Frugal Living - Staying at Home

**Savin' Moola** · 01-03-2006, 04:46 PM

Hello,

To aid you in making the choice to stay home.. ck your libr. section for
books on frugal living.. there are usually many many choices.. read all you
can.. some ideas may seem over the top for your family.. but pick out those
that are doable and give it a try..
And a BIG Plus a libr. has movies for free .. books

for kids.. and free
story time and activities !! Free entertainment.

Track your spending .. little expenses add up !!
Find another stay at home mom and find out how she does it.. it may seem that
everyone else in the entire world has plenty of money .. but most don't .. they
make do and set priorities

I make my own cleaners & laundry soap.. it saves me a trip to the store ..
saves from buying extras , saves time and gas ..

I shop a lot at thrift stores.. certain ones have better quality clothes then
others ..and a few have great kitchen things .. shop often and shop around..
Make one trip a week to shop.. don't run out for just one thing !!

I would be happy to eml with you off line if you have any questions

I have been home full time for 7 years and part time for a total of 17 years !!
I have one grown , married dd .. one grandson.... one dd at home !

Lisa M

**Savin' Moola** · 01-03-2006, 04:46 PM

How wonderful that you are trying to do something new with your life. We were
forced into single family income status because of illness. Here is what I did
first. Assess your current bills. Do you really need all the bells and
whistles the phone company has you signed up for? Check your long distance
bills and call your carrier to see if they have cheaper plans. Do the same
thing for your cable company and the your utilities. Some times those
equalizer plans can be a god send if you live in a very hot climate or a very
cold one. Once you have your bills pared down to what you want, then you can
start on doing more make it yourself stuff and find less expensive ways to do
what you would like. If you take a good hard look at the budget101 website
you can find so many things that you can make yourself from simple easy to find
ingredients and you can stop buying bottled, boxes and overly processed foods.
Not only is it cheaper and easier, it's also a lot healthier.
And I found a great bonus to making your own bread by hand.... kneeding is
great stress reduction therapy!

Sheila
Phx

**Savin' Moola** · 01-03-2006, 04:47 PM

HI...I too am new to the list. I have been hanging back just listening to
others (and learning a lot). I have a goal to be a stay at home mom. We have
4 large bills we have been working towards paying off (1 auto, 3 credit
cards). I make the final pymt on the auto this month so I finally feel like
I'm getting somewhere. My goal date is by the time school starts as I also
hope to homeschool my oldest. My hubby is self employed so as many of you
probably are aware we will never know when we will have a paycheck, so I am
looking into ways to tighten up the ol' purse strings...just in case. Someone
mentioned making their own cleaning supplies...I'm interested in the recipes
and curious to know if the product is scented...just one of my little quirks,
but I don't feel like the house is clean unless I can "smell" it. Any helpful
suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dana