Why You Should Use Cast Iron Pans

 

I know there are a million articles out there telling you why you should use cast iron to cook with and I'm about to give you another one.

My love affair with cast iron started when I read some articles about how awful the nonstick pans are for you. I can't tell you the amount of money we spent on what we 'thought' were high-quality pans just to have them scratched up and flaking junk off in our food within a year's time.

I am not saying that cooking with cast iron has been the easiest to learn, and we still have days when our food seems to stick when we don't want it to, but I believe that cast iron is worth it and here's why:


1. Cast iron will last your lifetime, your kid's lifetime, your grandkid's lifetime....should I go on?

You get the picture, right? When you invest in cast iron, you are investing in pans that will last your entire lifetime and into future generations. There are antique cast iron pans that people are still using today from the 1800's. I like to picture my great-granddaughter using my cast iron and talking about how this used to be her great-grandma's pan.

2. Cast iron saves you money.

If I added up the money we spent yearly on nonstick pans prior to using cast iron, I could have easily bought this set of cast irons pans about three times. In the name of self-sufficiency, it doesn't get better than never having to buy pans again.

3. There are actually health benefits when cooking your food in cast iron.

It's called cast IRON which means that cooking with it is going to add iron to your diet. I have a tendency to be borderline anemic and cooking with cast iron is a way to help with that condition. Many women who are still having monthly cycles can benefit from the extra iron provided by cast iron pans. But, the biggest reason to switch to cast iron is to get away from all the synthetic material and chemicals in other types of pans. Cast iron and stainless steel are what you should be using if you want to avoid toxins when cooking your food.

4. They are really easy to clean.

When I cook an egg in my small egg skillet, I usually clean it by just wiping it out with a towel. That helps to keep it seasoned so your food doesn't stick. If it has a lot of food stuck to it, I will put a small amount water in it and boil the water to get the food unstuck. I then season it really well again. We season all our pans with bacon grease that is strained and collected after cooking bacon.

This is my collection of cast iron. Some were purchased by me, some were purchased for me, and some were bought at garage sales. Finding them at garage sales for a reasonable price has become much harder because people want to call them antique and stick an outrageous price on them. Make sure you check on prices. A lot of times you will find a cheaper price on Amazon.

 



 

 

5. Cast iron can go from the stove to the oven.

 

You can use cast iron on your stovetop, in your oven, and even in an open fire. It doesn't get more versatile than that.

 

Taking care of your cast iron may take more time than using other pans, but to me the time is worth the effort. Many people give up on cast iron before they really get the pan good and seasoned. They don't understand the more you cook with it the more it becomes nonstick. Most of our pans are just like nonstick pans now because they have been used so many times.

 

 

These are my reasons for switching to cast iron. What are yours?

 



 

 

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It's Okay, Mama, To Try and Make Money for Your Family

This post is coming straight from my heart this morning. .

I want to talk about how I am learning that it's okay for me to try and make money and still stay home. For some reason, over the years, I have decided that trying to run a home business wasn't being fair to my family. If I was to try and do that, it would mean that they would be neglected. Oh how my mind has changed recently.

I am going to let you in on a little secret that I have experienced just by doing something different these past nine days. I have intentionally been getting up between 5:00-6:00 in the morning to make time for things that are important to me that I don't have time to do in my regular daily schedule of homeschooling, appointments, field trips, cooking, and taking care of my home responsibilities. It has been life changing. I started a course called Make Over Your Mornings by Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom and she has been coaching me through how to get my life more organized and how to fit in what I am passionate about.


Over the course of the last couple weeks, I have discovered that I am passionate about my oils. I have been passionate about my oils for a long time but I have never thought of actually turning that into a business that would help support my family. Y'all, these oils are changing peoples' lives and I don't mean by just making money from selling them. So I am not going to be afraid to tell people about my oils anymore. If I have something that I think can help you in an area of your life, I'm going to share it with you.

I am passionate about homesteading and learning the skills that are required for that lifestyle. That's why I started a blog. I want to help people to know that there are alternative ways of living and not being caught up in what the majority of society says is "normal." I want to hang on to our grandparents' ways of preserving, hunting, and making things from scratch.

I am passionate about writing and telling y'all what is going on in my life and giving you tips on things that I do to help me around here. That can be anything from getting out of debt, making homemade rolls, or what I use to mop my floors that doesn't contain nasty chemicals.

