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Getting Real

8K views 36 replies 11 participants last post by  AspiringToBeFrugal 
#1 ·
So our life has gotten a little chaotic in the last couple of weeks and frugality has been on my mind in a big, BIG way!

DH resigned from his job because of the toxic work environment--the negativity was spilling over into everything. In the week he's been home, he is like a different person...no stress, no negativity, just optimism I haven't seen in a long time. He's got over half a dozen jobs he's applied for or is in the process of applying for and he is just at peace which is a blessing in itself.

When he came home with the news he was resigning, I started thinking about whether or not I should go back to work. I've loved being a SAHM, but thought maybe it was time. Well lo and behold, a job fell into my lap out of the blue! God definitely provides! AND the best part is that I can work from home for the most part so I can still stay home with my babies! The pay is good, but I'm thinking long-term in that I may be the sole breadwinner for awhile so I need to make it stretch.

I've been totally inspired by Cricketlegs and her journey and I'm taking this season of our lives on as a "Getting Real" challenge. We will survive and thrive! I'm going to make it happen! :cheergrl:

~ I've doubled down on my efforts to stay under-budget on our grocery budget. I spent an hour today wrestling over a grocery list that has 15 items on it (there are multiples of those items on it though to help me stockpile some things during a GREAT sale at our grocery store)!
~ I've been planning our meals religiously over the last several months, but am focused even more on using what we have in the pantry and freezer and seeing what I can make myself rather than buy. The kids' constant snack cravings are proving to be a challenge, but I'm up for it!
~I've also been thinking more about saving on utilities; we've had the AC off and the windows open most days this week until it gets too warm and humid for us to stand it (DS's asthma and allergies work against me on this one!).
~ I've pulled out the Tightwad Gazette, the Miserly Mom, and all the other DIY books I have to keep me inspired and remind me of why I'm doing this.
~ And of course I have you all! While I've only been lurking lately, I am still gleaning so much know-how and inspiration from you!
 
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#2 ·
I am completely on board with you. Right now we're entering a new phase of our financial life as well. I'm going to need to accumulate a large stash of cash to finish off my daughter's college fund. Over the last three years, we've been so focused on paying off our house that we've allowed non-frugal spending to creep in because it didn't deter us from our mortgage payoff goal.

Now it's time for a total budget reset. Over the next several days, I'll be writing up a new budget that should take us through the end of the year.

I've got a very good menu plan based on the food I have on hand. I'll just need produce and dairy over the next two weeks.

Looking back over my recent shopping, I can see some things I never would have bought if I was on my game with careful purchasing:

- Two packs of fair trade organic chocolates. $6.00 (Didn't need at all.)

- Ice cream to celebrate house payoff. $6.00 (Have an alternate celebration dinner already budgeted.)

- Two packs of sandwich flats that I probably won't need until next week. $3.50 (Just too many--in the freezer they go.)

- Over buying my needed sucant--2 pounds would have been enough and I bought 4. $5.00 (Rationalized because the store is 16 miles away.)

That's $20.50 just at a quick glance. With a grocery budget of $100.00 per week, I overspent by almost 21%. Yikes! It's time to get real.

Respectfully,

Sally
 
#5 · (Edited)
Holy moly, it's been a productive and frugal day! I got up early and hit the grocery store where I only went over my weekly food allowance by $3 and change (I will adjust next week's food budget down that much to compensate). I actually hit the sales to stockpile some things so there are some long-term food savings I was figuring in with this trip.

I came home and was putting the groceries away when I got the sudden urge to clean out/take inventory of our pantry. Now I've got everything organized and realize I have a couple of weeks worth of dinners ready to be assembled with just the stuff in there that I forgot I had! I also realized that I have more than enough baking supplies to last me until, and possibly through, the holidays! Yay!

I have also been thinking a lot about how I can be generous even during this time of financial uncertainty. I have a friend who just had a baby so I am going to try to stretch our supper tonight so I can make enough to take her family a meal.

