From Bear:

Both Theresa and I have had the flu this week and it sucked, but I have found some silver linings I would like to share:

• The philosophical silver lining:  Is it better to be the patient or the nurse?  As the patient, you're being taken care of.  As the nurse, you do not feel like hell and are not power purging at both ends.  I think I am a much better patient than nurse (Theresa agrees).  I am a very grumpy nurse.  I would say I have a lot to live up to, though, because she is a good nurse.  How many people would rather be the patient and how many people would rather be the nurse?
• The useful silver lining:  Since I was power purging and in danger of dehydration, Theresa used one of our emergency resources to keep me healthy.  The book, Where There Is No Doctor, has a homemade rehydration drink recipe (so we don't have to buy a sports drink during our Buy Nothing challenge) of 1 quart water, 8 tsp. sugar, and 1/2 tsp. salt.  She was adamant that I drink it and said it was too sweet when she had to drink it (although maybe I put the 8 tsp. of sugar into a pint instead of a quart).  (Theresa comments:  I'm the better nurse because I got the patient to drink his medicine.  From Bear:  I was a better patient- I was too damn sick to refuse.  From Theresa:  But you got better after a couple days, I was sick for a week.)
• The weight loss silver lining:  Last week I wanted to do an apple cleansing. There are times when I have tried a three day apple cleansing diet (three days of apples only, on the third night drink a quarter cup of olive oil and expect cleaning in the morning).  While I was sick, I cleaned out four times in six hours.  No apples or olive oil necessary.  I didn't spend three days feeling hungry.  Roughly 15 pounds was cut and yes, I did regain 10, but the same thing happens on the apple cleanse.  Divine health intervention at it's most ironic.
• Treasure hunt silver lining:  While Theresa was sick and actually had time at home to browse Netflix, she found the current British version of Sherlock Homes.  That show rocks!

Not sick anymore, but getting tired.  End of blog.  :)

In week 2 of our Buy Nothing challenge, our dryer broke, so it was time to figure out how to dry clothes the old school way, with our wood stove.  See how we improvised and built a clothing rack with stuff from around the house, and how we ended up "fixing" the dryer by making it multitask:

Alternative Ways to Dry Laundry in Winter

(If the link doesn't work, see: http://www.ourtinyhomestead.com/laundry.html)

From Theresa:

It was early December when we decided to try the Buy Nothing challenge, so that gave us a few weeks for last minute cheating, I mean buying, before the challenge began on Jan. 1st. 

Here’s the list of what I thought I needed to buy:

