Good morning to all! I am busy getting my house back in order. Cale didn't quite finish everything but still has to hook up the sink, and run the electric wire for the new stove. Also finish a few walls in the hallway. Other than that everything is done. It turned out very nicely!

The appliances have been delivered, and the refigerator and freezer are great. I keep going over and opening them up just to look at them!!! Only trouble now is that I have no money to buy anything to put in them!!! LOL

Seriously though...I want you to all know that it is only by living a very frugal lifestyle that we could afford to buy these new things. We have been very conservative tightwads for many years (actually as long as we have been married) Money has never been an issue with us. Even though I tease about Cale spending money, he is just as conservative as I am. We do have to urge each other to spend money sometimes, and I guess that is how he is with me. While I would have kept using the old stove that had only 2 working burners (one only on high), he had to convince me that it was OK to spend a little for the new one.

I don't want people to get the impression that I don't live what I try to teach. Because by living very frugally we are able to always have money put back for emergencies or to spend on important things we want/need.

I think of all the people who eat out just 2-3 times a week spending $50 or more. If you just save these amounts you can buy some nice items for your home/homestead and have something of lasting value. So when it is something that will last or save us money in the long run we try to buy quality items.

Cindy- I was wondering how Melinda is doing? I have missed her on the forum and hope she is OK and the kids too.

It is a beautiful morning here in SE Ohio. I already have several loads of laundry hanging on the line. The rooster is really crowing up a storm this morning! He is up on the fence making quite a racket! I am going to clean all morning, hang my sheets on the line, and do taxes this afternoon. Have a great day!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 28, 2002

Answers

Melissa, True you can save money by not eating out. I know when we lived in the "big city" it was easy to go out. Lots of places, just around the corner. Now its 30 or more drive to a nice restraunt and movies. While it can cost a bit, I think its important for couples and families to get out once in a while. For the husband and wife, a "date" from time to time can help with a relationship, For the entire family it gets them away from the daily grind.

My wife and I have monthly dates, ocassionally twice a month. The big issue can be expense. We went out this last weekend for movie and dinner. Even at the matanee it was $5/seat, toss in a popcorn and a pop and your at $20 easily. We went to dinner afterwards, Nice little italian place. Dinner for two was another $30. We drove close to 130 miles so we had $6 in gas and $15 for a setter(actually pizza cost for kid, Grandma is free setter if were willing to drive to her).

Yes we could have been more frugal and went to a second run theater at $2/seat, skipped the popcorn and went to wendys for dinner and found someone closer to watch the kid, but my wife is worth the cost. I cant do it every night or ever week, but she deserves a change of pace.

As for frugal, yes saving your money for quality is my idea of frugal. This is one point of contention with my wife. She is a little impatient and wants it now with whatever money we have. She is getting better but it takes work.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 28, 2002.

I agree 100% Gary. You sound a lot like us, while it is nice to go out once in a while, some people do this every weekend or even 2 times a week. This can add up to a tremendous amount of money.

Yet some of these same people lament that they can't afford things like a house, a nice vehicle, new appliances etc... When if they really thought about how much they were spending little by little they would see that they really could afford some of these things.

I have also found that by limiting these types of excursions they become more of an event and are more exciting when you do get to go out.

Even when Cale and I were dating, we rarely went to movies and out to dinner. We would visit friends and family members (he had dozens of aunts and uncles, or we would stay at my house and visit with my family) go to church, we would hike, work-out, go for drives, and after the first year when we knew we were going to get married we would go cut logs for our house!!!

Other people I know who were dating the same time we were, and constantly went to movies and out to dinner 2-3 times a week, are mostly divorced or have had serious marriage trouble. I don't know if there is a direct correlation, but I think that they did not take the time to really know each other, or to find out if they had the same goals in mind.

Then when they got married and had to go on a budget and face real troubles they just did not have the strength in their realtionship to face these things. I tell my kids to see if they can work with someone before they marry!!!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 28, 2002.

Melissa, My stove is in the same shape as your old stove. Mine's 19 years old and it was used when I bought it. I guess it's gonna be time to retire the old girl. I'm gonna wait and see if any good stoves are to be had at estate auctions this spring. If not, I guess I'll have to break down and start visiting appliance departments. My brother got a $900 refrigerator last fall at an auction for $75! It was only a year old. Lucky guy, he was at the right place at the right time.

The problem I have with eating out is that it never tastes as good as what we make at home. Of course, I get a break from cooking, but these two fellas here can cook and give me a break. Or instead of eating in a restaurant, I prefer to invite friends and family and have a potluck. That way no one is overwhelmed with the cooking, the food is good, and of course I get to visit.