I also read through my "Make It For Less" book and found a few DIY ideas for birthday and Christmas gifts that I'm excited to try!
 
#6 ·
I spent some time in the kitchen today preparing breakfast foods for the week. Each of us gets up and eats at different times so I like to have plenty of "grab and go" things on hand.

I ground wheat to make 10 cups of flour. From it I made:

6 cups of whole wheat muffin mix. I used some of it to make a dozen blueberry muffins. The rest of the mix in in the freezer.

6 cups if whole wheat "bisquik" type mix. From that my husband made a double batch of waffles for the freezer. He made 9 8 inch round waffles.

I also made one 8 inch pan of oatmeal strawberry bars.

Lastly, I mixed up a batch of pie crust to roll out later this week when I make a spinach, mushroom and Swiss quiche. The house was just too humid to successfully roll out pastry today.

I would like to have made a batch of granola but I didn't have all the ingredients in hand. Making dinner seemed more of a priority anyway.

Respectfully,

Sally
 
#7 ·
The frugal journey continues! We haven't spent any money today which is a good thing. I'm going for at least two no-spend days this week so I'm 1 for 2!

DH found three more job listings he's going to apply for this week. I've also spent some time on a money-saving Facebook page as I was online throughout the day. SO many good tips between that page and FV!

Tonight we're going to a baseball game and then home to finish up some work and some laundry. A few more bills to pay tomorrow and I have to get the rest of this week's menu figured out. Gotta get my frugal game face on so I can tackle the rest of the week with some intensity!
 
#8 ·
I WON! A couple of weeks ago a friend was having a Norwex party. (Norwex products help you eliminate the use of tons of chemicals and other yucky stuff to clean and instead you just use the Norwex cloths and water.) She was doing a "mystery hostess" so anyone who made a purchase would be entered for the chance to be drawn as the Mystery Hostess. Well I WON! I ended up winning over $800 of Norwex products and it was all delivered to my house today! What a wonderful start to the week!
 
#9 ·
After a busy weekend with family, yesterday I got back to my frugal duties.

- I froze 2 1/2 pints of chicken stock that I made from the bones from Friday's dinner chickens.

- I chopped up the remaining meat from those same chickens and made chicken salad for Monday night's dinner and Tuesdays lunch boxes.

- I walked to Aldi to buy lettuce so I could make chicken salad wraps for today's lunch boxes.

- I also wiped out the fridge and tossed a few things that really needed to go. This helped cement my menu plan for the next three days.

I'm considering trying a menu plan posted by a blogger that assembles 20 meals using ingredients from Aldi and costs $150.00.

Have a frugal day, everyone!

Respectfully,

Sally
 
#10 ·
I'm considering trying a menu plan posted by a blogger that assembles 20 meals using ingredients from Aldi and costs $150.00.

Have a frugal day, everyone!
Can you put a link to that blog here or start a new thread under this topic with that info? I bet a lot of people would like to check that out!
 
#11 ·
#13 ·
Today I busy and made laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, and candles. Felt good about that since my goal was to do groceries for $50 this week. Then I went to the grocery store, with a list but with no menu plan. I stayed within my budget, but if we didn't already have several critical items (a flat of eggs, some venison and shrimp in the freezer, a garden producing like crazy) I never would have made it. I've got to get back to making menus before I go to the grocery store.
 
#14 ·
Today I busy and made laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, and candles. Felt good about that since my goal was to do groceries for $50 this week.
Please share how you make dishwasher tabs. I've made powdered dishwasher detergent before and it was a epic fail. But it's two years since then and time to try again.

Respectfully,

Sally
 
#15 ·
Here is the recipe I use:

1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Epsom Salt
3/4 Cup Lemon Juice

Yesterday I made half a batch because I was low on Epsom Salts, but it filled one ice tray. They have been drying overnight and are still not quite dry enough to pop out of the trays. I always try to make these a few days before I'm actually going to need them.

