Frogs and Thrifting

A wonderful lady gave the kids some tadpoles at the Feast. They are growing well and in their new home. The girls and Andrew love looking at them every day and seeing them getting bigger and change. Its our science right now in school!

the water is not really green. Its murky, but the lights and the flash made the water look green for some reason. See the tiny black think on top of the bottom rock...tadpole.

At home on the book shelf, safe (I hope) from being pulled off. Like the finger prints???

I have a couple friends, who are such an encouragement to me. They find such deals at the thrift stores. They have a plan. When there is a need, they pray about the need, and then hit the thrift stores. I have not been good about shopping at the thrift stores. We are usually so short on time, and things are such a hit and miss, that we have not been stopping. Well, I decided to do what they do. We had a need. Andrew is growing like a weed and pants he wore just before the Feast didn't fit after the Feast. I prayed, and then went to one thrift store. We found him a couple nice pairs of pants, some flannel shirts and a sweater for the cost of what it would be to get ONE out fit new.  I also found a very nice, like new 100% cotton (heavy!) blanket that would cost about $70  new. God is good! 

Isn't he cute! New shirt and overalls!

Do you thrift shop?

Cutting Back

When we started paying off our debt the beginning of 2007 we made a promise not to get/have ANY credit cards. We will pay with cash, and save for the larger things. While we were paying off the debt our budget was very tight. There were times that the numbers didn't add up on paper, but we always had enough to cover everything. Thanks to odd jobs, patient land lords, etc. God really blessed our endeavors to be debt free.

Now that we are debt free (and buying our house) the budget looks a little different. We have enough money to set aside a nice bit of an emergency fund (big fan of these by the way!), and still have a bit of wiggle room. I handle getting the bill paid and such. This is a way I can serve and help my husband.

My system is simple. We have set bills that I have written inside of a folder. Some are paperless, while others still come in the mail. When a bill comes, I put it in the folder. Pay day is twice a month, and the bills are divided up accordingly. Payday comes, I grab out the bills that are due (or pay them online), mark on them when I paid and how much. The paid bills then get filed in a different folder. Simple and works for us. I also take cash grocery shopping. I have a set amount, and that's it. Its much harder to part with cash, then to just swipe the card (debit)or to write a check. We don't have many extra bills. Internet and Netflix are our "entertainment" bills.

I ran across a neat website: http://groceryshrink.com/

A while ago she set out to pay off their debt quickly and save money, in the process she shrunk her grocery budget to next to nothing for her good sized family.

I have ordered her book, and am going to challenge my self to cutting our food budget down. We spend about $350 (this is a high end amount, its usually a bit less) in food a month. I would love to spend $250 a month. That's $50 per-person. A savings of $100 that's can be added to our savings. I am thinking I can get it even lower, but that seems like a good start for now.

We are going to cut out eating out when we are in town (once a week), and buy our veggies at the farmers market on Wed. evenings, instead of the store (much better stuff anyhow!). We already eat mainly whole grains and order in bulk, but I would like to be better about using the things I ordered (like dry beans) and making sure I always have lots of rice, oats and such on hand. I ordered our beef in bulk as well as some chicken. We also raised 10 birds of our own to add to the freezer. It is so nice to have a freezer full of good, quality meat! I have my hens for eggs, and sell enough to pay for their food, making our eggs free. I would love to raise a steer for our selves every year, but I will have to think of a way to do that.

So, check out the website above and I would love to hear tips on how you all save money and/or shrink your budget. Any "getting out of debt" stories as well!

Lessons from: The Little House Books

My favorite set of book growing up was the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember playing Mary and Laura with my sister and my mom reading out loud. As a child I just thought they were good stories, and how awful that "children were seen and not heard".

Reading them as an adult, I see the lessons that Ma and Pa were teaching the girls. I see the thankful spirit, even when there isn't much. The men and woman worked hard, but also enjoyed time together in fun. The children were expected to add to the family and obey.
I get a reminder from Ma, everytime she is joyful over simple things. Like a roof, or floor, a door.

