Finding your inner Pioneer spirit

[Cricketlegs]

Okay, put down the cell phone but it is okay to stay online.

That said LOL...

I am looking for my pioneer spirit and I am slowly but surely finding her.

I am doing things I never dreamed I would be doing.

Small things, bigger things, weird things......

A small list of accomplishments...

1. Today I made my first 2 gallons of laundry soap. Some of you gals KNEW how easy it was but you forgot to tell me! So cheap, so easy, I am gelling as we speak!

2. Washing, soaking dds shirts and pants in starch and learning to use my Singer iron press. Saves me over $100 a month on laundry charges. Sure it takes time and muscle but I am putt putting along just fine and most importantly dh looks FINE lol!

3. Cooking from scratch. My days of paying a fortune for food is over. Scratch cooking really does save money and doesn't take much more time.

4. Making my own mixes, spices, gravies, and condiments.

Pioneer woman has to watch what goes into her dhs food and seeks to lose a few pounds herself. All those years of gravy filled with salt, MSG, and artificial stuff. Flour, corn starch and meat stock base is gravy!

5.Making my own house cleaners. Cheap and they smell good.
$4 for a bottle of febreeze or $2 for a bottle of essnetial oils at walmart. Pour half of the oil in your empty febreeze bottle and fill with water--$1 total.

I have noticed the pioneer woman in me keeps a much cleaner house and yet seems to have more time--pioneer woman cleared her house of junk and isn't spending money refilling it. A house with limited stuff just stays clean!

6. Sams sells tomatoes in gallon cans for under $3 a can--making and canning my own hot sauce.

I am on a roll. I am still looking for ideas if anyone has any.

Anyone have any ideas for me??

[elphie]

You are doing great. I am glad to be finding the SPIRIT of the pioneers and not their actual ways of doing things though... I'm okay with hanging my clothes out on the line and making my own soap but I have a food processor to chop the soap and a washing machine to use it in, LOL.

That being said... you offered some great ideas so I will return the favor... take what you want and leave the rest.

-canning and freezing vegetables either from your own garden or those acquired through barter or the kindness of others
-use less electricity... no lights on during the day, less tv, no dryer in good weather, turn up that ac and turn down that heater
-find new uses for things instead of throwing them out... I'm not saying that you need to make a dress out of a flour sack but use that margarine tub instead of buying tupperware
-keep a stew bag in your freezer... when you have a few vegetables left over at dinner throw them in the bag, keep meat in a separate bag, when the bag gets full thaw it out and have some stew... this is where stew came from to begin with, making use of every scrap and wasting nothing

Now these aren't exactly pioneer spirit as they didn't exactly have the technology but you get the idea...
-invest in rechargeable batteries or better yet keep a crank flashlight and radio, at least for your emergency kit
-1tbs borax + 1tbs baking soda = dishwasher detergent
-vinegar in the jet dry dispenser

[daughter of pearl]

Awesome stuff...that is my next step...this weekend is de-clutter weekend!!! Yay!! I can't wait...I am also developing quite the stopckpile...nice work!

[Cricketlegs]

You are doing great. I am glad to be finding the SPIRIT of the pioneers and not their actual ways of doing things though... I'm okay with hanging my clothes out on the line and making my own soap but I have a food processor to chop the soap and a washing machine to use it in, LOL.

That being said... you offered some great ideas so I will return the favor... take what you want and leave the rest.

-canning and freezing vegetables either from your own garden or those acquired through barter or the kindness of others
-use less electricity... no lights on during the day, less tv, no dryer in good weather, turn up that ac and turn down that heater
-find new uses for things instead of throwing them out... I'm not saying that you need to make a dress out of a flour sack but use that margarine tub instead of buying tupperware
-keep a stew bag in your freezer... when you have a few vegetables left over at dinner throw them in the bag, keep meat in a separate bag, when the bag gets full thaw it out and have some stew... this is where stew came from to begin with, making use of every scrap and wasting nothing

Now these aren't exactly pioneer spirit as they didn't exactly have the technology but you get the idea...
-invest in rechargeable batteries or better yet keep a crank flashlight and radio, at least for your emergency kit
-1tbs borax + 1tbs baking soda = dishwasher detergent
-vinegar in the jet dry dispenser

A lot of what you suggest I already do but we need to POST these for those who don't.

I don't think that technology hurts the pioneer spirit. I think it allows us the freedom to utilise what we have more effentlly.

Pioneer spirit= frugally doing something that saves time(so so) money, energy(so so) and adds to your and your famikys well being.

How would I have found dave ramsey without coming across the village and that took the internet.

Work it my fellow pioneerettes, work it!

