Simple Life: Frugal Living

Frugal Living
What exactly is frugal living? Well, to be frugal is to be thrifty or sparing. To me, frugal living is simple living. A huge factor in frugal living is debt and spending. As a child, I was taught that if you owe money to someone, you are their slave. Think this sounds radical? Well, it is true. Debt makes you a slave to your debtor. Your choices in life are closely connected to your debt. Just ask anyone in a dead-end job that can't afford to leave it. There isn't much freedom or joy in knowing you owe so much, you can't afford to live the life you want. Frugal living is the embodiment of sound country wisdom.

Home/Vehicle Ownership
 My grandmother always told me that the best thing anyone could do was to own their own home. Home ownership means no rent payments, no house payments=less month to month worry. What about vehicles? Well, ownership, again is the way to go. My family has two older model, PAID FOR vehicles. When I say 'paid for', I mean paid, in cash, at the time of purchase. Many people try to tell us a small payment is just as good but I don't believe it. The money that would go to a payment (even a small one) does my family far more good sitting in the bank-rather than a car dealer's pocket. This way, if our 'paid for' vehicle dies or needs costly repair, we just simply purchase another one.

Budget
Yep-It really is a must for anyone wanting to live a frugal, simple life. It's amazing how much money you find you actually have when you sit down and write down the amount brought in AND how much goes out. It's shocking, even! When my husband and I, first started creating a budget, we were completely blown away at how much money we wasted from paycheck to paycheck. We learned that priorities need to be made. Therefore, the key to any good budget is including all real debts (no, I'll skip this payment so I can get my hair done) and reasonable expenses. It is not reasonable to count on spending only 50 dollars on groceries with a house full of teenagers--unless of course, you grow a far bigger garden than I do-even then it's not advisable. Another big thing to remember in a budget is to allow room for the unexpected. Don't have every penny allocated for something. Always have an 'Extra' fund-in addition to your savings. As far a credit cards, charge cards, store cards, and the like are concerned...PAY THEM OFF AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Never make the minimal payments: even if you can only afford to pay, say $5 extra-pay it! The goal of good budget is to get you out of debt, as soon as possible and ensure you can afford the things you need and want. So, with that in mind, I'll say one last thing about a budget. A budget will never help you if you don't stick with it or if you are constantly adding more debt.

Spending Habits
Anyone living a frugal life will tell you that it changes the way you shop. To begin with, a frugal person always asks themselves these key questions: Do I really need it? Can I make it? Can I reuse or remake something I already have? Can I find it on sale? Can I purchase it used? These simple questions can prevent costly mistakes and waste. Another habit of frugal spenders is the use of advertised sales, store mark-downs,  coupons. My own personal frugal favorite is frequenting Habitat for Humanity stores, salvage warehouses, flea markets, Goodwill stores, and local farmer's markets. Savings abound in such places!

Food
I am always shocked at the amount of our income spent on food. Food! I have personally known people that spent 40-50% of their salaries on eating; most often on just eating out. This is,clearly, not a frugal life. So, how to eat according to a frugal life? One answer is eating seasonally. Just by eating what is abundant locally, in season, can save money...with the added bonus of being fresh and full of flavor. Another answer is to eat what is on sale. When I was growing up, I could always count on eating what was on sale at our local supermarket. A great tool to help with a food budget is to create a meal planner. A meal planner is simply a calender with 3 sections on each day for you to write down your daily meals.  When I write out my meal planner for the week, I always take stock of what I currently have, what is in my garden, what is on sale, & yes, what I can purchase at the farmer's market. Then, I write down meals using these ingredients. It sure does make for hassle free meal times and a lot less stress on myself!

The above are just a few bits of advice on frugal living. I, by no means, have 'it all-together' and I most certainly don't know it all :-)  I welcome your tips, frugal hints, and money saving advice. I look forward to hearing from you!

