New to FV - Hello from Missouri!

**CatholicRose** · 01-20-2009, 04:31 PM

Hello! My name is Amy, and I'm a happily married mother of four children: Dakota - 14 yob, Raven - 11 yog, Sage - 4 yob, and Malachi - 6 week old boy. My wonderful husband of 15+ years is Wayne. We homeschool; it's rarely easy, but definitely worth it.

I found Frugal Village while surfing and then bookmarked it 'til I had time to sign up, so I don't recall what site brought me here originally. I'm looking forward to sharing ideas for spending less and simplifying our lives!

I love creative cooking, so I'm always testing new recipes and/or experimenting with old ones. I have LOTS of dessert recipes, especially cookies, in my recipe files--I definitely have a sweet tooth! I also like to sing, write, read, make crafts, and learn new things. Right now, a "new thing" I'm learning is vegetable gardening. My husband and I are looking forward to starting a no-till garden this spring (awful weather, plus my rough pregnancy, kept us from getting much out of our regular tilled garden last year, so we're wanting to work smarter, not harder, this time around). I am reading up on companion planting, seed saving, and food preservation, as well.

I use menu plans to help keep grocery costs down and cut food waste. I don't like too many restrictions, though, so I don't plan daily menus--it's more like, "here is my list of options for this week" and then I cross each menu item off as I use it up. Every other Friday, we get take-out--but ONLY if all the leftovers are gone. It really motivates me to use up what I have instead of making more trips to the store, because I LOVE take-out! lol

Looking forward to chatting with others here!