I am embracing my weirdness for the first time in my life. I am realizing that, perhaps, God has a mission for me and I can use the online world to point people to Him all while helping people to live a more sustainable, self-sufficient life. Do I have this whole homesteading, essential oil, homeschooling, hippie life figured out? Heck to the no! I am learning more everyday!

The point of all this is to say that, yes, I have ads on my blog (which I have struggled with in the past but not anymore), yes, I am going to tell you about essential oils, because I love them, and, yes, I use affiliate links on my Facebook Page to tell you about products I want or love. Yes, I am going to try and make money for my family from these links and ads and oils. We have goals and dreams to accomplish during this lifetime and so do you! How can we achieve those if we don't have money? Money isn't evil, it's a tool that should be used to God's glory. You shouldn't love it or hoard it, but you shouldn't be afraid of making it either.

I have learned that by being passionate about something and trying to earn money for my family while staying home makes me happier person. When I can wake up in the morning, get into God's word, and make time for things I am passionate about, I feel renewed and excited about facing the day. I feel like I have a purpose and a passion. Obviously, my first priorities in life have nothing to do with blogging, oils, or money. My first priorities are God, my family, and my responsibilities around the home. Crystal's course has taught me how to keep those things first and still have time to add on what makes my heart beat a little faster and what gets me excited.

So I am asking you give support to the mom who wants to add more income to her family and still wants to stay home with her children. Share our blog posts and Facebook pages. Tell others about our home businesses, whether it's oils, thirty-one, Pampered Chef, etc. Host parties in your homes for us and help us to get our business up and running. We are all more than just moms. Motherhood is such a privilege and I wouldn't change it for anything but I still want to have those passions that put a little bounce in my step and get me out of bed at 5:00 am.

~Jenn

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My Top 10 Favorite Blogs

I decided I wanted to share my favorite blogs with you all today. You will be able to tell shortly after glancing at my list that I have issues. My dear friends, we have known this for awhile now, haven't we? Let's just say that I like a variety of things.

So here are the top 10 blogs or websites that I visit almost daily.

1. The Small Things Blog

Kate is so funny and down to earth. She always makes me laugh in her YouTube videos and also gives me great information on how to use makeup and style my hair. As a former cosmetologist, I love this blog!

2. Stacy Makes Cents

I have followed Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents for as long as I have been following blogs. Her, and her husband, are debt free and try to give advice to others to help them escape the slavery of debt. I watch her almost daily on Periscope and boy does she cracks me up. I have learned how to make better bread and where to get a great looking wallet that's pretty and can keep my cash categories separate.

3. The Elliott Homestead


Shaye Elliott at The Elliott Homestead pretty much lives my dream life. If I had a genie who would grant me a wish, I would chose to live exactly as Shaye does. My husband likes to tease me and say that I don't have the first idea of what it's like to really have a farm and farm animals, but I'd sure like to give it a try! Shaye is down to earth and funny, yet serious and shares her faith regularly. She is also my up-line for my essential oil business!

4. The Unplugged Family

This is by far my favorite homeschooling blog and it has been for years. In fact, she is probably the only homeschooling blog that I visit almost daily. I love her method of teaching and she has really shown me how implement the Charlotte Mason method into our school day. She makes a choice to live against what society says you should do by not having television and choosing to celebrate biblical feasts instead of the commercialism of Christmas and other holidays.

5. The Crush With Lee and Tiffany

Lee and Tiffany are my favorite hunting couple. Glen and I love to watch their show and we buy the seasons as they come out since we don't have a satellite or cable hookup to watch them. They are very passionate about deer hunting. I am pretty sure my husband and Lee could be BFF with how obsessive they both are with deer hunting and food plots. I like Tiffany because she is passionate about hunting but is still very feminine, while being surrounded by a bunch of men.

6. Money Saving Mom

Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom is so motivating she exhaust me sometimes! She is very encouraging to those who want to start a business online and has a ton of good advice for how to keep your priorities straight and accomplish things during the day. I am going through her Make Over Your Mornings Challenge right now and I just pre-ordered her Money Making Mom book on Amazon.

7. The Prairie Homestead

Jill's blog was the very first homesteading blog I ever followed. I learned a ton from her and she sparked my desire to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. She has so many homemade recipes on her blog and is such a valuable resource for those who wish to learn about homesteading.

