Making Do...

Welcome! I'm Andi, a 30 year old house wife with 5 daughters whom I homeschool, and a husband who is the pastor of Sovereign Joy Christian Fellowship here in our town. Needless to say, like most folks, I have found that it behooves our family a great deal if I put some thought into how I run our home.

The Lord has seen fit to give us small means, therefore I believe that instead of pining for things that I don't have, I must strive to be a good steward of what I do have. Because of this, I am constantly seeking what things I can weed out of our lives, things that waste our time, energy, and money in their upkeep. Additionally, I am always looking for ways to cut back on our monthly spending. This has caused me to think more creatively when faced with a need.

I'm not talking about clipping coupons, and driving all over town to find the best deal on a jar of mayonaise. If you do this, more power to you! But I've tried that for a while, and it is extremely time and gas consuming, (not to mention I have to drag several small children around with me wherever I go!), and I've never been able to save more than $10 per trip to the store. Coupons are mainly for brand name items, I always buy store brand which is cheaper than brand name with a coupon. Also, the stores around here are not coupon friendly with double coupon days and such.

I'm also not talking about saving every plastic container, empty toilet paper roll, or twist tie that finds it's way into the house. I've tried that too, only to fill rooms with unused things that would be better suited for the recycle can. I do save some things that I use on a regular basis, like empty milk gallons that we fill with water and freeze for the rabbits so they don't perish in the heat of our 105 degree summers.

What I do is try to anticipate our family's needs and plan for them. Like our clothing issue. With 5 daughters, you can imagine that could quickly turn into a crisis! I've trained them from infants to be excited about hand-me-downs or thrift store clothing. That has gone a long way towards happiness here! I also go through their clothes when the seasons change (twice a year here, cold weather clothes, and hot weather clothes), and cull the stained and torn ones, then pack away the keepers for the next child to wear.

I also try to make gifts as opposed to buying them. I have to admit that I love needle arts! I enjoy embroidery, knitting, sewing and other such things. I am not terribly good at any one particular hobby because I tend to jump around from one thing to another, testing out what I can conceiveably do and what I can't. Some things work, and alas, many things don't! But at least I can say that I'm trying, and I do learn tremendously from my experiments.

So anyway, that is a long introduction to say that this blog really isn't about me, (thank Heavens!) it's just passing on what I learn from friends or experience, and hopefully with some encouragement to those who desperately need it!