A Table's Tale

I wish I would have thought to take a before picture of this stand.  My husband owned this thing before we got together seventeen years ago.  It has been painted and moved to almost every room in the house.

It started off in the laundry room housing detergents. 

From there it went to Cassandra's room, holding teenage girl stuff like make-up.

Next it was painted white with pastel sponge painting and teddy bears on it.  Then it's job was to hold stacks of diapers. 

After the youngest daugter grew, we didn't need it to hold diapers anymore.  Morgan decided she needed a fish aquarium.  We bought a small tank and it sat for years on top of the table that was painted a sky blue with dark blue waves sponge painted on it.  Like the ocean.  Oh, and some sparkly fish stickers that I decoupaged on the doors.

At last, the goldfish died and Morgan decided she no longer wanted this poor old table.  I moved it to my family room not having time to deal with or knowing where it's next stop would be. 

Last week I began painstakingly removing all the layers of paint.  My husband thought I was nuts.  Just buy a new table.  PLEASE! 

But that wouldn't be fun.  You would think my husband would be glad I'm frugal I hate to buy anything new.  I mean with the economy what it is, and with Christmas coming and there are so many things we really need, much more than another piece of furniture.  Besides that, just the other day we were talking about down sizing our home at some point. 

So I slapped on two layers of flat black paint.  It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Black paint definately hides alot of imperfections.  LOL!

My hubby, well, when he came home, his opinion changed.  He liked it. 

Swapping Media Materials

Would you love getting books, CD's and DVD's for next to nothing? I sure do! You can join Paperback Swap to swap books, Swap a CD to swap CD's and Swap a DVD to swap DVD's.


How it works is simple, you join the clubs by giving your information and listing 10 items (by the UPC) that you have and no longer want. When you list your items, usually the clubs will credit you with 2 credits. At that point, you can request another material, from another member. You do have to buy swap cash, but it's a minimal fee. You pay nothing for the material. However, when someone requests one of your items for swap, you will be responsible for paying the postage.


If there is a book/material that you want that is not available, (that happens often to me) you can put it on a wish list, when someone else posts it, you get it. It's that simple.


A little known fact is you can buy book credits if you have none. I did an internet search for an out-of-print book I wanted. Paperback swap came back in the search results. It was then that I bought a book credit. I think it was just under $3.50 - for an out-of-print book.


This is a great way to get some of those books for your homeschool.


Do you know of any similar programs? If so, please share.

Confessions of a Coupon-a-holic: From a Husband's Prospective

This is a funny post about how a husband feels about his wife's new found frugal activities. Shopping!!!

I can totally relate to this post. When I first started CVSing and coupon shopping about a year ago, my husband said, "Is this legal? Are the cops going to come looking for you?" Now he's totally on board with me getting his soda pop and 3 more bags of stuff at CVS for $1.86 oop (that's out of pocket) for anyone who doesn't speak coupon lingo.

My oldest daughter was talking about having to go to the store to buy shampoo, and such because she was out. I found myself telling her "What, you paid full price for that stuff! Why if you only lived closer, we have enough shampoo for five years!"

For a complete CVS tutorial visit Crystal's blog at Money Saving Mom.

Rite Aid Savings Week of August 3 - 9, 2008

Do you have a Rite Aid nearby? If you do, make sure you stop in to snag these freebies (after single check rebate, of course.)

Here's what we got:

• 1 Revlon Nail Polish $2.99 - $1 mc (expires 8/6 - if you have it) - 2.99 scr = free + $1 overage


• Charles Worthington Results conditioner (who can't use conditioner with all of our long hair) $4.99 - $4.99 scr = free (only good 8/3 - 8/5)


• GE Soft White light bulbs $2.00 - $2.00 scr = free (I know they're not CFL, but free is free!)


• Nature's Cure Acne Treatment $7.99 - $7.99 scr = free (This will come in handy with having a teenager!)


• 2 Stayfree 24 ct maxi pads 2.99 ea. - $1.00 scr (for 1) - 2.99 (BOGO mc) = $1.99 for both


• 1-2pk Noxzema disposable razors $3.99 - $3.99 scr = free

They were out of the ReNu contact lens solution double pack for $9.99 - $9.99 scr = free, but I spoke with the cashier about a raincheck. She said I couldn't submit it for scr if it wasn't done this week, so I wouldn't get it for free. After speaking with her manager, the manager wrote me a raincheck for a free ReNu double pack! Cha-ching!