Isn't it a beautiful day for hanging laundry? The sheets and bath linens are blowing so nicely in the wind and the sun is shining so brightly. I just checked the backyard garden and the larkspurs, poppies, pansies, violas, and bachelor buttons are all sprouting. The daffodils are up a couple of inches. Just wait, Easter is early this year and it will probably be cold and snowy!

-- vicki in NW OH (thga76@aol.com), January 28, 2002.

True Vicki! I think I mentioned before that I think I can usually cook better than some of the restaurants I visit. I can't quite compare with Pizza Hut pizza though!!!!

I noticed daffodils also today. Hey, I have towels and sheets on the line too! Are you looking at my yard through binoculars?????

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 28, 2002.

Melissa-I'm glad you got your new things and I believe you do truly practice what you preach. It reminds me of the weekend just before I got married, one of my best friends from college came for the wedding. I had scrimped and saved for a long time, doing all kinds of tightwad things-some pretty extreame! Also, I had some money that people had given me as wedding gifts. Anyway, she went with me shopping and I bought several things for the wedding and also for our new apartment-things like towels and sheets and a new bedspread. She said "Gee, you spend money like it was water!"

-- Kelly (KY) (homearts2002@yahoo.com), January 28, 2002.

Today was absolutely gorgeous. I hung out clothes on the line (very UNnormal for January; a year ago there were 4-foot drifts under the clothesline). I also turned over all the hay in the chicken coop and showed Tom where I want their fenced-in yard to be. Chickens running loose have not endeared themselves to some of the children and Tom is tired of the little "presents" that get tracked in. Their yard will be big enough that it will almost be like free ranging. I plan to divide it into two sections so that half can grow again while the other half is getting scratched.

Going outside was so good for me. I've been shut up with an ongoing cold all last week. The fresh air really helped; I've determined to try to go out every day no matter how I feel, especially on sunny days. I was beginning to feel a bit depressed and worthless these last few weeks.

Tom informed me that I cannot have the baby in August; the midwives in Ottawa are booked for that month. We laughed over that. I said I didn't want a home birth anyway; our bedroom is too small. He said there are midwives in Hull he is going to check out. That is on the other side of the Ottawa River, in Quebec. If they can't take us, Tom says there's always the back of the van! It's nice to be jokey. I am starting to feel like I still have a life; I am not so sick any more. I am just REALLY thirsty for water.

I need to get off the computer. Some of the boys are playing Monopoly; Sarah is reading new library books; Abby is generally in the middle of things, terrorizing the game board, but now Tom is reading to her. He has a unique style of reading which the children find hilarious. He reads a little, then makes up his own parts, then reads some more, makes stuff up,.... He does the same with nursery rhymes. For instance: "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy said, 'I want to go to McDonald's.'"

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), January 28, 2002.

Hi, I grew up with one of the best tightwad, stingy, cheap, conservative, or whatever you want to call it Moms in the world. And I do mean this woman had the first nickel my Dad ever made and probably the last dime too. But there are some differences in being a tightwad and being downright cheap. Example: When I grew up I was riding my horse and the horse ran under a wire clothesline and broke my nose. No hospital, doctor, anything. We didn't have insurance but could afford many things (like a horse). But now I am paying the price for not having my nose fixed properly when I was a kid, with sinus infections, poor breathing, etc. On the other hand, we spent three months each summer on vacations all over the states. So what is frugal, what is cheap, what is stingy?

My hubby and I make a date at least once every two weeks. We go OUT, and I mean off the farm. We eat out, go to a movie, or go to the Big City and take in the sights. I can do without eating out everyday at work, and don't buy anything that looks like it even might need to be drycleaned. Yes I work and he stays on the farm, and we do splurge now and then. Last big splurge was a new window in the bathroom and my skylight installed that was purchased for my birthday two years before. But if we don't make time for each other, what's the point? Sometimes we do buy a steak, send the boychild to granny's and have our date at home.

I think that what one person would call frugal, another might call stingy, and another might call cheap.

I have done without a lot of things in order to have my farm, like having a "real" house that has "real" floors and walls. We probably all make sacrifices here and there to have what we want. Some folks work second jobs to have a nice car, some work second jobs to pay for private school, and some folks I know work second jobs to pay for their farm.

There's no reason to justify getting a new fridge or freezer to us - most of us have probably been in a similiar situation at least once. The point is that you're happy with what you've got. Even frugal people occasionally have to break down and buy something new, even if it about kills them to do it.

Have a nice week,

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), January 28, 2002.