8. Molly Green

Molly Green is a great resource for those who desire the homesteading/homeschooling lifestyle. They also cover home keeping and home industry. Their magazine is pretty darn cool and you can even find articles from me in there! :) Their whole magazine and website pretty much sums up my whole lifestyle. I am a stay at home mom who wants to keep house well, homestead, homeschool, and earn some money while doing all this!

9. Whistle Pig Hollow

Something about Ashley's writing and her laid-back approach to life is appealing. I have reached out to her on several occasions for advice and she is always willing to help. She is so good about telling you when something she has tried is failing or has failed. But then she puts her big girl panties on and tries it again a different way until she succeeds. She is very motivating to me.

10. Homestead Blogger's Network

The Homestead Blogger's Network has been the most valuable thing for my blog. They are the most helpful, friendly, non-catty group out there. There are no quarrels or trying to one-up each other. There entire site is based on trying to help homestead bloggers get their blog posts and information out there to the public. They have been the ones that have helped me get my website up and showed me how to pin my posts on Pinterest, taught me about how to put social media icons on my website and much, much more. They have so many blogs they help promote that I can't even begin tell you all my favorite peeps on here so I will just direct you to their site and tell you that a lot of those blogs they promote are my online friends and you should follow them!

Well, there you go. I told you I was a mixed-up woman. I think I can sum it up by saying I am a woman who likes to be self-sufficient, frugal, homeschool, and hunt..... all while looking good! ;)

Hope your day is filled with what matters most to you and you keep striving to improve yourself on this journey.

~Jenn


Disclosure: In order for me to help support my family with my blogging, I may receive monetary compensation or other forms of compensation from product reviews, links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations. I appreciate your love and support as I try and earn some extra income so I can stay home and homeschool my son. Much love to you, ~Jenn

 

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Five Reasons to Start a Homestead

Why on earth would a person want to start a homestead during this day and age? I mean, come on, you can go right down the road and buy everything you need from Wal-Mart. So why make yourself work harder than necessary?

Our Homestead

 

When it's more convenient to just buy everything you need, and who really cares these days if you can make a loaf of bread from scratch, why start up a self-sufficient homestead?

Well I am about to give you five reasons why you should start one.

I started dreaming about having a homestead four years ago. We were living in a big, beautiful, brand new house I thought would make me happy, but something starting stirring deep in my soul and the excess of having a big house with a family of three really started to bother me. I felt like we were not being good stewards with our finances. I was slowly waking up to the reality of consumerism and it's affects on people and I wasn't willing to be just okay with that anymore. Not that I am perfect....I enjoy a $5 coffee every now and then too.

I have always been close to my grandparents and I love sitting and listening to them talk about their childhood. I'm fascinated with learning how they survived back then and how it was the norm to cook, bake, and harvest your own meat rather than buy it at a grocery store. I must say, big corporations and government assistance have made it very convenient for us to solely rely on them. I am not a prepper but I do believe that tragedy can, and will, strike again. It's a cycle that happens naturally throughout time. I often wonder what people will do when times get hard again? How will they feed their families from nature when they've never learned how to? We have entire generations being raised right now that don't even realize the meat they eat comes from a cow! It's ridiculous how far removed we are from our food sources and the reality of where they come from.

My grandpa and his homemade chicken coop.

 



 

 

Five Reasons to start a homestead NOW:

1. Your children need to learn how to provide for a family when times get bad.

You may not live to see this but they most likely will. Don't you want them to be able to care for your grandkids and survive? What's that saying again? "Give a man a fish and he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime." That's the mentality you need to have with your children. You want them to learn self-sufficiency by growing a garden, working hard, and hunting for meat.

2. Use what God has given you wisely.  

If all it takes is a little time and effort to bake a loaf of bread, make up some biscuits, and grind our own meat, that's what I want to do. Sure, the initial cost of some of the equipment for this stuff is high, but in the end it saves you a ton of money.

3. By being more self-sufficient and stretching your dollars, you can help others.  

If the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others as yourself  how you doing on that? Sometimes, loving others as yourself means providing physical things for them. I cannot provide for others if I am up to my eyeballs in debt and I am barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes providing for others may not come in financial ways but in the time it takes to bake or fix something for them. All skills you learn when you decide to start homesteading.