• Clothes:  I bought socks and underwear, as well as a couple pair of pants for work.
• Shoes:  I didn’t have any shoes that didn’t have holes in them, so I bought a pair of hiking books ($10 used) and a pair of tennis shoes ($55 new).
• Paper:  As a writer, I couldn’t imagine being without paper, and my understanding is that making good writing paper is really hard.  I bought lined paper for writing, a ream of paper for the printer, and small notepads because we both love making lists.
• Cordless Vacuum Cleaner:  Ours recently died.  Our only carpeted room is our kitchen (not our choice), so I use one of those small, battery operated sweepers that are sold to people for quick clean-ups.  I’m much more likely to take it out than one of those loud, corded monstrosities.  I could, of course, just use a broom, which is what I did for a while, but it is much more time consuming.  I think I only swept once, when it got really, really bad.  To continue with the broom, I would need to modify my standards of cleanliness, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  The invention of the vacuum didn’t save time for housewives.  It just increased our standards so that now we think the floor should be spotless all the time, and we actually sweep more.  I compromise by using a faster, easier vacuum and lowering my standards a bit about the corners of the room.
• Headlamp:  I bought one of those battery operated lights that you wear on a strap around your head.  I think they are made for bike riders?  I have been experimenting with using one instead of turning on lights in the house, as a way to save electricity.  I had bought a cheap $4 one, and found that it worked really well to light my morning chores, but it was so cheap that if you bumped it, it turned off.  I found a better one at a sporting goods store for $35 (they had them ranging from $25 to over $100).  Of course, I should have bought one for Bear, because it’s not helpful if I’m using a head lamp and he turns on the ceiling light.
• Book Light:  I also buy these to try and save electricity.  We read a lot at the dinner table, so I bought a kind that sits up by itself and lights both the book and the meal.  It also creates a good ambiance when reading in front of the wood stove.  I talked Bear into getting one too.
• Solar Camp Shower:  This is a black plastic bag that holds 5 gallons of water, which is heated by hanging it the sunshine.  Last summer I bought one from a garage sale to see if I could save resources by using one in our house.  It fell apart on the first try- I’m hoping it was just old.  This Winter, I want to try to heat the water by hanging the bag up near the woodstove.
• Tea Strainers:  I bought some tea nets/ tea strainers from Mountain Rose Herbs.  The ones I bought from them years ago had finally fallen apart and I had been meaning to get some more for a long time.  They are a cotton bag hanging from a wire ring that hangs nicely inside a mason jar without falling in and are great for straining herbal infusions.  I probably could have made them myself if I took the time.
• Lamp Shades:  The ones we had were barely hanging on the lamps and had big tears in them.  I bought three used for $1.70 each that work and look great.
• Maple Syrup Making Supplies:  I tried to buy some syrup making supplies.  Last year we tapped our walnut trees for syrup.  We used some plastic buckets to catch the sap, which worked except that they attracted bugs (who drowned in the sweet syrup), and we couldn’t leave them outside during the rain (so missed that day’s worth of sap).  So I tried to buy some sap buckets with lids that are specifically made for collecting maple syrup.  I find a website that sold used ones (the new ones were too expensive), but the website couldn’t seem to complete my order after repeated tries, so I gave up.  My next plan is to see if we can make our own lids.
• Rechargeable Batteries:  Last summer I bought a solar charger for batteries, as part of my scheme to lower our electrical usage, but it’s so far sat unused since I haven’t ordered batteries.  Bear also wanted me to get batteries for his Wii remote (on which he watches Netflix).  I haven’t yet figured out where to buy the long lasting batteries from, though, so didn’t get around to it.  Rechargeable batteries from the well-known name brands that you can get in the regular stores don’t hold their charge very well (e.g., the book light I use on my van pool which I ride to work everyday needs recharging once a week vs. when I use non-rechargeable batteries, they last for months).  I did add this to our list of exceptions so I could buy them online later when I had time. 

I have a couple observations about this list:

• It was nice to know there was an end to it.  I’m tired of having to run into town when we need stuff (it’s 30 minutes away since we won’t shop at the nearby super WalMart due to their business practices).  I’ve been trying to limit my trips into town with better planning, but often, after I’ve driven into town, they are out of what I need so I have to return another day, or worse, I take it home and it’s defective, so I have to drive all the way back to return it.  I knew that this time, if I got everything on my list (and it worked), my in-town shopping trips would be over for a long time.
• As I look at this list, it seems really long.  Did I really need all this stuff?  I’m looking forward to a year of finding out what I really need.  I’m imaging that I would like to be like the pioneers- going to town for supplies only once or twice a year.  Time is precious- why spend it shopping?

From Bear:

Bear’s self explanatory list:

• socks
• underwear
• work pants & work boot insoles

Bear really does have simple needs.  Or, he’ll happily steal Theresa’s stuff.

Also, Bear and Theresa went for one last shopping spree at the used book stores, and they ate at some restaurants for the last time while they were in town.

From Theresa:

Well, by 10:00 am on the first day of our Buy Nothing challenge, I had already failed.  

When I published this website for the first time this morning, I was given the option to purchase a domain name.  What if we become famous bloggers?  Wouldn't it be better to reserve our website URL now, before someone else steals it?  Darn, why didn't I hit the publish button yesterday?

More realistically, it's much easier to tell people to look for "OurTinyHomestead.com" rather than spelling out "OurTinyHomestead.weebly.com."  The domain cost $39.95 for a year.  But then when I registered the domain name, I was required to give my contact information and it cost an additional $10/year to not make this information public.  I don't want more email spam.  So now I've already spent $50 of my $300 personal allowance for the year.  Glad Bear talked me into the personal allowance.

