Being Frugal Takes Some Creativity

Welcome back!

A frugal lifestyle, I aspire to it, but I don’t always accomplish it, after all not being frugal is much easier.  You don’t have to try as hard, you don’t have to pinch your pennies or count your actions.  Frugalness on the other hand I have learned takes some creativity.

Over the weekend we were running low on meats and proteins in the house, my husband thinks you have to have one or the other in a meal or it isn’t well a meal.  I had reserved a couple chicken breasts from a family pack I had purchased and I was determined to make them stretch. He kept saying, “I don’t know what you’re going to do with 2 chicken breasts to make them stretch.” Oh ye little faith!  I stretched those puppies and he loved it.  It involved pounding them thin, sauteing onions and bacon, need I say  more?

I have also been researching other “frugal” methods. I’m going to try my hand at some of them, such as “making my own laundry detergent”.  It actually seems pretty easy and I”m excited.  I also purchased myself some “dryer balls” this weekend, an alternative to dryer sheets.

What are your favorite frugal “creative” methods?

Menu Plan Monday – February 8

I haven’t done a Menu Plan Monday in quite some time, though I do enjoy them and I always menu plan so it should be an easy thing to keep up with.  Here’s my menu for this week.  By the way, I am starting to use E-Mealz.com to help with menu planning and to save some money as they are known to help you do both. 

This week’s menu:

1. Grilled salmon, wild rice, green beans.

2. Hamburger Steaks, cabbage, mashed potatoes.

3.  Chili dogs, fries

4.  Grilled chicken sandwiches, homemade fries.

I’ll likely add to this, as I shop on Wednesday’s and haven’t shopped for this week yet.  Plus, I’m using the new E-Mealz plan.  Excited about that.  Have you checked it out yet?  Dave Ramsey recommends it.

**This post contains affiliate links to E-mealz.  I receive a commission if you purchase a plan with E-mealz via this link.

Discontent or Discouraged?

I often struggle with this feeling of “somethings not right”. I am a “worrier” by nature and with bills and never enough money at the end of the month I often get into a tailspin about money. This can throw me into those times of “feeling discontent or discouraged”. I question which is the case.

I do not want to be “discontent”, because I realize that having contentment is what God wants for us, to be content with Him. The Bible says in 1 Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain.But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” Contentment is also mentioned in Hebrews, one of my beloved Scriptures I have often clung to:

“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.”

I don’t consider myself someone who is “not content” with what I have “materially”, but rather I am often discouraged about the way I am “performing”. Maybe it’s my perfectionism tendencies, maybe it is that I feel “out of control”, I’m not sure, but I know that God will “never leave me or forsake me”.

I stepped out on faith a few years ago and God has blessed my leap. I feel called to this “by faith lifestyle”, but that doesn’t make it easy. I don’t want to be guilty of “discontentment”, but am I really just “discouraged?”

An Honest Look

I have to be honest.  If there were any New Year’s Resolution that I needed to adopt, it would be to spend less time online.  Yes, I know I work from home and that involves being online quite a bit, but I know if I were honest with myself that if I spent 2-4 hrs of focused work time I could get way more done.  Also, I keep feeling God telling me, nudging me to re-prioritize and saying to me “Alyssa, put first things first.” Meaning put being a wife and mom before my work, which I must admit I don’t do all of the time because of the money. I worry about the money that I could be bringing in.

And, as we all know money involves work, so that’s when my work is put first, because money is what pays the bills.  Then, there is this belief and this knowledge deep inside of me that knows, money is not your provider, God is your provider dear child.  So, why can’t I just follow that and instead focus on my family, always?

In this new year this is my personal goal.  FOCUS on my FAMILY.  Focus on my home, my kids and my husband, not necessarily in that order.  This means I must keep my computer and work time down to 4 hours.  Any ideas how I can make this easier?  I’d love to hear from you!

Next Page »