4. It's healthier for you.

Let's be honest, when I make a loaf of bread for my family there are about 4-5 ingredients in it. When I buy it from the store (which I still occasionally do...I'm not perfect by golly) it has numerous ingredients that I can't even pronounce. Have you ever tasted a tomato from the grocery store and then tasted one from a home-grown garden? Absolutely no comparison, my friends. A tomato from a garden is a delicacy that is sweet and juicy while a store tomato is flavorless and has a chemical treatment done to it so it ripens rapidly and looks red.

 

Harvesting the non-sprayed, non-GMO corn we grew this summer.

 



 

 

 Putting corn up for the winter months.
 

 

Fresh veggies from the garden.
 

 

 

 Canned tomatoes for the winter.
 

 

 

Making bread and hamburger buns.
 

 

 

5. If "You know what" hits the fan....we'll be okay.

I have full confidence in the abilities that we have acquired over the years and know we can survive quite awhile with these skills. It's empowering to know that you could survive off the meat you hunt and veggies you grow if you had to. Ma and Pa Ingalls, along with my grandparents, knew how to do all of this. I'm sure Caroline would have loved electricity and a washer and dryer....and I love mine. But I also love learning how to do without it if the need arises. I am not going off grid anytime soon because I don't want to, but I want to learn the required skills if it was to become necessary. Obviously, God is the ultimate provider for us when things get rough, but He gave us a brain and we ought to use it.

Honestly, a lot of the reason why people are not more self-sufficient these days is because of time issues and laziness. We don't have the time or the ambition. It's sad that society has fed us the lie that if we're not running around like crazy, consuming everything we can, working 2-3 jobs making money to pay for all our 'stuff', we aren't accomplishing anything. I may be a conspiracy theorist but the world sure has done a good job at making us not think for ourselves. I mean, if the TV wasn't there to tell us how to dress, think, feel, and act what would we do?

In closing, I want to encourage you to try something new. Make a loaf of bread, can some tomatoes from your garden or farmers market, or find someone to teach you to hunt. There are so many YouTube videos and resources out there to help you on this journey. Please know that I am not an expert and I'm learning things every day right along with you!

Some resources to get started on your homesteading journey:

Homemade: How-to Make Hundreds of Everyday Products Fast, Fresh, and More Naturally

The Backyard Homestead

The Encyclopedia of Country Living

The Ultimate Guide to Homesteading

There are many, many homesteading websites you can visit. I recommend checking out the Homestead Blogger's Network. Some of these bloggers have become personal friends of mine and they have lots of great resources for you.

I hope your day is filled dreaming about future homesteading goals like mine will be!

~Jenn

Disclosure: In order for me to help support my family with my blogging, I may receive monetary compensation or other forms of compensation from product reviews, links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations. I appreciate your love and support as I try and earn some extra income so I can stay home and homeschool my son. Much love to you, ~Jenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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Our Decision To Give Up Television

As a family, we recently made a decision that a lot of folks won't understand.

Four months ago we cancelled our satellite television. We now have no TV hook up in our house. No antenna, no cable, nothing. We still have the actual TV and we are still able to watch movies on DVD or play the Wii.

The decision to finally let go of television has been a long time coming. I mentioned to my husband a few years ago that it would be nice to have that extra monthly payment. I also know a few families in my life that do not have it and they just seemed more connected to one another. So, on our quest to simplify as a family in all areas of our lives, this seemed the like the next logical step.

Visit Molly Green to read the rest of the story and see what it's been like for us living without a TV!

Click here (Join Page)to become a member of Molly Green and enjoy all their resources that are available!

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Unplugging From TV

Little House on the Prairie, Saturday morning cartoons, Friday night videos, Schoolhouse rock....

Do you remember watching television as a child?

When I was a child in the 1980's we had only one television in our home. We often could be found watching classic Disney movies in the evenings and classic shows like Little House on the Prairie after school. I don't remember watching very many nightly sitcoms, and the only cartoons we watched besides our VHS Disney movies, were Saturday morning cartoons that lasted until noon. After Saturday morning cartoons, it was time to head outside and play with your siblings or the neighborhood kids.

It seems that television watching has drastically changed in the last thirty years. What used to be an occasional thing, has turned into televisions being on constantly in every home. Most households these days have a TV in every room of their home. Saturday morning cartoons have turned into Nickelodeon and Disney channels that give our children access to cartoons all day long, even in the middle of the night.

Along with our increased television watching, we have seen American obesity expand (literally) to an all time high. Child obesity is rising rapidly here in the United States with more and more children being diagnosed with preventable diseases. Children are often found sitting in front of a television versus running around outside with the neighbor kids.

