Frugal Friday on Saturday

I haven't done a Frugal Friday post in a while. It seems that life is getting in the way of posting!! I would have posted this yesterday, but I spent four hours in the dentist office removing my amalgam fillings from the left side of my mouth to hopefully begin my body on the long road to detoxing from mercury poisoning. But, that is a post for another day! Needless to say, when I came home, I did not even want to look at the computer!!! They drilled down four of my back teeth and put on temporary crowns. But, praise the Lord, that phase is over and I go back in September to complete the mercury removal for the right side of my mouth. Now, on to more pleasant things. With fall approaching rapidly, it is time to start accessing what the children need for clothes. I found these great buys at a local consignment shop here. This is such a cute little two piece outfit. It is a winter outfit, but the dress is short sleeved. It works very well for our mild winters here in North Carolina.

Price for both pieces? $11.00!!

Joy likes wearing sweaters with thinner shirts and blouses, so we found this vintage looking basic black sweater for her.



Cost? $3.50! You can't even get the materials for that price!

And this has to be my favorite find. This is a beautiful, gray, fully lined Rothschild coat for my six year old. These coats begin at over $100 and go to almost $200 retail. It is in mint condition.

Price? $20. I was ready to do the happy dance over this one!
I buy most of my clothes for the children one season ahead so I can get the best clearance prices. But, there are always things that we need. Consignment and thrift stores are the way to go. That keeps me out of the mall...which I don't enjoy going to anymore...and keeps our clothes budget doable. I also save clothes from one child to another and as it stands right now, the boys already have all they need for fall and winter. So, now I will be looking for tights, socks, and undergarments for the winter. Planning ahead saves money and also keeps my stress level down because I don't feel like I have to get all these things right away. This keeps me from impulsive buying. Hope you have a very frugal weekend!

A World Full of Good Books

The other day, I walked into the den to find four of my children all lined up in a row, each with a book on their laps. It was definitely one of those Kodak moments. Being a homeschool family, we just relish our books! We are constantly trying to find ways to get more and trying to be creative in ways we can store them in a home with limited space. Books are something we take very seriously in our home. One of the reasons we try to surround our children with books is because we can control those books that come into our home and therefore, can control what our children read. There are so many authors today that are trying to rewrite history and reshape our understanding of what our founding fathers truly had in mind for this nation. Therefore, I rarely buy history material that is not told from a Christian perspective, or was written much after the 1950's. I also do not want my children reading popular books that just fill their minds with unsuitable material...such as Goosebumps or the Babysitter's Club. I remember reading the equivalent of books such as that when I was a child. What a waste of time! And not only that, but it filled my mind with things that either scared me at night, or had me thinking more about boy/girl relationships than I ever should have. It is amazing what power the written word has on us. It feeds our imagination...and gives us an appetite either for good, or for bad.

So what type of books does one have in a home when trying to cultivate a Christian worldview? We have all types of books. Many of them are overtly Christian. If you are not familiar with Lamplighter books, I highly recommend them. We have not bought a book from them that was not wonderful. We buy most of our school books through the Veritas Press book list. They have some great Christian historical fiction. We do not get all of them, because even their lists do not meet completely our personal convictions of a proper book. We also like to look at the Sonlight Curriculum lists. Since they were founded mainly for Christian missionaries, they have a lot of books about Christian missionaries. We try to get good Christians biographies and autobiographies. We look for appropriate art and music books as well. As far as a catalog that has great standards for reading material both for children and adults, one cannot beat Vision Forum. I find such encouragement in their materials for the whole family.

We load our science shelves with books that have a Creationist viewpoint and we also have field guides on insects, rocks and minerals, butterflies, trees, flowers, etc. We continue to buy books from Apologia science and those recommended by Answers in Genesis.

Even our children's section must meet certain criteria. We do have DK and Usborne books, but we are careful of pictures that may be unsuitable. I will actually go through and color clothes on certain inappropriately drawn characters. I talk with my children about differing worldviews and explain to them the errors based on scripture. Our children's stories are mainly about people and places and we strive to find books where brothers and sisters love and care for each other (The Miller stories are wonderful). We look for books where the father is not painted as some goofball (which is why we do not do the Berestain Bears anymore) but instead is a vital and respected part of the family. If you read many children's books today, the nuclear family is broken, or if the family is in tact, the father is a leaderless figure that relies on others to come up with any sound advice. Many will say that these books are necessary because so many children can relate to them...those without fathers, etc. A few, told from a Christian perspective, may be justified. However, how does a child have an example of what a family is supposed to look like, if not from what they watch and read? Many times, this is the only example many children will see when being raised in a broken home. So, I encourage you...look out for what is going into the hearts and minds of your children. The written word is not neutral. There is always a religious/moral viewpoint in the plot. Will that be a Christian worldview or a humanistic, anti-God one?

