Ways to Save Money to Stay Home
This post was written by a woman named Nunya who commented on my post Making It On One Income.
The biggest expense is the home. Don’t get a mortgage; don’t buy a large house. Buy a used mobile with cash if you can, fix it, live in it until you can afford to buy land, and then move your mobile onto the land until you can afford to build a home.
Use it up and go without. Don’t eat out. Grow your own veggies as much as you can. Trade. We use one cell phone, whomever leaves the house takes it. I ditched cable when it went up to $50 a month. Repair your clothes and re-sole your shoes/boots at a cobbler. Have chickens if you can – use eggs to feed other animals/pets and yourself. I mix scrambled eggs with canned cat food for my cat. It stretches the canned food (earthborn), is healthier, and an egg is a complete protein for them.
Don’t vaccinate; it causes health problems in all animals. Eat healthy without chemicals. We buy used clothes. Make things, sell on Etsy – every little bit helps. Take fewer car trips for supplies. Borrow items that you cannot afford (wheel barrow, chain saw, lawn mower, etc.) Cut back on electricity and don’t use air conditioning unless you MUST. Heat with wood.
Do it yourself (fix it or learn how; YouTube is a great source). Do your own oil changes and vehicle maintenance and build your own things. Cut back on gift giving, trust me, people understand – make gifts or buy small gifts. Housing and heating is where we save the most $$. We never go to the movies. Hiking is free, so are many other activities.
Kids don’t mind used toys. We buy used video games and movies. We homeschool; my kids don’t have cell phones and they are never bored because they HAVE CHORES to do. Go to the library; don’t buy books or magazines. Play cards/board games/play outside. Price check around before you buy anything major, if you cannot buy it used. We get second hand stuff from family too, especially for the kids. Strive for self-sufficiency; aim for how they did it in the 1800s!
Count your blessings. 🙂
Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.
Proverbs 13:11
17 thoughts on “Ways to Save Money to Stay Home”
I love this wonderful post! Kids aren’t bored because they have chores, wow, what a concept! They feel that they are part of something; they are contributing to their family. My husband grew up on a farm and when we were first married I thought it was so strange that whenever he acquired a tool or equipment of some kind, he would let our neighbors know in case they ever wanted to borrow it. We share a lot of things with our neighbors, and he has often helped fix things for our neighbors (and they’ve helped us) because that is how his farm community operated when he was growing up. Also, if you haven’t already, check out “The Cheapskate Gazette” books by Amy Daczyn. She and her husband raised a big family with a very frugal (and happy) lifestyle.
Yes! I rarely hear the teaching to avoid mortgages. To be fair Dave Ramsey says to avoid them but it is usually played down by the people giving the FPU classes. I love the idea given by Nunya.
I read all of Amy’s books and loved them! Yes, living in community and teaching children to work hard are a great way to live and sorely missing in many people’s lives today.
The Bible tells us to “owe no man anything” for ” the borrower is servant to the lender” so it’s best to get out of as much debt as possible and as quickly as possible!
Sadly M, I don’t think we can avoid having a mortgage! However, paying it off as soon as possible is the best thing to do. I am not sure how we can completely avoid having one!
Jilly???
Laine was able to pay off her home in Southern CA and so was Amy Dacyz in NY by living simply and frugally on their husband’s small salary!
http://lorialexander.blogspot.com/2014/04/50-ways-we-paid-off-her-house-with-one.html
I agree it is more than possible to do. I was just saying for most of us it is impossible to never have one in the beginning of married life!
Getting out of any debt is one of the most wises thing we can do! When my Darling retired we canned all our credit cards – we just felt that was wisdom. God always makes away for us to live His Word. I would rather go without many things than have everything and live on credit, I hate credit!
Jilly ? ? ?
Our previous house we sold it only owing $80 or$90,000 on it. However it was too small for our rapidly growing family the land wasn’t big enough for our young men to play and the house was in bad need of repair. So we sold it and moved to a bigger house in the country on 1.6 acres. Just the right size. Half of the house is paid off and it shouldn’t take long to pay off the rest! We do without a lot of things but it’ll be worth it in the end!
