Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Monday, December 29, 2008

This and That

Good Morning!

Did you all have a great Christmas? We really have had a great Christmas season, my husband had 3 days off plus the weekend so it was like a vacation! I have lots of photos to show you, but I keep getting an error message on my camera - I will try again later - this has happened before so hopefully I will be able to download them later.

I have been working at eating healthier, and using non toxic cleaners etc...we live on 4 1/4 acres of land and would like to see the land not used for the horses only but to plant fruit trees, have larger garden - make the land work for us! Part of it is a desire to spend less at the grocery store - with 8 people in our family, fruit doesn't last long. It's okay, as we want them to eat an apple (locally grown) rather than a "fruit" roll-up. But the real thing is more expensive than than the fake.

Another part of our desire to use our land is for self-sufficiency. When we grew strawberries this year, and tomatoes and green beans it was so neat to go outside and get an ingredient for our meal.

My husband has a hip that needs to be replaced this year, he has had arthritis since he was a kid. We will be living at 60% of his income, while he is recovering. This is going to be a challenge - but I know God will see us through. We always desire to be good stewards of our income - we have felt stretched this year - with gas prices so high for most of the year, food costs all went up...we still have been able to pay extra on our mortgage every month to pay down the principle, we tithe, we support several missionaries...

My husband is wondering whether he will be able to go back to the kind of work he has been doing. He is a machinist and repairing printing presses requires that he squat, bend, get into tight spaces...maybe not doable for someone with an artificial hip. So there is the possibility that income wise we may need to head down a different path....it has exciting possibilities, but at the same time, I have come to "depend" on my husbands paycheck, rather than the Lord. In this economy many people have seen that their paycheck can be gone in an instant as companies layoff employees, or the company closes. I think this will be a good time for me to get my eyes off a "paycheck" and onto the Lord.

In all things we must look to the Lord to meet our needs, He is ABLE!

I guess I am just thinking out loud today...Some of the ways we save money are by not eating out very often, cooking from scratch, making our own salad dressings, I have even made our own laundry detergent before!

What steps have you taken or are you taking to save money by not spending money? Do you have any tips for me? I'd love to hear them!

9 comments:

  1. I am moved by hearing your heart. I love watching you grow and stretch...you are an inspiration to me...

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  2. Is there an Aldi's food store near you? You can search on Adli's .com. We are a family of 7and we save about $100 a week on groceries versus Wal-Mart or any other grocery store.

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  3. Wow. 60% of his income. Making your own laundry detergent does help. So does having soup for dinner most nights. And hanging the laundry out instead of using the dryer.
    I know you can do it. I hope your precious hubby will recover quickly and be able to do whatever he chooses.

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  4. Thinking out loud can be such a helpful thing! I know it helps me get my brain and thinking in order....

    I will be praying about your budget issue, I know we will be tight for a couple months too when Cayden arrives, as we will be on just Ryan's income. We have definitely been saving a lot, but you do still worry and this is where we have to trust God!

    One way I saved money last month was I actually cut coupons out and saved $20 grocery shopping! I couldnt believe it!! I know you probably do this already, but this is one way we save!!

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  5. I enjoyed your "out loud" thoughts. I found them inspirational and food for thought. You have some serious issues to think out loud about!

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  6. Best wishes to your hubby for his upcoming operation! I will be needed a new knee down the road sometime and my hubby will eventually need a new hip. Cortisone is going to keep us going for a while, until we can sell our homestead.

    By all means, use your land for growing food! That will be one thing we miss whenever we get to downsize.

    As to saving money, we've gotten pretty good about pinching pennies. We splurge on vacations, but everything we do is done with cash already saved up and budgeted. We are both retired now, so our income is about 60 percent of what it was. And we didn't change our lifestyle at all! We just save a smaller percentage, LOL. It can be done!

    Check out Remodeling This Life blog (link on my sidebar) for tips and links on saving money!

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  7. Thanks Donna, for the encouragement!

    I will definitely check out the blog you mentioned!

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  8. Dear Mrs. Rabe,
    First let me say, I will be praying for your husband's up coming hip surgery, & for strength for you both.

    Second, I will be praying for God to send you an increase and overflow in all area's of your faith, finances, food, and family.

    Third, there are so very many ways that I have learned to save a great deal of money in regards to cooking, cleaning, and our budget.
    I make as much from scratch here at home as possible...I.E.- some of the things I make are,ketchup, mayo, honey-mustard (salad dressing type & texas pete type), bread of many kinds, pimento cheese spread, jelly's and jam's, apple butter (from apple sauce),drink mix's galore (instant cappuccino's, crystal light type drink mix's etc). I also make **ALL** my own cleaning mix's such as laundry detergent, fabric softener, dish washer detergent, home made fabreeze furniture spray, homemade wrinkle releaser for clothing, anti-bacterial kitchen, bathroom, and glass cleaner, shower cleaners, furniture polish, and much much more.

    If at any time you are interested I would be more than happy to email or mail you some printed recipe copie's of all of these and more.

    Hubby & I had to live on 30% of hubby's income last year for 3 months during the time he had surgery on his rotator cuff (shoulder surgery basically). My 17 year old son did go to work full time to help us, and that was a tremendous blessing, and a huge help. Yet I had to lean on God completely and learn to be more self sufficent and frugal than ever. It was a tough time, but we were able to do it. God brought us through it.

    Please know my sweet friend that you will all be in my prayers.

    All my Love & Prayers,
    Ronda

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  9. You're welcome! Just follow her links for lots of inspiring information!

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