Frugal Friday: Less is more - Part 3
Earlier in this series, we talked about staying home more and not window shopping and being content with what you have. Today I want to encourage you to not just be content with what you have and where you are, but to seek to make the most of your situation.
A lot of you know that my husband and I spent the first three and half years of our marriage (until the middle of last year!) with him in school and us living on a part-time income. We never went hungry and we always had a roof over our head and clothes to wear, but it was a very lean time.
During those years, we lived in a little basement apartment that only had four windows on one side. I could plug the vacuum cleaner into one outlet and vacuum the entire apartment without ever switching outlets. We only had one old vehicle almost the entire law school tenure and Jesse usually used it for transportation from work and school. We knew hardly anyone in town we lived in, in spite of many efforts to try and make friends, and there were really not any safe places I could walk to from our apartment.
It would have been easy to have been swallowed up in despair and I won't pretend there weren't moments when I felt sorry for myself or wished we could be living in a little better circumstances. Not one to wallow in self-pity and negativity, I quickly set out to try and make the most of the situation.
Maybe we didn't have money to go out, but I could come up with creative and free fun. We'd check out a movie from the library and have homemade pizza. Or, we'd brew some coffee and pop some popcorn and play a board game. Sometimes, we'd go to the park with a picnic. Or, we'd go to Barnes and Noble and browse their book selection.
We didn't have money to spend on decorating our home, but I still found ways to make it homey and inviting. I tried to always keep it clean and clutter-free. Even if it wasn't very pretty, at least it could smell nice and look clean! We tried to have music playing in the background and that always spruced up a rather bare home, too.
We couldn't afford fancy foods or restaurant meals, but that didn't mean we couldn't eat well. I had fun trying new recipes, searching out good deals, and stretching our grocery budget as far as possible. I discovered AllRecipes.com and enjoyed using their ingredient search feature to come up with new recipes to use what I already had on hand.
Instead of going out and buying things, I'd go to the library and check out a stack of books. Sometimes we'd check out CD's too, so we'd have new music to play in our home throughout the week.
It was also in this little basement apartment that this blog and our business was birthed. Had it not been for the free time and lack of friends, I would have never even considered pursuing blogging or had the time to learn everything about running an online business like I did.
Yes, it was a less-than-ideal situation, but I learned to love it. To love the simplicity of life. To love staying home.
The Lord has now moved us on to a much better situation, but I'll never forget the lessons I learned in that little basement apartment. And many of them will forever influence the person I am and the choices I make - for good!
As I wrote earlier this week to Bethany:
My biggest encouragement to you is to remember that a cheerful attitude can go a long way in less-than-ideal situations. You can either complain about the thorns or you can savor the roses which bloom in the midst of those thorns.Related: In a similar vein, here's a great post on making home the best place to be!
You can choose to joyfully accept your current abode and make it a welcoming haven, in spite of it's inadequacies. Or you can choose to steam over the lack of storage space and pine away yours days hoping to move into something better as soon as possible.
Choose to bloom where God plants you!
By the way, if you've not done so already, be sure to enter our giveaway this week!
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To join in Frugal Friday, leave your link to your frugal tip or post on something related to frugality below. Please link directly to your post. No business solicitations allowed. Duplicate posts will be deleted. And, remember the rules: Must be family-friendly. Please no posts on frugal Halloween ideas (email me privately if you have any questions on that one!). Thanks! I can't wait to read your tips!
posted by Crystal Paine at 12:07 AM
23 Comments:
Wow, I'm the first to comment?
So so true, how important it is to make home a place we love. And to just stay home and be content with what we have. This series has been wonderful and so very true. Thanks for yet another well-written insight, Crystal!
Thank you for this inspiring post, Crystal.
I've lived in less-than-perfect conditions for many years too, and spending those years fuming over lack of space and air in our apartment would have been such a shame!
Hello,
You are so right about just staying home more. Our society seems to be built around running to and fro. It makes me tired to even think about the running around so many do!
It is such a quiet peace, for George and I at least, to stay home and enjoy ourselves there. Nine times out of 10, we much prefer to be home rather than anywhere else.
Take Care,
Trixie
Thank you Crystal, I enjoy participating in Frugal Fridays!
I have to agree that making a house a home is very important! My post for today (my first FF submission!), is the first part of a series of sewing on a budget. Hopefully it contains some useful information!