There may be an additional post with a link for this recipe. I think a moderator had to approve that one?
 
#16 ·
Do you just store these in a baggy? And do you just use one tablet per load of dishes? Do you have to use any sort of rinse aid?
 
#17 ·
Browned four pounds of beef tonight and stuck three 1-pound bags in the freezer for future use on a busy night when supper needs to be pulled together quickly. I just added onion powder and dried minced garlic to the whole batch so it will be versatile enough to be used on pizza, for tacos, in spaghetti sauce, as sloppy joes, etc.

I also spent an hour at the library stocking up on books and movies for the holiday weekend.

A simple, fairly frugal day!
 
#18 ·
This morning I made a bunch of odds and ends in effort to offset any desire to spend our eating out budgets over the holiday weekend. I'm holding those funds out for a driving trip 8 days from now when we will need to get food on the road.

My goal was to make some salads and snacks:

- Cole slaw

- Carrot Raisin salad

- Potato Salad

- Asian Style Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

- Deviled Eggs

I also made some breakfasts:

- Blueberry Muffins

- Banana Muffins

- Amish Baked Oatmeal (to be baked tomorrow morning)

After a rest break, I would like to make brownies (I'll have to walk to Aldi for chocolate chips), granola and broccoli cranberry salad. I've also got garbanzo beans soaking to be cooked in the crockpot over night for hummus and falafel.

Whew!

For the moment I'm going to forget all about food and rest up so I can enjoy my time in my kitchen and the food I assemble.

Respectfully,

Sally
 
#19 ·
Aspiring to be Frugal, I fill up the sections of a plastic ice tray and then leave them sitting out until they're nice and dry. Then I just store them in a plastic box under my sink. I use one tab per load. I typically soak the dishes with sticky stuff on them when I'm using these tabs (uses less water than rinsing), because they aren't as good as the expensive store-bought stuff. I've never had to use a rinse aid, though. Really, these tabs work quite well unless you've got sticky dishes.
 
#20 ·
We have a good size pantry and freezer reserve so we enacted a no spending month for July. The only exception to that is $50 allowance each that we can do whatever we want with, fuel money for my car and $50 for fun with the kids. For instance when we are out at a park and I want to get them an ice cream or something like that. Everything else other than bills we are just leaving in our checking and August 1st I will let my husband know how much we have accumulated. It should be a good amount since we are not stepping foot in any stores or doing any shopping. When fresh veg is gone by middle July we move to frozen only. I do have enough garlic and onions for the month. I think we will be surprised!
 
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#21 ·
I am writing a short book about being frugal and am going to self publish it. However on frugal forums and websites I am offering it for free in chunks because I'm not really in it for the money, I just want to help people. However if I can get a few dollars for a copy, that's nice too.