In June of 2014 we decided that we were done paying for satellite television for two reasons: one - we started to see it as a waste of our time and money, and two - we wanted to be able to think for ourselves.

Having a television on all the time is like someone coming into your home and telling you how you should act, what should wear, what you should think, and what's cool and not cool. And don't get me started on the kid's cartoons these days. Seriously? Is there anything more annoying to watch or listen to? Talk about dumbing down our children. Oh, and what about how men are treated on the nightly sitcoms? They are portrayed as idiots who have to have woman there to tell them how to function. They have nightly shows on now that I would be embarrassed to watch with my grandparents in the same room as me. Not to mention, I don't want my son exposed to any of that at his age.

We have not had a connection to satellite television or an antenna for ten months now. When we first shut it off, I will admit that I did miss it. I was never one to get into the nightly shows but I did enjoy watching some reality shows...if you can even call them that. God spoke to me along time ago about watching some of the more controversial shows. I'm not judging those who do, it's just something I felt like I didn't need to be viewing in my own home. I don't even miss the television now. We have an antenna, and we have talked about hooking it up, but we just haven't done it and we are pretty content without it.

Here are seven benefits we have experienced from shutting off our satellite connection:

1. We go to bed early and get enough sleep.

We used to head to bed around nine-thirty or ten o'clock and now we are in bed at eight. That probably seems early to some of you all, but we get up at five and I haven't had to take a nap in months.

2. Our son has found new ways to occupy his time.

My son has always been a reader but after shutting the satellite off he starting devouring books. A trip to the library is the highlight of his week. He also started playing with his toys more and going outside to play. It's hard for an only child to really get into playing, since he only has himself, but he still has a great imagination and now he is using it even more.

3. The silence.

Can I get an 'amen' for silence. I used to hate silence, and sometimes I still do, but I am trying to embrace it because silence it's what makes you able to think and process things. My husband is big on silence. He doesn't even listen to the radio in the car. I am not quite that fond of it. I love to turn my music up in the car and rock out but I am learning to appreciate silence more.

4. We talk to each other.

We have had some of the deepest and best conversations in the evenings as we sit there with no television on. Communication has increased and we have each others full attention with no distractions (unless we are on our smartphones, but that's another topic for another post.)

5. We are more physically active.

We are going for walks more, and because of the added sleep, we have more energy to do more things during the day. I find myself cooking more from scratch and reading more books. I have had time to totally revamp and update my blog. Not to mention, more physical time in the *ahem* bedroom with an early bedtime, if you know what I mean. ;)

6. Our stress level is way down.

We just aren't as stressed as we used to be. Without the added noise and the nightly news telling us all a bunch of horror stories, we just are more relaxed.

7. We are getting school done.

I find that my son doesn't get up and turn the television on just to zone out and ignore me. I am not using the television as a babysitter anymore and we are actually getting our school and house work done.

8. It saves us money.

We were paying approximately $860 for satellite TV per year. I don't know about you, but I can think of about a hundred things I would rather do with that money than watch TV. Even the best movie or show in the world couldn't get me to pay that kind of money for it.

Overall, I would say not having television has only had positive affects on our family. We still do rent and watch movies on a weekly basis. It's always family friendly movies and the latest Disney movie that we rent. I would highly recommend trying this as an experiment for your family to see if you discover the same benefits that we have.

Do you have a cable or satellite connection? Let me know your reasons for having it or not having it.

Jenn

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Top Five Reasons For Buying or Building a Smaller Home

 

Have you ever considered downsizing your living space?

What if I told you there are a lot of benefits in making this decision? Imagine more time to do what you want and less time cleaning? How about getting out from under all that clutter you have accumulated? We did this two years ago and it was one of the best decisions we ever made!

In 1970 the average square footage of a house in America was 1400 square feet and in 2009 that had grown to 2700 square feet. It seems like Americans in the last year or so are finally catching on to the fact that consumer debt and bigger houses are not buying them happiness. After the housing market crash of 2007-2008, a lot people have decided to downsize and we are one of those families.

We started our life together in a ranch style, 1500 square foot, house we lived in from 1996-2011. When we moved to Kentucky in May of 2011, we purchased a beautiful, almost, brand new 2600 square foot house. After a year in this house, I was feeling unsettled and overwhelmed by the size of it. We are a one child family due to unexplained infertility and we were living in a four bedroom, two and a half bathroom home. It seemed excessive and a waste of our resources. I told my husband I wanted land and a smaller house. We found one hundred acres, put a down payment on it, and sold the house we were living in.