Another thing I have learned is to make my home a peaceful haven so I do not desire to go out. A messy and disorganized home is not a fun place to be. Instead of spending money on "things" invest that money into adding pretty simple touches to your home, and you can do it through yard sales, thrift stores etc. If you cannot afford real flowers, find some nice fake ones to put in a pretty vase. A coat of paint in a soft inviting color can make a cold bare room inviting. Candles and pretty scents can also. A few throw pillows and a blanket draped over the couch can say "Come in and relax". Pretty sheets on the bed with a few fluffy pillows can make a tired bed set look beautiful. We never go away on vacation, because our home has become our haven and there is nowhere else we would rather be!
Crystal,
Thank you SO much for sharing this...for the contentment of home--even in direst of circumstances, is the true spirit of being a keeper at home.
We are just coming out of some of those lean times...and I would not trade the lessons I and my family have learned for the world!
And like you mentioned, there are so many things we learned (internet business, skin product business) out of necessity, that I'm so thankful for now.
It's hard to see what God is doing at times, but if we adopt a contented attitude, it becomes much easier to look back and say "Wow-He was teaching us so much!"
I'm so grateful for you, Crystal. We so oft compare ourselves(including degree of spiritual maturity) and our haves or have nots to the Jones family or others on a horizontal-comparison plane. When believers grasp that they have everything in Christ and evaluate in view of Him finding contentmentment in Him ~ there is little room left for other than being thankful in and for all things and His most gracious and merciful provisions we don't deserve in and of ourselves.
Yay! I've been keep this tip to myself for a while since I haven't been blogging - when I realized it was Friday I was so excited to post it! =)
Crystal,
As much as learning how to be frugal is so very important - so we can be wise women that bless our husbands no matter what our financial situation, so are the lessons in this series you are sharing (if not more important).
After living frugally for so much of my life, it has become natural & necessary for me to do so. Even though I strive for contentment & a cheerful attitude, this has been the hardest part at times. I am very much grateful for all that I do have in my life, but there are days I struggle. Thank you for the reminder! It is timely as I go out to do a little shopping today and need strength for myself this morning.
Great post. My husband and I have lived everywhere from a dorm room to housesitting in a five-bedroom house. And I've found the thing that changes the circumstances the most is not where or how I live, but my attitude. And a good attitude starts with being grateful for the things that you do have. God is so faithful to meet us, and the things that are less than perfect often become the very things we get the most benefit from in the long run.
oh to have a cheerful attitude always....I don't know about you but when I am going through the yucks I love it when the Lord puts someone in my path that has a fresh outlook on things...I pray that I may be that cheerful fresh outlook to someone else in return.
~simply stork~
Oh, boy, does attitude ever make a BIG difference! Control that, & you control the world (at least your own world). :-)
So true, Crystal! It is difficult to have a spirit of contentment at all times, but is an attitude I am continually working on. Our current home is small with little storage space but is truly the nicest house I have ever lived in and the first one to have central heat and air, which I consider a huge blessing! I was slightly amused when a friend told me a while back that she felt so sorry for us that we have such a tiny bathroom!!!! Yes, it is small...but I didn't think it was that bad! LOL!!! It all depends on what you're used to and your attitude.
Your cheerful attitude is why I keep coming back to this blog. :-)
-Zan
How, funny...I have almost the same post this week! I should have read your post before I linked!
Your post is so true! I linked to my recent post about plums... we had SO many I had to think of more ways to preserve them!!
Alexandrea
Crystal,
WOW what an encouragement this was to me. I think I shall print it and save it.
It's so neat to see how you stood by the stuff and made it through.
Faithful reader,
Phallin
I love Frugal Fridays!!!
Candy
Crystal,
I'm so glad you did decide to blog!
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
Sorry. This is my first time participating. I didn't leave a direct link to my article. I left a link to my site.
http://www.thriftymommy.com/frugal-friday-27-let-the-games-begin
Here's my frugal tip:
While I enjoy and appreciate the various email advertisements that I receive, they also *can* just be a temptation to go and browse when I don't need anything from a particular company just because stuff is "on sale."
In order to lessen the temptation to do this, I keep a separate email folder for "ads." When an ad arrives, I delete it immediately if I don't think I have any immediate use for it. If I think it *might* be useful, I pop it over into the ad folder.
That way it is there if I really end up needing that 20% off code (or whatever), but it is not staring me in the face every time I look in my inbox.
I have often found that ads I thought perhaps I would need and use, don't seem so necessary after a few days of sitting in that folder.
~Andrea
in OH
This series has really been an answer to prayer. I have been struggling with contentment lately and these posts have really given my spirit the lift that it has needed. Thank you so much for writing them.
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