Use it up, Wear it out, Make do or do Without

My Grandmother along with her 4 brothers and sisters were children of the Great Depression. She told me many stories about the hard times that they endured. One I specially remember is she use to get upset with my brother for putting to much sugar in his coffee, when she was young there just simply wasn't sugar, and if there was it was in rations. She thought he was being wasteful, that the sugar he put in coffee could have put to better use . Her whole childhood for the most part was spent making do with what they had , there was a lack of money and resources and times were very hard. A popular saying of the day , and she use to repeat parts of it often was" Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without" Yet she always seemed to remember her childhood as a happy time, hard times did not ruin her childhood it seemed to make it better.

 The greatest generation was the greatest generation not because they chose to be, but because they were forced to be. In fact if you had asked them before the depression if they wanted to go through all that happened I can almost guarantee that they would have paid as much money as they could not to go through the depression but some things are out of our control ,God always has a reason for everything .  With the inspiration of my my Grandparents my predicament  looked much smaller in comparasion. If they could make it than so could we.

Money was tight after I had quit my job, over 2,000 a month was no longer in our monthly budget so I had to make up the difference somehow. We had made alot of stupid decisions, we had 2 car loans, we financed furniture, and had 2 credit cards and school loans. It was time to turn it around, to start being responsible. I started researching how things were done in my Grandmothers day , how they did things differently than we do. At first the changes were slow. Some of the changes we made were:

 I started buying ground turkey instead of ground beef, it was significantly cheaper and is better for you.Turkey bacon instead of regular was next, it was also cheaper and better for you .

 I had Matt put up a clothes line in the back yard, as long as it wasn't raining the clothes went on the line instead of in the dryer. Our power bill went down about 25.00 the first month.

We started a small garden, our first year wasn't particularly a success. We did get some produce that year but not much.

We stopped buying as much soda and began drinking alot of water. I also made tea, instead of soda.

We cut downgraded our cellphone  plans, and did away with netflix.

 Eventually we also made other changes in our life . When our second child was born we began making more significant changes. We moved to a much larger house when I was pregnant with our  second child and that house came with an acre plot. We turned about a little over a 1/4 of that into a garden.  Our first garden at the new house was a HUGE success. We were over run with squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, potatoes and more, so much that we could never use it all before it spoiled. So one afternoon I called my Mom over. Growing up she use to do some canning and I wanted to learn. She taught me how to do green beans and tomatoes in one afternoon. The concept is mostly the same with every food, just different processing depending on what food you are canning. After that it was like someone opened a door of opportunity for me . I could grow a garden, and feed my family year round with what i grew . Since then we have accumulated two pressure canners and last year we canned just under 600 jars of fruits , vegetables , jams , jellys , soups and sauces . I also put alot of squash , green peppers and onions in our deep freeze . I credit my garden, canning and freezing for being able to feed my family for 150.00 a month diapers included. It's so nice to know you never have to buy green beans, corn, carrotts, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomato soup . I haven't bought any jam or jelly in over 4 years .

We started making our own laundry detergent . As you can imagine with 3 little ones in the house we accumulate alot of dirty laundry . It just made more sense to make out own , and it does a better job than Tide could ever do . For those interested the recipe is : 1 bars of soap grated (i use ivory soap), 1 cups of Arm and Hammer washing soda , 1 cup of borax . I usually double the recipe and it will last me about a month and half .

I also use cloth diapers at home , and cloth wipes . I've found that using cloth diapers while we are home really makes those packs of diapers and wipes stretch . Each of my boys are in different sizes of diapers but cloth diapers are adjustable with velcro . I very rarely have a leak . I've found that it really cuts down on the amount of diapers we buy, I buy maybe one pack per child per month and a half. It usually equals out to be about 25.00 a month .

I started menu planning, and I planned my menu's around what was already in the freezer, pantry, and refridgerator. For example if I have sweet potatoes (which believe me I've got alot) I plan a meal with sweet potatoes. If I have ground beef or chicken I plan meals around that . I do inventory of what I have and plan meals with that before I even start writing a grocery list . I usually do a menu for a month at a time and I do one big grocery trip a month and one small trip every week for milk. I always have breakfast at least once a week to cut down on cost , homemade pancakes are very cheap .

I started cooking from scratch. Before I made pancakes, biscuits, cornbread, cookies and cakes from mixes . I discovered it is so much cheaper to make it yourself and it really doesn't take that long and it tastes so much better .

