Go Nancy!

Nancy, in her male dominated home, often gets told that she can't do something. Climbing this rope, that is attached to a swing (not stationary) and about twelve feet long, was one of them. She's been giving it sporadic attention, and today she did it! In fact, she held on long enough for me to go see her then run to get my phone for taking the picture.

Please don't tell him I told you, but Josiah has been trying too. He went out directly after Nancy's accomplishment and couldn't climb it. I quickly told his brothers and sister not to say a thing about it to him or I'd rub their noses in all the things they can't do that he can.

For all of Nancy's frill and drama, she does have a bit of a tomboy streak in her. I like that.

Frugal Living 2

The second rule, I think, of being frugal is to work harder. Generally, convenience costs. Saving money - living on less - means working harder. For me, this is usually an easy choice, but sometimes a decision has to be made between time and money. Some say "time is money." While that may be true for one whose work yields a paycheck, it is not so for me. However, time is sometimes the setting of right priorities. Already, the work of frugality excludes from my routine things of real value, like more story reading and game playing.

These are things that I work at in lieu of convenience:

Dry beans instead of canned
Homemade breakfast instead of cereal
Gardening instead of store bought (a work in progress)
Hand washing larger dishes to put more in each load of the dishwasher
Removing stains from clothes rather than replacing
Sometimes creating my own curriculum instead of buying
Cutting hair myself
Washing cars the old fashioned way - at home with a hose
(Right now) pulling, hoeing, whacking, or ignoring grass the mower won't get instead of a motorized trimmer
We actually trimmed many large limbs from trees with an ax or hatchet instead of a chainsaw
Turning the garden with a spade instead of a tiller (in part anyway)
Making most Christmas gifts using mostly what I already had on hand
Making a special meal for a birthday rather than going out
Making pizza (with more crust and less toppings and cheese) instead of store or restaurant purchase

These are conveniences that I indulge in to save some much needed time:

Cheap paper plates for dry meals (I found it interesting reading the Dugger's book recently that they always use disposable plates unless it's a very special occasion. When the styrofoam comes out their kids remark about the use of china =)
Automatic dishwasher (filled to capacity)
Driving 2 1/2 miles to the store instead of walking
Thrift store clothes or dramatically reduced clearance prices instead of yard sales weekend after weekend. (It would take a lot of yard sales to come up with all the clothing we need!)
Recently - and this is a real money ouch! - buying tall sizes for Joshua on sale instead of sewing or altering
Internet for faster research and easier correspondence (Recently, I decided that if we are going to pay for Internet, we will correspond with it as much as possible, largely leaving handwritten thank you notes, personal and business letters behind.)
Store bought bread for sandwiches. (I do make bread for snacks or breakfast toast)

These lists, I'm sure, are only partial. Probably as soon as I sign out, I'll think of more. I might underline something from my previous post on this topic. Sometimes being frugal means settling for less than you know is best. That is perhaps the hardest part of contentment for me. We have cut way, way back on the amount of fruit and vegetables we eat. There is simply not room in the budget unless it is an outstanding deal. I have purposed to try and eat, as much as possible, foods that are good for us, like beans instead of junk. (Sadly, the junk is often cheaper than the healthy.) If I could spend many, many hours in my kitchen, I would eliminate even more unhealthy things - like refined peanut butter, jelly, and store bought bread. Again, it comes down to priorities. I have had to remind myself that the Bible is plain about what is most important - the physical body or the soul. If store bought, squishy bread allows me to tell my kiddos a Bible story every day and help them learn the books of the Bible, the judges, kings and other Bible things, so be it. I'll trust God for the rest.

Frugal Living

For nearly nine months now, being frugal has been a necessary part of life, and so, it envelopes a large portion of my daily thoughts. It's my goal to share what is making being frugal a fun and intriguing challenge instead of a drudgery.

The first rule of frugality, and the only one which will sustain it for a lifetime, is contentment. Being satisfied with the way things are lends a huge helping hand to the quest for living on less. Contentment sounds simple, but it can be very tricky at times. Americans, especially, have a very high standard of living. (Our gross national product distribution in 2005 was first in the world, being more than two and a half times that of the second place nation, Japan.) Most of us cannot even begin to list those things which are truly unnecessary for day to day living because we've become so accustomed to relative wealth. Sadly, it is true that abundance is a fertile breeding ground for discontentment. The more we have, the more we want and feel that we need.

