Ringing in the New Year on A New Budget

So this is our 2nd day of 31 Days of Buying Nothing. We are headed to my Sister In-Laws home for dinner (pizza) and fireworks this evening. I was stressing last night because we have committed to buying nothing but necessities and I love to wow at dinner parties and spoil others with my food, how was I going to pull this off and not feel like a slacker? So after racking my brain and cabinets I decided to make 2 big batches of homemade breadsticks with marinara dipping sauce and garlic butter sauce. Who doesn't love homemade bread and breadsticks are the perfect companion for pizza. My SIL was thrilled and my husband is just over the moon, he is a bread a-holic in the worse way. Thank the Lord for flour, yeast and water and we only had to spend $1.26 on crushed tomatoes for the marinara sauce.

31 Days of Nothing Challenge

These last few days I have been addicted to frugal homemaking blogs. These last few months have been hard on our budget and we are reaping the harvest from that this month. With 2.37 in our bank account since the 23rd we have had to be creative, and felt led to trust the Lord for His provision. So we took extra video games and accessories to our local Game Stop and sold them (after all they were just collecting dust). That got us through last week, now we did have 2 weeks worth of groceries in the house which is BIG blessing. We were excited to see what God was going to do for the remaining 2 weeks. Then hubby's work blessed us with a 10.00 walmart card which we are using today for dish detergent, butter and crushed tomatoes. And we will save the remainder of the gift card.  So anyway while I was scouring these blogs I came across Learning the Frugal Life's 31 Days of Nothing Challenge and hubby and I decided to go for it. It will allow us to give our budget at least 31 days to rest and heal, but hopefully this will become a way of life for us. So will you take the 31 Day of Nothing Challenge with us? You essentially set aside 31 days and commit to buying nothing but necessities and of course pay your monthly bills and mortgage. I am excited to see how much we will have left over after our 31 days.

The Simple Things

This week I have been very overwhelmed. The laundry is threatening a hostile take-over, the kitchen has shrunk several square feet, and the children have decided every thing mommy says can and will be ignored regardless of the consequence. So with that said I have been trying to find "quiet time" with the Lord anywhere I can. And this week I stumbled upon a very surprising "place". At my kitchen sink with my hands in warm soapy water manually washing the dishes. I can clear my head, pray and listen to what My heavenly Father is saying to calm and quiet my spirit and bring orderliness back to our home. Technology is not always a good thing especially to a weary mom of 5....so next time you feel worn down, pull out the Dawn and get to scrubbing.

Homesteading...

I have become fascinated with homesteading. Stocking, cooking from scratch, raising chickens, having a garden no matter what size. The funny thing about this is when I was a child I hated all of this. I wanted to live in the city, with lots of modern things to do, then came the children, I want to provide them with the most wholesome foods and simplest life possible. I want them to learn to find joy in the small things Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with.

So chickens may not be in our near future (we have a pool that takes up the entire backyard) but I did buy tomato, green pea and tendergreen bean seeds today. I figure that we can grow beefsteak tomatoes in pots. And make a bean teepee (the kids would so love that) and the peas I am not sure what to do with them but I will figure some thing out. And then the children can get the satisfaction of seeing their food growing right before them. Definitely a lost art in our day and age. I had the priviledge of being raised around a mother who gardened (1 acre gardens to be exact), canned and froze the bounty she grew. And my Aunt Lillian and Uncle Grady were very self sufficient. They raised chickens, had gardens, hunted, fished as well as canned and preserved foods. They didn't buy anything unless it was needed and I mean needed in the worse way. When Donald and I married and bought our first home her gift to me was a pair of pillowcases (embroidered with silver thread, gorgeous) that had a handwritten tag from probably 50 yrs ago.
So until we are able to buy our dream home in the country we will try to find small ways to enjoy living a natural life in our 3bdrm 2bth ranch in the middle of our subdivision...