What Began With A Lost Wallet

Organization, thriftiness, and running a household...among other things.  That was where my focus was when I started this blog.  Now, six years later, it is apparent to me that those "other things" have taken precedence, both in our lives and on this blog.  I still love to organize, I'm still thrifty, and I never stop thinking about running this household (it's what I DO, after all!), but I'm thinking it's time to change things up just a bit.

My kids were 7, 7, 4, and 1 when this blogging adventure started.  We lived in a nice neighborhood, just inside city limits, in a brand-new house.  We were new to homeschooling, and we were still learning how to operate as a family of six.

A lot has changed in six years.

We will have two teenagers next week.  Their siblings are now 10 and 7.  We live out in the country, in an interesting 15-year-old log house, where the neighbors are kind of spread out.  We're in our 8th year of homeschooling (and it's only getting better and better!), and I no longer have to remember to count to four instead of three when we load kids up to go somewhere.  We do piano lessons and horseback riding instead of playdates.  We have a dog now.  And two cats.  And 12 chickens.  And-plum-trees-and-apple-trees-and-pear-trees-and-cherry-trees.  And a creek.  And a barn.  And acres and acres to mow.

I no longer organize to keep things out of toddler-reach, or figure the cost of diapers into the grocery bill each week.  The meaning of "running this household" has changed so drastically that I almost have to find new words to describe what I do.  Yes, my focus has most definitely changed.

Welcome to the new Neither Poverty Nor Riches!

For the Love of Eggs: Part 1

Have I ever shown you the chicken coop that's on our property?

Well, here it is from the outside,

and this is the inside.

Exciting, isn't it?

Under the current management it has not seen much use, but that's about to change...

8 Pens, 1 Notebook, and a Stack o' Books

When my favorite black pen died, I could have bought just one to replace it. Instead I bought the colorful 10-pack, even though I didn't need any of the colors for anything special.

The leather-bound notebook was a Christmas gift a few years ago. It was buried in a box because I could find no worthy purpose for it.

The stack of books I want to read soon...ah, the books! I never need a reason to buy another book.

(Disclaimer: It just so happens, however, that three of the books in this stack were purchased under the expenditure category of "preview for future school use". Just so you know.)

I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but those pens have finally found a use of their own and the notebook now has a purpose, all because of books like those.

I've started what some call a Commonplace Book, which is simply a collection of note-worthy quotes that I have copied from the books I read. I use a different color pen for each book, partly for easier reference, but mostly just because it's fun!

I've noticed two things about keeping a Commonplace Book. One is that I read more slowly and deliberately (a hard thing for a natural speed-reader!), and often re-read passages as well, because I don't want to miss anything worth writing down. I have also noticed that the books that I've chosen to read since I started my Commonplace Book have (for the most part) been more challenging and more thought-provoking than books I've chosen in the past.

Which leads me to make a confession: I have not made a lot of exceptional "literature" choices in the past few years. In fact, much of what I've read over the last decade can hardly be called literature at all! (I have called it many things: "fluff", "mindless", "just for fun", "a quick read"...and now, honest with myself at last, I'll call it "junk".)

But that's behind me now. I've turned over a new leaf...of notebook paper.

In the back of my Commonplace Book, I've started a list (color-coordinated to match my quotes from each book, of course!) of the books I have read in 2012. There's only one rule...no "junk" books allowed.

Some of them may be short and/or easy to read, some may be borrowed from the kids' bookshelves, and some may be challenging to read or perhaps simply thought-provoking, but I am determined that they will all, for whatever reason they are chosen, be worth reading.

Neglected, But Not Abandoned

I've kept saying to myself, "I should blog." And myself would answer, "What a great idea! Just wait until after you finish ______."

And just like that, a year went by.

So now, because I don't have enough to do feel guilty about neglecting my creation don't actually feel like doing anything that I should be doing, I have returned to the blog-o-sphere.

You can congratulate me later. (As in, you should wait to see if I can actually stick with it again for any length of time.)

A Lost Wallet

We didn't have much when we got married 12 years ago.  Our living room furniture was borrowed from a friend, and those last few days before each payday...well, you'd usually find us eating with my parents.  My favorite Bible verses in those early days were Proverbs 30:7-9:  "Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die:  Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.  Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'  Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."  My husband and I both worked full-time, didn't have kids, drove an old Honda, and rented a little duplex.  And we were happy and content!

Fast forward 12 years to where we are now.  We are now a single-income military family, and I homeschool our four kids (ages 7 and under).  We have two cars, and we own our own home.  We are still happy and content, but I have also learned a lot along the way!

I love to organize, and I am constantly going through our house de-cluttering and getting rid of things that we don't really need.  I also love to bargain shop, and I especially love the challenge of seeing how much I can shave off of the weekly grocery bill.  I thought I had a pretty good system going, until my husband lost his wallet a few weeks ago.  We had a limited amount of cash on hand while we waited for our credit and debit cards to be replaced, and I learned a lot more about being thrifty while we waited!

I read through a lot of blogs over the past few weeks, and collected quite a few ideas for saving money and living more simply.  Some I had already implemented in my own household, and some were new to me, but they all helped to inspire me to start this blog...my own little collection of money and time saving ideas.