Cloth Diapering, the beginning

A sweet friend's dear boys. 

Cloth is so cute!

I came upon the frugal lifestyle quite by accident. Annaliese had just come into our lives at 2 weeks old, she was allergic to every thing. Her formula made her sick, soap aggravated what I later learned was eczema and yes she was even allergic to diapers and baby wipes. As a relatively new mom (my first baby was only a year old at this time) I was clueless until a dear friend of mine very lovingly sent me a set of cloth diapers and inserts. I was hooked. Why hadn't I known about this when Amarissa was a tiny infant? Now if you had told me before the babies came that I would willingly use cloth diapers, I would have laughed at you. That is something my grandparents and mother did.  What I wasn't aware of was cloth diapers have changed radically since my mom was a baby. They come with snaps and velcro instead of needing pins. There are inserts and flip diapers, the possibilities seem endless. I quickly saw that there is something special about seeing your new baby in a pretty cloth diaper, free of chemicals. You know there is nothing next to their skin that could harm them, and they just look so comfy. When Annaliese's rashes started clearing up I knew this was what we needed and we would not turn back.  So I ordered 24 more diapers for Annaliese and Amarissa, and added cloth wipes too. Now in case you didn't know there are some great smelling baby wipe solutions out there, that are gentle on baby's skin and are all natural. So you can find the right "recipe" for your baby.  My dear friend, that sent me the diapers, made such a solution, our baby's always smelled so nice.

The first time I put a cloth diaper on Amarissa she looked at me, smiled and said "ohhhh mama". If Daddy or Amber tried to put a disposable diaper on her she would say "No, No" and go to the drawer and grab a cloth diaper, she was too cute and we knew this was a  more comfortable choice for her. We did use chlorine free diapers for church and long outings just so we knew we had enough on hand and that they wouldn't aggravate rashes or eczema. And with cloth I never had to worry about running out of diapers, or inflation. I knew that this was a need that was always taken care of.  Our diapers and wipes survived 2 babies, potty training and still look great.  It was by far one of our best investments.

When Frugality is Hard

The 31 day challenge has been a blessing, it truly has. However tonight it was also difficult. My husband's family wanted us to go out to a local restaurant and meet members of the family they had never met, they were so excited and we were included...yay! But we had committed to giving our budget 31 days to rest and heal, I was so torn when I had to say no. If we didn't have 5 small children we would have went and just had a glass of water and good conversation, but that doesn't work with little ones, so I stuck by our decision. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law were very understanding, let me just say what a blessing that is. This  just shows another reason why we should spend deliberately so when these opportunities pop up we have money budgeted for eating out. Being frugal isn't always the popular thing to do but it is still the right thing for us in this season in our life.

Frugality = Adventure

My grandmother Ginny, Grandpa Jack, Uncle Paul and Daddy

enjoying a day out.

This is day 8 of our buy nothing challenge. Being content with what we have has become easier and easier with each passing day. Our time is freed up to create and be with one another more often, we are no longer in the rat race of  "keeping up with the Joneses". As I write this our children are outside riding scooters, playing catch and reading on the back patio. They are interacting with one another and broadening their horizons. Eight days ago they would have been stuck in front of the TV begging for the newest toy being advertised  or yelling "I'm bored".  I am glad we have moved on.

When we take the time to slow down, we realize that life is a big adventure, full of possibilities and new things to learn. We start looking at our home as our safe haven again, instead of somewhere to escape. We view our family members as friends and companions to enjoy our journey with, and most importantly we relax and learn who we truly were meant to be. I no longer want things handed to me on a silver platter so to speak. I want to know the joy of creating, of making things around me more beautiful. I believe this was the legacy handed down from my grandparents, great aunts and uncles. I am more relaxed in my own kitchen making jelly, homemade bread and detergent than at the spa or eating out. I now want to conquer home gardening and serving vegetables that I grew to my family, not sure how long this particular lesson will take to learn but I am willing to find out. :-) Being frugal gives us things to do. We make jelly, detergent, play games, read, bake bread and yummy treats and soon we will garden. We are no longer waiting for something to happen for us to enjoy but we are making things happen around us that are joyful.

I want to leave you with something to think about. Last night we made homemade coleslaw and it struck me how pretty it was. The contrast of the freshly grated carrots against the light green of the cabbage. I was proud that I made that dish from start to finish. It made me ask myself why can't everything in our lives be deliberately crafted works of art?

Brunch and Fun in the Kitchen

Today started out with a brunch of low carb breakfast casserole, toast (for the kiddies). And then we made homemade apple jelly. Jelly is one of those items that seems to disappear in this house, we cannot keep enough in stock. I only buy the high fructose free jelly so it is like $3.00 for an 8 oz. jar. I had to find a more cost effective way to provide jelly. So I took out my vintage cookbooks and looked for a jelly recipe. I found one using 3 ingredients: juice, pectin and sugar. Since I don't have fruit trees I bought 100% juice (concentrate) from the store, sugar and pectin. My one can of apple juice rendered 3 sixteen oz. containers of apple jelly, and it only cost our family $4.00. Why didn't I think of this sooner? The kids also love making these treats at home, they were all piled around the stove watching contentedly, whispering about how good our jelly would taste on sandwiches and toast, these are the things they will remember the rest of their lives.

