Day 6 & 7 July 9-10

Today was all about planning and saving money. 

We are a one income family and thankfully fall into the income limit for WIC, or the federally funded Women's, infants, children's program here in Illinois. With Gavin and Gabe's special needs it allows is to save upwards of $500 a month on pediasure. So when I make a trip to walmart, once a month usually, it's a big one. A trip full with 2 carts of supplies, and all of our 16 desperate WIC coupons to use for the boys. 

Yesterday my sisters ended up coming with to help out. We ended up getting 114 bottles of pediasure, 4 gallons of milk, 2 loaves of bread, 2 large boxes of cereal, 2 things of juice, 1 peanut butter, 2 dozen eggs, asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, bananas, peaches, apples for free. That along with a few lunchtime odds and ends, pack of natural hotdogs, 2 things of ham lunch meat, trail mix, veggie straws, only set me back $12. 

Diaper duty 

Today was diaper day at my house. There is nothing more satisfying to a cloth diapering mama to see your diapers getting some sun on the line. The sun not only bleachs out unsightly stains but it also has antimocrobial properties killing bacteria and helping to sanitize the diapers. 

My routine for diapers is fairly simple. I run a regular load on hot/cold with no detergent. When it's complete I add some Plant Brand detergent and run it through again and then I line dry them. No fuss! My diapers have held up almost 3 years now with no issues. (Besides that dreaded wet bag I found after we moved that grew penis shaped mushrooms. The mushrooms literally ate holes in the diapers! Needless to say the tenticle mess was thrown out.) 

Garden time 

Ethan's first round of sunflowers are finally about double his size. The second set we planted last week have yet to make an appearance but it may have been too late in the season. 

Our mini pumpkins are also getting out of control! They have engulfed two tomato plants we had out on the side of the house but I'm afraid it's too late to transplant them. Next year they will have to find a new home. 

The rest of the garden is doing great! I am just waiting until the first set of corn is ready. The silk is starting to brown. The ears, which have been grown organicly like the rest of our garden, are a lot smaller then commercially grown corn. I can't wait until they're ready to be pulled out so I can make room for my fall garden and allow some more sun to hit my tomato and peppers. I learned my lesson this year that I should've planted my rows east to west instead of north to south so it wouldn't block out the sun to my shorter crops. 

The rest is getting there. My zucchini, squash, new corn, pumpkins, and beans are starting to get big enough to produce blossoms and fruit. 

My carrots are getting there and the new crop of lettuce has yet to make an appearance. 

My cucumbers are getting ready to eat my cherry tomatoes and jalapeños. There are about 100 cucumber blossoms getting ready to go so I'm sure they will be coming out within the month which will allow my peppers and tomatoes to get some more light. 

Next year I will surely be planning out my garden more efficiently and will be making it a little larger. 

 

Hopefully tonight this little mister stays in his bed because I'm not sure I can take another night on head in my ribs. 

Planning a yard sale for Saturday. More to come. Wish me luck! 

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365 to an Urban Honestead in a rental!

Today I'm going to embark on a challenge, 365 days of urban homesteading. I already dabble in a little bit of everything self sufficient but today I really felt like I needed to motivate myself. With three under three and a 7 year old, plus Tim and I being newly married, it is easy to become over whelmed.

Striving to become more self relient and living frugally is actually relaxing for me. Something about supplying food for my family with my own hands and spending as little of our minimal one income as I can is a joy. It helps us strive towards paying off our pretty big chunk of student loan debt and save up towards our dream of owning our own small working homestead.

So far in an effort to be more frugal, earth friendly, self sufficient and relient, we have implemented a ton of changes. A few include: 

-breast feeding 

-cloth diapering 

-making our own cleaners 

-meal planning 

-line drying 95% of the time except for rainy days 

-gardening

-canning 

-meal planning 

-buying in bulk

-ordering our meat from a butcher 

-using a budget 

-not buying disposable paper products

-switching to a feminine cup 

-seed saving 

-freezer cooking 

-planning and budgeting our gas use 

-buying and selling things on craigslist and through consignment 

-cutting our hair at home 

-finding free or cheap entertainment 

-limiting tv time to about an hour a day max for myself and the children  (besides dad who plays adult video games kids free after we have all gone to bed)

-never buying full price 

-accepting help from friends and family 

-bartering 

-minimally using our air conditioning unless it's over 80 degrees in the house. (Our twins have cerebral palsy and being confined to equiptment at high temperatures is extremely uncomfortable for them.)

