Making plans {frugality & contentment}

So, this is my year of contentment. What started as a simple breath prayer begging God to give me joy in the here and now, contentment in the plenty we do have & peace with who I am in Christ…has bled over into other areas of my life.

I think contentment & simplicity go hand in hand. I recently shared about reading Almost Amish & The Dirty Life and how I long for a more “simple” life. But, what exactly does that look like? Well, for starters, I don’t have a formula for you…there aren’t 3 easy steps to leading a simple life. Bummer, right?

I think God’s path for each of our lives is unique…we all have our burdens, we all have our unique families, we all have to learn these lessons in the context of our own lives. So, in sharing these blog posts on contentment & simplicity, I’m not sharing a formula, I’m sharing from my heart in the places God is leading me…sharing in an effort to be transparent and in an effort to bring some accountability for myself.

When Edie asked us to share posts on our plans for this year {linking up here,} being intentional, making “time” work for us…I thought this would be a great time to outline some of my thoughts & plans for this year…some of which I’ve shared and some of which I just need to “get down on paper.”

I have shared about how I’m terrible at sticking to a budget. I’m not a huge spender, but it’s the $3 candle and $5 clearance shirt that KILL us every month.  Well, I have news in this arena…

JANUARY HAS BEEN A HUGE SUCCESS IN THE BUDGET CATEGORY. Woot. Thank you for letting me share my success and excitement.

Ways we are saving money, living frugally: 

• menu planning ~ January’s meals, February’s meals
• not going into walmart! ha! I know, so silly, but when I don’t go in, I don’t spend the money.  Thankfully, my accountant/frugal husband is happy to go grocery shopping for me because he knows he is saving himself money. 🙂
• shopping thrift stores when we have a need – I love thrift stores, but even in these places I can “nickel and dime us” to death, ya know? I always seem to come home with things we never needed to begin with. (but hey, at least it was only .50 right?!) So, when we needed a few more measuring cups, I went and found them for .50 at the thrift store instead of $5-10 new at the store!
• cooking more ~ ugh. I wish I enjoyed being in the kitchen, but this is a true sacrifice of love for my husband and children. Not that my children appreciate it. ha! But, our budget certainly does! See meal plans for Jan & Feb above.
• Not only am I trying to cook and plan dinners every night, but I’m making our granola, snacks, yogurt – using this method with this maker. The trick to the yogurt is to add dried milk to your recipe!!
• Using Dr. Bronner’s soap for many, many things: body wash, making my own liquid soap, laundry soap, etc. This soap is frugal, fair trade AND no chemicals. Better for us on all accounts. 🙂
• making my own lotion & lip balm with coconut oil l- these are 2 products I love but don’t love spending a lot of money on the good, quality items. These items I’ve been making at home are SO cheap in comparison.
• shopping with Azure Standard for many things we already use – see if there is a local drop-point in your area!! We have one in Knoxville and these are excellent deals on organics and produce! I’m getting ORGANIC apples for less than regular apples at walmart.
• not using anymore paper towels or clorox wipes – this has actually been a challenge for me. We used clorox wipes for EVERYTHING. But, it has been fulfilling to use things from around the house – making rags from old t-shirts, using knitted washcloths, etc. I am using a vinegar/water spray to clean most things. It hasn’t really created extra laundry yet, as I just throw in the used rags when I do towels. I’m hoping I get more used to this as time goes on. We’ve used cloth napkins for quite awhile now, that wasn’t as hard to implement for some reason.
• simple things like taking a big glass of sweet tea in the van with me on our day out of the house instead of going through the drive-thru. Trying to bring snacks and such with us so we aren’t tempted.