A rainy April morning on coastal Maine doesn't seem like much of a gardening inspiration, but I'm encouraged.  My husband and son helped me put together two 4' by 8' cold frames together with the hopes of getting an early start on our growing season, and harvesting carrots throughout the frigid months.  The lights leave much to be desired.  For now, they are covered with 6 mil, drooping plastic, with holes cut to drain off the rain.  Come winter, they'll be covered in Lexan and hiding treasures of green under blankets of snow.  A small investment for a sweet reward.

This latest project is just one of many steps that we have taken as a family to be less dependent, more self sufficient, less at the mercy of big government and big business, and live more simply with less need for disposable income.  Less overhead means more freedom to spend our precious time as we please.   As a homeschooling one income family, we are beginning to feel the pinch, but we also realize that if I was driving to work every day and our son was away from us we would be feeling it in many more ways.  So, as of late, we've made a few changes to adjust to the changing times.  We've already felt the positive benefits.

First, we bought an inexpensive bread machine and bake 3 or 4 loaves of bread each week for sandwiches.  We have saved about 15 dollars each  week for about a month so far, and the machine has already paid for itself.  We are also eating more vegetables and whole grains, and less meat.  Better on the budget, and better for health too.  My grocery cart is about half as full as usual because of the noticeably missing, less tasty stacks of bread.  I never realized that I spent nearly 100 dollars a month on bread alone! 

We have taken a hard look at our discretionary spending, too.  We don't have alot of excess spending in our life, but we have a few line items earmarked for cuts if necessary.  Other than good quality food, the vehicle that Wayne uses to get to work, and the various major insurance policies, everything else is negotiable.  New clothes are optional.  Going out to dinner is optional.  Cable is optional.  Internet, while very nice to have at home, is optional as we do have a public library with free internet.  Once my son is old enough to supervise himself at the library in a few years, I'll be able to unplug the internet if I so choose, but more likely we'll just cut back on the cable instead. Having 8 lights on in the house at any given time- optional and counterproductive.  We give our son an occasional red light challenge- a nickel for shutting off every unnecessary light left on in the house.  Positive reinforcement is good for the environment too :)  I pine for the day when there are not more gaudy power lines strung all over the landscape and we are heating our home with the sun instead, but we can do our part in the meantime.

We have begun to hang our clothes out to dry again- It can be done in Maine in the winter time, with gloves and a face mask, as long as the air is dry and the sun is out.  On the coldest days though, especially when there is 2 feet of snow on the deck, I afford myself the luxury of dryer dried clothes.  We also have a line in the living room for when the wood stove is going.

We have scavaged and salvaged storm fallen trees and bought a woodsplitter for 200 dollars.  We split and stacked about 3 cord of free wood from our neighbors and friend's yards, saving us 600 dollars in the cost of buying wood, plus what we saved by shutting off our furnace during the day, and using it sparingly during the evening while we sleep.  Within the last month, we've saved over 200 dollars in propane and electric, plus 400 dollars on the wood we split for next year. 

We are hoping to start spinach next week so that we can eat from our garden in May instead of July, and a yardsale in May should help to cover the cost of our seeds. 

Our gasoline bill has never been terrible even though we have an SUV and a pickup truck.  My husband works less than 1 minute from home, and I rarely drive more than 5 minutes from home to run errands.  When I do have to travel 30 minutes "into town", I keep a running list, and I don't go until I can absolutely not do without any longer.  I weigh the cost of buying basic supplies close to home against the cost of my time, wear and tear on the car, etc.  Usually one trip per month into town meets our needs because we keep our pantry stocked up.  I usually try to go alone to save on impulse purchases, but occasionally we'll go together and my husband takes our son out for a less expensive "treat".

That's the nuts and bolts of our recent exploits, just stoking the fire and waiting for spring to arrive, which I think has finally happened.  My son exclaimed with pure delight yesterday morning as he peered out the window, "look Mama!  Two robin birdies are coming to eat the worms in the garden!"  We had just turned the soil over the day before and uncovered several yummy looking earthworms- I pray a good indication of our summer gardening