-using freebie sites and sometimes couponing.

The next 365 days I am going to share little bits about our daily live and the ways we save. To educate and to give myself a little encouragement. There's nothing better then being able to actually see the fruits of your labor.

Frugal

Before I had my boys I never realized how much I supported consumerism in our economy. Every penny in my pocket went from hand to mouth, or back, or car. I lived a very one use life style and wasn't really raised to live very environmentally conscious. We had paper towels, Tide laundry soap, and plenty of toys. My mother was just very good at managing money, but never really shared the process with us. When I moved out on my own for the first time at 17 it wasn't so bad. I was working a job as a Switchboard Operator for a local hospital and made decent money. Enough to afford a fancy newer car, whatever food I felt like throwing in my cart, going on with my friends, and shopping for new clothes.

After I met Tim and became pregnant with Ethan, I quit my job as the Front Desk Manager of a local hotel. I was constantly on my feet, under appreciated, and just stressed. It was directly effecting my pregnancy and my baby was more important. Two weeks after my financial contribution ceased to exist, Tim was laid off. We now found ourselves just short of homeless with car payments close to default with a baby on the way no less! We sold our cars and actually ended up staying in one bedroom of a should have been condemned house with no functioning toilet or furnace. Talk about scary. We stayed in the master bedroom, ate as minimally as we could with me being pregnant, and prayed for Tim's unemployment to quickly arrive. We were in the house for almost 5 long months living like this. No A/C, pouring 5 gallon buckets down the back of the toilet just to flush, battling bugs and other "friends." We finally received Tim's unemployment and my tax return, by the grace of God, and were able to rent a small two bedroom apartment that was just a step up above where we were. Tim finally secured full time employment just shortly after I had Ethan, our first born together.

When Ethan was just four months old we found out we were pregnant with TWINS, non the less. After a very complicated pregnancy and a traumatic birth, we were blessed with Gavin and Gabe. Due to being born 10 weeks early after having Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome we were now faced with brain injuries, Cerebral Palsy, and a lifetime of complications to contend with. We will still only a one income, now special needs family, barely above the federal income poverty line. We were left to figure it out on our own. Thankfully Gavin and Gabe's Cerebral Palsy are qualifying diagnosis's for Social Security Disability, for without which we would severely struggle for me to stay at home with them. Not that staying home even with SSI allows us to not make sacrifices.

Last year our total family income for a family of 6 was just about 17,000 for the year. We rent a nice 3 bedroom home with a partial basement and nice big yard, own a 2005 Honda Odyssey Van, and a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon. We pretty much pay the bare essentials bill wise with no added extras; electric, water, gas, trash, rent, renters insurance, car insurance on both vehicles, gas, van payment, internet, netflix, cell phones.We spend about $70 a week on groceries to eat clean for our family of 6 but do get supplementation from WIC and friends and family enjoy feeding us as well. :)  We cloth diaper, thanks to gifts from friends and family and for BumGenius's Share the Love Program. We make our own cleaners and laundry detergent. I do not use paper towels. We use a shampoo bar to wash our hair as it is less wasteful then conventional liquid shampoo and its organic and free from all the synthetic and harsh chemicals. I also plan on writing a dedicated post to our house hold purchases monthly and cleaning supplies.

We are very blessed to have immediate family that understands the challenges of raising two special needs kids and a third with a diagnosed behavioral issue on less then 20,000 a year. We also receive some assistance with therapy co-pays and Assistive technology/ equipment from Illinois's Early Intervention program and Illinois Assistive Technology and United Cerebral Palsy for their wonderful lending libraries.

I am growing our first garden this year. It is about a 25-30ft by 15ft plot. I have spent about $60 on it so far between seeds, fencing, and starter plants this year. It has already paid its self off though. I have already harvested 30 bags of spinach, buttercrunch and romaine lettuce this year, an estimated retail value of $65. So if anything else produces in my garden I will have already made our money back. More posts of the garden to come as well.

This is just a little incite on how our family functions on a minimal income. We very much enjoy striving towards a self sufficient and debt free lifestyle. It is not for everyone. Less is More. I will write a dedicated post on how we feed our family of 6 on such a small budget, cloth diapering and our system of doing it, paying for special needs related purchases, gardening, and homemade cleaners soon!