Frugal Friday: Keep it simple!
Here are just a few ways we keep things simple at our home and save time, energy, and money:::We drink primarily water. Aside from my daily pot of tea and our occasional splurge on soda, coffee, or juice, we keep it simple by drinking water. Hey, it might be boring, but it's good for you! (We use this filter for all our drinking water.)
::We stick to simple meals. Our meals are usually two to four simple items (and most recipes have six ingredients or less) and most of our dinners can be made in 30 minutes or less. I enjoy cooking, but quick, simple, and nutritious is the name of the game for me right now. I cook up extras and freeze them whenever possible, use time-savers like the crockpot and bread machine, and am constantly on the lookout for new ways to streamline and be more efficient in the kitchen.
::We try to only have what we need and use. A few examples:
Clothes/Accessories - We each only have around 6-8 outfits and 2-3 pair of shoes per season. I only have two pair of earrings and wear pretty much the same make up and hair style for every occasion.While we certainly have much more than we truly need (I'm sure some in third world countries would think that our "simple" lifestyle is actually quite lavish!) and we definitely are not opposed to occasional budgeted splurges, we try to stick with the basics and keep things simple in order to be more efficient (less stuff takes less time to maintain and keep organized!) and save money (learning to live with less has saved us hundreds, if not thousands, over the years).
Toys - The girls each only have a few toys: Legos, a few dolls, a few stuffed animals, a play kitchen with dishes, and a trike and wagon. (I'm probably forgetting something, but that's about the extent of it.) We've found that they much prefer to help Mommy, play with pots and pans, read books, color, explore, or dig in the dirt to toys so we've paired down to only having the toys they use and play with on a regular basis.
Kitchen Appliances - There are all kinds of gizmos and gadgets out there, but most I've found unnecessary at this point in our lives. I have a few that I love and use: bread machine, wheat grinder, crock pot, blender, and juicer.
Cleaners - We use Basic H, Basic G, and baking soda for all of our cleaning. Because the Shaklee cleaners come in such concentrated form, one bottle has lasted us for over a year and we've not even used 1/3 of it!
Many of these ideas you may already be doing or they may not work at all for your family, but hopefully something might inspire you to eliminate needless clutter and stuff from your life. Less stuff really does free you up for more important things!
How do you save time, energy, and money at your home by keeping things simple? I'd love to hear your ideas!
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Labels: Frugal Friday
posted by Crystal Paine at 8:21 AM
24 Comments:
These are great tips! You are so right about other countries, when we lived in Panama it was amazing to see what a simple life really looked like. We are really blessed with abundance!
Toni
You guys have such a great start on life! I'm just now learning these things that you've already figured out. Way to Go!
Awesome tips!!
Thank you so much, its great that there are so many people focused on frugality. It is a beautiful way to live that I am just learning.
Great tips! I do a lot of these too. We've been drinking mostly just water for many years now, and I can't imagine it any other way. Getting off the soda habit is a huge gain in health and finances.
We've been decluttering our wardrobes and I've been considering how much to replace and how having fewer clothes feels. I actually think I like having fewer choices - less thinking. I'm being choosier in terms of color and fit too, which means I feel better in what I have.
Getting rid of debt has been a big simplifier for us too. Fewer payments means a lot less to worry about.
My most recent simplifying experiment is to reduce the frequency with which I do some tasks. For example, going through the mail; I really don't need to do it more than once a week, and it's more efficient that way.
Thanks as always for your great ideas!
Jennifer
It's nice to know there are like-minded people out there!
Crystal, I think that kind of simplicity is not only frugal, it's God-honoring. Thank you for sharing your family's commitment.
I assume, with the size family you have, as well as friends, that you get plenty of toys as gifts for the girls. I'm wondering how you handle that. I never feel comfortable getting rid of gifts from grandparents or friends who might come back to visit (and notice the missing toys), but we just don't have the room, nor the need, for all we're given. Do you just declutter it, anyhow, and if you do, how do you explain to the giver? Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks. I love Basic G and H. I think I am going to go through them faster than you though. Even making them as directed I am going through it fast. I guess I just clean a lot. Cooking with simple, and few ingredients is something I struggle with. I love to cook and find it relaxing. And my husband gets tired of the same things. We like to much variety but few ingredients make it much easier and cheaper.
Lynn: I clean quite a bit, too, and let Kathrynne spray it all she likes when she is cleaning so we usually go through a bottle of it every few weeks. It's just that 1/4 tsp. per bottle goes a very long way! We also don't have a large home or lots of people to mess it up. And hey, please don't feel like you need to cook like me. Do what works for you. Like I said, these are just things that work for *our* family. Different things will work for yours. :)
Daybreaking: We usually ask for consumable gifts (fun snacks, stickers, coloring books, etc.), clothes, or books. We also ask that they keep it simple. So far, it's worked pretty well. Another idea is to ask grandparents to do something with the child--take them on a special outing, etc. as their gift.
