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My Frugal Life - Frugal Living on Five Acres

During a stressful time in our lives, my DH and I did not have the money to pay our rent, so we had to search for a more frugal life for the two of us, our daughter and three children who were at the time living with us, plus our son and his two children who also stayed part-time with us. Three bedrooms were not enough to accommodate all of our family. A year before, 1996, we had bought 5 acres of land on a land contract (when we paid for it, we got the deed). My mother died in 1997, who I cared for until her death. My sister and I split what she had in checking and savings, as she was debt-free.

My DH and myself sat down and came up with a plan to cut out our monthly rent and water bill. We traveled to IL to a mobile home sales that had older homes at the back of the lot. Some were not livable, but some were, so we bought 4, a little over $1,000.00 and paid to have them moved to our land. My daughter got a three bedroom, my son got a two bedroom and we got a two bedroom. The forth one we sold and almost paid for the fee to move them from IL. We had two septic tanks put in and got our water from a spring that runs year round. During this time DH had to have a kidney removed due to cancer, but we tightened our belts and prayed and God saw us through this time also.

Our daughter got back on her feet and bought herself a new mobile home in about 3 years. We took her three bedroom mobile home and lined up the back doors and encased the doors with facings. We now have a five bedroom mobile home. We took the end bedroom and the living room from DD's old home and made a large 12x20 bedroom and large closet. We have not paid any rent or mortgage since 1998. We now have our land paid off.

Another thing we did was to sell our cars. DH lives 1/2 mile from his work now. Due to a back injury, I am not comfortable in a car, but a van I can ride without so much pain. DH bought an older van. Yes, paint was peeling, rust and all, but it was dependable transportation. After about 4 years, I got my SSD started and we bought a van that was wrecked, 1999 model and DH got parts and fixed it, so we have no car payments! Yes, it hurt some in the beginning to move outside the city limits, do without garbage pickup, but the county dumpsters are just about a mile from us. Since I was home, I cooked from scratch most of the time when I was able. DD's 3 children get off the bus at our home and I keep my DS's two little one's when he is on duty at the fire department. DS and family are looking to move a mobile home on the end of our property, which we will deed him an acre, so he has no down payment.

I don't think many people would enjoy our way of life, but to us it is freedom. We have all the room we need and 2 baths, a nice van, but these were hard work to get and took time.

I also use a fabric softener sheet dipped in liquid fabric softener for many loads of clothes. DH is the community service director at our church and we get almost all our clothing free there, as well as give to others that need clothing. I have a large garbage bag full of stuffed toys ready to give to the police department and fire department to give to children that are involved in fires and accidents.

You can learn to live without some things and be happier and have more time to do the important things in life, like spend time with family and friends, study and read. Make use of the local library as it is a world of information. I haven't bought a decorating magazine in 3 years, so much less paper clutter. I don't feel we are missing anything we had before, except the monthly bills!

Martha from Savannah, TN

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