I started shopping at two grocery stores . I use to only shop at Wal-Mart , it wasn't unusual for me to spend 100-150 every two weeks . I had shopped at aldi's before, but typically only when money was tight. I started shopping at Aldis first and buying the things that Aldi's didn't carry at Wal-Mart . I started keeping track of the prices at Aldi's and Walmart and I was saving about 30-40 dollars per grocery trip just from shopping at Aldi's . I now spend less with 3 children on groceries than I did when it was just Matt and I .

I have also learned to make one meal stretch into two . For example on my stove right now is a big pot of Chili. When making the chili i add in extra veggies . After we've eaten dinner tonight I will put the remaining soup in the freezer and that will be a meal for another night . I always make big batches of soups and freeze, it make for an easy meal one night where I don't want to cook . I also do the same with Tacos. When we do taco's there is always meat left over, I save the meat and make taco omlettes another night . We also save our leftovers and do a leftover night once a week. Usually there is a little bit of this and that that usually end up making a great meal.

We are all the time re purposing things . Just recently Matt built my raised bed out of free pallets. We reuse sandwich meat containers and butter containers. I am currently sewing a quilt made out of old blue jeans. I patch Matt's work jeans, and we reuse old towels as rags. I just planted watermelon in an old plastic swimming pool. Sometimes if you can't afford to buy something, there is a way that it can be done differently for cheap or free.

We look for free stuff, or nearly free. We recently built a raised bed for a family member. We used free wood that was leftover after a job my husband did . We have gotten many things off of craigslist. Andrew's crib matress was free off of craigslist. The lady we got it from said it was for her grandson, and was only slept on a handful of times. We bought our double stroller on there for 45.00, it was a 250.00 stroller. Our swingset also came from craigslist.The lady who we bought it from said her kids never used it. We paid 75.00 and it cost 200.00 new.

I shop at alot of thrift stores. In fact one of my favorite places to shop is Goodwill and Miracle Hill. In the nearly four years since my children have been born I have very rarely bought anything brand new for them . I have found so many good deals on brand name clothes that were practically new . I think it would almost been stupid to pay full price for them when i can get it for a dollar or two .


 I also will buy ahead of time. I started this when Sarah was a baby. We were given lots of hand me downs from friends. They were of a variety of sizes so I bought a couple of plastic totes from wal-mart and seperated them according to size . As time went on, if we were out shopping and I found something cute but it was to big I would buy it and put it away in one of those totes. Eventually she would wear it. If you buy an item here and there, eventually it adds up and you have a whole wardrobe for that size and you really didn't pay very much for it . It cheaper to do it that way rather than going out and buying all new clothes when your child outgrows his/hers current size. Currently there are two totes in Sarah's closet and two in the boys closet. The ones in Sarah's closets are for sizes 4t and for sizes 5t and up. The 4t tote is almost full, I've already got sandals for her for the summer, and a winter coat for next year. i bought the winter coat on clearance for 4.00. Jackson's are labeled 3t and 4t and up. His totes are overflowing, we have been very blessed with hand me downs for boys and I bought pretty much nothing in there. I already have his christmas outfit and winter coats for both boys for next year .  When Jackson grows out of it Andrew will wear it next. I will also buy shoes also and put them away, it's nice to be able to put out a box and pick out the next size rather than go to the store and buy  a new pair . Usually I pay no more than 3.00 per pair of shoes.


I bought a libman freedom mop and threw away the swiffer. it's amazing how much a mop pad that you can wash over and over will save you. Swiffer pads get expensive. 


We do almost all of our own auto work . Matt changes our oil, and he has replaced a power steering pump on his truck and a alternator on my old car . It saves us a lot of money because we don't pay for labor.