Frugal Friday

Don't throw away those old bread pieces! Being a family of seven, we don't often have too much leftover bread. But sometimes, we do have a few pieces here and there, especially the ends that most of my children don't like. To insure that we do not waste them, I have begun making my own bread crumbs. There are a couple of reasons this is good for us. One is obviously the frugality of not wasting food as well as not having to buy bread crumbs when a recipe calls for it. But secondly, I can assure my family that I know that our bread crumbs are made from freshly ground whole wheat bread and I can control the ingredients I put in them to season them.

All you have to do is take a few slices of at least day old bread. If you need to make crumbs and your bread is not old enough, you can put a few slices in the oven and bake them at 400 degrees to harden them up.

If you have a food processor, you can just break the bread up in chunks and put them in there. I don't have a food processor, so I am using my blender attachment for my Electrolux mixer.

Blend or process until they become crumbs. And it's that easy. You can season these if you want. I wait until I need them for a recipe and season then. I took three small pieces of bread and they yielded one and a half cups of bread crumbs.

These are then put in a ziplock bag and stored in the freezer until I need them. You can also store them in the refrigerator if you know you will be using them earlier. So easy and economical! And if there are not enough crumbs for a particular recipe...just keep adding until you have enough. Happy saving!

Frugal Friday

Having a large family means that there is a constant struggle to meet the demands of a healthy diet on a limited budget. Our food budget is one of the biggest ticket items we have every month. So, one way that I am trying to offset the cost is by decreasing budget items in other areas. One of those areas is paper goods. I used to use paper towels, or paper napkins for mealtime. But, the cost with a large family seemed wasteful, so I began collecting cloth napkins instead. I find them on clearance sales, in thrift stores, Goodwill, etc. They are mismatched, but for everyday use, that doesn't matter. If the napkin is not soiled much after a meal, we just fold them up and put it in the napkin basket that I keep near the dining room table. And when they are dirty, they go in a load of towels and are washed up for the next use. Another area that I am saving is with ziplock bags. I use them a lot for storing things such as leftover cheese that has been opened. Now, when I finish with them, I wash them out, shake them dry and hang them on a little rack in my laundry room until all the water is evaporated for use again. Of course, if they tear, I get another one. But, this has saved us as well. It is amazing how many ziplock bags one can go through in a short amount of time. These may not be huge savings alone, but when you begin to add up all the frugal ways to save, they do make quite a difference over time...and really, they do not require that much extra time and effort to do. How about you? What type of frugal tips do you use in your home? I would love to hear about them. Happy saving!

Frugal Friday

"Laundry Day" by Kay Lamb Shannon

One of the things I have been passionate about lately is ways to save our family money. I am trying to make changes little by little that will have a positive effect on our savings. Part of striving to be more like a Proverbs 31 woman to my husband is being a good steward of the money for which he toils day after day. In the process of saving money, I am also trying to find ways to return to a more "simpler" lifestyle...one that isn't always easier, but simpler in terms of being able to do many things for ourselves. One small step to doing this has been to make my own laundry detergent. And it truly is quite economical.

Here is the recipe I use:

2 cups soap flakes (I use Ivory soap because of it is so economical, especially when bought in bulk)

1 cup Borax

1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Powder

Get a cheap cheese grater from Wal-Mart. Grate the Ivory soap. Then add the Borax and the Washing Powder. This is Washing Powder, not Baking Soda. I found the Borax at Wal-Mart, but I bought the Washing Powder from the commissary. I did not find it at Wal-Mart, so locating it might prove difficult. However, if you ever buy anything from Amazon, you could always buy the Washing Powder there and then get your total to $25 and you will not have to pay shipping charges. Mix all in a bucket and use two tablespoons per load. One thing this will not do is create suds. That is okay...it gets my clothes clean and smelling clean. The smell is not as strong as other detergents on the market. You could however help that by adding a few drops of essential oils to your wash, but since they are so expensive, I thought that defeated my goal of saving money. You can also use healthier soaps (those without chemicals) like Castille...or you could get the Fels Naptha soap. However, we use Ivory for washing and it does not effect us negatively, so I chose that for the cost effectiveness. My loads of laundry now cost me a little under 10 cents a load! And that is a real savings when dealing with a family of seven.

One other tip: instead of buying fabric softeners, use a little bit of vinegar. It works to help soften your clothes and it does not come out with a vinegar smell. It also aids in getting your clothes cleaner.

I have a front loader washer and this recipe has worked well for me. So, if you are looking for a more economical way to wash clothes, give it a try and let me know what you think! Happy washing!