Working Vacation

I am a stay at home mom so I don't really get a vacation ever. But my husband is home this week because he has "vacation." Our finances have been pretty tight this past year so we are having a "stay-cation" which really means we are working around the house.

Our new raised beds we just built

Yesterday we shipped our kids off to grandma's house so my husband and I could build level and fill our new 4'x12' raised garden beds. We loaded our trailer twice with compost from our local compost site and once with mulch. We shoveled and shovel and shoveled. As I look out at my garden right now we have plantless boxes filled with dirt. It doesn't look like much but I know we spent a lot of time working on them. I can't wait for the threat of frost to pass so we can get the rest of our garden planted. We still have touching up the paint on the house to finish and spreading the mulch..

For the rest of vacation we are hoping to take the kids to the zoo tomorrow, having a babysitter and date night Friday, Saturday we have Easter with extended relatives, and Sunday a free day. So much for a relaxing lazy vacation... but our stuff needs to get done and it is wonderful to look at a finished project and know we did it.

Last years raised bed garden project

Do you think you need to go somewhere to have a vacation?

Recovering Consumer

I am a recovering consumer. I used to to clip coupons and then go and buy things that we didn't really need because I was "saving" money on them. I guess it isn't really saving when you are spending and don't need it.  OK I wasn't super crazy (I don't have my showers filled to the brim with toilet paper and toothpaste). The month of March we tried not to buy anything new. We purchased a few small things but nothing too extreme. At the beginning of April or very end or March we bought a Roomba vacuum (which is keeping my floors clean). Then a few days later we bought a SodaStream maker. Two nights ago I bought a slip cover for my couch. I didn't need any of it. But I wanted it all.

Last night we went out for supper since my husband wanted to and we had a few dollars in the "entertainment" fund. That lead to a trip to the liquor store because we are going to a party tonight and  our friends asked to bring something "fun" to drink. We then went to Walmart and spent another 30 dollars on stuff. Most of the stuff with the exception of food we didn't really need.

I am so frustrated with myself. We are trying to get rid of clutter and stop spending mindlessly. But every time we need something we buy some wants as well. I usually talk about my want purchases with my husband. He is such a pushover and says sure go ahead. I want him to talk to me about why we "need" something or what benefit it will bring us before he says yes.

So I declare today that I am not using my credit card anymore once it is paid off for anything other than my Consumer Supported Aggriculture (CSA) payment. I am not going to buy any more wants this month. I am a recovering consumer... I went on a binge but I am back on the program.

Roomba Guilt

I feel so guilty that we purchased a roomba vacuum last Thursday because we didn't need it. I have wanted a new one since my old one broke 2 years ago. We found this one on clearance and open box so it was even further discounted than I expected. We got it for a little over $100 at Sam's club. According to Sam's Club.com their price for the model we got was $250 and Amazon wanted $315. So comparatively we got a fantastic deal. The thing I struggle with is the guilt of buying it when we didn't really need it. I try to justify it by saying that it will keep our  house cleaner and that it will be my Mother's Day and Anniversary gift. Somehow it still makes me feel guilty. I really shouldn't feel guilty but I do. We tried to not buy anything new in the month of March and we almost made it. Compared to other months we did fantastic on our spending or lack of spending. I think for the month of April we will try to limit our purchases again to only things we can get used and what we need.

Speaking of purchases... last night we went to the Goodwill and found 3 sets of BOB books for 1.99 each. I have been looking for them for months and the cheapest I could find online was 11 dollars each. We also got another Magna Doodle for my children since they both are in love with them currently.We spend less than 20 dollars and got 4 sets of beginner reading books, a single princess book, a pair of new boots, and a doodle. We also donated about 6 boxes of things and only brought home 2 small bags of new things. So I think we met the criteria of one thing out one thing in.

So while I am still feeling guilty about purchasing our Roomba who we named Penny we have welcomed her into our house and I am more than willing to let her clean my floors with just a push of a button.

Gardening in the Rain

So this morning I decided to play in the spring rain and plant all my cool weather crops in my small garden. I planted asparagus, strawberries, 2 kinds of kale, rainbow Swiss chard, several lettuce varieties, spinach, onions and peas. I have decided that this year we are going to try growing as much food in our yard as we can. I also plan to grow tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, beans,  winter squash, basil, lavender, cilantro, and potatoes as well. We also have two apple trees, raspberries, and rhubarb on our property. I would also like to add a pear tree and boysenberries this year. We put some planter boxes in our front yard for our garden last year. My boxes are almost all the way full so we are going to have to add more.. We have very poor sandy soil so planter boxes are our best option. Luckily we have plenty of wood left from our old deck that we tore down last summer that we can reuse to make our boxes.


Planting a garden is a huge money saver for my family. We eat very healthy and eat lots of produce. My kids, almost 2 and 4, beg and whine for fruit :-) We very rarely buy prepackaged foods. I cook everything from scratch. I buy things in bulk and use it up before it spoils. What small amount of things that do spoil make their way into our compost bin, or our worm bin.  We try to waste nothing. Plus knowing where my food is coming from is comforting. 


I recently found a buying club in my town that gets things from Azure Standard. I just placed my second order yesterday but I am able to buy grains and produce in bulk that are far cheaper than most of the stores where I live. Most of it is organic and it is cheaper than the conventional products in stores. So needless to say I am in love with them. The only problem is you need to be able to find places to store 50 pounds of detergent or 50 pounds of flour. I am lucky to have a huge laundry room with open shelves.   


We try our best to use what we have before purchasing something new. I am trying to live by the motto "use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without." For the month of March we have limited our purchases to needs. Not wants. It is helping us to get back on track financially and helping to simplify our lives. I think we will continue only buying needs in the month of April and see where it takes us.

My Story

My husband and I were married in 2008 and we started a family shortly after and I decided to stay at home with our daughter. At the time we got married I had several thousand dollars of debt and my husband had over $20,000 of.debt. My husband and I scrimped and saved and put every extra penny towards paying of the debt we started with. In August 2010 we paid off the debt we started with and 2 "new" used cars we purchased. From August 2010 to March 2011 we set aside a small amount for an emergency savings account. 


In March 2011 we decided that our house was too small since we had added another child to our family. A two bedroom one bathroom house was not enough space for 4 people, 2 dogs, 4 cats, a guinea pig, and a goldfish. So we found the house of our dreams in a neighborhood that we previously said we would love to live in. We found it on foreclosure and decided then and there we would buy it since it was priced right. We hoped that we would be able to sell our cute little house for a decent price- late hoping to just sell it. We moved into our new house in April 2011 and our old house sat on the market until December 2011. During that time we had 2 house payments and utilities payments. - Needless to say we didn't save any money but we also didn't go into debt. Every last penny was accounted for in our budget. 


So fast forward to now... we decided to rent out our old house. We found a great couple to rent it. We still have   house payments but the rent offsets our old house payments. We are finally making ends meat paying more than interest on our new house and paying off our credit card. Our goal for the next few years is to live life more simply and appreciate what we have. We are going cut back where we can to find more money in our budget to pay off our houses and to to use what we have before buying more stuff. 


It is funny to think when we bought our new house I said "We'll have to buy so much more for our new house" Not only was that not true I am now trying to declutter our house. Its amazing how much "junk" my small children accumulate through holidays, birthdays and hand me downs. My new rule is if something new is coming into the house it either has to something we need or replaces something we already have. It if it doesn't fit those rules something will have to be donated to charity to make room. We are trying to use up as much of the stuff in our house as possible before having to purchase anything new. 


So follow along with me as my family and I set out of a journey to live life more simply financially and environmentally.