*thaw apple juice, pour juice in a large pot, heated to a slow boil, added 4 cups of sugar, whisking until sugar was completely dissolved then in a small sauce pan I heated 3/4 c water, added 1 package of pectin, heated to a boil, let boil for 1 min. Added pectin mixture to the apple juice and sugar mixture, whisked until thoroughly mixed. Then ladled into 3 (16oz) Ball Freezer Jars. You let cool on table 24 hrs. then put in fridge. It will keep 3 weeks in fridge or you can freeze for up to 1 yr.

This afternoon we make clothes detergent!

Today's Grocery Excursion

Okay so I wanted to go to Aldi's today but after a meltdown about shoes from one of my sweet girls we were running late and I only had 2hrs to get to the store, shop, load up the car and get to preschool. That was cutting it too short. So, I went to Kroger, it is close and I do earn gas perks. I spent $138.00 on groceries and toiletries and I have a $25.00 credit on my Kroger card thanks to a coupon I had for transferring a prescription. And yes we are still serving gluten free meals. I have gluten free bread mix in the pantry that I will be using for our Spaghetti dinner, and GF noodles (a few months back I caught a BIG sell at Bi-Lo for their gluten free items so I stocked up then). That would have added another $10.00 had I needed to buy them today. Not bad for a week's worth of dinners and lunches (using items from the pantry that were leftover from last week). So that leaves me with $187.00 until payday in 2 weeks.

Why handmade gifts are a good idea.

Drew and his snowman scarf, Christmas morning.

I love handmade gifts, they seem to always come with a story about why and how the giver picked that particular gift and how it came to be. And of course those stories get passed down and the gift becomes more and more loved. There has been a trend in our family over the last few years where the grandmothers are making more and more things for our children that are special and handmade, not to mention personalized and custom. I have noticed that these items are treated very differently than their store bought counterparts. Take my son Drew for example. He asked his Grandma Janet (Donald's mom) for a scarf with a snowman on it for Christmas. She didn't crochet so she asked her nephews girlfriend (Denise) to do the honors, and she did a fantastic job. So Christmas morning Drew found his snowman scarf under the tree. He must have jumped up and down for 5 mins, screaming "It is my snowman scarf, it is my snowman scarf". It never finds its way to the floor, he tells everyone he meets about it and of course has to show it off. Where are the toys that his dad and I bought? In the toy box forgotten...he will probably play with them another 3-4 times and then he will forget about them completely. However I think the snowman scarf will be around until Drew is a grown man. He says he is going to give it to his child when he is grown. If you take a look around our home there are crocheted afghans, handmade hats, beautiful quilts and unique artwork, all lovingly gifted by friends and family. They all come with their own story and memory, I wouldn't trade them for anything. This year I want to spend my time creating little masterpieces to give to our friends and family, things that make their spaces more interesting and more personal. Gifts with character.

Day 6 is upon us.

I just have to say that Day 5 was hard. I did not want to stay home and save money yesterday. I had a bad attitude about it but I powered through, and whew today is 1000x better. There are hard times on this journey but staying focused on the bigger prize helps keep us on track.

With me losing weight I have learned that I am an emotional eater...and since I can't do that anymore I think I transferred those emotions to shopping. I don't have to spend a lot of money but just spending something seems to be soothing, until the regret of spending even a small amount of money frivolously sets in or I have to clean out the closets. My dear, sweet, inspirational hubby said it best today. "I would rather bite the bullet and make these radical changes now and enjoy our money in a bigger way later, than to satisfy our immediate wants and miss out on the bigger things we could have had." And by things he doesn't necessarily mean material possessions or destinations. Even though that surely is one of the perks to controlling your finances and enjoying the smaller things in life. There are other blessings that come with being a good steward of your money. You can help others in need when situations arise. You can bless God's ministry and his servants where before it may have only been a passing thought. You can retire and not be dependent on the government. You can know the joy of living in a paid for home, and enjoy your grandkids instead of working because you have to and the list goes on and on. So when you hit the hard times please power through and realize there is a greater reward at stake and you will be glad you did.

The really great thing about this challenge is the fact that my husband has gotten really excited about us being more aware of our money. When I look at it from his perspective it makes sense. We live a very traditional life. He works long hours in a local plant, while I stay home and mother our children and take care of the home. He views his job as a way to show his love and commitment to us. When we spend carefully it shows that his time and hard work mean something to us and that we cherish his gift of love. So in turn he is more excited to save, and in the long term it means that he can stop working at some point and just enjoy his family with what he worked so hard for.