The Paschal Home
• Thursday, July 19, 2007 - The Stay-at-Home Budget (part 2)
| More ways I SAVE money by staying home.
1. gas - not having to drive back and forth to work everyday saves tons of money. Homeschooling does this also because if my kids went to the local public school, I would have to drive them. (The bus comes by at 6:30 in the morning and drops off at 5:00 in the evening. That's 3 hours a day on the bus!)
2. vehicle wear and tear - I drive a 2001 van and it JUST NOW crossed over 80,000 miles. I'm so proud of that! I am keeping the mileage down and that will make my vehicle last longer! Than means when it's paid off, it still has a few years of life left in it and I can enjoy a few years of NO CAR PAYMENT! We are actually upside down on my husband's car because he put miles on it much faster than we could pay it off. It's not worth now, what we still OWE on it.
3. I now have the time to MAKE stuff that I used to pay big bucks buying. Not just food but things like: candles, laundry soap and other cleaners, Slipcovers, throw pillows, curtains, book cases, so much more.
4. I have time to WORK on my budget and then STICK to it. Before I was always too busy or tired to actually sit down and look at our spending and hold us in check. And LOTS of time my inattention would cost of overdraft fees! at $35 a pop, those add up!
5. I actually have time to pay bills and they are ON TIME!
6. My garden saves us tons of money on food! And one day I hope to MAKE money from it!
7. I watch WAY less t.v. than I used to. I have found other things to entertian me. Gardening, cooking, sewing, scrapbooking, blogging....... I guess it's time I called that cable company and told them to close my account. (Will have to wait on hubby for that one.) We did cancel our Blockbuster membership because we just never had time to watch the movies they sent to us. We'd rather be doing other things than just sitting in front of the t.v.
8. I mentioned this before but I would like to elaborate. CLOTHES. I can get buy with so much less. I used to think I needed (and probably did with as little as I did laundry) at least 20 nice outfits! That's just the stuff for work. Now I can get by with about 5. Actually, what I am working on is getting my wardrobe down to 5-6 nice church outfits (Sunday Morning garb). 5-6 caual yet nice outfits (nice jeans and blouses for Wednesday night church, staff meetings, drama practices, shopping with gfs, small group, an occasional dinner out with hubby) and then about 5-6 around the house outfits ( I like soft stretchy fabric, not sweats though) I throw in a few work-out ensembles (yoga pants, tee shirt, sports bra) and 1-2 painting/slash yard work out fits and that's my whole wardrobe! It sounds like a lot, but it's not. Its all fits in a VERY small closet. Remember, the secret is make sure it all FITS you! And you LIKE it. It doesn't doesn't work if you have a closet full of SKINNY CLOTHES just in case, you know. Or clothes that you keep for sentimental reasons, but will NEVER wear. The ONLY sentimental item in my closet is my WEDDING DRESS. And even that I would sell if I thought I could get a good price for it. Maybe I'll check EBAY. (I was never crazy about the dress, just the man I married in it!)
9. My kids clothes. Now that I am doing laundry everyday, I realize my kids have WAY too many clothes. Most of these DO come from yardsales, and Re-sale shops. Or grandparents! So I didn't spend a bundle on them. But I am spending a bundle trying to STORE them. How much closet space should two little boys have? And shoes!! They have tons! The problem was we kept loosing one, and would have to go get more. We have all these lonely divorced shoes in our house. So I have been deep cleaning and finding all those lost shoes and re-uniting them! Digging through toy boxes, pulling furniture out from the walls and looking behind! We are finding all sorts of fun stuff! Now their little shoe racks are OVERFLOWING! Oh boy! I sat down and made a list of all the clothes that my boys will need this winter. It's very minimum. I have 4 big plastic boxes full of winter stuff right now in their sizes. That's too much. I don't have ROOM for all of that. Here's my list. (note: this is mine based on what I feel we need for our lifestyle. We do not have central heat so it gets cold in our house in the winter. Especially mornings, so we tend to wear warmer clothing in the morning and sometimes change into lighter when it warms up later in the day.)
FOR EACH BOY:
3 pairs good jeans
1 pair khaki slacks
1 pair navy slacks
1 pair dark green slacks (optional)
3-4 pair sweat type pants
5-6 nice church shirts (must match slacks)
5-6 long sleeved tee-shirts (for playing and around the house)
3-4 heavy sweat shirts (must match sweat pants)
6-10 pair of underwear (the younger need more since they have accidents)
8 pair white socks
2 pair navy socks
2 pair khaki socks
1 pair brown dress shoes
1 pair black dress shoes (if needed)
1 pair causal boot type shoe
1 pair tennies (for playing)
1 pair extra tennies (for when the first pair is covered in mud and has to be washed! It always happens)
1 light jacket
1 heavy coat
1 rain coat (optional, I just love them. My boys have firefighter rain coats that my mom bought them and they are too cute!)
1-2 tobaggans (one always gets lost or left behind)
1-2 pairs gloves (same as toboggan)
brown belt
black belt
houseshoes (A must in our cold house!)
2 pair fleece jammies (For really cold nights)
2 pair lighter jammies
1 pair thermals (just in case it snows or ices)
That's about it. Like I said, it fits us. My kids are PK's and need more dress clothes than most because they LIVE at church. And my house is colder than most so I need more heavy winter clothes. The list makes it LOOK like a lot, but when you start applying it, you realize how minimal it is. I can fit all of this in 1.5 big plastic tubs. One for clothes, and half another one for the coats and shoes. And it all fits in ONE wardrobe cabinet! Which is less furniture! Which means I can sell one and make some money! And have more space for say a sewing table?? hum....
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About Me
Here on the side of our little Arkansas mountain. Our family includes me, Allison, my husband Justin, my step daughters (14 yo twins) "Bert" and "Nic", our sons (6yo) "Si", and (3yo) "Roo". Next door are the in-laws Wendy and Dan. And between the two homes, we have 3 dogs and two gardens. We live next to a National Forrest so we see all sorts of wildlife. We love homeschooling, gardening, whole food cooking, quilting, crafting, and having bonfires!
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• Thursday, July 19, 2007 - Untitled Comment
I am enjoying having less clothing around. Right now, my son has two small desser drawers and maybe a dozen outfits. For us, that's more than enough!
I am trying to narrow down my own closet. Being pregnant does not help! I'm growing out of some things and into others and slowly eliminating certain styles as I grow more modest over time. But it will happen. :)
Blessings,
Ashley