Our Frugal Journey

Sweet Caroline is about to turn 12 and there’s no denying she’s growing up. But you’d never know it by looking at the desk in her room.
The little roll-top with matching swivel chair was just fine and dandy when she was five. Its cute little cubbie holes were a fun place to display her “snow [...]

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We did it.
For 28 days, we lived in retail rebellion. No money exchanged hands. No credit or debit cards were swiped for discretionary spending of any type. We survived unscathed to tell about it.
Why, exactly, did we choose to do a No-Spend Challenge?
There are many reasons, really, the least of which was saving money.
That might [...]

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So what if I’m 19 days late. It’s still January, right? And I’ve got a bundle of resolutions for the not-so-new year and if I don’t blog about them, I don’t have a chance at succeeding. There’s just something about making a commitment in public before God and everybody (well, my small, but loyal, following of [...]

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A couple of weeks ago, I traded one jar of my homemade strawberry jam for a friend’s jar of honey from her hive of bees.
It was my first go-round in the world of bartering.
Jam for honey. Honey for jam. No cash traded hands, only satisfaction. A simple transaction.
It left me wanting more. More honey, yes. But [...]

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Lots of people bake bread, but fewer and fewer, I suspect, as times goes on. I’ve always viewed those select few among my circle of friends who bake bread as an elite group, carrying on a lost art.
I admit, I was envious. If they could bake bread, and knit or sew or perform some other lost art of [...]

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It’s December 2 so there’s no denying it. Like it or not, ready or not, Christmas is fast approaching.
If you’re a regular reader, you already know I’m trying hard to simplify our life — and that includes the way we celebrate Christmas. 
So when I happened upon this post by Jenn over at Frugal Upstate, I [...]

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This is the 10th and final week that I’ll be blogging about our purge of things we no longer want, need or love.
That’s not to say we don’t still have items tucked into drawers and squirreled away on shelves that need to be sent along their way to new homes where they will be used, loved and [...]

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For nine weeks now, I’ve been clearing out the clutter, diving into virtually every nook and cranny in the house. The vast majority of this week’s items I have either sold on craigslist or am preparing to do so. It’s always nice when you can organize your house and make a little money, too.
Here’s this week’s stuff [...]

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When my daughter’s thoughts turned to Halloween, I told her she could be whatever she wanted to be — as long as it didn’t cost anything.
Now that I’m reading that in print, it sounds more harsh than I intended it. Luckily, she didn’t take it that way. We immediately started discussing the possibilities.
I realize our zero-cost [...]

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I’m now in my fifth week of purging 10 things from our life in the pursuit of a simplified and more organized life. The amazing thing is that we just keep finding stuff. You may wonder how this purging of stuff relates to living a frugal life, but I think the two are completely interconnected.
Decluttering [...]

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