10 Warming Winter Ways
The snowline is creeping down the mountainside and our new home is getting cooler and draftier. As a woman who's been producing her own heat-waves for a few years, this drop in household temperature is welcome change. However, for hubby, who prefers things warm, it's not a good feature.So, there's been a minor battle waged over the thermostat. It goes against my frugal nature to turn the

Getting Crafty
This is my busiest period. With sixteen birthdays and three anniversaries occurring between September and January, and Christmas – with all its baking, cooking, decorating and gift-giving – squeezed in there, too, this season is downright frenzied. So, how do I cope?Mainly, I don't do all the shopping during these months. That would overtax both our budget and schedule. Instead, shopping for

It’s No Grind to Grind
In preparation for the recent move, our freezer needed its load lightened. Hubby took some food with him to the new location, leaving me three weeks to consume what I could of the remainder. Fortunately, we'd been reducing our frozen foods over the last few months in anticipation of defrosting and painting the freezer, so little food remained. Certainly, the move came at a fortuitous time.The

It’s the Little Things
The move is behind us. All that remains now is a maze of boxes to unpack once the cleaning is complete. In the meantime, we make do with a few essentials that were last packed and first unpacked. Among the many things we're currently doing without – they were used for packing material – are cloth napkins. Sure, it's a little thing, but one which makes life comfortable, makes mealtime

Relocation Discombobulation
I'm currently in the process of moving – AGAIN – and have made an important discovery during the process: there's a fine line between saving items for re-purposing and hoarding. I confess I've crossed that line.So, while I sort the stockpiles, this instalment of 'Thriving on Thrift' must be shelved. The next blog will return to its usual bi-weekly time-slot on October 8th.Now, to decide which