  Spoiler: Here is what I wrote about budgeting with food (rough copy) 
"Depending on your diet needs and where you live food can be one of the largest costs to you, but there are dozens of ways to cut the cost of food up to 80%. I live in Washington state which has one of the highest costs of living in the United States and yet I still only spend $100 a month per person every month on food. The main things that have made this possible are 1. I cook from scratch 2. I buy from the most inexpensive grocery store in my town 3. I buy bulk food somewhere inexpensive 4. I rarely eat out 5. I use coupons and 6. I only buy something when it is on sale. This sounds like a lot but I have a lot of easy tricks to make this as simple and the least time consuming as possible.
Diet changes are also something that will help with your food expenses. I am as I call myself a, "mostly vegan" at home I eat about 99% vegan but if I'm out to eat or on the run I stick to vegetarian because it can be extremely slim pickings being vegan outside of the home. This has helped save me a lot of money, meat is constantly on the rise in cost and how dangerous it is to consume because of how we handle it in the United States. Sticking to wholesome and home made foods and not eating prepackaged and pre-made food and junk food will cut your food cost by 1/2 alone.
Using coupons can become a huge advantage for your cost of not only food but toiletries and other household items. I used to buy 6 sunday newspapers every week and cut out every coupon but I have found a more inexpensive and easier way than that. There are websites out there, if you look up "coupon clipper" on a search engine you will find websites where people gather up coupons and clip them out for you. You purchase the service of clipping each coupon between the price of $0.08-$0.25 on average. Instead of buying a newspaper at $1-$2 a piece you spend $0.08-$0.25 per coupon. Lets say that this Sunday's newspaper only has 2 coupons in it that you know you are going to use, to acquire my recommended 20 copies of a coupon when they come out you would have to spend $20-$40 on newspapers to get them, if you bought the individual coupons from a coupon clipping website you would only have to pay $3.20-$10 instead. Not only that, you don't have to spend all that time clipping them out yourself! Even if there were up to 12 coupons you know you would use, you would still be paying less than buying the newspapers yourself.
Most of the time the coupons available in your local Sunday newspaper every week aren't going to be the ones you want every time. Most of the time in Sunday newspapers there are only 2-4 coupons in that newspaper that I want or need. Let's face it, at least 80% of coupons are for junk food and other unhealthy things that you simply don't need to buy a lot of. I do recommend buying at least one newspaper a week so that if you do want to buy some junk food, at least you can buy it cheaper, I mean, we all want a candy bar and some chips sometimes right?
So why do I recommend buying 20 copies of each coupon? I recommend 20 at least because a good habit to form is to buy things in the largest bulk you feel necessary when they go on sale during the time those coupons are useful. Typically a coupon for a particular product or particular type of product (example: butter) comes out in a Sunday newspaper every 6 months at least, some, once a year. So acquire as many copies of a coupon to purchase the amount you think you'll use of that item in the next 6-12 months. For example lets say you eat an average of 1 can of green beans per week, then buy 26 cans of green beans at least when they go on sale with a coupon. Even if you over buy, since you are buying things on sale with a coupon whatever is left you still spent less than you would have if you had bought it all at full price. If I over buy I try to predict what I won't use a few months before it expires so I can donate it at a food bank. Lets say that those green beans are usually $1 a can but with a coupon and sale you spend $0.25 on each can. Lets say you only eat 1/2 of them before they expire, you still saved money in the long run.
Lets say it's November 15th and a set of 20 copies of a coupon you own expires on December 31st. You want to hold onto those coupons for as long as possible until the item goes on sale between November 15th and December 31st. For example lets say these coupons are for cereal and it's $1 off of two boxes. Lets say the lowest everyday price you can find them at "Super Grocery" is $2.00 a box. But lets say "Mary's Market" has them on sale on December 22nd for $1.50 a box, "go for the kill" as I would say. So not only did you save $0.50 a box on each box due to the sale, you can stack the coupon on top of it making the boxes of cereal $1 each. Sometimes that item won't go on sale during the lifetime of that coupon so you will want to wait till the last minute until you use them, you never know if a random sale might strike. Also, if a coupon expires on December 31st the last day you can use it is on that day, December 31st. If a sale doesn't match up during the lifetime of a coupon then go to your local grocery store with the lowest everyday price and buy from there, so at least you are getting the cheapest price in town and saving with the coupons.
I can understand how this is an odd way to shop but it has saved me nearly $4,000 in the past two years on food and other things. It takes some time to adjust to this way of grocery shopping but it becomes normal very quickly with a little effort and diligence. The way you know what is on sale at your local grocery stores is by getting a Sunday newspaper and checking the ads or check the ads online for free. I personally like to have all the ads at once, it just makes it easier, it's worth the $1 a week. Also, at first it is more expensive to shop this way but once you get what couponers call a "stockpile" going you won't have to go grocery shopping as often, you'll simply shop at your own home with 20 of everything. You can also eat whatever you like whenever. A word of caution, start to become familiar with the lifetime of a food so you don't buy too many things that will expire a month from now.
Lets not forget that there are also online printable coupons and even phone apps that will rebate you money on specific items you buy. There are also phone apps that link your debit or credit card to a store or your membership card and give you a rebate on your purchases for using that debit, credit, or membership card. You can find all sorts of coupons to print online with a good search here and there. Just don't forget to read the rules on these websites and on these coupons, which brings me to coupon rules.
So now onto some words of advice on how to use coupons. Now you know how to acquire them and when to use them but what about the rules of coupons? Yes, there are some rules, and they are important to follow because if you don't some can lead to problems as serious as the law. Don't let this scare you, it is seldom that someone uses coupons so incorrectly that they get into trouble with the law, typically it is someone who has xeroxed a coupon and used them which is highly illegal. The two general rules of coupons are: 1. read the terms on the coupon, some coupons limit using 4 copies of a coupon per shopping trip or other similar restrictions. 2. learn the coupon policies at the grocery stores you are shopping at, you can ask a manager or find them online on their websites. Some coupon terms and their meanings are:
-1 per person (this means you can use one coupon per person during that shopping trip and that day, one that day, one per person)
-1 per purchase (a "purchase" is one item, if you buy 20 boxes of cereal you are making 20 purchases and can use 20 coupons unless the coupons are something like $1 off of two and then you can use 10)
-1 per transaction (a transaction is when you have bought several purchases and have finished paying and you have gotten your receipt, the upside is you can do as many transactions as you want, it's a pain, but you don't have to wait another day, you're just gonna have to slide your debit card 20 different times)
-Limit 4 like coupons in same shopping trip or same transaction (that means either in that day or that transaction you can only use 4 of the same coupon)
-Limit one coupon per purchase (this means lets say you have one type of coupon that is $1 off one box of cereal and then you have a $0.40 off one box of cereal coupon too. Limit one coupon per purchase means you can't stack or use two coupons on one purchase, so chose which one you want to use.)

