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.