Working With What You Have

Several years ago, finances in our life was difficult beyond imagination. It was the beginning of 2009 and the housing market down turn affected my family . You see, my husband is a residential contractor. You name it he does it on a small scale.

We ended up shutting off the phone to the house, cancelled our dish network, kept the lights off in the daytime and used candles at night when we ate dinner & more reductions Yeah, is was a struggle for me. There was credit card debt due to bad financial decisions that my husband unfortunatly made.

Now that I have the "What Happened" out of the way, I get to share what I chose to do with what I had to work with on hand. Couldn't buy anything for a bit. Before all this hot mess started I had begun buying some bulk flour and dehydrated beans. Even made black bean burgers for we could not afford to buy any meat. Far too many meatless dinners. Though, we were able to get our protein this way for many months.

Our church helped us with food cards for 4 months so we could get back on our feet. It worked. When everything hit the fan, I immediately began researching how to make meals stretch, printed out many depression era recipes and growing more of our own vegetables.

The Lord continued to provide for our daily basic needs. In order to help with a bit of quick income, I baked french bread and cinnamon rolls. Set that alarm at 5 am and went to work. This really helped us a lot over time.

As the holidays rolled around I made most of the kids stocking stuffers and gifts with things I had on hand. There were several sewn stuffed animals with patterns I printed out for free. Glad I had my sewing machine that my parents had given me as a Christmas gift one year. Made good use of it. The Dollar Tree store was my friend when it still was a dollar. Now it is the $1.25 store.

Now, I was always pretty frugal before all this happened. I refined myself to ultra frugal and have stayed that way. Currently, I still trim my hair, make leftoverville, making the meat we have stretch out longer. All the while making healthy homemade foods and saving up a portion of my paychecks for specific things now.

My husband gives me cash so I can buy the basics at the local grocery stores. Everytime he pays me I place $40.00 away for an emergency fund or something else. It is good to save. We don't need much honestly. By mending our clothes they last much longer. By purchasing clothes from the local thrift stores helps the organizations they work with locally. Actually have found brand new clothes with the tags still on for much less.

The biggest thing that changed in my life was my mindset. I was and still am able to quickly figure outa good logical solution and be grateful for what is on hand in our home. Thanking God daily, being content in ALL things and having true joy in my life helps greatly.

Yep, things definately different at the present time. We still have moments when my husband as a little time before his next job. I have my own small grocery store in my pantry from all the gardening that has been done the last 4 years. Plus, preparing for hard times is smart.

A few weeks ago, we were eating the few things we had left in the fridge before we went out of town for a few days. All the leftovers were gobbled up quickly. Plus one night I made a meal with everything we had on hand. Several canned items with a little section of cabbage in for refrigerator made a tasy quick meal and everyone loved it.

For me, this lifestyle of frugality in many areas is a fun challenge for me. There are times when my husband comes home and I tell him what I discovered and made do with. Makes me happy in so many ways. I am using the gifts that God has given me.

Working with what you have on hand really will increase what you have in your overall finances. Look into moving things around to lower prices or just cancel things altogether that you don't really need in the first place. All that extra savings can make a difference in the future.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blesed day1