Harder than I thought:

I was so excited to venture into frugality, and am no where near giving up, but it so much harder than thought it would be!!!!
I think the number one reason for me is that my husband and older kids do not support me. This makes things 100 times harder when trying to be more cost conscious. The second reason would be time! In order to save money it cost you time. With 6 kids and a very busy life I have found this very difficult!
With all this being said, I am just pushing harder now to make this work! I'm trying to figure out ways to save money but not take so much time! I have a very hard time when it comes to my husband and not giving in to his wants and also my kids relentless whining! Mostly it revolves around eating out or going somewhere that cost money. I am also not as organized I need to be, so we forget things, like getting something out for supper, or everyone getting in the car and half of us haven't eaten breakfast. Things like that!
I say to people all the time, if I teach anybody anything its this: Start early! Before your married establish some money ground rules, take a financial class and decide how money will be spent! Also start early with your children! They cant miss what they've never had! My youngest four have been raised in more lean times and are so much more willing to accept frugality then my older two!
OK no need to go on all gloom and doom. Just pray I can recover and go get that place I dream of! I KNOW we can do it, I just know we can!

Just an update.....

Well its been a while since I've blogged. Things have been a little crazy! lol! Cody won his basketball championships! Go Cody and his whole team. They remained undefeated the whole season! Good job Bulls!

Cody won the 5th grade spelling bee! Great job Code man!

Carson continues to do awesome on his new med. Dr. Silverstein is so impressed with his progress! He is doing SO much better in school! He's gotten all green's since starting this med. His work is more detailed and hes so proud to tell me about it! He is loving reading, you could read to him all day! Tonight he spent over an hour, yup you heard right, reading and looking at Cody's Ripley's believe it not book!

Carly is so smart. She knew the number 14 in preschool the other day, totally impressing her teacher Miss Tammy! She also recognizes 9 of her friends names!

Connor is regressing a bit. :( Hes keeping his hands in fists a lot and rocking more. He's also hitting more. Were keeping a close eye on him. We are doing more one on one with him and trying to help him describe his feelings, and relating our feelings back to him. Hopefully its just a small bump in the road.

Cathryn is as busy as EVER! She jumps up and down with both feet all the time. She is talking a lot more. Including saying NO with a really big attitude! :) She also loves her momma very much, so all is forgiven! lol!

Caleb is doing pretty good. He failed Science for the quarter but passed for the semester. He's been decreased down to one med. and so far is doing really well with that.

I am getting very excited for my garden this spring. We are also hopefully going to be pruning and treating our apple trees! :) I am trying like crazy to convince Terry to let me get some chickens.

I am going to be adding a few more ideas to the recipe and money saving blog. So stay posted! :)

Peace and good savings to you!

An update on us:

Well life has been as crazy as ever! Carson started a medication, I was extremely hesitant to do so, and the first day I was ready to give up, but today is day 6 and he is doing awesome! He has leveled out and is doing amazing! He sat and did a Valentines project for an hour last night! and had so much doing it! So I am happy that I worked so hard with his Developmental pediatrician to find a med that was going to work best for him.


I put my back out again! There is nothing that can throw a bigger wrench into my life than when my back is out! I now have a sensitivity to most pain meds and muscle relaxers, so Ive been fighting pain with over counter meds and finally got to the chiropractor yesterday! I am about 40% better today!

This is an update i started a few days ago and am just get finished now. Keep posted for future posts on our hopeful spring ventures of gardening, apple trees and new critters!

Oh the joy of having a non-frugal, spend thrift husband!

I have hesitated to post this, only because I don't like painting my husband in a negative light! He is a good husband and an awesome dad, and he has a ton of redeeming qualities. He is however my biggest adversary in my quest for financial wellness!
Often times when a family wants to make major financial changes for the better there is a spouse who is not as enthusiastic or willing to do so. Some say it is not possible to make the necessary changes with an unwilling spouse, I am here to prove them wrong!!! I am however not going to say its going to be easy!!!
My dear husband is spend thrift ie: A spendthrift (also called profligate) is someone who spends money prodigiously and who is extravagant and recklessly wasteful, often to a point where the spending climbs well beyond his or her means.
My husband is very likely to spend money at a convenience store, throw away things I have saved to reuse, complain greatly when I am given bags of clothes for the kids, very much wants to compare and be like the Jone's, wants the newest best item technology has to offer, LOVES to eat out and would everyday if he could!, hates to borrow anything!, when he gets money he must spend it! I could go on but I won't!
Now I will admit, I used to do a lot of these things as well and still have not perfected my frugality. My weakness was drive trough's. I also have a history of not following through on my budget and holding onto money for groceries and fun things and not paying the bills on time.
I am raising 6 children so i am so very busy all the time, so i will admit he has tripped over a few bags of clothes! lol!
My conclusion: I have to work extra hard to be an example of frugality, and show that it can work for us! I need to be consistent and keep going even through his complaining! We have made all our bills on time this month so far, I think I can keep it up long enough to make him see it is working!
Just say a few prayers for me!

What a truly CRAZY life this is!!!!!!

