July 18, 2008
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I was telling a friend yesterday that I am so thankful for all the ‘lean years’ where the Lord taught me how to stretch my husband’s budget. We are smack dab in one of those times where every bit of knowledge I’ve learned over the past years is being put to work. We’ve added another 5 loved ones to our home but our income has remained the same. God is providing wonderfully!
So, I’m pulling up all the things the Lord has taught me since I was a young wife.
I’m ‘doing instead of buying’ as much as possible. I’m making do. I’m doing without.
I bought some more clothesline and both of our families are hanging our clothes on the line and then fluffing them in the dryer for 5 minutes.
I’ve set up Friday as my ‘car washing day’. I’m an early riser so I’ll head out to wash the car as soon as the sun comes up. This saves me $25.00 a month.
I’m cooking as much as possible from scratch. I’m thankful for all the recipes I’ve collected over the years. I’m also thankful for Recipezaar. They are a wonderful resource for new recipes. I love their rating system. This week I made homemade tortillas (recipe from Laine’s Letters) to stretch our chicken fajita meal. I used a piece of round steak (my son pounded it to make it tender) that cost less than $4.00. I’m making my husband’s favorite birthday cake today (German Chocolate) instead of buying the frosting and cake mix. I have large plastic bins I purchased from Smart & Final years ago where I keep my flour and sugar and powdered sugar stocked. I don’t do much baking these days for health reasons but I still like to keep them mostly filled so I can whip up a dessert when needed. I’ll also be making some homemade spaghetti sauce today along with some homemade buttermilk dressing since I have leftover buttermilk from the cake.
Keeping the air conditioner turned off is not an option at this point. My daughter in love is expecting within 6 weeks and my husband needs a good nights sleep. So, we keep it at 80 and drop it to 78 at night. It keeps my bill higher than I’d like but oh well! I open up the doors and windows early in the morning to let the cool air in and close everything up, along with the shades, before it starts getting warm.
I just made up another batch of laundry detergent. I save a lot in this area. I found I can’t use it on my towels, though. For some reason it makes them smell metal-y. I think it’s because of our well water which has a high lead content. So, I use laundry detergent for our towels but homemade detergent for everything else. I added a scented oil to it this time.
I’m trying to keep an eye on waste, too. I had a couple of pork chops that didn’t get eaten. I should have frozen them to fill in on another meal. I’m going to be quick to freeze leftovers from now on. Also, I’ve noticed our youngest granddaughter is wasting a lot of food so we need to cut back on her portions.
Be sure to check out Biblical Womanhood for more money saving ideas.
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We seem to have made some progress yesterday concerning clearing our title. I’m hoping to receive a good report today. God seems to be moving and we are so grateful. Our appraisal came back good! Thank you for praying. Please don’t stop! We have a few hurdles left.
Comments (10)
don’t you just love it when our situations allow us to see God’s hand in our life?
Yes, i find it amazing that the Lord uses lessons learned in the ‘lean years’ to help us out in later times. i liked your money saving ideas ~ several of them i am already using. i have been looking into making my own laundry detergent, can you share your recipe?
You know, I think it is often just a matter of LOOKING at how we do things, very consciously, to realize that we are not being frugal. Failing to be thrifty becomes habit and increases over time. It’s a good thing, I think, when something happens to make us take a closer look and realize that, even if we CAN afford to spend more, we should not…and it just isn’t responsible. Kind of like Warren Buffet saying, ” I don’t THINK I’ll ever run out of money, but I’m not sure of that.” He said that.
Lead in your well, that doesn’t sound good. We have really HARD water, it clogs up the coffee maker. Dawn
I so enjoyed reading this! You are doing a wonderful job saving money.
I’d love to know your buttermilk dressing recipe! I have some leftover buttermilk from a cake to use too!
@homekeepingheart - Here are the two recipes I use depending on what I have on hand. Both are very good. I don’t care for the bottled dressings at all since I started making homemade. Let me know how you like them.
Ranch Dressing by Crystal Miller
1 cup mayo
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. milk or buttermilk
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. (Slightly heaping) minced garlic
2 tsp. parsley
dash dill weed
1/2 t. salt
1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
dash of pepper
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Allow to sit in fridge for a little while to thicken.
Katie’s Ranch Dressing/Dip
2 c. buttermilk
1 1/2 c. mayo (can split this using half sour cream and half mayo)
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. dried parsley
*I add about a tsp. of dill weed.
Mix and refrigerate.
@georgene -
thank you! I look forward to trying these out. I admit that I’ve never made a homemade ranch dressing that I liked, so we shall see!
Is fresh parsley a must in that first recipe?
@homekeepingheart - Did I write ‘fresh’ parsley. Oops! I use dried. I hope you like the recipes. Everyone’s tastes are different.
Do you share your laundry detergent recipe?
@Coconut_hill - Hello and welcome! I use Crystal’s recipe. You can find it located at:
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm