I went on errands with Ms Linda this morning for a ride to the utility office. The clerk was very helpful in pointing out what I’d done wrong and why my bill was higher. She knocked $18 off for now. It became clear we definitely need a flush kit! That running toilet is why we paid all that money for the month we didn’t live here. I’m also messing myself up by turning off the ac in the daytime, and turning it back on at night. We’ve been without central air/heat for so long I didn’t realize I was eating up the juice. It’s not gonna help this bill, but she promises if I do what she told me, it will definitely be better in the future.

My neighbor is a sweet lady and she wants to help. I don’t want to hurt her feelings but I can’t let the help be in the form of soda and snack food for us. She wants to take me to the movies with her and I need to make myself differentiate between a developing friendship and letting her do too much. When she asked if I could mend her husband’s sofa cushions for the garage furniture, I said yes. Of course I can. I may have a niche using my sewing machine in this area if my back can handle it. I don’t have supplies to speak of these days, but that can be part of the cost. It will get better. I am definitely going to crochet with plastic bags – had a super idea for using them. I will just start being really careful with things and wasting nothing, to an even greater degree than we’ve done in the past. There are opportunities for actually supporting myself with many of the things I can do.

Anyway. Things are looking good if I can get past this money glitch. Gotta get the hubby up here!