As a librarian, I agree with the library as a resource! Not only do we have books & books on CD but we also have magazines, newspapers, and free downloadable audiobooks & e-books. We have a free book & magazine swap station and free events for children, teens, & adults and always offer free food & drink. Many libraries also have DVDs.
In my town you either live in city limits and pay city taxes (which go towards the library) or outside city limits and DON’T pay city tax. For these residents there is a fee for a library card (it wouldn’t be fair to utilize books, internet, printers, magazine, programs, librarian salaries, air conditioning/heat, etc. if you weren’t paying taxes). The fee is $25 per year per family.
You wouldn’t believe how many people turn down a membership because “that’s too much.” You’re getting an infinite number of books & DVDs, as well as events and snacks, for every single person in your family, for a flat rate of $25. That’s a great deal! How many books can you get from Barnes & Noble for $25? How many movies can you see for $25? Maybe 1?
I understand being frugal and spending as little as possible, but to me, the library is something I would gladly pay to use.
My husband and I use cash back credit cards, so we earn money with our purchases! We treat our credit cards like cash- only using them for what we can afford. All our bills, gas, groceries, etc. go on the cards and they are paid in full every month. We’ve earned almost $500 in cash back over the years. I agree though, living on credit is a very unwise decision!
Love these posts as well! There are so many aspects to being a good “keeper at home.”
What should one do if the husband is the one with out of control credit card debt? This seems to be a huge problem for my dear husband… but he doesn’t want me to do anything or know anything about the balances. He just says that it is his problem to worry about. But I know how stressed out he is about it and that it has gotten out of hand.. and I worry about what will happen in the future or God forbid if something happens to him. I would love your advice Lori, as I just don’t know what my role in all of this is. He doesn’t like to discuss it. I just keep praying, but my husband is very private so I don’t have a wise and godly female friend or family member that I can ask.
I would of course start by saying pray about it. Then I would recommend Dave ramsey. He has you tube videos, an app and a radio show as well as several books. Do you have any other debts? Try being as frugal as you can with finances. Unfortunately not talking about it doesn’t fix it. But you can’t force him to talk about it either. It may just be a matter of pride and he is too upset and ashamed about his debt too talk about it. I get that. Try and manage any money or debts you are in control of or know about as best as you can. Pray about it, and let God do the rest. ?
Amy Dacycyxn of The Tightwad Gazette raised her family in rural Maine, not NY
Thank you, Diamond in the Rough. We did take the Dave Ramsey seminar several years ago, and unfortunately when we took it we were much better off financially. My husband at the time was at a very high stress job and working insane hours, but then that equals a very hefty salary. He realized that the job was not worth the stress and his health, so he switched to a job that was a little less than half the salary he was making, but we still had the same bills. We’ve really cut a lot of things out since then, but since it is still a struggle, now my husband has relied a lot on credit…and that quickly spun out of control. I have mentioned taking the Dave Ramsey class again since once a member, always a member…but he is not interested. Said that he wouldn’t be learning anything new.
That’s good to hear you’ve gone through a dave ramsey class!
Maybe he figures the debt is so large its impossible to pay off. Paying something is better than nothing at all. Getting in debt is easy, getting out of it is hard. Other than a rice-and-beans diet and praying for him to have a change of heart, the only other thing I can suggest is make sure he can trust you with your words and use of money. Never speak negatively of him, build him up, find a Godly, older woman if you can to be your prayer partner and titus 2 mentor. Create a place so your husband feels safe with letting you know his struggles with you. Make wise purchases or make do with what you have, repair items or borrow them. It will be tough for a while. But worth it in the end. Persevere. God will look after you. ??
As far as vaccinating animals, most states require rabies for cats and dogs. I suggest not skipping this, as you can end up with fines if you get caught… and potential legal trouble if said cat or dog bites someone.