Cutting back and getting organized

This past week has been productive and fulfilling for the most part. Seth and I have cut off the water heater, the AC and we're getting ready to cut off the refrigerator. I borrowed a book from a friend, Bill Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture.
I was very familiar with the ideas and concepts of permaculture but had yet to actually study it in a book. This is a good book to start with, especially if you're comfortable with the school textbook sort of layout. It's set up in that way, but also very pleasant and easy to read.

We've been thinking, researching and planning. When we get home from our trip (we are visiting my family for a week) we are really going to get to work on the garden and landscape. I am excited. I've really been looking forward to fall and winter planting and the time is upon us!

We'll see if we can cut our electric bill in half or less and maintain it there. I've been using hot water from the hose instead of installing a legitimate solar water heater. It works well but I only get about a gallon of hot water at a time and I have to make that stretch for dishes and some clothes.
I've adapted to washing up with cold water. It doesn't bother me much.

We also have a great compost bin going. Everything goes into it. I've even been digging through the trash to salvage things that I think would be better suited to compost or something other than trash. As a result, this past week we haven't produced a single full bag of trash.

In a few months I plan to make a graph of how we are using certain resources. I've got about 6 months worth of monetary expenses and about 4 months of electricity, so I need to start looking at the quantity of trash we are disposing of.
In 6 months I'd like to cut our output to about half of what it is. Spending half the money, using half the electricity and disposing of half of the waste-- all while *increasing* production of other projects. Let's see how this goes....

A frugal lady.

I haven't been posting much anywhere for awhile because I'm just tired. I need to spend time with Callum, and find routine and get used to my life.

I've been doing great, I think. I still get lonely but that's kind of what I'm asking for from life right now. My few good friends around here haven't been coming over as much on the weekends. Mostly I just see Seth's parents and his uncle Ronnie and some other people occasionally.

Next week I'm hosting a Natural Birth meetup group. I really liked the one I went to in March but that group is about an hour away so I offered to host a meeting for local members in Hammond. That should be great.

I've also signed up for a first aid class in September, and I will probably also get certified in CPR later. In August the local state park is having a few events including a wild edible plant tour, survival skills training, woodworking and basket weaving workshops. I'm planning on going to all of those. At the wild edibles tour I'm meeting up with some other people who are interested in permaculture and survivalism and such.

So I'm really working on being social, I just haven't quite made it yet.

I'm also working on being antisocial, inadvertently, by letting myself become increasingly paranoid and skeptical of my culture. I don't believe in consumerism or big governments or any of the things 'out there' that are contributing to this economic (and human rights)disaster. Seth and I buy food and gas so he can get to work, and in most cases that's all we buy during the month. We pay an electric bill and we pay our mortgage and car insurance.
The one 'splurge' is social more than anything, and that's when we go to this nice authentic Mexican restaurant down the road for dinner and we can both eat for $10 there.
It's not difficult to NOT spend money, except for the fact that everyone's doing it. That's what people do. The more I pull myself away from that kind of thing, the more disturbing I find it. Right now we're poor but we're financially disciplined. Even if we weren't poor, then, I'd want to live the same way because it feels right.

I'm not trying to be a snob, and I'm not really trying to set myself apart from everyone else but as I get more and more comfortable with my frugal way of doing things, I get more and more uncomfortable with the things going on around me.
It's knowing that we can make it on such a small income that kind of liberates us from living to spend, and spending to live, and being part of this big race we don't want to be a part of.

People around us aren't doing that. Even now. It's not a judgment of them, but simply an acknowledgment that it's part of the reason I'm having trouble socializing.

Quite simply, I feel different. Perhaps I relish the "hard life" to some extent. Not saying my life is hard by any means, but it could be easier if I gave in to the system. It could be more luxurious, let me say that.

Either way, I know that I need to take breaks from the internet. The whole thing overwhelms me. Somehow the ability to get in touch with almost anyone at any time makes me fail miserably at doing so.

I'll leave with a few pictures of the beautiful chickens. These little hens and my family and friends really are the light of my world.

The fantastic four

Muriel, one of our Americauna chicks.