Book Giveaway: The Money Saving Mom's Budget

I follow several homesteading and homemaking blogs, one of which is Keeper of the Home. Today's post is a book review of The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine. Stephanie (Keeper of the Home) will be giving away five copies of the book at the end of this week. Please visit her post if you're interested in winning one of these fabulous books.

Contentment in Frugal Living

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor." Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I am on a quest to live a frugal, self-sufficient lifestyle. I'm tired of living the rat-race life. I'm tired of the rampant materialism and consumerism and the discontentment that we, as Americans, are known for. Laurence Shames, in The Hunger for More, said, "More. If there's a single word that summarizes American hopes and obsessions, that's it. More success. More luxuries and gizmos. We live for more-for our next raise, our next house; and the things we have, however wonderful they are, tend to pale in comparison with the things we might still get." I'm tired of constantly wanting more and never being content with what I have.  I think the more we have, the more we want.

Hebrews 13:5-6 states, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" God has proven time and again that He will watch over us and sustain us. God provides us with the things He thinks are important. I need to make sure my desires line up with His desires. Contentment comes when I'm on the same page as God, when I'm trusting that He knows better than I do and that He has my back.

I'm taking part in the 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge at Frugally Sustainable. My prayer is that this challenge will open my eyes and cause me to appreciate the things I already have, while giving me the incentive to push towards a future life of "enough". I keep thinking of days gone by and how larger families were able to live in smaller houses. If you think back to the 50s, 60s and 70s, houses were much smaller, but the average family size was much larger. Why do we need 2000+ square feet for three people? The answer is that we have too much stuff garbage! One of my girlfriends raised two kids in a house that maybe measures 1200 square feet. How did she do it? She thought carefully about each and every item that came into her house and didn't buy stuff simply because it was cool or the latest thing.

As I prepare to move this time, (and who knows, it may be the last time) I want to make sure we aren't buying a large house with a huge mortgage just so we can buy more stuff. We already have too much stuff. My current house is 2200 square feet, but I think we can go smaller. I definitely don't think we need to go larger. As long as I have adequate storage space I should be okay as I have many things I'm saving for when my daughter moves out and when I (many years from now) have grand-children.

January Crafts

My daughter and the weather inadvertently decided on my first craft projects for this year. I will start out with hand warmers, move on to heating pads, and if time permits, grocery sacks. The hand warmers and heating pads are a current must. Samantha's hands were freezing when I picked her up at the barn today (it was 33 degrees) and my hands are constantly cold when I'm outside. The heating pads will be used to keep my feet toasty while sitting in my recliner or when I get into bed. And the grocery sacks, well, they're just cute. I'm tired of using my plain, ugly green ones from the Commissary.

I'll try to post pictures as I go, but here are some pictures from the tutorials I'll be using.

Cleaning Schedule

I think I finally figured out a workable cleaning schedule. I sat down this afternoon and got one hammered out that's broken up for each room of the house. I included things that need to get done every week and even things that only need done on a monthly basis (cleaning the ceiling fan, dusting my bathtub-I use it as a handy clothes rack, washing windowsills, etc).

I would like my daughter and I to work together roughly 30 minutes per day on our daily section, so this is how I have my house broken up.

Day 1-Kitchen
Day 2-Downstairs Bathroom, Foyer and Stairs
Day 3-Living Room, Dining Room, Office, Outside
Day 4-Master Bathroom and Daughter's Bathroom
Day 5-Bedrooms

I debated on assigning days of the week, but decided not to in case we end up skipping a day. With this system  we can simply pick up where we left off and are never behind. Saturday will be our day to do something from the monthly list in addition to whichever day we are on (if we skipped a day during the week).

I'll go ahead and break my days down for anyone who's interested.

Kitchen
Wipe down all cabinets;  Wipe out and sanitize microwave;  Clean stove inside and outside;  Flush drain with hot water;  Sanitize counters;  Vacuum and mop floor;  Clean out refrigerator;  Take out garbage and wipe cans

Downstairs Bathroom
Mirror;  Counters and sink;  Toilet;  Floor;  Dust door and window sill;  Wipe walls-monthly

Foyer/Stairs
Baseboards;  Dust doors, stairs and windowsill;  Sweep and mop floor; Wipe banister;  Clear away excess shoes;  Straighten coat closet

Living Room/Dining Room/Office
Dust;  Water plants;  Vacuum;  Baseboards-monthly;  Ceiling fan-monthly;  Polish table and chairs;  Clean sliding glass door

Outside
Sweep patio-front and back;  Wipe down front door;  Freshen plants;  Clear away clutter;  Wipe down back table

Master Bathroom
Mirror;  Counters and sink;  Toilet;  Floor;  Dust doors and window sill;  Shower-front of door and track (I clean the inside when I shower);  Empty garbage and wipe can;  Put clothes away;  Tub-monthly

Samantha's Bathroom
The same as mine, but she has a tub/shower that needs cleaning and no window

Bedrooms
Wash sheets;  Vacuum; Dust-including doors;  Wipe windowsills-monthly

Daily
Dishes;  Wipe counters and stove;  Fold blankets;  Declutter downstairs;  Check laundry as needed;  Remove kitchen garbage as needed;  Cat box

2012 Goals

I don't like New Year's Resolutions and never have. People make them every year, and I have even made them myself. I find it discouraging, though, that so many people, me included, fall away from the resolutions so quickly after the holidays are packed away and regular life returns. This year I'm going to do something different and set goals for every area of my life. I plan to come back mid-year and again at the end of the year to see how I did and modify, cross off, and hopefully rejoice in what I accomplished.

Faith-consistently spend time with God reading my Bible, doing Bible studies or reading Christian non-fiction, and praying throughout the day; learn to be content with what I have

Children-be in constant prayer for them;  instill a greater sense of responsibility in them; spend quality time with Samantha each day; consistently do a Bible study with Samantha

Husband-be in constant prayer for him; actively seek out ways to be a helpmeet; be more expressive in my love

Finances-find a new budget tracking program that works for us; stay within budget boundaries every month

Food-figure out the art of bread making (I would love to be able to consistently make yummy breads that everyone wants to eat); incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our diet; reduce the amount of bad carbs and sugar in our diet;  switch over to grass-fed beef, chicken and pork

Home-find a workable (for me) cleaning schedule; experiment with homemade cleaners; work on simplifying our belongings

Sewing/Crafts-work on at least one sewing or craft project per month in preparation for next Christmas and birthdays

Handywoman-become proficient with all of hubby's power tools; learn to be more self-reliant instead of relying on hubby to fix everything (he is going back out to sea so this is a must);

Garden-get raised beds made and hoop houses set up; get a compost bin made and compost started; make a gardening plan and actually remember to use it; get rain barrels made and some sort of irrigation system attached; research and find efficient and organic pest control; plant at least a winter crop (depending on when we are able to move into the new house); learn how to use a pressure canner and efficient ways of long-term storage for each crop; build a root cellar for potatoes, carrots, etc

Livestock-make at least one chicken tractor with run; make a brooding box to set up for new chicks; get connected in the local community for information and networking to market our products; get barn ready (or built) for horses and hay storage; prepare pastures so horses and other livestock can be primarily pastured; look into feasibility of owning a goat and marketability of goat milk and assorted products