m glad that I know how to sew. I suspect that I will be raiding the stash and visiting my local thrift store on Wednesdays (half-price day). Perhaps I can also arrange for monthly Monday trips to our nearest Recycled Resource Center for craft supplies (everything there is FREE!). My kids will be totally styling in refashioned duds, and the Pea will be wearing some groovy dipes made from refashioned wooly jumpers, jeans, and T-shirts (patterns available at Fern and Faerie). Also check out Wardrobe Refashion for some great inspiration. Oh, and check out Beth’s Diaper Diaries for some SUPER cute cloth diapering ideas. And see this link for a tutorial on making the baby set pictured above.
Our garden is underway and I’m praying that we will produce enough food to offset the grocery bills. The chickens are doing their duty - we’re getting about a half-dozen eggs each day. It’s too bad that the wethers are not does - it would save us so much on milk… We may have to do some fishing this summer and reduce our meat rations a bit. Thankfully I have several vegetarian cookbooks to be inspired by. Local farmers will be getting lots of our business, too. Strawberries at Silvermine farm, perhaps. Certainly we’ll be making trips to local farmer’s markets to stock up when we can, filling our freezer, and pulling out the canning supplies. Check out Local Harvest for a farmer near you.
Many families are trying very hard to reduce or eliminate their debt. This rise in prices makes that an enormous challenge. If you are feeling overwhelmed, I invite you to pop on over to the Simple Gifts List for some support and inspiration. We’re talking about debt-free living, thriftiness, and ways to take joy in simple pleasures. And it costs you nothing - now that’s something novel!
I’m off to see about replacing my bicycle tire tubes. It looks like we’ll be getting around more by people power, too. The unexpected benefit of all this:: we’re going to be awfully fit. I’m thinking of trading in the bus for a couple of pedicabs…
May 29th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I don’t know how the average family is going to be able to function if prices keep going up like this - and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon. My husband was working in the mortgage industry when it bottomed out, and it took him months to find another job. Now we’re thankful he’s found work as a waiter/dishwasher at a little bakery in our small town. It’s not the most “glamorous” work for a guy who’s working on his Master’s Degree, but it’s a job - and at this point we’re very thankful for it. We’re living with family, which is crowded, but it cuts down on everyone’s expenses - and working three minutes away cuts way down on gas money…
~Jenny
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Living with family… that’s how we are surviving. We have 5 bedrooms, with the two of us, 8 of our 11 at home, and a high-school-age boarder who goes to my girls’ school. We are in the midst of rearranging bedrooms right now, as two more of ours are coming home this year: one (22) who has been a nanny in NYC, now ready to live at home and commute to college with her sister (sharing car/gas!), and one (24) who has been a missionary in Australia, coming home in Nov. to find work and pay personal debts and save for future. It will be a challenge, having these young adult women at home, but also a blessing, as #12 is due in September. I sometimes scan the craigslist ads, amazed at how many people are looking for housing. I think that as more families are more squeezed in every way, we will have to turn to one another for help, and it seems to me that’s OK.
My husband just found a new job after 4 months of unemployment. (during which he had a small side job preparing and moving our crisis pregnancy center to a new location — as much as I worried about how to pay the bills, it was interesting to see that the job came about just as this project was ending — God knew what he wanted Mike doing during these months!!!) We have a large amount of debt, but I am putting every spare penny toward it, and trying to get rid of it.
Today I get to pick up my first order of organic produce from a local farm… I’m so excited! The farm is 30 minutes from here, but the pickup location is only 5, so I’m saving gas there, too. During this time, too, we’ve cut way down on meat, and don’t seem to really miss it, so that’s a savings, too.
I switched baby #11 from disposables to cloth this past winter, (I’ve used both back and forth through the years) and now she’s in undies! Yay! I plan to use cloth for new baby, too. And I read somewhere to try using only 2 tablespoons of laundry soap, and would you believe, the clothes seem just as clean??? I’ve had the same mega laundry soap bucket for months! (This may not work for families with more boys than I have — 1!)
Home heating costs? We’ll apply for assistance, winterize as much as we can this summer, and plan to wear lots of socks and sweaters!!!
And gas for our 15-passenger van? We just plain don’t go anywhere that we don’t HAVE to… sometimes it doesn’t leave the driveway between Sundays. Nobody’s complaining yet. Lots of fun to be had at home.
This summer we’ll not go far, either, opting instead to take part in my parish’s (St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester) “summer youth trips”, where we go together to local fun places, saving gas, sometimes getting group rates, and making lasting friendships doing it.
I could go on, but this is my big chance to nap before dinnertime.
Marcia