My husband and I got married on August 16, 2003. We both had good full time jobs but it seemed like we were always saving money for something. We didn't have much in our home, so we had to save for appliances, decorations and all of that first time homeowner stuff.
After taking a couple of vacations, we decided to start a family. Our daughter was born on April 7, 2005. My husband felt that I should quit my job and become a stay at home mom. I didn't know how it would all work out or how we would pay our bills, but we did. On October 10, 2006 our son was born. I was nervous again about how we would ever pay all of our bills on one income. We went from a family of two with two incomes to a family of four with one in eighteen months.
Four weeks later we got devistating news. Our baby boy had multiple heart defects and needed three open heart surgeries to correct it all. The next year and a half were the hardest years financially and emotionally we'd ever had. We were devistated because of this terrible report we got and we couldn't afford to pay our bills. Our credit card limit kept going up because that was the only way we could put food on the table.
I would just sit and cry.
My husband and I are christians and had faith that God would bring us out of this. I knew that God was always faithful to me before. He always seemed to answer my prayers and provide all of my needs, but my faith was waivering. When your in the middle of the fire like that its hard sometimes to see the end.
After lots of prayer, God came threw, like always. All of our bills were paid in 2008 and our son had not had a single surgery thus far.
The funny part of this experience has been the fact that I thought we didn't have a lot of money before we had kids. Boy, was I wrong! If I knew then what I know now I would have stuck my whole paycheck in the bank.
I started researching frugal living and found an abundance of information on the internet. We didn't want to get back in to the same situation again, so this time we were going to change the way we lived.
After I started noticing our bills go down I decided to write a book for two of my friends for their Christmas presents. I also gave a copy to a few others and was told I should publish it to help others during these hard economic times. Instead, I decided to start this blog.
I have a simple but blessed life. It is the life I've always dreamt of. I'm a wife and a mother. It's all I could ever ask for.
My purpose for starting this blog is to help people learn how to live well within their means and get out of debt.
You will learn ways to bring your grocery bill down with out sacrificing flavor or quality, home remedies that I use to help get over sickness, recipes for homemade house cleaners that are safe and effective and ways to save money every day.
I love being frugal! Some people may call it cheap, but I call it smart!
