Recently I read a new book (surprise surprise). This one originally intrigued me with its subtitle, “Achieving financial independence through simple living.” I mistakenly thought this was going to be about homesteading, and related projects. It was not. Despite my initial disappointment, it turned out to be a great read.

     ​If you’ve never had fresh, homegrown herbs, I strongly encourage you to grow some. Most  are super easy, and relatively maintenance free. The bulk of mine are perennials, meaning they come back year to year, making it easier for me to put more time and energy into my needy plants, like the tomatoes and celery. 

      What kind of scraps, you might ask? Well, any. I’ll break it down into three parts: food scraps, cloth or clothing scraps, and other. 

​                     FOOD SCRAPS
     With food scraps, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, you need to have a plan for those scraps. It’s unrealistic to save every little bit of food, unless you have pigs. If you’re like us and still daydreaming of animals, you need to be kind of selective with your scraps. For you avid gardeners, most scraps make GREAT compost.  Check out Composting for more information.

      Caveman and I spent, oh, let's just say A LOT, of money on unplanned meals when we first started out.  You would not believe how much McDonald's we had!  The poor guy at the drive thru started to recognize us.  When we realized that we couldn't afford to do that forever, we started going to the store when we were hungry to find things to make; usually mac and cheese or pasta (cheap, easy and so very unhealthy!).  In the process, we would wind up finding 10 other things to spend twice as much on.  Surprise, surprise!  That didn't work for us either.  We discovered that meal planning would not only help us shop better, but save money too.