We'll see what Bear has to say when he comes home.  Maybe I can sneak it by under our computer equipment exception....

Happy New Year, everyone.

From Theresa:

I was brooding in front of our woodstove one recent evening and contemplating our life.  Although we have made many changes over the last several years, it didn’t feel like enough.  I wanted to do something more drastic.  An idea surfaced from amongst my frustration:  we should remove ourselves entirely from the American consumer cycle- we should stop buying stuff.  I tentatively brought this new plan up to Bear, who, amazingly, agreed to it.

We discussed several reasons for trying this:

• To Save Money-  Although almost everything we buy is used rather than new, and when I read a book on penny pinching I don’t find anything I haven’t already tried, we are in the worst financial shape we have been in since we combined our money over a decade ago.  We have our first significant credit card debt, ever.  I recently got a raise, and I would like to be sure that the extra money goes toward paying down our debt, rather than disappearing into our routine spending.  Although I like my job, I dream about not having to work for a living.  That is, I would like to work at what I love, but not have to worry about whether it pays the bills.  Saving money so we can get rid of our debt is a step toward this dream.
• To Become More Aware of What We Spend Money On- I want to learn the difference between what I want and buy on impulse, vs. what I absolutely need.  We’ve tried different ways to track our spending in the past, which is a basic step in becoming aware of where your money is going, but haven’t had the stamina to record every last expenditure for long enough to recognize our impulse spending patterns.
• To Break Out of the Consumer Cycle-  We work to make money, then we use that money to buy things.  Then we work more, and buy more.  We like to think we aren’t part of this cycle because we haven’t seen the inside of a mall in years and buy mostly used stuff.  However, we notice that during garage sale season we still look at shopping as a form of entertainment, and we go a bit crazy impulse buying more than we need (because it only costs $1!). Then some of our new purchases clutter our house for weeks before we find a use or a place for it all.
• To Simplify- I’m tired of having a lot of stuff that I need to take care of, even if it’s stuff that seems worth while.  I don’t think I’m a pack rat- I go through my things regularly and get rid of what I don’t find useful or beautiful.  But I recently watched a video about the tiny house movement, and the woman who was being interviewed had counted how many things she owned, and I think it was less than 300.  I can’t begin to imagine what that number would be for me if I counted every last thing in my house (and sheds, and basement…).  I also think of people in other cultures who can carry everything they own on their backs, who would think any American was rich (or crazy) when considering the volume of stuff we accumulate.  By not accumulating any more, I hope to find there is room for more simplifying in my life.
• To Use What We Already Have- If we aren’t buying anything new, maybe I will finally use what I have.  I will catch up on my pile of unread half-price books, reupholster the chair and love seat with that $250 worth of half-off fabric still sitting in its original box, and finally replace the two boards in our bathroom floor that we had to rip out two years ago to put in the new, water-saving dual-flush toilet. 
• To Be More Innovative- There’s that well-known saying from the frugal women of the Great Depression:  “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.”  I notice this doesn’t include a “buy it” option- even if it’s cheap or used.  Why can’t I also be innovative and learn to create what I need from what I already have?
• To Walk Our Talk More-  Bear brought up this one.  We’ve been trying to make improvements for some time now, and have succeeded to perhaps a larger extent than many of our peers, but the change does not feel like enough.  I look forward to a day when I do not waste a lot of my weekend shopping, and when I truly realize that having one more thing won’t make me any happier.
  
  

From Bear:

• At first, I did agree readily to this no buying plan.  I thought sure, why not?  But then I thought, “Oh shit…” how can I build a hidden (aka savings) fund if I have no spending money to save?  The last time I built a good hidden fund my allowance was $75 a week. 
• I am not always aware of what I’m spending.  If I’m not careful I can go through $5 to $30 dollars on munchies in a week.

