The ol' homestead

Frugal homemaking

After all these years I am finally understanding what it really means to be a homemaker. It is not something one does -but something one lives... from the heart. I love to take care of my family and be the keeper of my home. It is not something I dread but something I feel is an honor. It is not menial work to serve, this is what God would have me to do. What greater joy is there? I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman - I want to live in the Spirit of Titus 2 -I feel it is my calling..... and I want to say YES, Lord, it is my pleasure!

On the idea of being frugal though, I have been thinking in which ways have we changed in the last year or two so that our money might be able to be used for better things and not wasted. I like to make sure our money goes for things worthwhile and not on things that are easily done and made yourself. Here is some things in which I think we save a lot by doing.

1. I stay home. When I say this, I mean I do not meander around. There are things here that need a homemakers attention and by doing this, it saves a lot of money. Every trip from home requires money. For gas, for drinks -possibly snacks or lunch. On the days we do go, we have the for-thought to make sure we pack our lunches as they are quite healthier and by all means cheaper. Remember, you can't be a homemaker if your never home!

2. We cook almost all meals from scratch. I used to buy those pre-packaged boxes and such for convenience -but honestly they are not nutritious and expensive when you can make better yourself.

3. We bought a mill and now make all our bread and any recipe that needs flour. Besides how nutritious it is -it is alot less expensive than storebought and tastes so much better. (think lower doctor bills -no kidding)

4. In this heat, drying clothes was adding to the heatwave in our house -we put in a nice big heavy duty 3 strand clothes line and now I get the added bonus of a few minutes of country air every time I go hang out a load.

5. Speaking of clothes, one thing I have learned to do is make our own laundry soap. It is so easy and cheap but the best thing is it is healthier for you than all that expensive perfumed soaps. And guess what ??? It cleans my clothes better also!

6. I used to sew a lot of the kids clothing, but now they are older, not so much, but I am working on that thought again.(SHH, don't tell my 16 dd) I did however make her the most beautiful formal dress for a dance that was made for her exact figure at the fraction of what a name brand one would have cost.

7. We grow a large vegetable garden and herb garden too. Growing your own food saves a lot of money and it is much healthier for you, especially if you do it organically.

8. We are now canning what is in season -just put up 12 pints of the best apple pie filling. YUM!

9. Here is a thought that some of you with teens have probably figuered out. Older car. With tax money or a small savings, you can purchase an older car for a teen that is just learning to drive. You don't have to worry so much about scratches and dings and no full coverage insurance which NO-ONE can afford on an 18 year old -heck for that matter, that is why my dh drives an old pick up truck!

10. For internet..... one word -ok, maybe two, cheap dial-up. Sure its slow and sure it will drive you nuts, but when the bill hits every single month at $10.95 not $40.00 for that super fast service.... well to us that is a significant amount we would rather spend on the family.

11.Here might be a tuffy for some of you.... no cell phones. The cost is just not justifiable. Don't wanna step on no toes, BUT, one phone is enough. nuff said.....

12. This might be even tuffer for others. No cable. Cable is outrageously high. Now mind you, this is just a utility bill, you are actually never going to own this cable company, but they charge you as if was a payment towards something. How crazy! Some people are paying fifty dollars a month. Go to wal-mart, buy an antenae and have free tv and save loads of money.

13. Some of you do not have a choice in this matter because you live within a city. We do not buy trash service. We burn our own trash and it works really great and saves quite a lot of money.

14.Raise some of your own meat if you can. Chickens are so easy to have and you can use them for meat or eggs or both!

15. Fix things yourself. Something break around your place? Don't be afraid to tear into it -most the time you can get it going again without trashing it. This is the most important thing I have seen from my dh. He can take junk and make it look so good!

I am sure there are going to be things that I have forgot to put down, but these things are the ones that came to mind. Frugal homemakers are just living and learning to make things simpler and better for ourselves so our dh hard earned money is not wasted but better invested instead.

Untitled Comment

09:09, Tuesday, August 29, 2006 .. Posted by Carol

What a great entry. I totally agree and do mostl of the above. We have no cable, no cell phone and although we don't have dial-up internet, we have DSL1 which is 1/2 the price of high speed and yet we have the same speed because we don't download music. We can't grow our own meat in our small town, it's not allowed. However, we eat free meat (deer, fish) and what meat we do eat, we eat little of it. I love how you said homemaking is not something one does, but something one lives.
~carol

Untitled Comment

10:01, Tuesday, August 29, 2006 .. Posted by Emily23

Well written ~ we have dial up course nothing else is avaliable in my area, I live too far out for it yet....lol.

We have 2 lines but that's only because my main phone line got assistance, so its only $9. So for both lines & internet in one bill its about $60. No long distance we use Onesuite.com instead.(if interested let me know, I can give a referral to anyone)

no cell phones because can't afford it. I had a tracfone which worked but couldn't get enough bars at my computer to reactivate them so no using them now.

We have satellite, but it might be one of those things to go soone.