In May of 2012, we started building our little house in an existing tractor shed on the property we bought. I absolutely love my little home. It is approximately 1100 square feet with two bedrooms and one bathroom. We do have a tiny basement that is used as storage and a tornado shelter during storm season.

These are my top five reasons for downsizing your living space:

1. Lower monthly expenses.

Our monthly expenses have dropped drastically since living in our little house.

We decided to dig a well instead of pay for county water which eliminated a water bill.

Our electric is much cheaper with less lights and less space to heat.We installed mini-split units that both heat and cool our home. We have three of them, one in each bedroom, and one in the main area of the house. Plus, we installed a woodstove in our garage to blow hot air under our house to keeps pipes from freezing.

Insuring a smaller, less expensive, house is cheaper than a larger, more expensive home.

2. It takes you less time to clean a small house.

I used to spend so much time cleaning. I spent time cleaning rooms we never even used. It's amazing how a space that's not even used can collect so much dust! On average, it probably takes me a total of two hours to clean my entire house. That includes vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and cleaning the bathroom.

I don't know about you, but I could think of a million things I would rather be doing than cleaning. And this is coming from a person who likes to clean and organize.

3. You accumulate less clutter.

I have clutter phobia so this has never been a problem for me.

I used to decorate with more knick-knacks and pictures but now I keep it to a minimum. I do save some sentimental things, mostly from my son, but there are not very many. I just don't want to have to move five things out of my way to dust a surface.

You cannot collect things while living in a small space, unless you want to feel suffocated by it all. I am forced to clean out closets and drawers more frequently because we just don't have the room to keep buying things without getting rid of things.

4. You are literally forced to be closer as a family.

In a small house you cannot escape each other as easily. You are forced to spend time together because you have no other place to go! This is a good things, friends! There is a popular country song that says "Love grows best in little houses with few walls to separate" and I believe this to be true. I love how close we are as a family.

It forces you to go outside more. We may have a smaller house but we have one hundred acres to explore and roam around on. If you're getting on each other's nerves, just head outside.

5. The cost of building and financing is much less with a smaller house.

A rough guess estimate of how much it cost to build and furnish our house was less than $100,000. That was with doing the majority of the work ourselves. The house we previously lived in cost over twice that much. Most of the money in our mortgage now goes to pay for the land it sits on. The land is a much better investment than a house that deteriorates over time. We will be able to pay our mortgage off much quicker living in this house because our cost of living is much less.

Now, before you tell me that "You only have one child so it's easy to live in smaller space," I will tell you that my grandparents raised five children in a three bedroom home that is about the size of ours now. In fact, most people of that generation did, and the last time I checked my mom and her brothers and sisters all turned out fine. Besides, let's be honest with each other, the extra space in a house is usually just used as storage anyway. That's a pretty expensive storage unit to pay for if you ask me.

These are just a few of the reasons I love the choice we made to live in a smaller home. It has been well worth it for our family.

Jenn

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Striving For A Debt Free Life

My husband and I have been on a journey with our finances for awhile now. After we went through the big job loss scare at the beginning of 2013, we realized that things really needed to change. I am happy to say that we have paid off quite a bit of debt since then.

We even went down to one vehicle for about ten months. We recently have purchased a second vehicle that we had to borrow money for. I know the ideal situation is to pay cash for a vehicle and someday we will! Right now we are working toward paying it off as quickly as possible.

I have been researching ways to save money this week and I love that we do a lot of these already. Since I am the manager of our home when it comes to groceries, laundry, cleaning, etc., I started making a list of all the ways we save money and ways to continue to save money. There are a few of these I need to work on.... like menu planning! <------ my nemesis!

This is the list that I have so far on how to cut expenses in our home:


1. Menu plan -

I know it works. I know it saves money. I just have to do it. I would like to do it monthly, but even if I can start out weekly it would help.

2. Coupons -

I don't love couponing and I don't use a lot of coupons, but I know that there are coupons almost weekly for stuff like batteries, paper towels, toiler paper, etc. Even if it's only a twenty-five cent savings, you would have bought it anyway so why not use a coupon for it?

3. Price matching -

I have already been using a savings catcher app from Wal-Mart on my phone and have saved a little using that. I know I could save even more by taking the time to price match with local competitors.