• Simply put, if we can use it, or seeing it makes us feel better, it’s stuff worth keeping.  If we have it just to have something, then it’s crap (of course some crap can be useful after a period of time for fertilizer… but I digress).  The trick is figuring out how to use what we have or find a way for someone else to use it.
• The consumer trap starts when we need one or two things to finish a project, so we go to the store and find other things that might be useful for other projects.  We spend more money than planned and who knows if we’ll really use the extra stuff?
• I probably have over 100 cookbooks and cooking magazines, only a few of which are actually well-used, yet when we go to garage sales or used book stores, there is always an interesting cookbook or two that I can’t seem to keep myself from buying. 
  
  

From Theresa:

You might be thinking that buying nothing is impossible in this place at this time, and you would of course be correct.  We are not self-sufficient, so we unfortunately do need to buy some things in order to survive.  These are things we believe we will still need to spend money on:

• Food & other staples from the grocery store (such as the ingredients we use to make our cleaning supplies)
• Cat needs:  food, liter, health supplements, vet visits
• Monthly bills, which for us includes:  gas, electricity, water/sewer/garbage, local & long distance phone/internet service, house & car insurance, Netflix, the mortgage, my student loans
• Health Care:  health insurance premiums and deductibles, medicines, gym membership, massages
• Gas and car repairs
  
  

There are also some other purchases that we’re not sure we can realistically avoid in the next year, including:

• I was supposed to stock up on rechargeable batteries before this challenge started, but was too busy building this website.
• Wood for the wood stove- this usually costs us around $500.  Currently we don’t have a chainsaw or a truck with which to cut and haul our own, and no land from which to take it (although I see it offered for free on Craigslist a lot).
• We currently have only one car.  Can we find a way for this to work, or will we need to buy a second one? 
• A new chair or couch for the TV room- the one Bear sits on is close to collapsing and I am using a rather hard rocking chair that belonged to my grandmother (but I am reminded of the TV show Little House on the Prairie in which Ma Ingall’s rocking chair was the best seat in the house, so maybe I need to reassess).
• New computer equipment- sometimes our second hand computer parts work, sometimes they don’t so much.
• Bear has given me a $100 budget for buying plants for the yard this year.  I don’t think this is very generous, since I am trying to change all of our lawn to garden and grow as much edible food as possible, which helps the grocery budget, but since he agreed to this whole scheme, I guess I have to agree to the $100 limit.
  
  

From Bear: 

Theresa mentioned that the Buy Nothing challenge would mean we need to stop going to restaurants or buying prepared food, including at work.  However, I talked her into giving me a $2.50/week allowance to buy a morning coffee and a biscuit for my lunch, which I get for a greatly discounted 25 cents each at work.

We decided to buy me a role of quarters every month, so I could make sure I didn’t overspend.  But then I remembered that coffee is actually 26 cents, so I’d be short a penny every day, unless I skipped a day and used that extra to make up the difference.  Or, if I want a large candy bar, it will cost me four days of no work food, or if I want a shake from Culvers I buy no “work food” for two weeks.  Decisions… decisions.

I figured something out… $2.50 a week sucks!  I shouldn’t buy even one candy bar.  To get a coffee every day I have to skip a biscuit because of the tax (I’m short 1 flippen cent per coffee!).  And pretty much anything I am interested in eating will cost me at least 2 to 3 weeks of no coffee.   That’s not much of an allowance.  However… it does total $130 a year… and that’s $30 more than Theresa gets for plants!  Ha!… Bitching done (down to grumbling now).

I also snuck in my demand to give ourselves an allowance for unexpected needs, which we decided would be $300 each for the year, which we can spend no questions asked.  We will keep track of our totals on a sheet of paper on the refrigerator. 

From Theresa:

I feel like this is a lot of exceptions to our Buy Nothing challenge, but I realize the exceptions make the whole experiment a bit less psychologically daunting for us.

Ultimately, it’s not really important whether or not we stick to the rules.  It’s what we will learn by trying to stick to them, and what we will learn if we decide to break them, that is important.  Hopefully, we will learn to recognize our cultural training in over consumption, and learn what it is truly necessary to buy and have. Hopefully we will learn more fully that things do not mean happiness.