Tips for Tight Times (a chat with Johanna Fugal)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ม.ค. 2017
- It's Tuesday and that means I'm chatting with a friend! Here Johanna and I talk practical tips and big picture attitudes for thriving when times are tight. As always, feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for watching!
Johanna and her family have a channel here: • Welcome to our Channel...
You can also hop over to the Skill of the Month Club FB group to share your thoughts or brag your homework. / 363729293988483
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About the skill of the month club:
Part community, part skill-share, we're just a group of people hanging out together and trying to encourage awesomeness in every category having to do with simple living, intentional living and homestead life. Esther will do the lessons in the first month, but as we go on to different skills we'll be hearing from all sorts of experts!
Esther Emery is "the Homestead Wife" and the daughter of Carla Emery, author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living.
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Esther's book: What Falls From the Sky: How I Disconnected From the Internet and Reconnected With the God Who Made the Clouds -- www.estheremery.com/books/ and everywhere books are sold.
Esther's mom's book: The Encyclopedia of Country Living amzn.to/2fMuOQM
Enjoy!
About the Skill of the Month club: - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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My favourite line about shame free living comes from Maya Angelou: "We did what we knew how to do, and when we knew better, we did better."
The best thrifty thing i learned was how to sew. Now I buy clothes from the thrift store, and upcycle them into really trendy, unique pieces that no one can find in the store, for a couple of dollars. My two daughters love tgat I can take their vision and turn it into reality, and I love that it doesnt break the bank. plus, its good for the environment, by keeping clothes out of land fills. It's a win-win-win! Also, I learned how to sew off of youtube, so no classes were necessary.
Don't ever apologize for your faith in Christ...loved the ideas in this video looks like you have a great new friend in Johanna...she is delightful! I grew up in a family of 7 we never knew we were by the world's standards in the poor category because trust me the love and goodness in our home made us feel like sons and daughters of the King...which we were...
I also want to add that Grant and I noticed when this live simpler movement "Kon Mari" became popular the Thrift store here was loaded with very "good" quality items...
You guys are proof of the necessity for community. Trust me, doing this in isolation for decades has not only emotional but physical ( bad ) consequences! What a gift to have comrades...
just having so much fun! watching and taking notes !!
Learn to take care of things you do own, clean it, repair it, maintain it, not everything needs to be disposable.
I don't buy my grandkids "stuff" I buy them experiences - this christmas it was rock climbing lessons, movie passes, and a family board game.
Enough is abundance.
Excellent video, thanks
Thanks, Esther & Johanna. My husband and I discovered Dave Ramsey quite a few years back. His program taught us everything we know about finances, budgeting, mutual funds, etc. We highly recommend reading his books to anyone looking to learn the same. He also has Junior kits for children. It's really life changing when you get your finances in shape. Great video! Thanks for the tips. God Bless.
Thank you for sharing your faith. I'm so grateful that you both did.
This is an excellent video of tips and advice and was like watching two sisters (from a different mother...AND father!!! ; ) brainstorm and share everything they'd learned that would help us have SUCCESSES instead of school-of-hard-knocks disappointments.
I have to say my very fav part was about tithing, God and prayer because for me, those are my most important and cherished priorities for the happiest and most blessed life.
Thanks Sister Johanna for tucking those in at the end, a nice surprise! And thanks, sister Esther, for coming up with the idea and carrying it out, of providing these wonderful teaching videos. Blessings on you and your families! ♡♡♡
These Women just amaze me. Truly. I see such an inner joy, glow, excitement, and natural beauty that you do not typically see in people living on the grid. They are brave, and so intelligently resourceful adapting to this lifestyle. Very interesting. To think, us men feel a sense of accomplishment, just BBQing outside. lol
Two good friends make a community! Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your comments on giving. As you may have seen from my previous post, I'm an atheist and 'tithing' isn't in my vocabulary. However, I (and many others who live life without any gods) feel an obligation to those in our society that are less fortunate. Even thought I live on a shoestring, I do find time (not money, as I don't have much!) to volunteer for causes I believe in. I have volunteered at the animal shelter, the food bank, and for social justice causes. Thanks for your videos. I'm hooked and really enjoy your energy and great information you provide.
