Cozy Homemaker Journal–September Reflections

Welcome to the September Cozy Homemaker Journal!

I love fall! The mornings are cooler, the evenings come a little earlier, and I start looking around the house looking for ways to make things cozy. I want soup on the stove. I want to pull out a blanket in the evening. And apparently, I want to organize everything I own.

That last part has been keeping me busy.

September wasn’t a month of one big project around here. Instead, it was full of smaller things getting finished, moved, sorted, cooked, written, and finally crossed off the list. Just a lot of little progress, but it still adds up.

🏡 Around Birdsong Cottage

I’m still finding bits of daycare things here and there in the sheds and the house. I need a few things for my grandson when he is here, but I’m letting the rest go. But most of my organizing energy this month went toward my two sheds.

Shedwina is the practical sister. She’s my work shed, tool storage, lumber storage, gardening storage, Christmas storage and apparently the keeper of every miscellaneous object that didn’t have another home.

She’s been getting a serious cleanout.

I’ve sorted office supplies and old paperwork, filled donation boxes, hauled out trash, organized lumber, moved shelves, installed a big pegboard and moved in a rolling toolbox to replace an old dresser.

For the first time in a long time, I’m beginning to see what the space could actually be instead of just seeing stuff.

And then there’s Shedna Mae.

Shedna Mae was always supposed to be my little retreat and creative space, but over time she started collecting things too.

This month the pegboard came down, the keyboard moved into the house, and another large load went to the thrift store. I made room for my floral chair, my craft supplies and my little desk where I can do small projects.

The more I clear out, the more I realize that I don’t want Shedna Mae packed full. I want some empty space.

Maybe that’s one of the things I’m learning about my home in general. Just because something fits somewhere doesn’t mean it needs to live there.

🌸 In the Garden

September in the garden is always a little sad for me. The big summer gardening season is winding down, and after the hail we had earlier this year, there wasn’t exactly a bumper crop to bring in. We have lots of green tomatoes on our two plants, but I’m not sure they will have time to ripen before our first frost. I might need to look up some green tomato recipes!

My favorite tomato for eating fresh (and making tomato sandwiches) is the Cherokee Purple. If you’ve never grown them, here is an interesting article about the history of Cherokee Purple tomatoes.

We have gotten lots of rain. I’ve still been outside pulling weeds and tidying things up when the weather cooperates. Sometimes a couple of buckets of weeds is exactly the right size project for an afternoon.

I’ve also been watching Mabel, our maple tree. When we first moved here, she put on the most beautiful fall show. Brilliant color. The last couple of years she has been less impressive—more yellow one year and rather brown another—so I’m curious to see what she decides to do this fall.

🫖 Cozy Budgeting

This month, I shared my new printable, The Cozy Budgeting Companion. It’s a one-page budget overview that I use along with a free budgeting app. The app saves me time by letting me easily categorize things and gives me a total for each of my categories, while the printable gives me a chance to pause and reflect on the month’s spending and saving.

If you’re looking for a simple way to help manage your finances, you can read about it here.

🎂 The Little Things

We had a birthday in the family this month, which meant pulling out birthday supplies. And here’s where all that organizing paid off. I knew where things were. Gift bags. Birthday banner. Party supplies. Imagine that.

There have also been plenty of ordinary September moments around here. Meester and Bubba have continued their important work of napping on the bed, including on Mondays when I’m supposed to change the sheets. Obviously I wait until after their nap. I’m not a monster. Tater Kitty continues to supervise computer work by positioning herself somewhere between me and the laptop whenever possible. Princess CocoPuff the chihuahua has grudgingly admitted that she must wear her sweater on chilly mornings.

And Grampy had a medical procedure this month that temporarily rearranged our normal routine. Everything turned out fine, but it was one of those weeks when regular life gets put on hold for a little while. Then you come home, unpack your bag, and gradually settle back into ordinary life again.

Ordinary can feel pretty wonderful.

🍽️ From Granny’s Kitchen

I’ve changed my cooking routine a bit lately. A little backstory: Before moving to our current home, we always had natural gas for our stove, water heater, and clothes dryer. At this house, the stove and clothes dryer are electric. With the cost of everything increasing, I have been looking for ways to save money.

Our electric company has on-peak and off-peak rates, which means that at certain times of the day, we pay a significantly lower rate for our electricity. The difference is big: $0.04 cents versus $0.17 cents per kilowatt hour. So you can bet I am trying to do my cooking (and laundry) during the lower rate windows, which are between 9 p.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday and all day on Sunday.

So, I’ve been cooking dinner in the morning, and do any big cooking days on Sunday. I am interested to see if this has an effect our electric bill.

💻 Around the Blog

For the month of September, I tried out posting on the blog two times per week. And I found out that it was a little too much for me. I love working on my blog, but two posts a week made it feel like more of a chore than an enjoyable hobby. I made a lot of posts, though!

• Chewy Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Applesauce Spice Cake
• Brown Sugar Butter Carrots
• The Cozy Budgeting Companion (free budgeting printable!)
• Hamburger Stew
• Crustless Pumpkin Pie Bars
• Vintage Ground Turkey and Rice Skillet
• August Cozy Homemaker Journal

Granny Says: I’m learning that retirement doesn’t mean every moment of every day needs to be filled with something productive.

🌻 Looking Ahead

Next month, I’ll celebrate a birthday, and we will be hosting the family for some Sunday football games. (I don’t actually watch football. I just make the food.😄) And I’ll be sharing some recipes and a fun new printable on the blog!