Reprieve...

My beloved has been working "temporary jobs" with the military for 12+ years now. On October 1st, for the first time ever his "waiver" was denied (these temporary positions are suppose to have a 6 mo break in between each year of work and we have never been without orders?) He is in the National Guard and they have been able to get him 3 months of orders so he is currently employed until February...or he will be starting October 23. Thus our Reprieve. With today economy and unknown of what will happen during the election, it is not a good time to be unemployed. Needless to say we have been looking for more ways to cut our spending. We both tend to "impulse" buy items which can create problems, but we both know when to cut it out. And we have been doing a lot of cutting lately. Frugal things we already do:

*** I make our own laundry soap and cleaners. This has had an added benefit of fewer asthma attacks for my youngest.
*** The bountiful baskets save money as the weekly "delivery" not only saves me money up front, but often I end up with "leftover" fruit that I can or dehydrate. As I sit here typing this, my 3 are having a snack of apple chips. I find this saves time to as I don't have to run to stores to fill a list, and I find that we are eating more fruits and veggies (this limits the opportunity to impulse buy as well).
***Bountiful baskets also has extras (you have to watch the price tho') I have canned pineapple, jams, jellies, peaches, pears, apples plus some. I purchased a flat of strawberries, and made 2 dozen pints of strawberry jam. If I recall right it cost me about 1.20 per jar, and I know what is in it. I have enough canned jam that we won't have to buy that for at least a year.
***I limit the trips into town because of the cost of gas. Monday's for Co-op and Sundays for Church are a given. Often these are the only days we go into town. ***Meats, I purchase what I do buy at a local butcher shop which is less expensive than any other store in town. This has an added benefit of being locally grown. My beloved is a hunter and we pray he will fill his tags this year. This year is also the first time hunting for our oldest. He has an Elk tag and three deer tags. Prayerfully they will fill our freezers. (Hunting youth day starts tomorrow, then my beloved can start on Saturday.) *** To save processing fees, we butcher our own. Because I don't like waste, I even take the bones, roast them to make broth then can that. I am hoping to can about 1/2 of whatever the boys bring home. The only processing we will have done is to make pepperoni sticks which are a favorite here, but that will be IF all the other tags are filled.
***If I can make it at home, I do. I have tried homemade yogurt, but the kids wont eat it, but I often make our own bread and bread products.
***When I do buy something, I do look for sales, coupons and any other way I can save money (I take the "extra" money as change and keep it set aside as a rainy day fund)
***Last year I tried a garden, but it failed! Hopefully I will have better luck next year.
*** Rarely do I buy new clothes (however I have found that some stores have clothes on sale cheaper than our 2nd hand shops, so I watch for those sales). I take clothes that can no longer be repaired and use them for other purposes. (Ie rags, quilt scraps etc). I am also practicing knitting and crocheting, working to make more of our sweaters, socks etc. I have found that I can pick up enough yarn to make socks for pennies at 2nd hand stores.
***Always on the lookout for ways to save money. My Mother in law was clearing some space in her garage and she found some old canning jars, including some way olds lids (made from aluminum and glass) while I cannot use these for actual canning, I will use them for dry goods. Since we live amongst mice and bugs in the country, these are mouseproof! She also has another canner. I need to replace the gasket and guage, but now I have 2 pressure canners! whoo hoo. Total cost to bring the canner to working condition is about $20..I win! My beloved will continue to watch for things she may toss that are hand operated (aka no electric)
*** I homeschool 3, so I look for used curriculum whenever I can, I also look for curriculums that dont have expensive consumables that need to be purchased. For Math and Bible, the kids use SOS, I only have to buy these once then can use for all 3. We have been in a co-op and there are cost's involved with those that I would not normally have, but the kids love it so it is worth the trade.

SO, I have a long way to go to get where we want to be, but it is quite the journey to get things we need at the lowest cost we can. I want to put up a clothes line for laundry, however I will not give up my dryer yet as I love my blankets and towels dried in a dryer. I am already planning for and laying out garden (s) for next year. We are converting a 1/2 bathroom into a storage room for canning supplies, so I can continue to set aside "extras" when God provides.