so lets get this discussion back to what it is acctualy about =)
one of the tipps you mentioned that works great for us is: before you buy something, take some days to think about it. there is a 90% chance that you wont "need" that item after all once you get out of that buying frenzy/neeeeeed-this-mindset =)
and we eat a lot of rice, potatoes and grains. we dont cook meat at home and that has been a huge saving! there are so many simple vegetarian dishes that you can prepare for next to nothing. mashed potatoes with eggs and greens, curry veggies and rice, potatoes and other root veggies in the oven, soups...
writing down everything also helped us a lot. i also feel like "having to write down things" makes me think twice about it. sounds silly, but works for me =)
about treating yourself: we had a time when we would order a lot of pizza (and felt bad about it every time afterwards). so my husband had the idea to establish a "pizza night" every week. so since then we treat ourselves to making our own pizza about once a week. it feels and tastes so much better then buing some and each week we feel like we get a special treat. only for the two of us. we also got creative with what goes on the pizza (basically whatever we have stored at that time). we found that red beets are amazing and a few other of our favorites are corn, peppers, onions, garlic, kale, broccoli...
what are some simple yet tasty things your eat/cook? what are your special treats?
Hi, I saw your TED Talk and was thoroughly impressed wheeler exuberance for life, your strength, and your wonderful perspective on life. You girls make me smile. Thank you thank you
Esther, I have been watching your other channel since your early days. I am still enjoying sharing your family's journey. I have recently discovered this place and am so enjoying it here. I am gleaning tips and planning our homestead. We are a soon to be married couple with long simmering dreams of a more self sufficient lifestyle. He is 63 and I am 55 and are so excited to embark on our own journey. I love being frugal, I look at it as a challenge. He was raised farming and I have been sharing relatively new ideas with him. In my youth, I helped with family harvesting, processing and canning in my youth. We are praying to find a more suitable property for homesteading. Meanwhile, we will be moving into a small cabin at the back of his current 2 acre property. The main house will be utilized for showers and laundry, until other systems are in place. We are planning to reduce debt, extensively garden, dehydrate, can our bounty, and purchase a woodstove for heating/cooking. We will build a chicken coop/tractor, raise rabbits, have a couple of dairy goats, build a root cellar, as well establish a working/long term pantry. He has recently renovated the furnace room and added sturdy shelving for home canned goods. These projects need to be prioritized and added to our 2017 and future plans. I really want a rocket mass heater someday! Yours is inspiring us. I am looking forward to following these conversations. Blessings from this Kentucky girl
You are so fortunate to have each other as friends! You covered a lot of material in this video and it is all very helpful. Having "enough" in tight times, and in times of plenty, includes much more than taking care of physical needs ... which you summarized gently. I do understand that it's not easy for many people to see that fulfillment of emotional and spiritual needs is also important when they are physically hungry. The great freedom that I found by simply having a stocked pantry and living frugally has allowed me an opportunity to re-explore these other needs unencumbered by that terrible thing called "worry". I totally "get" where you are coming from and am smiling right along with you both!
I didn't know these existed! I'm so happy to find them! Beans can be very flavorful, and they actually have more protein than meat.
Esther girl friend" Where are you guy's? 😯😢💔👏even tho this is so much wonderful information!🙏😉👍 I enjoy it very much....it's just this blog has been over a year ago! 😯
I miss your skill of the month club"
I miss your Thursday chats" 😯
I miss you All...😞😢😥
Thank you Esther and Johanna. Very good you mentioned God too! I thank God every time (every meal, every new day, every night) for the blessings I received. 😚
I disagree. Bringing up god is going to alienate viewers. This is not a religious video. It threw me off.
my thoughts exactly. but i think we also have to respect, that god is part of some peoples lives. (even if for me that is a very foreign concept). and as he is part of their daily lives, he will show up. but i agree on keeping it on topic and not mixing with religion or politics.
I dunno. If I was watching a video about car repair and they listed three or four things you can do to keep your car in good order during tough financial times, and PRAY was on that list... I think I would be annoyed.