How much do we, in this country (and others) expect "the best" even if it means working our selves to the bone, and going into debt to get it. We live in a world that does not know the simple pleasure of being together as a family. We take for granted a warm house, roof over our heads and an abundance of food. Instead of being thankful for what God has blessed us with. We need to find the balance of work, and joy (fun). We need to be content with what we have, not always wanting more and more and more. Also, going hand in hand with this, is taking care of what we have been blessed with (home repairs, car repairs, etc).

Now, as a woman who likes to cook, I think I would find salt pork and corn meal a bit bland. I live in a time where I have more variety, but am I now, being a good steward of what my husband provides (funds for food, unlike Pa who hunted/trapped)? Am I content to have a simple home, one where love, joy and thankfulness abound? Or am I falling into the more more more mind set.

Are we as parents raising our children to work hard, love family and be responsible, even at a young age? Sadly, "never ending childhood" seems to be the norm these days. I am not talking about "all work and no play" but being respectful of adults, obeying when told to do something, helping with house hold chores and taking care of the toy that the kids have.

Just some thoughts.

Yahoo!

Just a quick note to say its official. The last check has cleared the bank and we are debt free!

To celebrate, we are planning a fun trip over to see my mom and sister. My sister is in a music program at the collage there and is singing in a concert in March, so we are going over to see her and spend some fun time with family. Since its so close to our 5th Anniversary, we will go one a date in Seattle while there! :) Sure will be fun!

We want to say thanks to all our Family and Friends. With our your help, we wouldn't have paid it off this quick! THANK YOU!

Back to Basics~ Living on less, and having more

When Aaron lost his job in 2005, he struggled to find work. For over a year, we lived on not a lot, and racked up a good amount of debt because of it. Looking back, there were many mistakes we did, but wouldn't change a thing, since it has brought us to were we are today. I am very pleased to say that we are almost 100% debt free! I wanted to share some things that have helped us get to this place, things we plan to keep doing.

We have a set budget, and until just a month or so ago, didnt even have a checking account. We did everything in cash. We got rid of our credit cards and promised never to go into debt again, save for buying land and building a house.

We cook from scratch, buy bulk and eat simply for the most part. I try to have one or two meals that are meatless a week, so help with the costs of food.

Aaron changes the fluid in the truck, and buys the oil and filters from our car guy, at a much cheaper rate.

We tithe 10 % to God and 10% to second tithe every month. You might ask how this is helping us get out of debt and be living our dream, but when we rob God, we are not obeying. I cant tell you how often things have been provided for us. It might not seem like things are going to add up on paper, but they always do. And the times, in our human minds we think we just dont have enough to tithe this month, are the ones we usually get behind in. SO our lesson has been, God First, even when it doesn't seem like it will work!

I make our own laundry soap. With 5 people in our house, and 3 of them messy, we have a lot of dirty laundry. Added to the fact we went back to cloth diapers....that's even more. :)

Recipe:

1 bar of Fels Napha laundry soap
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda

In a sauce pan, grate laundry bar, and cover with water, heat up to disolve soap. Pour borax and washing soda in bottom of a 5 gal bucked, add soap water and mix. Fill bucket with hot tap water stiring well. Cover and let set over night. It will be a thick gel. Mix 1/2 water 1/2 gel in a container (milk jugs work well) and shake well. Use 1/3 cup for front loading washers, and 1 cup for top loading. Oh, you will want to shake the jug before using, to make sure its mixed.

This will last our family a good 2 1/2-3 months. It smells great and is less then $5 for the 5 gal bucket! Cant beat that!

As I mentioned above, we have gone back to using cloth diapers. My mother graciously made us a bunch of wonderful diapers, and we used then for a while, but with 3 in diapers it was just to much! I got so behind on laundry! Well, with just Sir Andrew in diapers we went back. This saves us about $26 a month, which = $312 a year.

This is what I am thinking of off the top of my head. What do you guys do to live simply????