You all are so kind and supportive and your words are so encouraging. And I thank you for that.
I'm afraid I may have left the impression that I'm rolling in money. I'm not. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Alex and I live a very humble life, a very frugal life that I am so, SO grateful for. We sacrifice so very much for the sake of me staying home with our little boy, which is more important to both of us than anything else.
Would you like to know a little about how wonderfully poor we are??
~I drive an old Honda sedan with no air conditioning, torn seat belts and ripped upholstery. And that's our main vehicle.
~Alex drives a dump truck, which is quite old.
~The bulk of our budget goes to purchasing organic foods for ourselves and our dogs.
~We don't have a land line telephone, just a basic cell phone plan.
~We don't have cable television.
~I line-dry our laundry.
~We rarely use our heater, many days we can see our breath in our home.
~I can't remember the last time Alex and I went out together, or the last time we bought clothes for ourselves.
~Aside from food, everything we purchase is second hand.
We absolutely love our poor and frugal life. We have no debt, aside from our mortgage. We save for rainy days, and we love our little, humble life together as a family.
Now if you will, share with me me some ways you save money?
9 comments:
an amazing life
your
humble life
you have your priorities in order
in my humble opinion
i personally would rather spend money on travel and adventures than on "things"
i hear you. we love our poor, frugal, life as well. our debt is relatively little and, unfortunately, our savings is even smaller (what savings?) which can mean living slightly on the edge at times.
we buy much of our food (flour & grains, dried beans, nuts, sweeteners, spices, cooking oils, dried and fresh fruits, sweeteners, etc), basics (laundry and dish soaps, toilet paper, etc.) & animal feed (chickens, dogs, cats) in larger bulk quantities, much of which is ordered monthly with others through a buying group (azure standard out of oregon), some of which comes from costco, and some from local fruit stands. aside from that, we try to buy from locally owned markets. the past two years we've grown a good part of our fresh and storage veggies ourselves.
most of our meals are made and eaten at home made with simple ingredients, or we have potluck dinners with friends.
we, too, drive beaters (my "new" car doesn't have heat yet or a working radio, has a dent in one side, the driver's side door doesn't unlock, and the back hatch doesn't lock. but it runs.
one of my splurges is buying our soap from you, which is fully justified and so worth it, and i'm glad i can contribute directly to your beautiful family's frugal but contented lifestyle!.
oh dear friend, I, personally never ever thought you were rolling on money ! We (my family & I) are not rich, not poor neither, but try to do our best to make the right choices for us.
We don't have a car, don't own one anymore. (we live in town & can rent one when we want to travel further than the limits of the town) A big part of our budget is also for buying organic food. We don't have any garden but we try to grown our own sprouted seeds. And like you, we have made the happy choice that I can stay home & I wouldn't change our life for a trillion dollars. Hubby works partly from home & we walk our sons to/back from school, and we even have lunch at home everyday, before they go back to school in the afternoon. We have a TV but we don't watch the TV, don't have cable neither. Simply watch DVDs we chose to buy & watch. (idem for the boys)
I have no miraculous idea for saving money, unfortunately. In our case, not owning a car anymore was a good choice, but it can't be possible for everyone, I know.
you do your best, and we do our best. That's why we are all so happy. xoxoxox
we live much like you - organic healthy food for a family of eight is by far our number one expense - all else is very humble or nonexistent.
We are working toward growing and raising more of our food though each year.
Warm wishes, Tonya
I think a lot of your readers probably live similarly or try to... for now, I'm a grad student with a humble stipend, and we're hoping once I'm done, and the baby arrives, I will be able to take some time off to be with our little one. I love board games, so that is a nice date night, and we do rarely go out, but I'm pretty pleased that I can eat at dinner for less than five dollars at some of our local restaurants! I only let myself get books from the GoodReads bookswap (so I have a huge wishlist) or the library. Oh, and we don't have cable either--we had it for a few months, but essentially haven't had it for over six years, and I certainly don't miss it. Well, I did kind of get a crush on some of those cooking shows...
*love* your humble little life.
perusing your blog makes me smile....
xo
Just started following your blog and it is a breath of fresh air! You are rich in all the important things. My parents were very thrifty and taught me well. On one income, so my mom could stay home, they managed to put me and my 3 siblings through good schools, provided yummy meals, and still have the same TV they've had for 25 years. We always had old cars and hand me downs but I see now that they had/have their priorities in order! Now I'm on my own, trying to pay off student loans and my little car on a teacher salary but I know what's important. And now that my sister has introduced me to the wonders of organic foods and soaps and such, spending a little more on those is so worthwhile!
Happy Sunday :)
Thank you!! :) My name is Stephanie, 32 years old, two strokes, seizures, anemia and hypercoagulable (LOL!!)
Money and rich? No...my husband, mom and Dad, two brothers, two cats! Love it!!!:D
love to you, friend :)
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