Gratitude is, I think, the driving force behind contentment. When we live a life of habitual gratitude, we more easily find satisfaction. When, with gratitude, we bring our supplications before God, we acknowledge that what He provides is enough. Sometimes gratitude is a game of Pollyanna. We must look for the good intertwined with the ugly and the difficult. The ugly and the difficult become those things which point us toward God, to see that He is wise and generous to us always, no matter our levels of prosperity or ease. Gratitude is naturally happy and cheerful, which are emotions that breed contentment.

Everyone must identify his own categories of weakness regarding discontentment. Below, I'm listing some things I've had to conquer, or am still working to conquer. When you really begin to analyze your thinking honestly, it is amazing what you discover you can live without.

Broken Things
If the windshield on the car is cracked but not creating a barrier to visibility, it can go unfixed.
If the storm door flies off in a storm, damaging the frame too, it can be removed rather than replaced.
If the refrigerator handle breaks off, the door can be opened by pulling the lip between the edge of the door and the seal.
If the comb snaps in two, you can comb your hair with half of the comb.
If the leg of the couch breaks, the rest can be removed too, or a block of wood can be put in the place where the leg used to be.
If the couch upholstery is torn, it can be repaired with yarn, fishing line, heavy duty thread, etc.
If the couch upholstery is so torn that is cannot be sewn closed, it can used anyway - even when company comes.
If the blow dryer breaks, hair can air dry.

Food
I've been told that those who investigate child neglect check refrigerators and pantries for abundance. Having a four month store of dry beans and rice in the laundry room will satisfy any hungry tummy. The pantry and fridge may be nearly empty, but that doesn't mean that starvation is imminent.
Relatively speaking, three meals every day is abundant. Snacks are a luxury. (In Brazil - and maybe many other nations in the top 20 of the Gross National Product distribution - they generally eat two meals in a day. Both meals will consist of beans and rice. A "wealthier" family may be able to add small bits of meat or vegetables to their beans.)
Look around at your fellow countrymen. Obesity is prevalent. More than 30% of Americans are obese (which is a body mass index of at least 30). The top 28 most obese nations in the world (of which we are first) have an average obesity just under 15%. Americans could get by with far less food methinks.

Entertainment
Eating out is not necessary - ever.
Having a TV and/or watching movies is not necessary - ever.
Seeing a movie in the theater is not necessary - ever.
Attending shows or sporting events is not necessary - ever.
Going to museums, the zoo and elaborate botanical gardens is not necessary - ever.
Again, the subject is contentment. I would not suggest that any of the above are bad things to do, but they are not necessary. We can be entertained satisfactorily with a set of dice, or with the telling of jokes, or the making of shadows upon the wall, or reading a book from the library, or taking a nature walk, or lying on the grass staring at the clouds until they seem to be anything you can imagine, or telling stories - true or made up, or throwing a ball back and forth, or running races. On and on the list can go.

Clothes
While the standard of dress in our country has actually descended, it still far exceeds what is necessary. We have closets full of clothes - some that we rarely or never wear. At our house, hand-me-downs come in the door by the bag full. We receive far more than we can use. We think we must have just the right thing for the right occasion, but that, too, is unnecessary. At a wedding we attended a few days ago, I noticed a woman wearing a pair of fuchsia colored shoes which matched her dress. I wondered at the extravagance we're accustomed to. It is humbling to appear in public dressed less than culturally expected, but it is not a matter of character. It is pride that taunts us to turn that embarrassment into the discontentment that screams at us to label needs and wants wrongly.

We recently studied Amos 6. I close with the first eight verses. (I realize that we see righteous people in the Bible who were wealthy, but I also know that Jesus warned that the rich - and relatively speaking, the vast majority of Americans are - have a very difficult time finding their way to the humility of salvation.)

How terrible it will be for you who have it easy in Jerusalem. How terrible for you who live on Mount Samaria and feel safe. You think you are important people of the best nation in the world. The Israelites come to you for help. Go look at the city of Calneh. From there go to the great city Hamath. Go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Are their lands larger than yours? You put off the day of punishment. But you bring near the day when you can do evil to others. You lie on beds decorated with ivory. You stretch out on your couches. You eat tender lambs and fattened calves. You play your harps. Like David, you compose songs on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful. You use the best perfumed lotions. But you are not sad over the ruin of Israel, Joseph's descendants. So you will be some of the first ones take as slaves. Your feasting and lying around will come to an end. The Lord God made this promise. The Lord God of heaven's armies says: "I hate the pride of the people of Israel. I hate their strong towers. So I will let the enemy take the city and everything in it.
~International Children's Bible