Some advice when using several coupons in a shopping trip, organize them, organize your food along side with them, be polite to your cashier, let them know you appreciate the extra effort and if they were really nice, if you have the time, write an email to let the store know how good of an employee they were. Sometimes the couponing process can take some time so often I let the person about to get in line behind me know that it will take a while and that they might want to get into another line. Often I will make a list of how many of each things I am buying so the cashier can count them as they are ringing them up so that when I give them my coupons at the end they can recheck that list to make sure I have bought as many of that item as I have coupons so they don't have to recount everything we have rung up. Often the cashiers appreciate all these steps and have just as much fun as I do watching my grocery bill go down by 50-80% at the end. I have gotten a lot of smiles and high fives.
Keep in mind however that just because you have a coupon and a sale for something, doesn't mean you are always getting the best price. Sometimes it is a wiser decision to buy an off brand product instead. Lets say your favorite pasta usually sells one pound for $2, it goes on sale for $1.50 and you have a $0.25 off coupon. However an off brand sells one pound for $1, that is $0.25 cheaper than the sale with the coupon. There are some things I wouldn't sacrifice taste and quality for (off brand grated parmesan cheese is one of them), so sometimes spending the bit extra for a brand name is best. However, off brand things or store brand things tend to be the same in taste and quality, and at least half of the time are cheaper than name brand even when a sale and coupon are stacked. A prime example of something I buy at my local dollar store instead of a grocery store is snack pretzels. They are flour and salt, cheap ingredients and are probably of the exact same quality regardless of where and who you buy them from. Only one dollar for the same size bag that goes for $2.50 at all the grocery stores in my town.
Now this is the most time consuming step but one of the most important. Go to the most inexpensive place you can buy food in your area, grab a notebook and go through all the isles (including produce, meat, cleaning supplies, make-up, toiletries, etc) and write down everything you use or think you might use some day (this includes this store's store brand of everything you buy, write down those prices too). This process will take you about 5 hours so make it your main event for the day. The reason for this is so that when you look at weekly ads for other stores you can see if it truly is a better deal or not. Don't forget to write the size of the product either. If there are several sizes write them all. So lets say everyday and any day you can buy your favorite brand of peanut butter 16 oz for $3 but this week you see at another store it's on sale for $2.50 you know it is now the best deal in town, and look at that you have a coupon for that peanut butter, so buy 20 or however many you think you'll use in 6 months. You'll also want to do this once a year due to inflation. The second time around won't take as long because many things will remain the same price. Make a spread sheet of all this information and store it in your phone or as a print out in you purse so when you go shopping you can change the prices if they ever change and so in case you want to impulse buy it will remind you, "hey, you can get this for $1 cheaper elsewhere ya know".
When it comes to whole foods (unprocessed "real" foods) there are always several options for where and how much you will spend on them. Spices in particular are insanely over priced. Many spices I find at my local dollar store, they are usually 10 times cheaper there. For the more expensive spices like saffron or lavender there are websites that sell them in bulk at an extreme discount, many you can get a quarter pound (4 ounces) of for $2-$5, where in grocery stores you get an ounce for $10. Or you can go to an ethnic grocery store, Asian and Hispanic grocery stores have really inexpensive spices. Don't buy the stuff you see in glass bottles at your local grocery store. For fruits, vegetables, and grains the same applies. There are grocery stores that sell in bulk things like flour, rice, pasta, nuts, etc for much less than the prepackaged brand name stuff. Fruits and vegetables are usually much more inexpensive at ethnic grocery stores too. My favorite place to get fruits and vegetables is at a Chinese grocery store, it is always fresh, super inexpensive and there is exotic product so I get to try something new too!
Also, as I mentioned above, don't forget about your local dollar store. There are plenty of high quality items there. I would not recommend buying all kinds of food there, but you can find name brand things there for cheaper than elsewhere. Just be wise when buying things there and ask what kind of quality would you get out of a particular food item at a dollar store. Many times the same quality as a grocery store if in a grocery store the price isn't far from $1 already."
 
