We try to use and make things work when we can...

Socks that have lost their mate-go to the rag bag in the garage-used when checking oil etc.

Cut down large bush-cut large sticks up as stakes in the garden

Took two old down pillows-washed feathers by placing in a pouch I sewed-made a new ticking pillow center-put feathers from pouch..once they were dried (actually put in my dryer with a tennis ball) I feel like I saved close fo $60-the cost of a new feather pillow.

Thanks for all of your ideas-have some new things to try

elovestea:

If you like I can possibly tell you more about it. Edey

Thanks Edey, I would like to know more. I could not bear to throw it away, but did not know what to do with it.

After college I moved into a studio apartment attached to a house.  When it got cooler I had a mouse.  (Mice are totally creepy to me!)  One day I was in the apartment with a friend and we saw a mouse.  She chased it with her purse and I discovered it had come in from a hole around the gas line.  My dad had used metal cans that vegetables came in to cover holes.  So, I used his technique and cut the bottom off a can and tacked it over the hole--no more mice!!!  What a relief!  I bought a metal cabinet at a yard sale for $1 several years ago.  I spray painted it and used it in the kitchen as a food cupboard for several years and then moved it into the garage to hold paint cans.  A metal popcorn tin holds dog food and a plastic cereal storage container holds cat food.  We use a large wheeled trash can in the garage to collect recycleable containers and then take it to the collection bin. An old duffle bag holds my out of season clothes.

Peaches:

I would like to know more

I know mostly about Singers but have sources for other brands as well. Singers have the serial number on the front right side of the base below the pillar, which is the heavy vertical part of the machine. I can look up the serial number on line to tell you model and age, or direct you where to go if you would prefer to do it yourself. If it is a different brand I can try to track down more info for you. Let me know.  Edey

elovestea:

I know mostly about Singers

That is what this one is! I will get the serial # for you. Thank you so much for your help!

Brandy:

Crystola:

I'll let you know how it works when it's full

 

Please do let me know if it's worth it.

 

1. Don't get larger than a 26 gallon deal unless it is of a very thick plastic...mine started to distort just a little, but a strategically placed tarp strap (bungee cord) took care of that just fine.

2. Have an overflow (we got 3.5" of rain the past 24 hrs).  You can do this just with a little hole, or even better...figure out how to place an hose attachment and run it to a pond or somewhere that could use the rain, or even just away from the house.

3. Put that lid on tight, even seal it somehow, to thwart curious children and animals (not that I know this from experience thankfully).  I think my kids would possibly crawl into anything that doesn't have spiders in it.

4. Our gutters are clean right now, but I think I'll put some kind of screen type filter in the top of mine for this fall.

5. The can is dark so the water inside gets warm (hot even?) in the sun.  Mine is in shade most of the day, but those couple of hours without - whew!  I may get some of that spray paint that sticks to plastic and give it a makeover.

I figure the can will pay for itself within the month when I don't have to refill the pond (due to deer drinkage & evaporation), the birdbath (those little turds sure can splash), or water the gardens.  I may actually get two by the time I'm finished and figure out a system where one would overflow into the other when it gets full.  More updates later!!

 **Side Note....I just found out that we have a minimum water/sewer bill......What the?  Not only that, but it's $40.76...without tax.  That seems like a lot!  The kicker is...we were REQUIRED to hook up to the sewer even though we had a perfectly functioning and well-maintained septic system.  The sewer fee is $3 more a month per 1000 gallons than the water fee????    Basically I'm paying for 2000 gal. whether I use it or not.  That is 64 gal. a day.  With all of the stuff I'm doing to save water, it seemingly won't matter.  NOT FAIR!  I think they are on to us....

I guess that last part should be in another thread.  Maybe I'll put it there LOL.

Peaches:

That is what this one is! I will get the serial # for you. Thank you so much for your help!

Crystola, I have always heard that sewer automatically doubles your water bill.  So however much water you use, you pay for it twice to cover the sewer (not sure if that's how your's is set up, but gives you an idea on bill pricing). 

I am curious that you were forced to hook up.  It sounds like they installed sewer after your house was built (hence the septic tank).  Did they change housing codes to make you hook up?  If it's not in the code that it's required, then someone may have lied to you abou the requirement.  I'd not want to hook up if they put it through my area.  I don't want to have to pay the cost for it.  Besides, I'd be all up in arms about why they were putting in sewer and we don't even having freaking cable or high speed internet on our road, LOL  If they aren't going to be bothered to put that in, I don't think I have to worry about sewer any time soon.  Besides, our field lines water a patch of horse pasture and makes for very nice grass!   

Keriamon:

Crystola, I have always heard that sewer automatically doubles your water bill.  So however much water you use, you pay for it twice to cover the sewer (not sure if that's how your's is set up, but gives you an idea on bill pricing). 

I am curious that you were forced to hook up.  It sounds like they installed sewer after your house was built (hence the septic tank).  Did they change housing codes to make you hook up?  If it's not in the code that it's required, then someone may have lied to you abou the requirement.  I'd not want to hook up if they put it through my area.  I don't want to have to pay the cost for it.  Besides, I'd be all up in arms about why they were putting in sewer and we don't even having freaking cable or high speed internet on our road, LOL  If they aren't going to be bothered to put that in, I don't think I have to worry about sewer any time soon.  Besides, our field lines water a patch of horse pasture and makes for very nice grass!   

(Sorry to hijack the thread...I'll answer this question and then I'll be finished complaining - I promise!!)

We were forced to hook-up if we were within a certain number of feet of the new sewer line (100 or 200 - I don't remember).  They enforced this by indicating that they would start charging sewer fees after a certain date whether we were hooked up or not.  I don't know how they could do this, but everyone along the new line was informed in the form of a letter.  We moved here after the project was already in progress, but I believe that it must have been adopted in the code when the project was approved at the county level.  At any rate, we're stuck with it now.

As for cable - we're on the end of the line for it.  When our cable and internet go out they don't consider it a priority because there are only two of us on this hub .  I don't complain too much because if we were another mile out the road we'd be footing the bill for satellite and DSL !

I have an old simple wrought iron fence that was given to me years ago. My husband put it up on our porch as a railing. This year the porch (which is enclosed during the winter) is becoming a permanently enclosed porch and the railing is coming off. I have decided that the pieces are coming into the house for use. I need a sturdy potrack, so one piece is hanging in my kitchen for my pots and pans.  My husband is rigging a pulley system in our ceiling near the wood stove so that we can hang two more pieces for drying clothes (our wooden clothes rack broke after 6 years of use and we use the pieces in the garden for staking our tomatoes). This allows us to use only the amount of rack that we need for a particular load of clothes and the pulley brings the system down to my level (I'm only 5 feet tall) so I can hang the laundry then return it to a higher position for drying. Since I no longer have the the wooden rack for drying my herbs, I will use another piece to hang my herbs near one of the windows. You are right in that discovering second lives and even third lives for things is very satifying. Good gracious! That's what my grandparents did to get through the Great Depression. I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where going to the grocery store requires a 96 mile round trip and we're paying $4.29 a gallon at the gas station. It is a must to think outside the box.