All together, I spent $25.91 oop, but after submitting my single check rebate, I will get back $21.96. I will have spent $1.99 on 2 packs of pads and $1.96 in sales tax. Not bad! Thanks Rite Aid!

Tis the Season

Canning season has officially started for us. This is the second batch of green beans I have canned. We've already eaten quite a bit of fresh beans for dinners.

I will be picking fresh blackberries from our backyard this evening. I hope to can some berries, maybe make blackberry jelly and of course, blackberry muffins.

We are also enjoying fresh leaf lettuce, zucchini and hopefully the tomatoes and corn will be ready soon. The pumpkins are getting huge and the grape vines and apple tree are full of fruit this year

I usually can about 600 quarts of produce per year. This really helps our budget alot because it is all organic food.

We're also hoping to stretch our food budget farther by my husband getting a deer, our chickens should be laying soon, and I hope to getting second plantings of lettuce and peas in.

Shopping Withdrawls

After having built up a nice stockpile of everything, I decided to take the week off from shopping. I have not made one trip to buy ANYTHING this week!

I think I've become addicted to bargain shopping! At the beginning of the week, I didn't know what to do with the time I usually spent going through ads, matching coupons, checking websites and blogs for more deals. I was a little irritable and maybe had a tremor. I told you I was addicted!

I think I may continue this experiment. Maybe I'll just do the shopping thing every other week, instead of every week. Or maybe I'll make up more menus using what I have and only get the necessities for awhile. Who knows?

We recently started a budget. I lumped food, CVS, gas and miscellaneous into one category for simplicity's sake for now. I allowed us $800/mo. We came in only $20.96 over, which really isn't an overage because next paycheck that $20.96 will be deducted from the back-to-school expenses. So, when out of cash for the month, I guess we'll definately do this experiment again!

How do you do your shopping? Do you go weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly? Does anyone do any grocery shopping online to avoid the temptation of stuff that's not on their list?

July Budget Numbers

Several months ago my husband asked me what we do spend a month on gasoline and groceries. I had to tell him the truth, I had no idea.

After sitting down and thinking about it, I decided that $800/mo. would be a reasonable amount for gas and groceries. Now I know that sounds high, but there are two of us on special foods for food allergies. Our cookies are almost $4/9 cookies and our bread was $6/loaf (I haven't bought it in awhile, so that figure could have doubled). Shayla's organic rice milk powder doubled - it comes out to be around $5.50/gallon. Ouch!

Anyways, I am happy to report that this months' grocery expenses came to $352.38 We are stocked up on everything pretty good. Our gas was $210.15. That figure will probably go up, we haven't went hardly anywhere. We live a distance from anyplace, so that figure may seem high to some. Also, it includes gas money for mower, and other power tools. Now here's the bad part, our miscellaneous was $258.33, but in all fairness, some of that can come out of the back-to-school expenses because I bought some cheap supplies at Walmart, Michaels, and Meijers.

What does your family's budget look like? Are my numbers way off what they should be?

YEEEEESSSS!!!! Debt-Free at Last

This past year has been the Year of the Finances at our household. After reading Dave Ramsey's books and being convicted in the Bible where it says, the borrower is servant to the lender, we took a hard look at our finances. Granted, at that point, we were not in as far over our heads as many folks, but none the less, it's a good feeling to owe nothing, except our newly negotiated, low fixed-rate mortgage.

Originally I started our family on this journey to prove to my husband that we could afford another child. That was all that was getting in the way of our adopting a child. Who would have thought that it would have changed us into Frugal Zealots!?!

How were we able to do this with rising prices on gas, groceries, and utilities? First off, I think there was a lot of divine intervention, but here's what we did to also help:

