Frugal....

....is my new middle name. We (sort of) figured out what is wrong with our van today. Brent spent a whole weekend not even a month ago fixing a part on our van to save us money, but unfortunately it wasn't the only problem it had and now it has to be replaced again along with other parts. All in all it will cost around $1400. We have spent the whole weekend and early week thinking and praying and trying to figure out what to do. It is so frustrating! We have decided to go ahead with the repairs and fix the van. There is no guarantee that it will fix everything b/c it could have a cracked something or other which would mean a new engine, so pray that they can fix it completely and that we will have NO repairs for at least a year!!!!! I can't even begin to explain how sick I am of having car problems. We would be so much better off financially w/out them. Having said that I am very thankful that car problems are the biggest worries on us right now. There are lots of people struggling with unemployment and the economy and health problems that I do want to make it clear that we are truly blessed. Its just one of those things that a person has to deal with in life.

We are going to have to come up with this $1400(and money for new tires) somehow. The cool thing about this is that I've seen many times God providing for us. I know with full confidence He will do it again. We want to remain as debt free as possible, and we still have to have our money for our part of the remodel, so I'm determined to reach an all new frugalness.

I think I do a pretty good job of being frugal. I buy 95% of the kids clothes at garage sales. The other 5% is either clearenced(b/c it is getting harder to find Hunter clothes in good condition at sales) or given/borrowed. I buy clothes for Brent and myself when I have good coupons at Kohl's.

For groceries(including toiletries) I stick pretty well to a $275 a month budget. I am going to try, however, to lower it to $200 a month until we are back on our feet. I shop sales for everything and plan out a month worth of meals at a time. I use coupons as much as possible. I try to have a breakfast for supper night once a week, a soup night once a week and we have homemade pizza every Friday. I make Callie her baby food and have definitely saved money that way.

We used Netflix and like it, but have cancelled that for now. We don't have cable but watch our favorite shows online.

We take advantage of the Pump Perks that our local grocery store offer. We've been able to save lots on gas that way.

I use Mypoints and have been able to get quite a few gift cards that way. (If you are interested in joining, leave me a comment and I'll send you a referral, I get points that way!) I've used them for birthday gifts, getting treats for Brent and myself and have funded outings with friends.

I really like the Pear Budget that we have set up. It is a very easy, user friendly way to keep track of your budget.

I think I'm going to resurrect my old cooking blog and am going to add a menu plan to the side of my blog. A relative just started doing that and its a great way to get ideas for new meals. I'll hopefully link any recipes to my cooking blog.

So, we'll get through this annoying car stuff and hopefully be even more disciplined with our money!