There is nothing quite like tight times to bring you to your knees and the gratitude of provision by the hand of Providence. No need to be offended. I wouldn't be offended if you made a video about this and left it out even though my belief in God is the cornerstone that keeps me stable in hard times.
totally agree with that. @montyollie
About 7 years ago, my New Year's resolution was to stick to a list when I went thrifting. It was tough for the first few months, but it got easier and easier. Being able to say to myself (and to sellers anxious to entice me to buy something) "No, it's not on the list" really helped me walk away from many a temptation. And, what I found over time was that by sticking to my list, what I was looking for more often than not fell into my lap at more than decent prices, and I almost never experience buyer's regret, lol. Thanks for the great vid. I truly enjoy watching your journey!
Life is about sharing. Thanks Ladies.
Thank you for sharing ladies, you are a blessing to each other and now to many.
You two are such a joy!
I sure needed this one!
Loved the chat! great advice!~
Thanks for sharing these chats. Do inspiring and helpful.
Thanks for the tips!!
Excellent information, Excellent people. I subscribed.
Thank you so much for having these chats.
Much appreciated 😁
Take care-Debbie
Great info :D Thank you
One of our favorite meals is spanish rice, with a little meat, canned or fresh peppers, onions, tomatoes, rice and spices. Cheap and flavorful!
You ladies have beautiful hearts.
So many good tips, I need to watch this again and jot them down. I like the one about finding joy in the everyday, or feeling rich through shared moments... I'd love to hear more examples of what Esther said about her mother "making moments" or being "master of ceremonies". :)
Vintage thrift store crock pots are SO MUCH BETTER than the new ones! The new ones are so cheaply made.
I clothed my children from a thrift store we had one that would do a bag sale twice a year. It was anything you could get in the bag for $4. My girls looked forward to the sale day every February and August. We'd get up early and be one of the first people in the store. We didn't go to the thrift stores any other time of the year. I would only buy new panties, bras, and socks which was on a birthday or Christmas.
I have read, if we buy things that we do not need, we will eventually have to sell things to buy what we need.
My next purchase at the thrift store hopefully will be a food saver. A lot of people bought this item and shortly was bored with the concept. I will be trying frugal ways to use this item. Not only will it prolong shelf life of stored food, it is a bit of fun for me. I love trying kitchen gadgets that will not break the bank.
one thing that makes our off grid life easier and more doable is tribalism. we have formed our own (think commune without the free love etc mashed up with my Lakota beliefs) we are a matriarch. ... and the monies are all combined and work is all combined although we have built our own homes. what one man struggles with having just two hands or one job, many men do with ease..... this notion in western society that we should or must go it alone seemed crazy to us....
I try to live as if times are "tight" all the time. I am a minimalist and don't place much value on things, fancy this, new that. It helps if times are tight, but not because of tight times. It is a choice.
Using cereal bags are great for storing or freezing food.
Buy a big jar of popcorn kernels... I literally ate popcorn for an entire month when I foolishly spent what little money I had on a surfboard. But I was living in Hawaii... so it was okay. I did also eat muscles fresh off of the rocks on the beach and picked passion fruit off the vine in the wild. That was about it, but I survived.
Great talk! The beans & rice struck a chord with me and will be trying that.
Esther I have a question for you - You have internet at your property - am I correct? Would you mind sharing who is your internet provider and the price you pay for it? I have DishNet (HughesNet) because we do not have cable or telephone at our property. We are just 12 miles from downtown state capital of Kentucky and cable TV and landline are not available. I chafe at paying $72/mo for internet service and $60/mo for low-end DirecTV. Talk about looking at those budget items over a years time!
I would like to see more of this type of video - perhaps with other friends or neighbors as others have different experiences and perspectives.
I really enjoy your videos!
So true on the thrift store....the prices being so great!! Limit, limit.
I totally agree with netflix being a need sometimes.
i would love some recipe options for meatless meals. I have attempted to have meatless Mondays at my house but bean burritos only go so far and i realized i have no idea how to cook without meat.
I find that it usually isn’t good to buy canning jars at at a thrift store. They are genuinely cheaper New at the store.
I love to barter but it's hard to find others that like to do it around here.
I would like to know where to buy bulk organic/non-GMO dry goods. I live in Arkansas and cannot find bulk food cheaper than the more normal portions locally. The problem with that is when say oats are on sale I have to purchase 13 (2lb) bags to equal 25lbs which I'm guessing would be the bulk equivalent. It feels odd and I do get funny looks but if saving money is the tradeoff I can live with it.
Melissa Jones ,you might want to look for a feed mill in your area.