• We refinanced our mortgage and home equity into one fixed-rate 15 yr. mortgage. This includes an escrow account, so we "prepay monthly" for our property taxes and homeowners insurance. Doing this step alone saves us almost $500 per month.
• Hubby and I sat down and discussed all our little money drains. We decided to eliminate trash pick up because we recycle most everything, what we don't can be burnt. (Savings $15/mo)
• We eliminated the outside security light (Savings $8 per month)
• Since I only have a cell phone for emergencies (yes, really) I checked into Verizon's prepay and found that I could switch to a .99/day fee ONLY ON THE DAYS YOU USE IT! Plus .10/minute, if it's not another verizon customer. (Savings $15/month)
• I re-evaluated some of the herbal supplements we were on and made adjustments (Savings $60/month)
• We have been eating out less, sticking to a menu plan more, cooking from scratch (Savings: too much to guess!)
• This past year I started couponing, specifically CVSing. I plan menus around the food I bring home. (Again Savings: too much to even guess!)
• We started staying home more (this is especially good when homeschooling!)
• Hubby has always taken his lunch and snacks to work.
• We plant a garden. Although it's not the half acre we usually have, we have been blessed by an abundance of organic produce for eating healthy and canning.
• I hang almost all of our laundry. Outside on nice days, inside on not-so-nice days. I have also been able to cut our washing down to one load every-other-day. When we return to wearing pants that will probably go back to a load a day again.
• We've also been asking ourselves this question, how much is enough? Do I really need a full cup of laundry soap to wash? How much will work to get my clothes clean? Do I really need to have a light on, or is the natural sunlight enough? Is it really hot enough to turn the a/c on, or can I just open the windows? You get the idea!
• We've been like the ants gathering our firewood for the winter.
• I've been utilizing the public library and internet more for my homeschooling plans. I also bought a simple curriculum at a local school supply store for $20. Hey, it's only first grade!
• I've been doing several online survey companies for cash, participated in the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate program, get free magazines for viewing commercials, sell our stuff on ebay, half.com, amazon. Buying online using coupon codes.
• I'm planning on having a yard sale soon, when I can get together with friends and family for the event.
• I make our own laundry soap (when not having free from CVS), snacks, cloth napkins, newspapers for cleaning windows, cleaning supplies are usually just baking soda, vinegar and plain old water. And the list goes on and on.

Now I can smile a little more when I use that newly paid for stove, microwave, and refrigerator!

We will be spending the "payment" money we were using for school clothes, car insurance, and Christmas. Then hopefully beginning with next years' tax return, we can start attacking our mortgage payment.

These are just a few changes we've made. What have you done to offset the economy in your finances?

Lucky or Blessed

Recently I've heard that we are lucky. We're lucky because I get to stay home with the kids. We're lucky that we have a lot of food in our house. We're lucky that we don't have credit card debt, or any debt other than our house payment.

Folks, I'm not buying it. It's not luck. Our secret is being blessed by God and good old fashioned WORK!!!

Let me share.

Thirteen years ago I quit my job because this mom simply could not "do-it-all." I could not work, maintain a marriage and children and keep a home. My husband put figures down on paper and we were actually going in the hole by me working.

We have never lived extravagantly. At that time, our family car was a new, stripped down Ford Escort. I'm talking stripped down - it didn't even have an AM/FM radio or air conditioning. My husband drove a very old, cheap, beater car that we paid very little cash for. There were times when our family only had one car.

In addition to this, we've never been on a vacation, just short day-trips, I hang nearly every load of laundry outside or on makeshift racks inside, I clip coupons and try to make the most of every $$$ we spend. We do all of our own lawncare and home maintenance. We cut our own firewood for heat. We cook much of our own food from scratch. We grow a half acre garden and can approximately 600 quarts of fresh produce every year. These are just some of the examples of how we lived, even before the recession.


Don't tell me that I'm lucky and am out of touch with crises that come up. It was not always like this. When Daughter #3 was born with a head-to-toe rash and cried 22hours a day. Obviously, something was wrong. I took her from specialist to specialist trying to find out what was wrong. No one helped. I racked up $11,000 in medical bills. We took out a home equity line of credit to pay those bills, so bill collectors did not call and wake us when we were able to get a little sleep. We have refinanced and added this onto our first and only mortgage. Our payments are still less than most pay for rent. PTL!

Don't tell me I don't understand, you have bad health. You just don't have the energy. I breast fed Daugter #3 for almost three years because we couldn't find anything that she could eat! In addition I had to eliminate the things she was allergic to in my diet. Eventually, I went on to become allergic to the same foods as she is. I suffered from malnourishment, celiac disease, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. My hair was falling out in clumps and I looked like a walking skeleton. I thought I was going to die. I chose to spend my "free time" looking for alternatives to traditional medicine. Today, at 36 years, I feel better than I ever have in my life. Mother, your health and your family's depends on you. You have the choice to cook a nourishing (cheaper) meal or do other things.

I think rather than luck, life's about choices. We chose to lead a simple life years ago and are in a good position now. We chose to be accustomed to finding simple pleasures.

Please don't say, I don't know how, no one's ever showed me...blah, blah, blah. I was never showed the frugal, or simple way of life either. The internet is a wonderful resource.

Like money, time has to be spent carefully, but everyone is given the same amount. The rich and poor alike. What do you do with your 24 hours?