Simple Food: Green Tomato Salsa

If you are like myself, you eagerly await the taste of your own tomatoes. Like most things in life, the waiting seems to take forever. What to do in the meantime? Enjoy a few of your green tomatoes! One of my favorite things to do with green tomatoes (aside from making Fried Green Tomatoes) is to make Green Tomato Salsa. Here is my recipe:

Ginger's Green Tomato Salsa
* 1 cup diced green tomatoes
* 3-4 diced green onion spikes or about 5-6 chives
* 2-3 diced jalapeno or sweet banana peppers
* 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice
* about 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt

-Begin by washing and dicing all of your vegetables. In a small bowl, put in your tomatoes and then, sprinkle them with kosher salt. Mix well. Next, add your peppers and onions-mixing again. Now, sprinkle in your vinegar/lemon juice and blend well. This recipe makes 1 serving.
*I prefer to use the sweet banana peppers with lemon juice. However, using jalapenos and white vinegar works well, too!

Simple Home: Make Your Mark

 These days it seems as if everyone is out to define what good home design should look like. We are told what colors should go where and with what. We are told what is in and what is out. We turn the channel and suddenly, we find out that our lighting is outdated and really begs to be replaced. It can be a bit over the top at moments.
Whether new or not, your interiors should...well, LOOK LIKE YOU!  It all comes down to what you are drawn to, what your interests are, & what is your own personal style. Add to the mix, your phase of life--because that, too, is important.

Many years ago, I absolutely adored Blue Willow dishes. My entire dining room was filled with them & coordinating pieces: pillows, tablecloths, curtains, etc. However, at some point in time, I changed. Recently, I realized that I really didn't like my dining room. I didn't like it because it just wasn't me. I didn't feel comfortable in it. I'm sure you're not surprised to learn that because I didn't like it-I didn't find much reason to be in there: no special meals, no game night at the table--nothing! When I finally admitted that it no longer reflected myself (a hard thing because I don't like change), I was free to explore my possibilities.  I'm a much different person than I was 12 years ago (that's when I loved Blue Willow so much). I now crave simplicity and neutral, natural colors. I don't like the idea of filling my home with overpriced nick-knacks and collectibles. I enjoy items with a past, flea-market finds, and family treasures. My dining room now better reflects this. End result? I love to be in the dining room! And guess what? So does my family! I guess they were just waiting for to de-clutter and de-Willow this room. LOL! Sometimes simplicity in life means simplicity in our home: Do you need it?, Do you want it? Will you use it? If not, toss it out (as in donate to a worthy charity or sell it) and move on. Yep-it's just that simple!

Simple Food: In Praise of Herbs

An absolute must-have for every home is an herb garden! Why? An herb garden is a multi-faceted resource for any home. Herbs are wonderful in and as flower arrangements. Herbs can be used in all areas of cooking. They can be used in homemade, all-natural cleaning aids and let's not forget: herbs can be used to create one-of-a-kind gifts. Most herbs are very easy to grow. No room outdoors? No problem! Herbs make wonderful container gardens indoors or outdoors.  As you can see--I love herbs!

My First Love: Rosemary

The very first herb I ever grew was Rosemary. I had no prior 'herb experience' or any real gardening experience, for that matter, when I stumbled upon this little unpretentious gem. Oh, my joy, when I discovered that it truly is VERY hard to kill Rosemary. *A good thing, as I had a hard time keeping even cacti alive!*  I have since learned that Rosemary has many other virtues, outside of its strong survival instincts! I have used this herb in handmade soaps & hair rinse to the proverbial-Rosemary chicken. I must say, though, that my new favorite way to use this herbal dynamo is in Rosemary crackers. I found the below recipe at: chowhound.chow.com & it is so easy, it is ridiculous! Tasty too!

Rosemary Crackers

*2 cups flour
*1 tsp baking powder
*1 tsp salt
*2/3 cup warm water
*1/3 cup vegetable oil
*fresh rosemary (as little or as much as you'd like-I used about 4 Tsp)
--Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets (I used butter). Combine flour, baking powder, rosemary & salt. Stir in water, oil, & mix until a smooth dough forms. Halve dough & flatten to edges on each cookie sheet (I used a plain water glass to roll out very thinly). Cut/Score them on the sheets before baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Introducing...a bit of Ginger!

Hi! I'm Ginger. In my blog, I hope to encourage you to live a simple life. Life is full of moments--many of which are often overlooked. I want to celebrate them all! So, pull up a chair & join me, as I share my favorite recipes, how to projects, and personal stories!