BratFactor.com

I checked my Freecycle group tonight, firstly to say that I had received two bags of winter clothing for the Kiwanis Club Coats for Kids Drive. Secondly, to offer a black & red computer keyboard that Nick is going to throw away because it is cheap & the legs on the bottom are broken off. While on that email account, I checked the emails from FlyLady.net, BratFactor.com, Every Day Cheapskate, Living on a Dime, & Heroic Stories, five newsletters that share that email account.

At Brat Factor I signed up for Pam Young's 365 Surprise. Every day she sends a short email. I got behind on them because I wasn't checking that email account every day until I added Freecycle to that account. I knew the emails from Freecycle would get lost in the clutter on raynib9@yahoo.com. So, now I check that account everyday. I'm down to 50 unread surprises. Seldom do I throw one of those surprises away. I've subscribed now for almost 3 years & she seems to send out the same ones every year. Every so often I'll search to make sure I haven't saved duplicate messages.

So, why am I blogging about this? The first email I opened today was Oct. 7 & she asked what kind of thoughts you have when you fill up at the gas station. She said she caught herself thinking, "What if ..." thoughts of fear one day as she was filling up her gas tank; thoughts about inflation & how that would inevitably lead to a file in her brain filled with past thoughts of financial struggles.

Today, as I filled up the tank & watched the numbers whirl, I was grateful that we weren't paying $4.12 a gallon as we were in July. A man at the pump across the island from me was telling me that now crude oil production is being cut back so that the price of gas will go up again. I've always been afraid of filling up a car. These thoughts & fears go back over 30 years to my days of living in Salt Lake City & the fear I had of stopping at a strange gas station & having to go in & pay for the gas. I would run out of gas rather than stop & buy gas. I had a hard time going from Cache Valley to the big impersonal world of a city. It was a constant struggle. I've always been full of static electricity & would get shocked when I touched a gas pump. I was always afraid the gas pump would blow up because I touched it.

It's only been the last few years that I haven't been afraid to fill up the gas tank. My family gets the credit for helping me with that fear. I still drive until the empty light comes on. One reason being that I don't bother to check my gas gauge. I forget.

Pam quoted Caroline Myss in the Oct. 7 email:

"What drains your spirit drains your body.
What fuels your spirit fuels your body."

She said she made out a 3"x5" card with an uplifting message that she will take out when she fuels her car to read to keep those "What if ..." thoughts at bay.

Tonight I picked up a box that came from somewhere. Things at my house just seem to suddenly appear, bubble up out of the black hole. Kind of reminds me of the musical, "Brigadoon." I took the box in the bedroom, sat down on the bed & started going through the box. I found a sack of scrapbook supplies from an October scrapbooking seminar a few years ago. I found a planner that I had started to make with laminated pictures & favorite quotes with a few entries from 2001. It wasn't finished & I hadn't finished using it. The only thing I can surmise is that it went missing & now, seven years later, it has bubbled to the surface again. I didn't want to throw it away, but wondered what I could do with the thoughts & pictures. I thought about dismantling the planner & making myself a small booklet of those pictures & thoughts to look at while I was filling up the car.

If I put the box back where I found it, it will probably go missing again with only one or two things thrown away & one thing rescued. Then I wonder why there are so many boxes & messes, sigh.

The "Step-Down Principle"

The University of Idaho extension educators write articles for our weekly newspaper. They are always very interesting. The county agent, Stuart Parkinson, writes articles on gardening & farming. The home economist, Laura Sant, writes articles on cooking, diet & home.

In June, one of Laura's article was on saving money by using a "step-down principle." The example she used was that you could go buy 3 pancakes at IHOP for approximately $5 or you could take a step down & buy pancakes from McDonald's or you could buy premium frozen waffles or store-brand frozen waffles. Each alternative was a step-down & you'd save money.

This was an interesting concept to me. I've been wondering how I could save money since I shop the DI or clearance racks & buy store brands to begin with.

I also subscribe to a newsletter called "Everyday Cheapskate." I don't read them every day & they pile up in the folder called "Cheapsk8" in one of my email accounts.

Tonight, I've spent a couple of hours just reading & enjoying the things I've read. It's a nice break from the book I'm reading about bipolar.

So, I found an antibacterial solution in the Nov. 24 issue of Everyday Cheapskate entitled, "Don't Poison the Family on Thanksgiving" & I thought, "Hmmm, if I leave this here, I'll never find it again." I immediately thought of copying the paragraph here, but wondered if that would be copyright infringement & saw this little sentence at the bottom:

Copyright © 2008 Mary Hunt. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint required.

So, yes, it would be copyright infringement if I copied the whole paragraph. But if I write about it, is that copyright infringement?

To make the solution, take 1 gallon of cool water plus 1 TEASPOON liquid bleach. I looked at it again, just to be sure that it didn't say tablespoon or cup or anything like that, but no, it says teaspoon. It also says to measure carefully. Ok, so I'm not the most careful measurer. It also says LIQUID bleach. I don't like to use liquid bleach. I have holes in clothes & also some towels that were once a pretty color & are now some ghastly shade. The newsletter claims that this solution will not harm wood, paint, marble or fabric. However, the newsletter does not tell me how to store it.

Now, I'm a great believer in 409. I love 409. Is this a step down from 409? Does 409 harm wood, paint, marble or fabric? Will the weak bleach solution clean as well as 409? I guess the only way to find out is to try it.