We started doing all these things because we had to, we had a lot of debt and barely enough income to cover it . We saved alot of money and have been able to pay all but one of those debts off. The only thing left is my husbands truck and we only have about a year and a half on that and we will be debt free. We have a strong desire to be debt free, to not owe our whole paycheck to someone else. We still continue to be frugal, to pinch every penny even though we don't have to anymore. It's just become a way of life, after all who wants to pay more than they have to .Yes it is easier to skip the garden and just go to the store and buy your veggies but it is more expensive and when you grow it your self you know where it comes from and you don't have to worry about e-coli outbreaks and your children are healthier.  I've grown to love gardening ,this year I couldn't wait for gardening season to begin. I'm even more excited about canning. I can't wait for the tomatoes to be overflowing off the vine, and carrot's to be filling our counter top. It's a joy to know that gardening is a free way I can feed my family . One thing I've learned is children are just as expensive as you want them to be. Kids don't require new clothes and shoes, brand new toys, and soccer, dance , piano and gymnastic classes. What they need is there parents, kids won't remember what they got for Christmas in the middle of January , they will remember that you loved them, and the time you spent with them . Children aren't expensive, lifestyle is.

A Different Path Than Most

 My Dad use to say that he was born 100 years to late . He was a cowboy through and through, he loved to hunt, trap and probably would have been able to live off the land if he wanted to . He stuck out like a sore thumb in todays world, he was very different but he was my Dad .There are days where I think the same applies to me, I'm very different than most 25 year olds. Most 25 year olds nowadays have just recently graduated from college, most aren't married and if they are they just newly married. Kids are nowhere on there radar screen. Some partied in college , slept around , and had there fair share of hangovers . That just isn't me . I am so different from that. I went to college but never could figure out what I wanted to do so after 2 years of college I took a break and never returned. One thing I always wanted to be was a Mom, I couldn't see any career that would top being a fulltime Mom. Nothing to me was worth my time away from my future children. I can count on one hand how many alcholic drinks I've had in my entire life and I have never been anywhere remotely close to being drunk and I've never been to a college party. I was raised to be an adult, to be responsible. I just never had any desire to do the things that most young adults my age did, my ambitions were much much different.

Matt and I met in November of 2004. I was 18 he was 20 . I was in first semester of college at North Greenville University. At the time my major was Mass Communications . We started dating, and everything went fast. He told me he loved me on our third date, and pretty much asked me to marry him on our 5th date. Within a month after our first date he was ready to buy a ring and to get engaged. As you could imagine my parents weren't exactly thrilled about me marrying a guy that I had just been dating for a month so we waited. As time went by we became closer and closer, he was my best friend . It seemed that if I wasn't in class and he wasn't at work we were together. Matt rented a place close to my school so we could spend more time together. Gas prices were soaring, or so we thought then and it was getting expensive to drive back and fowarth. I remember sitting in line at a gas station in Campobello for 1.99 gas . We of course at the time thought that price was ridiculously high . What I wouldn't give for that price now .

After my first year of college ended in May of 2005 I moved in with Matt . My Mom always told me not to marry a person until I had lived with  them . That you could never have know a person until you have lived with them, and learned there quirks, habits and how they really were when they didnt' have there best face on. Looking back it probably wasn't the most christian thing to do, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do . We had absolutely nothing . I think our accumulation of furniture included bunk beds, a dresser, a stereo and one end table and a turn dial tv that we paid 10 dollars for a goodwill . At the time Matt was working for BFC Construction and I was waiting tables at IHOP on third shift . We were beyond broke, but we made it . We made it through the summer , and on August 14th which also happens to be my birthday Matt took me up to Caesars Head at sunrise and proposed . It hadn't quite be a year yet, but it had been much more than when he had first proposed . We knew each other much better than we did then. Both of our families were thrilled and the wedding planning began . Within a month we had set a date, September 30, 2006 which also happened to be my Aunt Barb and Uncle Clair's 40th anniversary . I was 19 years old and planning a wedding . Almost all of my friends had no plans of a wedding in there near future. 

