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.