I absolutely love your channel! Do your husbands hunt or fish?
i totally agree that it is important to take care of your inner self and happiness. that is one of the most important things you can do. it makes everything else easier and more enjoyable =)
but as a person who does not belive in god i feel like i have to add: all of that is possible without religion as well. everyone gets there in their own way. mine is without religion, yours is with.
what i appreciate a lot about esthers channels, is that she does not or did not put her religious beliefs in the foreground in her videos and posts. it pops up now and then and why not, as it is part of her life, but it is not the main focus (the same as politics isnt either....).
for someone who does not have a god in my life (and does not want one), finding a new homesteading/homemaking channel/blog/whatever, being really excited and then having to listen to things about god as much as homesteading.... is very frustrating to say the least...
just needed to write that down. i dont mean to offend anyone, just find it very curious that most homesteaders in the us seem to be super religious... (i am from germany) maybe someone can explain that to me? does it have to do with the connectedness to the land in christianity? really, please dont be offended. i think everyone should live their life as they wish to. just trying to understand.
oh and before i forget: thanks for these talks and the skill of the month club! keep up the good work =)
Sure. I know a lot about this perspective, though I don't believe I'll
be censoring my guests or friends or asking anyone to be quiet about
faith.
I think the reasons why agrarian values in the US are so intertwined with religion are all a matter of history. I mean, it's not like we just woke up one day and decided to be this way. Especially in our exact region (or just south of us) many towns were founded by Mormon pioneers in search of religious freedom. Our entire westward push was defined by and understood through the theology of manifest destiny. And then add the great revivals.... But all that is a much longer conversation than I could have in comments and it's not really what I do on TH-cam.
I respect your frustration and value the difference in your perspective. Of course there are many people who homestead who aren't religious, even in the US. But also there are many that are. Personally, I feel the discomfort around those differences is quite unnecessary, but I think I'm in the minority on that. Thanks for your thoughts here. I hope you'll take the grain and let blow away the chaff.
wrap your troubles in dreams Hi. I am not in or from the US. I am Dutch and live in the Netherlands. It seems most people here are atheists. But I am not, having faith in The Creator is important to me. I am glad it is important to Esther and Johanna too 😊
oh i hope you did not take that the wrong way! i for sure dont want anyone to be cencored or feel like he/she should be! (english is not my mother tounge, so i probaly dont express myself propperly). i also dont think people should hide the way they feel about things. it is just very foreign to me; as in: i just dont understand it. maybe thats why it frustrates me.
i hope i did not offend anyone, that sure was not the intention. really what i wanted to say is that i appreciate how you deal with it (it being obvious that religion is part of your life, but not puting it in the foreground of every homesteading video).
you are right, that these differences should not matter. thats what i like about you guys, it feels like we are all "united" in our interest in homesteading, no matter how differnent the rest of our lives might be.
it makes sense when you put it that way... in a sense a lot of people who went to america in the first place were deeply religious. i know it is a very vast topic, thanks for answering anyway =)
wrap your troubles in dreams I agree with everything you said, fellow athiest here :)
Mapped: These are the world's most religious countries
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/11530382/Mapped-These-are-the-worlds-most-religious-countries.html
The divide is not always rural vs urban...
How religious is your state?
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/29/how-religious-is-your-state/?state=alabama
beautiful women! I am blessed to call both of you my friends.
You two ladies crack me up , that you wear the same outfits every week. Is that planned?
ha ! no, we recorded them all at once. You found out our secret!
Lol, really enjoy your videos on both sites Esther, you are so good at sharing your story. Thanks for sharing
Gedigan Waegn!
th-cam.com/video/dUKc1TGS-bU/w-d-xo.html
unintentional community!
Omg that's shocking, fashion plates, changing clothes in the middle of the video ;)
You are so fortunate to have each other as friends! You covered a lot of material in this video and it is all very helpful. Having "enough" in tight times, and in times of plenty, includes much more than taking care of physical needs ... which you summarized gently. I do understand that it's not easy for many people to see that fulfillment of emotional and spiritual needs is also important when they are physically hungry. The great freedom that I found by simply having a stocked pantry and living frugally has allowed me an opportunity to re-explore these other needs unencumbered by that terrible thing called "worry". I totally "get" where you are coming from and am smiling right along with you both!
I sure needed this one!