Wow! Lately this statement is truer than ever! I don't know if the world has tilted on its axis or what! Nothing seems to be going the way I have it planned! I see the vision in my head and what actually happens is the exact opposite of that!!! My life has always been a bit crazy but my goodness!
I've been doing pretty good at sticking to my plan. I fell off the wagon yesterday, I was starving and no end in sight to my running around, so I pulled into the dreaded McDonald's drive through. I had Cathryn with me so I ordered, 2 small fries, 2-4 pc McNuggets, a small soda and an apple juice. It came to 7.72!!!! I ALMOST SAID NEVER MIND! Then I thought that might be rude! Note to self: remember to pack snacks in the car! Maybe that will be my next post! Have snacks will travel....
Anyway I must go get 3 babies ready for the day. I pray today is not as crazy as the week so far! Tuesday Carly broke our 42 inch flat screen TV, the only one of its kind we own. Same day I found out Connor got reduced from 4 to 2 days of pre-school. CDS will no longer pay for the 4th day. And many, many other crazy things. But hey that's my life and I wouldn't trade it with anyone! Happy Thursday all! :)

Budgeting:

Ok, so I have started a budget! I have been very resistant to one in the past. I could never get them to work! But Of course the first rule in getting out of debt and living within your means is you have a budget! So I wanted a way to do mine that would be easy and something I am likely to stick with. I sit at the computer several times a day for a few minutes to check on everything, so I thought something on the computer might work. I didn't like anything with categories or spread sheets, it looked to complicated. So I am just using the notebook on my computer and saving everything to my documents. So far so good!
I do my budget based on every 2 weeks that we get payed. I keep my receipts and record them every few days. I started with our Jan 4th pay period and after recording everything I had and could possibly think of I still had 74.00 unaccounted for! :( So hopefully I will be able to get past that and start being more cautious about every cent spent!
I wish I had started recording my spending before this because by the time I started recording my spending I had already started being very careful where I spent money, so its not a true depiction of how I used to spend money, BUT I saw a lot of areas I can still trim and save money!

My family of 8 ate 3 mostly healthy meals a day for a total of 281.72 now my next step is too keep food separate from everything else. This total includes non food items for the past 2 weeks. Although thanks to my wonderful mom and her care package from Christmas I didn't need many non-food items this time!

Money saving tricks and ideas....

I want to start a section for Money Saving tricks. We all have things we do to save money. Please feel free to contribute! The only thing I love more than sharing my money saving ideas is learning new ones!

Wash and reuse meat carton trays. I also disinfect them with a bleach/water wash! (I do not usually save hamburg ones, cuz you really cant get all the yuckys out of them!) I especially like the black pork loin ones (of course i get the pork, only on sale for less than 2.00 a lb.!) They were great for frosted Christmas cookies, I just put the cookies on the trays, and wrapped them in clear plastic wrap.

Children do not need lots of Juice! and many get too much! So what I do is I take a concentrate thing of 100% juice (Usually under 1.49) and mix it to a gallon of water. Just keep in mind 8oz of this will not be considered a full serving of fruit, your children should eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies everyday, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. I have a really hard time getting my kids to drink plain water, so this is a good way to get them drink something healthy.

I reuse milk jugs, but usually only once or twice. Once the milk is gone (we go through 2 gallons a day for my family of 8!) I use that jug to make the above listed juice, lemon aid or iced tea. In the summer I fill 3/4 way with water and freeze it for keep food in my cooler cold! (and once it starts to melt you have ice cold water to drink! Also you can cut the bottom off to use as a dog dish (especially if your dog likes to chew up dishes like mine!) you can also cut the top off to use as a funnel.

Hang out your laundry in the summer, and if using your dryer use from 8pm till 7am (I just got this confirmed by Central Maine Power. I hang dry all my big clothes, but dry my little clothes, washcloths, towels, bedding and blankets. I would hang dry a lot more but I do not have the room!

Since this original post my dryer has broke. We have decided to not fix it for now. Terry put up a new clothes line and it fits 2 loads of laundry. I have 3 or 4 a day so at least one load gets hung up in the house. I use clothes hangers and hang them up on the shower rod in the bathroom. Its an adjustment for sure, but truly worth the effort.

I reuse all containers. such as big (and little if we had them) yogurt containers, cottage cheese cont., any and all glass Jars I have. Esp. big spaghetti sauce ones and big pickle ones (usually a boiling hot water bath, takes the smell out and sterilizes them). I do however just keep what i need and will reuse. My collection can outgrow my closet sometimes then I get rid of some.

Make food homemade. It saves money, especially when you get the ingredients on sale or by buying in bulk, and its so much better for you than the over processed snack and meal foods bought for convenience! I really do not find it that time consuming anymore. I can throw together a batch of homemade cookies from beginning to end in about 8 min. (not including bake time of course!) If you cant bake them right away but them on your cookie sheet, throw them in the freezer and cook them later. If you can not cook them by that day, once the cookies are frozen take them off the cookie sheet and put them in a freezer bag and cook them anytime!

My children are not letting mommy blog this morning so I will be back with more tips later. Please share any ideas you have!

Buy used whenever possible! This can save you a ton of money! My general rule is: Clothing at a savings of at least 50% off retail. I try and get at least 75% off retail but if its really good shape its worth it for 50% off! I try and stay at least 30-50% off for any type of equipment, such as rototillers, lawn mowers, power equipment ect. Toys you can usually get really good deals on used. I try to save at least 50% on them.

Buy meats marked down! Today I saved about 30% on hamburger, stew meat and pork steaks! Hannaford generally reduces beef in the morning and chicken in the afternoon.

To use less hamburger in tacos replace some burger with black beans! Tip given to me today at play group by my friend Ersula! Thank you!

When making stew cut your meat up very small, that way your likely to get meat in every spoonful without using too much meat!

Share! If your friends with your neighbor and they have something you only need a few times a year (such as a rototiller or power saw) ask if you can borrow it! Just be sure to take really good care of it, and make sure you refill the gas before returning it!