A little over a year after Matt first proposed we were married at Lake Welchell in Gaffney SC . It was a beautiful day. I had just turned 20 and Matt was 22 .  By that time we had moved to a little apartment that was closer to both of our work . We had accumulated lot more furniture and I had started working full time . We still didn't have much money, but my estimation of wealth has never been how much is in the bank account . There are many more important things in life . Soon that little apartment became very little for the two of us and our two dogs that we had adopted from the humane society , Hershey and Maggie . Within 6 months after the wedding this Mama began longing for children . Matt however thought it was to soon . There was no way we could have fit a baby in that little apartment anyway so we started looking and we eventually moved to Plantations at Haywood Apartments . Our 2 bedroom apartment was much bigger, and was much more like a home than anything that we've lived in before . And the best part was there was fire place. Within 6 months of moving in, I was pregnant with our first child .  With a baby on the way we began looking for a house, someplace where our dogs could go outside, so we wouldn't have to walk them. (I know we move alot, so far we are at home number 4 in 4 years) . When I was about 4-5 months pregnant we found a cute little 2 bedroom house. It wasn't to much more than 800 square feet, it was just a little smaller than our apartment and it only had one bathroom . It needed some work, and even though it was just a rental we fixed it up .They said whatever you want to do to make it look nicer, your free to do it just don't tear it up . We painted just about every room, and Matt refinished the hardwood floors. We didn't have much money so thankfully the landlord paid for some of the improvements . At the time Matt was still working for the construction company . They told Matt he could have any paint and wood that was leftover that he wanted, and a man that did work on some of there buildings lent him a sander so he could refinish the floors . Eventually we added a small deck and Matt built a small shed in the back yard, all built our of free wood. I think the improvements maybe costed us 100.00 total . It was all worth it to make it a home , to make it nice because we really had intended on staying there for a while .  About a month after we moved into this house Matt switched jobs. His job at BFC Construction had ended, thankfully God had blessed us with a job offer that was much better paying months before that job ended. He started at Bailey's Electrical Service on April 1st 2008. He really liked the job, but at the time a lot of travel was required and that was new to us. We adjusted quickly, we really had no choice . About 2-3 weeks later I quit my job . We had planned on me being a stay at home Mom and my due date was getting closer and I was getting larger and it was much harder to be on my feet all day waiting tables . Once I quit working it became apparently clear that I was going to have to learn to be creative with out finances if I was going to stay at home full time . Matt was making significantly more at his new job but it still was not as much as we both made before he started this job and we had a considerable amount of debt. It became obvious that some things had to change, sacrifices had to be made and things had to be done differently  Most people say going from two incomes to one can't be done, that due to economic times it was just impossible but I love a challenge and I was determined to succeed . 

How it all started .....

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted a whole house full of kids . Growing up it was just me and one brother, all of my cousins were much older than me and none of them were very close by . I always wanted a whole house full of friends, but it never happened to me as a child. I always said when I was married I would have many children, that we would live a simple life, and we would be happy . At 25 now I've been married for almost 6 years to my very best friend, and we have 3 wonderful children so I would say I'm well on my way to having a larger than the average family. Somedays those children drive me crazy, but I'm convinced after many stories from my mother this is the way it's suppose to be.. They are my life's greatest blessing, and I would gladly accept many more if God saw fit to give them to me .  This is a story about how I got to this point in my life, and the joys and heartaches that came along the way .

When my Mom was expecting my brother I was almost 4 . The whole pregnancy I prayed and prayed for a baby sister . When September 15th 1990 came around, and I recieved a baby brother instead of a baby sister I was not pleased . I told Ryan to go back where he came from and  I didn't speak to my Mom for a week . A week in the life of a four year old is like a month. I had put my order in for a sweet little sister, instead I got a brother. I was very upset.  As time went on though I began to accept him, and I tried my best to turn him into a sister to no avail. My Mom has several pictures of Ryan dressed up in dresses and makeup on. He was like a live baby doll that I took advantage of for as long as I could, which was somewhere around 5 when he started to fight back . I prayed for along time that God would give me a sister, but I guess it wasn't meant to be . We were poor by most peoples standards, or at least that's what I was told, I don't remember once feeling poor . My Mom worked sometimes as many as 3 jobs at one time just to make ends meet. So it was probably a good thing that it was just myself and Ryan although I will always wish there were a few more of us Haney's running around .

We grew up in a small Iowa town called Churdan, and by small I mean small. Everyone knew what everyone was doing 5 seconds after it was done . There wasn't much there, the whole town consisted of a school, gas station, a couple of hair salons, a bank, a post office, a general store, a bar, a library, fire department, at one point an arcade and a clothing shop, 3 churches, a methodist,baptist and catholic along with about 100-150 people . The town was so small that we had one police officer, and he never patrolled because there was really nothing to patrol . If there was ever an issue people knew where he lived and his name and number were in the phone book . The school was small, so much so that two towns of kids went to the same school to have enough kids to bother teaching. Kindergarten through 12th grade there couldn't have been more than 120 kids. I remember my kindergarten class was one of the largest on record at 20 children. When my parents divorced when I was in 6th grade I was the only child in the whole school who's parents were divorced. That's saying alot considering that just about everyone now comes from a divorced home .

