Winter is coming, the power bill will go up, the feed bill will go up, the hay costs add up, and food will rise..

In fact about the only that will not rise in cost is many luxury items.. The next two months will show that strange split between what I often see as a disconnect between what we need and what we are trained to want..

You see while all the basics, food, heat, light, shelter and so forth will go up, the cost of THINGS that keep us busy is about to go into major sale mode.. o yes, I am talking about the push for Christmas. SALE, SALE, SALE

The hard part of that is that for me, for us here on the farm, for those that choose a homestead lifestyle, almost all of those sales are not helpful to us.. there are a few things that do not fit that lump up (and I am going to do a post on them.. A top ten list of things that go on sale at Christmas that are worth adding to your farm)

Even in the grocery store, the above will apply, its harder to find a good sale on fresh food then it is to find sales on processed food..

So in keeping with finding ways to be both frugal and in terms of useful and needed, today’s frugal Farmgal Helpful Homestead Tip..

Get they a Lucet 🙂  in a few sizes, one small to do fine line, one what is considered a large size for many rope needs and one oversized for farm ropes. I can not tell you just how much money a homesteader can spend on leads, ropes, collars and halters, and in many cases, you are buying and replacing as they grow. Add in the tropes needed for storage, the ropes and twine needed for gardening and o my, the costs can go up and up and up. I remember when a lead was 5 dollars, now 15, 20 or more is not uncommon.

Yes, its frugal to buy them on sale only, to stock up and put one extra away, but to be able to take five or ten min and make your own, for rough rope, you can use your binder twine and recycle it into a stronger form.

But if you buy some wool in the discount bin, at the second hand store  or at a farm sale, you can make soft but really strong Viking cord for mear pennies each

I got mine here http://www.lucets.com/lucets.html  Please note I do not get anything for referring him, I just like his work and prices, I also love that many of his wood has stories that go with it.

Ropes for farm use

I have  been making quick and easy sheep or goat collars that cost me less then a cent or two per collar, each collar lasts easily a year on the sheep, I tend to make a new one because its so easy to do, easy catch sheep have a single loop, harder to catch, get a slightly bigger and when put on, a small loop is knotted in, so that you can snap on a lead.

Making looped scarfs for our own use, I wear these a lot, this one is a fancy go to town pretty but I have a number that I wear that are farm chores ones

If you are creative, gift ideas will follow, 25 foot tree garland was made at my girls knit night, I will be making hot pot pads as gifts as well   Sometimes you need to step sideways and find ways to make your own on things you will use a lot of and that is a costly staple at the store.