Tuesday, January 4, 2011

What can I do today to live plain and simple?

I lay there in bed last night trying to figure out what I could do today to live more simplistic. I thought and thought and could not come up with anything. You see we already live a pretty frugal lifestyle as it is, but we still think that there might be ways to live even more simplistic.
It dawned on me today when I was trying to think about what I was going to make for supper. I remembered that a few months back I made a huge pork butt in the crock pot. We could not eat it all so I finished pulling it off the bone and put it in a freezer zip log back and froze it. Why I did this at that particular moment; I don't know. So I went to the freezer and pulled it out to defrost for supper.
I seriously knew that this was a great way to live more simplistic. Although, I cannot remember how much that piece of meat cost I am sure that it was the price of a couple suppers. With defrosting and eating again I am stretching the money that I have for groceries.
Now, I know that for you that are reading this and are older than me you are probably thinking that this is a common practice. But typically in my house it wasn't until now. When we were tired of eating the same old thing we gave the rest of the left overs to the dogs as a treat. Reading my own words it makes me feel a little bad to have been so wasteful.
In our house we eat ALOT of fresh produce, lean meats, fish and even bread made from scratch. We do not eat processed foods. Meaning we do not eat things from the box or pre-fabbed meals. This is partially due to me having a gastric bypass and needing to eat this way but also by not buying processed makes my food budget stretch farther. Therefore, I am healthy my kids are healthy and finally my husband is healthy and loves the way that we eat. Do not get me wrong. We will stop at McDonald's for a treat for the kids every blue moon. This is not a common practice for us however.
Another way that I am stretching our money is by making what I want. A question was posed to me by my husband the other day. He says "Honey, how can you do some of the craft things that you do but you can't wrap or draw a straight line with a ruler?" My answer was "I don't know." But I realized that the only way that I can get better is practice. With that being said. I wanted some new throw pillows for my house and the one's that I liked cost around $30.00 a piece. That is impractical for my family. So for $10.00 I bought 3 yards of fabric and also had a few yards at home and so far I have sewed 6 pillow shells. Pretty straight I might add (for me anyways). So without my stuffing I have 6 pillows for $1.67 each. Pretty frugal I might say.
Well that is enough for today......Have a great day everyone!

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