Frugal Friday

There are so many things that I have learned in the past two years, during our quest to get out of debt, about being frugal. Menu planning, couponing, baking from scratch, making my own detergents and cleaning products, gardening, canning, freezing, budgeting, snowballing. Some of these things I was already doing and some things were completely new to me. There are so many ways to save a few bucks, and they all add up to a whole bunch of bucks over time. You know what they all have in common though?

Hard work.

Clipping and organizing coupons takes time and work. Gardening takes work (which this year my Father in Law did most of, bless him), canning takes work, hanging clothes on the line to save a little electricity takes a small extra effort. Not everything is "easy", but it's so rewarding. My favorite books to read when I was growing up were books like Little House on the Prarie, and anything from back in that time period. I learned something from them. I learned that the essence of their survival was the willingness to work and that each person in the family contributed to the household for it to operate successfully. I am thankful for every modern convenience that we have, but I also don't want to sacrifice what is best for my family so I can take it a little easier, and I don't want to raise children with a lazy mindset. What's best for my family's finances is to be debt free and stay that way, so if that takes some extra work on my part, I'm willing to put that in.

My frugal tips for today:

1. Be ready to put forth the time and effort that it will take to make changes in how you live.

2. Schedule and plan. If you read my last post you know that I believe nothing is more important than your family and relationships. Your family doesn't have to be sacrificed in order to be frugal. It's just finding the balance.

3. Start with one thing. When we first started this journey, I jumped in with both feet.. and burned out quickly. Make a list of some things you can change and begin with one thing, master that, then add something else. It takes time to learn how to do some of these things and it will help you fit things into your schedule when you're adding only one thing at a time.

4. Get everyone involved. Children love to help and they can learn amazing lessons right now. I am excited to raise children that have wisdom about finances and the heart to be good stewards of the things that God has given to us. Also to have the "know how" to do many things on their own.

Being Frugal: It's all in a days work.

For more amazing frugal tips visit Life as Mom.

Chloe's Birthday Tea

For probably 6 months, Chloe has been asking to have a tea party for her 5th birthday, "no boys allowed, except Daddy and Judah." Since I was due to have Judah on Chloe's birthday, I wasn't sure when to schedule this party since I had no guarantees of when labor would be. :) We were finally able to schedule the party a month after her birthday, and the waiting was half the fun for her! She was so excited to plan and prepare for her party. For the first time I saw her as the list maker (wonder where she got that), organizer, planner type. She planned the color scheme, picked the cake and organized the activities, she was quite the little party girl.

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My aunt loaned us all of her collectible teapots for the little 5 year old girls to all have their own. Quite the brave soul isn't she? :) There were no mishaps and I shall be returning the teapots in fine shape thankfully. I will say though that having all the teapots made the party what it was! The girls loved having their choice of "teas" and pouring their own drink. They all had the sweetest lady manners and one little girl said, "I feel like a woman". Too funny!

The Teapot Cake. (This cake came on one of those recipe cards that come in the mail when they're trying to sell their cookbooks... Well I didn't buy, but the idea for this cake came in handy). That would be my frugal tip for today- make your own birthday cakes!

All of the girls seemed to have fun, and I know Chloe loved her party! So thanks everyone! A special thanks goes out to my Mom who did so much to help me that day, I couldn't have done it without you. And to Aunt Tressa, who loves parties so much and would do anything to make a party a good one, even let little girls use your pretty teapots. Ya'll are awesome!

This post is linked to Frugal Friday over at Life as Mom. Stop in there for more frugal tips!