4. Make your own laundry detergent and laundry products-

I have done this in the past but I have just not been happy with the detergent. I will be honest...I love the smell of laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. It just smells so clean. They are very expensive though and there are alternative things you can use. I watched a laundry detergent tutorial the other day where the woman made the liquid homemade detergent but then added a big bottle of store bought detergent to it. I am going to try this next to see how it works.

I am also going to try to start substituting vinegar for fabric softener and make a wool dryer ball for the dryer so I can skip the dryer sheets. I would love to have clothesline eventually. That may be a project for this spring.

5. Shop second hand -

I know some people have issues with this but I am not one of them. We live in a consumer driven, I have to have it all, and I have to have it right now society. I am completely happy taking advantage of someone's used clothes and other things they have no use for anymore.

I also love to garage sale and have found many treasures at them. Just this summer, I bought a dehydrator, immersion blender (which I used a ton during canning season), and deep dish cast iron pan all for under $10.

6. Make your own cleaning products -

I love castile soap and I use it a lot. I use it as our soap to wash our hands with by filling an empty soap foam container with 1/4 castile soap and the rest water. I squirt a bit in my mopping bucket along with some lavender and orange essential oils to mop my floors. It's much cheaper to do this than to buy hand soap and mopping solution.

For my bathroom cleaning I just use straight baking soda and vinegar. I have scrubbed my toilet with baking soda for years and it hasn't let me down yet. I put the baking soda in an old parmesan cheese container and sprinkle the toilet with that.

7. Cook from scratch and don't eat out -

I have been making our own bread for awhile now. We were still buying bread from the store but we are in the process of transitioning to all homemade bread. I have some other homemade bread products I would like to try and make - like hotdog buns, hamburger buns, and bagels. I also would like to try and make our own cream of mushroom soup mix since we tend to use a lot of that. I have come a long way with cooking from scratch and I aim to improve it even more.

Eating out is expensive! I don't think it's wrong to treat yourself occasionally but if you are in the habit of eating at fast food restaurants often, I would reconsider that. Not only is packing a lunch more healthy but it can save you a lot of money by doing it.

8. Beauty products -

I have been slowly using up some of my old beauty products and lotions and I am trying to transition into more natural stuff. Not only because of the chemicals but because of how much money you save. A nice bottle of lotion can cost you anywhere from six to eight dollars. I have been making my own body and face lotion for awhile now. I mix coconut oil, shea butter, and essential oils. I have even made it for a few friends as a gift. A large container of coconut oil purchased at Sam's Club will last a very long time. Plus it takes up less space in your bathroom if you limit the amount of products you own (I have clutter phobia as some of you know...).

I have been trying to grow my natural color out for years but I always end up coloring it. Last night I was looking up ombre hair on Pinterest (in my deer stand! LOL!). I can't make any promises that I will not color again but I sure would like to stop that habit. My hair dresser is very reasonable with her prices but a savings is a savings.

9. Can and preserve your own food -

This one was a huge one for us this summer and fall. We managed to can a lot of produce this year. We have canned tomatoes, applesauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickles, peaches, pears, jams, and all kinds of beans. We also have a freezer full of corn, squash, and venison. Sometimes it really stinks harvesting and canning when it feels like a hundred degrees out but as I sit in my little house with my shelves stocked, it feels so good!

My next preserving project is going to be homemade chicken broth. I have been saving chicken bones for awhile and I am anxious to do this. Broth is expensive!

10. Cut your out going expenses -

We cancelled our satellite TV this summer because the content on TV is not worth watching anymore and we just didn't want that extra payment. We do not own a home phone and only use our cell phones. We also canceled the exterminator this year since we couldn't really see where it was making a difference. Besides.... I'm just not sure about spraying all those chemicals around my house. We supplement our heating in the winter with a woodstove and the wood is free from our property. I also just applied for job to review homeschooling curriculum for free and blog about it. I am hoping to save some money and have fun trying new stuff with Evan.

These are some of the ways we are trying to save money in our home. How about you? Do you have any tips for us? We are in an aggressive mode to get debt free right now so any suggestions are helpful!

Jenn

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A One Vehicle Family

 

Three months ago we sold our second vehicle. We just couldn't see the sense (cents) in keeping it when it was under a loan and we were trying to eliminate debt. I stay home with Evan and I really wasn't going a lot of places because we are trying to save money and eliminate debt. It seemed like the right thing to do.

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