#22 ·
Congratulations for your husband! I've held one man-eater job after another. I got sexually harassed out on one job so badly, I was denied unemployment and thrown out after coworker ruined office property and demanded I date him or it would happen again...My $50-150 a month savings since I started working at 16 saved me from having to take a desperation job and start again with the man-eaters. I also got chance to retrain for another field and work from home now as self employed after a few classes since the man-eater businesses now are hiring office help for life/death jobs at such low pay, it doesn't pay to even deal with the possibility of getting sued due to the bad management....

You are blessed! When husband finds another good situation, rebuild the savings and move on.

I'm trying to get away from Uncle Sam SSDI after abusive relationship affected my health and mental care was so bad, it damaged my work performance and I was disciplined at work and terminated without assistance from UI. I've been on SSDI for long time and in-person work situations doing customer service/office are getting too hard for me any longer with the crop of millennial kids to deal with. Too many sloppy, slackers kids with ENABLER parents who take care of them no-matter-what making man-eating employers dangerous...I'm gone! ...... I tell myself self employment starts with one contract at a time until I get enough clientele built up to purchase a place in smaller community with good internet, possibility to live sustainably, make new friends and forget my long struggle. With enough contracts comes enough income and eventually freedom from Uncle Sam...
 
#23 ·
Whew! It's been a crazy week and I can't believe it's finally Friday! We've done well on the frugal living this week. I've been working every day so if I keep up this pace I should have a nice paycheck at the end of the month. That will help a lot.

We've been to the library and have been diligent about turning things in on time so as to not accrue late fees. We've also avoided meals out this week, and just when we were about to decide on eating out tonight, I remembered I had bags of browned ground meat in the freezer and a can of enchilada sauce in the cabinet so *voila* we made a homemade meal in half the time it would've taken us to order takeout and at over half the cost!

