Frugal For Real

Hi friends. If you followed along for any length of time, you will know that I have always tried to be frugal. I've always been worried about money, even when there was enough money, there still wasn't enough money. Even when there was a 'dual income' money flew out the window. I often wondered where it went and why there never was enough. I've been on this financial journey for a long time and I'm no closer to figuring it out then I was last year, the year before, or 20 years before that. But. I did want to talk finances. It's such an important part of our everyday lives, no matter where we are on our journey.

My journey with being frugal started a long time ago. I'm not always the best at it. In fact, I have only recently became very frugal but that was more out of necessity than want. When my marriage broke up, I was promised a lot of things, but none of them ever came to fruition. So I've been on my own since October of 2021. I've been trying to get a foothold on my finances. I've worked multiple jobs for a very long time. I've always hustled. I've always made sure I contributed to the household somehow. My ex husband didn't believe in me staying home. So I worked. I worked outside the house. I worked inside the house. I kept our household running as smoothly as possible. I took on most of the household chores and tried to manage our finances as best I could. The one time I threw up my hands and said I couldn't do it and turned them over to the ex, he didn't pay the bills. So I took back over. In all the years that we were married, not one time did we ever sit down, go over finances and make goals or a budget. I was always told to 'just save money'. How and why were a total mystery. And when I started my business, I was told to 'make it successful' so we could move to our own place. Again. How I was to do that was totally up to me.

So. I'm no financial genius. I think I put up roadblocks in my head about it. But I don't have the time or resources to do that anymore. My financial situation has been dire, to say the least. I was offered a job and given a salary that would be very comfortable for me. The catch was that I needed to get my teaching certification in order to have that salary. And in order to get my teaching certification I would have to pay for it out of pocket. I would have to lay out almost $15,000 to do so. Oh. And they'll reimburse me for about $3,000 of that. Okay. I'll figure it out! I always do. It's long been a dream of mine to be a teacher! Consider it done.

Fast forward to this past September when I get called into the office and it was explained to me that 'so sorry but we can't really pay you that salary, but now you will have to start out at the level of a new teacher. Who is fresh out of college'. Umm. What?!?! How am I supposed to survive on that especially after I paid for school with money that I don't have. Oh. And they can't reimburse me for the classes that I took with a promise that they would reimburse me. Sigh. And when you become a teacher, you have the option of holding back money so you get a lump sum payment at the end of the school year. What they don't tell you is that the money you get in the meantime will put you below the poverty line. So paying your bills and saving money will be near impossible until June of the following year.

I told you this story for a couple of reasons. One. Always, always, always ask questions. Do not ever take anyone's word for anything. I never ask questions. Ever. I just go through life thinking that what people tell me is the truth. Friends. People lie. People you love and think....No believe....will never lie to you, like say your husband? They lie. They know what they're doing. They know that they have no intention of supporting you like they promised they would. People will make you an offer and it sounds great, but then they rescind that offer and you're left to pick up the pieces.

But what all of this has taught me is that I am capable. I am capable of making it. Of figuring it out. Of surviving. And that's what this post is really about. It's about being frugal. As a homesteader one tends to be frugal. I've always enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how I cut cost costs and expenses and save money. Or make more money. I want to share some ideas with you and tell you what I've been doing and what's working. And then hopefully you will share some tips with me! Let's help each other be frugal, but not cheap, homesteaders.

First up, I've gotten back to stockpiling. I don't need as big of a stockpile for the moment. It's just me but I do live with a roommate so I don't have as much space for a stockpile. But. I can still stockpile. That will help keep grocery expenses down. I find that I don't eat as much now that I've lost weight and freed myself from a very messy situation, but I do tend to 'graze' where I eat smaller meals throughout the day. So having food handy and things available to throw together a meal quickly is helpful. My overall goal would be to can a bunch of food this year and then only need to spend money on fresh things like dairy and some vegetables and fruit that I won't grow in either of my gardens (one garden being at camp and the other here on the farm). I've also decided to shop pretty much exclusively at Aldi's for things I need from the grocery store. I know exactly what I'm getting and I can buy a lot of organic items from there as well.

And it's worth noting that I am not eating as much meat as I used to. It's not something that I require in my diet on a regular basis. In fact, today I am making a butternut squash lasagna. YUM! I always tended to eat less meat and more veg/grain/fruit and now I can do that on a regular basis. And because this past year has been a lot of learning and finding myself and getting out of survival mode (more on that in another post), I am now relearning the things about the way I like to eat and live a healthy lifestyle. So stay tuned for more of those details.

Speaking of, I imagine that it won't be too much longer and I will be back to making most of my life from scratch. It's been hard this past year, like I said. My whole life was turned upside down and I've spent the better part of this past year-to-year-and-a-half figuring it out. But I love making things from scratch. So I will get back to that and start sharing those recipes and things with you.

As for more frugal living. I don't go out as much any more. I can't afford it. But it was never really high on my list. I'm more of a game night at home or at a friend's house rather than go sit at a bar and drink. I was just at a friend's house this past weekend playing cards! I don't mind meeting up at a coffee shop or seeing a movie, but that stuff does get expensive. I met up with another friend for breakfast this past week and we talked about all the possibilities of things that we can do that doesn't cost any money-hiking, taking the back roads for pictures, taking a picnic lunch with us and finding a spot on the side of the road. I carry a blanket in my car all the time. I do need to stock my car with some other essentials, but that's a post for a different time.

I have long been a fan of cash spending. It helps me keep track of how much money I have to spend on each category (food, supplies, gas, dog food, etc). I've also kept track of what I've been spending in an excel spreadsheet. It's nothing fancy but just the categories that I tend to spend money in and then I tally them up at the end of the month to see how I'm doing. And, of course, I'm on the lookout for extra funding opportunities. As I said above, I've always hustled. I've never been this poor before...living from pay check to pay check with no money in between. And not knowing how I'm going to pay my bills. But. I will do it. I've always survived. I've always managed. And I've always grown into a better person because of these challenges.

Other things that I'm doing in order to be more frugal: using what I have; making do with what I have; trying to learn how to work on my car, doing simple repairs; freezing leftovers both food that I've made and any leftover dairy items or anything that can be frozen, really. My friend and I were just talking about this today and she's inspired me to really challenge myself in this department!

How do you manage your budget? And great frugal living tips for me and everyone else?

'til next time
-k
xoxo