All the neighborhood kids played together at the city park . There was about 10 of us, and we had alot of fun playing hide a go seek, tag and baseball, volleyball, riding bikes, we ran around barefoot especially in the summertime and we drank out of many garden hoses. There wasn't much to do in the small town of Churdan but we made our own fun . Our house was right in front of the schools baseball diamond. I remember many nights of Mom working in the garden, and us kids in the backyard watching the baseball game and catching fireflies. Like all kids we would put them in mason jars to keep them alive, and it never failed they always died. On hot summer days there were many lemonade sales to try to earn money for the county fair, bell tower days, or possibly a Friday or Saturday night at the skating rink . I know on more than one occasion we fried eggs on those hot tar roads . There were many trips to the Jefferson swimming pool. We weren't allowed to sit around watching tv, and playing video games. After chores were done we were to be outside. We didn't even own a video game, and with only 4 channels there wasn't much to watch . And with no air conditioning who wants to sit in a hot house .

Growing up we always had chores. Mine were dishes, I had to help with the laundry as well as clean my room,the dinner table and in the summer mow the yard . Like all kids I tried to shove everything in the closet and under the bed, that almost never worked and I learned quick. When washing dishes, they were washed and dried by hand and inspected afterwards, if one was dirty all were washed again . Mom hung clothes outside if the weather permitted, our job was to help fold and put away our clothes . We didn't get to do anything on the weekends unless our chores were done through the week and they had to be done right . At the time I'm pretty sure I hated it, most of my friends didn't have chores and if they did it was only keeping there room clean . Now I realize that it was good thing, that it built character and responsibility. I learned to do it right the first time or I would end up doing it twice . Now that I have three children, I have learned to start them young, as soon as they can walk they have a job, even if it is just helping pick up toys or putting something in the trash .

Even though money was tight, we always had a home cooked meal and the majority of the time it was good eating around our dining room table. There is nothing better than Iowa sweet corn in the summer, pork tenderloins, homemade chili, meatloaf, and fried chicken on occasion. Everything just about was made from scratch. There were on occasion though things that we didn't care for . I remember fighting not wanting to eat ham and bean soup. It took a few times of it being warmed up again and again for breakfast, lunch and dinner before I realized that it was just best to eat it the first time . Ryan went through the same thing with biscuits and gravy  . My Mom use to say that this isn't a restaurant, you either eat it now or you eat it later. There simply wasn't the money to cook something different for each person, you ate what was put in front of you at that meal or you would eat it for another meal . We ate lots of leftovers, and at least one night a week was left over night. There was little to no waste in our house, you couldn't afford to waste . I remember thinking that my Mom must of had eyes in the back of head. She would hear the refrigerator door open, no matter how quietly you tried to open it. she say "what are you doing in there?" to which we would say getting a drink, to which we'd get there's glasses in the cabinet and water in the faucet .

We always had everything we needed as children . There was always food to eat, clothes to wear, a roof over our head . We always had presents and a homemade cake at our birthday and Christmas and we did fun things but we weren't showered with new toys often . At some point, I'm not really sure what age we started working for things we want . We were paid a small amount for each chore we did, I don't remember how much it was. For me it started about the time roller blades first became popular . All of my friends had a pair, I wanted them so bad . Mom told me I would have to work for them, that I would appreciate them more if i worked for them . I did chores for what seemed like months, I believe I even asked for extra chores to make the money faster . I saved and saved until finally I had enough money. One day we took the 45 minute drive to Fort Dodge, that was where the nearest walmart and kmart was . I picked out my first roller blades, they were white and pink. I loved those things, took good care of them and used them until they just couldn't go anymore . I did appreciate them more because I bought them, I worked for them .

Compared to most places especially nowadays it was a simple old fashioned life , and the perfect place to raise children . As a child I remember being bored stiff ,  but now I realize it was good for my imagination we made fun rather than having to be entertained . I've discovered now from talking to friends , I was raised alot different than most but I wouldn't have it any other way . It's made me who I am today .  It's the only place that I know of anymore where everything still closes on Sundays and church bells are heard all through town and you know your neighbors and they actually care about you .  We had a great childhood, or at least that's the way I remember it. If it weren't almost 18 hours away , i would love to raise my children there . Oh how I miss home, I hope to visit soon .