It's been a long time, however our family is still living frugally and loving it. It's always fun to see what we do with the income we have.
I was going to update in the "general chat" forum, however I felt it was probably better here. If it's the wrong place, can someone move it.
Much has happened since I was here a few years ago. Our two youngest sons moved into independant living with other young men with disabilities. They are thriving and doing well. Our youngest dd (23) is interning at our church and loving it. She had a year and a half to go. I lost my mom a year and a half ago and dh broke his ankle the day after she passed away. It took approx. 5 months to heal so it was quite a challenge here with him on an airboot. We had 2 new grandchildren and twin great grandchildren.
Just over 2 1/2 years ago I became very unsettled in the small community we were living in. I loved my old Victorian home, however the community was VERY small. I couldn't figure out why I was so unsettled, so antsy, however God had plans that changed our way of living drastically. We began to feel that we'd be moving...a total surprise to us because we had felt when we purchased our home in the country it would be our last home.
We began to feel that we were going to be moving west....to B.C. where my mom lived at the time. We took a much needed vacation and when we arrived at Kamloops, neither of us (3) felt at peace. We just knew it wasn't going to be there. We had a list of what we wanted....close to mountains, rolling hills, great quilting stores, a good university and a great church. Driving back from our vacation, we took a different route and when we arrived in the city where we now live, we just knew it was going to be here....in beautiful Alberta.
We went home, put our home up for sale which sold in a matter of weeks with a tidy profit, sold all our furniture and had a huge yard sale and sold pretty much everything. In fact, when we left on closing day we could put most of our stuff in our van. We bought a older mobile home (needing repairs), paying cash for it, downsizing from 1500 sq. ft to 705 sq. ft and love it. I don't garden anymore, just shop at our local farmer's market for 7months of the year. I still quilt with my quilts continuing to go to charity. We know longer have to travel an hour to get to the city, everything is within 10 mins. of where we live. We walk or take the bus most places which we love. We can go outside on a clear day and see snow capped mountains, can drive 15 minutes and be in the rolling hills. There are 2 great quilting stores 5 minutes from me and 2 others only 20 minutes from us. We are enjoying our retirement, volunteering many hours to local charities and the hospital gift shop.
With our small income, we continue to live frugally, watching those pennnies every day. Dh and I have been delivering the local paper for the past 5 months to supplement our income, with one paper route designated for charity giving only. Seven months ago, we had to take our 10 year old van with 316,000 kms to scrap dealers and purchase a newer car which has given us a bit of debt (which I hate). However our goal is to pay if off as quickly as possible. Life is good!!
I was going to update in the "general chat" forum, however I felt it was probably better here. If it's the wrong place, can someone move it.
Much has happened since I was here a few years ago. Our two youngest sons moved into independant living with other young men with disabilities. They are thriving and doing well. Our youngest dd (23) is interning at our church and loving it. She had a year and a half to go. I lost my mom a year and a half ago and dh broke his ankle the day after she passed away. It took approx. 5 months to heal so it was quite a challenge here with him on an airboot. We had 2 new grandchildren and twin great grandchildren.
Just over 2 1/2 years ago I became very unsettled in the small community we were living in. I loved my old Victorian home, however the community was VERY small. I couldn't figure out why I was so unsettled, so antsy, however God had plans that changed our way of living drastically. We began to feel that we'd be moving...a total surprise to us because we had felt when we purchased our home in the country it would be our last home.
We began to feel that we were going to be moving west....to B.C. where my mom lived at the time. We took a much needed vacation and when we arrived at Kamloops, neither of us (3) felt at peace. We just knew it wasn't going to be there. We had a list of what we wanted....close to mountains, rolling hills, great quilting stores, a good university and a great church. Driving back from our vacation, we took a different route and when we arrived in the city where we now live, we just knew it was going to be here....in beautiful Alberta.
We went home, put our home up for sale which sold in a matter of weeks with a tidy profit, sold all our furniture and had a huge yard sale and sold pretty much everything. In fact, when we left on closing day we could put most of our stuff in our van. We bought a older mobile home (needing repairs), paying cash for it, downsizing from 1500 sq. ft to 705 sq. ft and love it. I don't garden anymore, just shop at our local farmer's market for 7months of the year. I still quilt with my quilts continuing to go to charity. We know longer have to travel an hour to get to the city, everything is within 10 mins. of where we live. We walk or take the bus most places which we love. We can go outside on a clear day and see snow capped mountains, can drive 15 minutes and be in the rolling hills. There are 2 great quilting stores 5 minutes from me and 2 others only 20 minutes from us. We are enjoying our retirement, volunteering many hours to local charities and the hospital gift shop.
With our small income, we continue to live frugally, watching those pennnies every day. Dh and I have been delivering the local paper for the past 5 months to supplement our income, with one paper route designated for charity giving only. Seven months ago, we had to take our 10 year old van with 316,000 kms to scrap dealers and purchase a newer car which has given us a bit of debt (which I hate). However our goal is to pay if off as quickly as possible. Life is good!!