[frugalbabe]

Give me a chance to put my bonnet and apron on here and think hmmmm what do I do to embrace the pioneer spirit within:

-Our meals are always from scratch and I usually have homemade rolls/bread to go with it I love making bread--modern twist I adore my bread machine for the kneading! And I could not live without my mcrowave.
-Supplement our diet with my home grown veggies and I freeze or can the excess. Also throw those veggie/fruit and bread scraps into a compost pile. Less waste and so good for your future gardens.
-Making homemade jams and jellies they are so pretty lined up in a row in my pantry and the taste of summer fruit and berries on a blustery Winter day is divine.
-Stacking firewood outside of my home that we have cut ourself. There is something about physical labor that is cleansing and the whole time I am moving the wood I can imagine the bitter winter days ahead that I will be kept warm by this wood snug in my home with my babes.
-I love to sew and while I HATE to do mending I know how to keep our clothes in good repair by doing my own mending. However I love my very modern sewing machine and serger --they have served me well! and of course line drying clothes is just better all of the way around.
-I am getting pretty darn good at using up every single ingredient from my cooking. I had a teensy bit of whipping cream left from a dish the old me would have just tossed it -- the Ma Ingalls me added some powdered sugar and made whipped cream to use over some leftover pumpkin cake that was still edible but needed a new life.
-I make my own home furnishings such as needlepoint pictures and curtains and dh does beautiful furniture and woodworking our "fingerprints" and craftsmanship our all around me.
-Keeping my home clean, organized, comfortable and inviting. We may not have a mansion but I take pride in working hard to make this house our home. That in a nutshell is what the pioneer spirit is to me taking what you have been blessed with be it little or much and making it beautiful and blessing the lives of those around you.

[HisDaisy]

You women inspire me.
I have started to do some of these things, but seem to loose momentum. And now with an impeding move, it is even harder.
I make my one mixes including baking mix (whole wheat), pancake mix (both buckwheat and regular), hot cereal, and cornbread mix.
I also stockpile and buy item in bulk.
I also menu plan a month at a time.
I can sew and have made my own curtains, bags, and other items.

Just need to keep going and do more. I hoping that after we move, I will settle into a new and better routine. I would love to have a clean, organized, well-run, frugal house.

[allenwrench]

Yep those prairie people were something weren't they.



We Americans are wussies. We demand A/C day and night. We are not used to the 3rd world.

Some of my favorite books on prairie life...

http://www.littlehousebooks.com/books/

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[jas]

Wonderful ideas you all are inspirational! I am really enjoying learning from all of you. The rat race and the fast track that most people live on is nuts!

[Clutterbug Jen]

Keep up the good work!

As for me, I guess I'd have to say that it's that I've got a small stockpile going.

Not a very big one but it's growing and I guess that's what counts.

[Cricketlegs]

I too sew. I love to sew, paint, make beaded jewelry and scrapbook.

PS my first batch of laundry soap turned out great! I just can't wait to tell Mom and make her some too.

Also, I was talking to my sister about my iron press and she said she would pay me to press some of her and her dhs things!

I hope she does, I would welcome the money.

[Parksfamily5]

First off.... All of you really inspire me. Can I get the recipe for the laundry detergent. I am going to try the dishwasher recipe also. Thanks for all of the great tips!

Heidi

[prftstrngr]

Im going to try the dishwasher soap too!! Hopefully it will get the dishes clean in my VERY old dishwasher! I already do some of these things. We can and preserve everything we can get our hands on. There was no garden at our place this year so I had to buy a few berries to do my jams but so far thats it. We make salsa and spaghetti sauce as well. We also do extra and do up baskets at Christmas with preserves and baking as gifts. Our familes love it! I shop alot at flea markets and yard sales and buy alot of second hand things. Usually get Mason jars this way as well. I have started a stockpile and so far even though its not huge it is way more than I had 6 or even 3 months ago! Im learning and I appreciate all the tips I get here.

[peanut]

Well now, I learned how to make dishwasher soap off this thread. I think you're doing great!

To get in touch with my inner pioneer spirit today I made mayonnaise from scratch - in a food processor (bet my pioneers didn't have that!) - and tried to remake some Nanking cherry jelly that didn't set at first. If it doesn't set this time, I'll stick it in the freezer and use it as freezer jam.

Oh, and I am finishing a quilt today as well...or getting close!

Aaaah! That pioneer spirit!

Jean

[CristiK]

I am reading a very inspirational book on this topic called Wilderness Wife by Bradford and Vena Angier. Today I read this in it and I went diving for a highlighter to mark it! It was....
"The cost of a thing is the amount of life which has to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. When the essentials are assured, there is an alternative to struggling for the luxuries. That's to savor life itself. What you're really buying, in other words, is time."
Whew! This is exactly what I have discovered about this new way of thinking. Less stuff = more time. More time to enjoy the process of cooking real food. More time to sit and sew or read. I really am enjoying life more and finding less enjoyment in "things".

[Quadcam]

heres some pioneer woman for you http://thepioneerwoman.com/
it's a really good site, you'll be reading for hours