My Frugal Life: Starting With Sewing
I made my oldest two children's school clothes one year and found I loved sewing and loved seeing them get so excited when all the outfits were layed out for them to see. They wore them very proudly and told everyone I made them. I was proud and they were proud a great great moment.
My husband and I both knew and wanted as many children as God wanted for us. So we knew we would have to tighten things here and there. That little sewing experience just kept growing and growing and growing over the last 14 years and allowed for me to be home with the children, homeschooling them the entire time.
We made many mistakes over the years, Our biggest I would say was buying a house that was way out of our league, Thankfully we were able to sell it for what we owed and get out of it fairly unscathed in 2002. We rented until last year, when we found a 2400 sq ft house for $5000. It needed a lot of work just to be livable, but we worked on it day and night, I remember painting while the baby slept in the front carrier on my chest, another great memory. We got it livable and fix it up more here and there as we see things. But it is paid for and we all love it.
I used cloth diapers with the last 3 children, and was sorry I did not do it with all the kids, it was actually easy to do. I make my own laundry soap, the kids help and we love the smell of it cooking. We repurpose everything that we possibly can. We shop at thrift stores and mend or tailor the clothes. We use everything until it has no use left. We go to the park and zoo for free here and the younger kids love it. The older kids coupon with me and help do the grocery shopping. We eat 99% of our meals at home, set up the table and all gather around it for homemade food. My 13 year old and I spend our moments together making bread and granola bars and all kinds of great things.
We stockpile, we just made a room out of the end of our upstairs hallway this month, that is our stockpile room, We have about 6 months worth of food and personal items. We started a garden for the first time this year, I was very very skeptical of this. We grew most everything from seeds, then transplanted into the ground, You would have thought that we had won the lottery, as all 8 of us were tending the garden two weeks ago, and started screaming and dancing around cause we had beans on the bean plant lol. Our latest and greatest memory to date!
Good luck to all in frugalness. Michelle, Wife to Mark, Mother to Kriztina Chriztopher, Lyndzie, Jacob, Joshua and Matthew.
Michelle from Independence, Kansas
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