Perhaps some others here have some ideas regarding this.
The issue of simplifying clothes is one that I've been thinking about lately. I feel that it would be simpler to have less clothes- less to keep clean, to sort and orgnaize (ie. children's clothes of different sizes), less to store, less to choose from, etc.
However, since many of our kids clothes are hand-me-downs or gifts from others, we end up with such a surplus, and my husband is hesitant to get rid of them since we hope to have a large family. He just can't see getting rid of perfectly good clothing, rather than storing it. I definitely see the wisdom in his perspective, though I do wonder if it would be easier to manage if we downsized quite a bit.
As for getting gifts from family in the area of toys, that is a major struggle for us! We are constantly receiving extra toys, and often large ones. I try to mention clothes, or other more practical things for the kids, or wooden, heirloom quality toys instead, but I am often disregarded in my requests.
I would really appreciate knowing how other families deal with that, as I also feel really bad about getting rid of things that were gifts, esp. from family.
these are great ideas! I especially love the one about having few toys, when I have children I'm going to simplify and do this! You really don't need 1000 toys!
Alex
Stephanie, I know exactly what you mean both with the clothes and toys. We have 5 kids and I will tell you that the last girl was a blessed suprize. :) But we had gotten rid of a lot of our clothes (both maturnity and baby girl) and I ended up having go get some things that if we had kept our old stuff I would not have had to buy. I would encourage you to hand them down to someone who can use them while you are not... with the understanding that you may need them back if you have another child. That way they are not just sitting in a box, someone else is being blessed by your kindness and you will get most of it back when the time comes. :) It's a win - win. As far as the toys go so far I just get rid of things. We've never been asked by a family member about it. We have a very small home and I just can afford the room for things that the kids don't use on a regular basis. If it is grandparents and they live near by, ask to keep a box of toys at their house for the kids to play with while visiting. Or this summer we are going to start going through on a monthly basis and each child is going to have to pick something out to donate. I am excited to see how God will direct their little hearts in the area of giving. Oh, and we never keep anything that is broken. I don't know if any of this helped, I am no expert, but I pray the Lord will use it somehow.
My kids love to go out to eat and therefore I've asked our parents to get them gift certificates to local restaurants for holidays. It works prety well - except for Christmas when my living room still looks like a Toys R Us showroom!
Thanks for the Shaklee information! I didn't know it was concentrated. That makes a lot more sense.
Have a great weekend Crystal.
:)
Liz,
What a GREAT idea with the gift certificates to local restaurants!!
This just may be the answer to my overflowing toy closet (due to gifts) and prayers. Thank you!
Rebekah
Hi Crysal, I didn't mean to imply you didn't clean much when I commented how fast I went through the Basic G and H. My house has several bathrooms, my kids are older, so messier in the baths, and we live in the country, which means extra dirt.I do love the products. And I think it will be much cheaper to use. And it is nice to only have a few bottles in my cleaning cupboard.
Those are great suggestions, thanks Stephanie!
Oops... I accidentally linked to my homepage! I'm sorry! Here's the post link:
http://soundproofroom.blogspot.com/2008/05/may-grocery-spending.html
I have been looking for ways to simplify for years. After moving into a bigger house, with more floors needing mopped daily (LOTS of kids), I realized that we could go broke buying swiffer wet and dry pads (for Wet Jet) and the Swiffer solution that only fits in their mops. I was using a whole container of pads a week. So I threw out my Swiffer and bought a Black and Decker mop. You can mix your own solution in the bottle they provide using whatever cleaner you prefer. My favorite idea was to use CLOTH DIAPERS instead of special pads on the mop. They hook right onto the Black and Decker mop easily and work great. They hold more water and dirt, and are stronger than store bought pads. I throw them right in the washer with my laundry!!!! Now since I get my cleaning products free at CVS, mopping my floors costs me NOTHING!!!
Hi Crystal! Have you ever shared your menus? I'm looking for new ideas. I especially am trying to come up with meals with fewer ingredients!
I love your tips...I'm also very impressed that you've managed to limit your kids toys. Mine have way too much and about 90% of it are gifts. People in my area go way overboard for birthdays and Christmas.
Have you asked people not to give so much, do you give items away, or is that just not the culture in your circle of friends and family? wafsw
Yikes! I just saw you answered a very similar question, Crystal - no need to do it twice! Thanks.
Crystal,
What is Basic G? After yours and Catherie's recommendations on Basic H, I just received my order from Shaklee and love it! But I cannot find a product on their website listed as Basic G.
Thanks!
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