We got several freebies this week too. My son got several free ice cream coupons from his baseball coach, we got some free herbs from a friend, and we got some tokens for free custard as well.
 
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#24 ·
LOTS of good frugal things happening around here lately! This is helping us in a big, BIG way to keep the costs down while DH is looking for a job. Oh, and I started my job last week so those hours are going to help as well.

Our son's school requires uniforms so the annual uniform sale was this week. Also, tons of people are selling their used uniforms this time of year. I ended up getting seven uniform shirts for my son for a total of $10 thanks to a friend who was selling some. I also got a free pair of uniform pants from a friend!

Additionally, we:
~ got some free herbs from a friend
~ made $11 from selling things at an impromptu garage sale and selling some things online via a local Facebook group
~ Received free registration for our family to attend a family conference in a couple of weeks
~ got an offer from a friend to sell some things for her via the FB group I mentioned above and we can keep all the money!
~ were treated to lunch by my FIL on Saturday!
~ are experiencing an unseasonably cool wave so we've been able to shut off the AC and open all the windows to keep things cool!
~ received a free bottle of very nice lotion for my husband from a friend who didn't like the scent.

We've got a way to go yet this week. I am trying to adjust grocery costs, use up things from our pantry and freezer, and make some things from scratch. I'm going to be making some bread, banana bread, bierocks and breakfast pockets, etc. tomorrow to take advantage of the cooler weather and the opportunity to get some meals prepped ahead of time.

It's been a truly blessed two weeks! We're trying to keep some costs down but day by day we are getting closer to meeting our goals. I hope YOU are having a wonderful week!
 
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#25 ·
I'd like to know what money savings FB page you guys are checking out.....

You can PM me if you don't want to post it here...

Thx!! :D
 
#28 ·
Oh my goodness...I can't believe it's been over three months since I last posted here. I got so busy with my job and life took over so I haven't been on FV much.

To updated: My job has been SUCH a blessing! It's kept me busy, helped me learn new things, and given me a new perspective on a lot of things. In addition to that, it's helped bring my family some much-needed money in a time of trial so that has been fantastic!

During these past six months, we have had one blessing after another and we've had to learn some humbling lessons. We have had anonymous "friends" send us gift certificates to the grocery store, a moms group I belong to from church collected money for us a couple of times and brought us huge quantities of groceries a couple of times--including 20 lbs. of beef in various cuts!, and family members provide us generous gifts at just the right time. We have had to forego annual excursions to the pumpkin patch, say "no" to meals out with friends, say "some other time" or "other than money, what can I do to help" in other situations. We've eaten so many beans, I can't begin to count the pounds, but I've also become very good at making one bag of beans last for four or five meals! We have sold things, tried to be as generous as possible, and tried to be creative in the ways we moved money around from account to account to cover everything. The last six months have been a trial and a lesson in resourcefulness, but we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

DH was offered a job last Wednesday! He submitted his resume and cover letter the previous Thursday, got a call about an interview on Monday, went to the interview on Tuesday, and was hired Wednesday! He starts the Monday after New Years! This came about after submitting 25-30 applications over the last 5.5 months! None of those even offered an interview! And now this! We are really excited about what's to come.

In addition to this, I've been offered two additional part-time jobs for the spring semester (one will last through the end of June) and my direct sales job has also been going fairly strong this summer and fall!

Overall we are just extremely grateful for the many lessons we've learned from this experience and the many opportunities we've been given through all the trials. I am going to renew my commitment to FV and being more active here. This community holds me accountable and I know will celebrate the successes with me and my family!
 
#29 ·
Finally the after-Christmas craziness has started to settle down. Our homemade gifts--the kids painted ornaments (purchased on sale at Hobby Lobby), and we made homemade vanilla sugar--were big hits. I've got three more gifts to make and then I'll be done for the season.

I've really started setting down some ambitious goals for 2015 now that DH will be starting his job. So much to do, so much to save for! I'm trying to be as creative as possible so good luck to me!
 
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