I have made some big changes in my life here in May. My dear hubby (dh) and I have been struggling to over come some debt. He has been Amazing, and I have been pretty good. I was looking at the financial situation on May first, and realized we were all most over the hump.
I have so been wanting to leave my employment but we needed that bit of extra income to work on the debt. I told my husband how bad I just wanted to come home to be a wife, mom, and Grandma again. So on May Day when I crunched those numbers, I realized I COULD come home.
Dh and I are determined to live thrifty like we did in the 80s, as young married couple with all four of our children, born in the same decade.
Dh did know he was lucky to marry a girl (I was a girl when we married) who knew some cooking. My mom worked 3 evenings a week, so from the time I was 11 until I was 19, I fixed dinner for my dad & grandpa 3 nights a week.
When we moved to his home state of Idaho, we were within 20 miles of his parents and most of his brothers, and their families. I missed my family very much, so I would go once or twice during the week to his parents farm. (Yep, potatoes.) My amazing Mom-in-law (MIL) was busy just about every minute of the day, six days a week. Her other 6 sons had married women from the area, and all those daughters-in-law had mom's near by. I didn't know much, but was so eager to learn, and she was more than willing to teach. My mom was far away. On those days during the week at the farm, I learned about canning, some quilting, and most ways to be a homemaker.
Don't get me wrong, my mom had amazing homemaking skills, they just were not as useful in my life. But I do know much about dinner parties, setting up events, & and candle making.
We did not have much money in the 80s, and I learned to make things from scraps, or to just make do with items available in my environment. I can be very determined, and usually will figure something out. I learned to bake mostly from scratch because I couldn't afford to have all those yummy foods on our shelf. At a church luncheon, I found a great recipe for chicken soup. I still make that recipe 30 years later. In that recipe I learned how to make my own noodles. My kids came to expect homemade noodles, and even if the rest of the soup was made from scratch, they would fuss about the store bought noodles.
Part of living thrifty is using what you have at home before going out to buy something. One day I inventoried or freezers. Tossed some nasty stuff and figured out what I had available to use. Hung the inventory sheet on the deep freezer and told my house to mark when they take things. This is on a spreadsheet via Google drive, so while in the grocery, if I am unsure of something, I can look it up on my phone.
So, this is where I am at. I still have a 1 week to go on my job. I am trying to get some organization accomplished at home. We are trying to use up some of the foods on hand, and we are living thrifty. Today I made a batch of granola and started some yogurt. I hope the yogurt works out, (It did). We eat it a lot..
Part of my recent energy and determination comes from a health supplement my dh found for us. Side benefit, I have lost about ten pounds in the last month or so. This has to be the first time I made some major life changes where a diet was not involved. I am excited, and am looking forward to the upcoming months.
Happy Thrifty Day, Pegi
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