Just curious who else is living super frugal

[NinnyGillaspie]

Hey Yall, Our christmas is very tight this year. We are only buying for the children. I sent the 3 Grandsons Helmets and pads for their new scooters. They live in El Paso. The Granddaughter is close, and she gets a $20.00 gift just like the boys. We are just gonna gather and eat, and fellowship.Gifts only for the children. Hubby and I will get our goodies with income tax refund.

 

[rancher hicks]

havent' been through all the postings, but there was a story on the moring new about a couple who were living off the grid makiing only 20,000 a year.

Also mention of a guy who wrote a book about being a cheapskate.

 

[jdopler]

has anyone used produce net bags (like onions come in) for dish scrubbers? They work really well! I may never buy a scrubby again...

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Never thought about that. Great idea! Thanks for sharing.

 

[HeatherLynn]

I can't sleep so I pulled out Rob Roys Mortgage Free book. It is taking some adjustment to thinking to wrap myself around the concept but it makes sense. Its a good book with lots that I can pull from. Life has become such a materialistic thing anymore though, his ideas take some getting used to. This is my 3rd read through the book.

 

[jdopler]

heatherlynn, tell us more about this book..

 

[HeatherLynn]

Well its by Rob Roy, so depending on your ideals you may or may not go for some of his ideas. I take what works for us and the rest I just shake my head over. Like living in a shed and using a bucket as a toilet while saving up a grubstake to build a house or buy land. There is a ton of ideas in this book though that are practical and can apply to every family.

Essentially he goes over in detail how much grubstake you need. ( grubstake= cash set aside for land and house) How to save it up. How to make some lifestyle choices that go well with being mortgage free. BUT mostly he introduced the very concept to me of building a house without a mortgage. I never heard of that being an option for those not wealthy. We are far from wealthy. He also introduced another concept. The idea of being non monitarily wealthy. How to go about building a home for less and doing it in cash.

Its really a pretty inspiring book. I keep turning to it for inspiration and guidance. Frankly almost everyone we know thinks we are nuts,. Insanity. Everyone has to have a mortgage. Why don't we just pay extra and pay it off early. I would rather save all the expense of a mortgage all together. The books shows how much we actually pay and its a bit depressing. We are not even close to middle class so most think this is totally out of our reach. The book shows examples and tells how others and the author have done it. It goes over cutting debt too and living expenses.

This is what we are going to do. We had just bought a house from m y parents cheap and had just finished renovating it (cash no loan). We had a man staring into by daughters bedroom window one evening and I just snapped. I told my husband I was tired of living in town. I wanted to be where I could see the perverts coming. So now we live with my parents on their farm. We have 3 close neighbors. By close I mean less than a mile away. One is my sister. One is the local pawnshop owner and his wife. The other is her parents. I dare someone to try peaking in our windows now. Not one bedroom window can be reached without a super long ladder. lol and we are hidden on top of a hill.

Anywho the house is for sale. We are saving. As soon as the house sells we will start the building process. My parents are signing over 5 acres to me as a gift. Eventually half the farm is mine but for now I will have the 5 acres. My dad was a builder, so were my brothers.One is a plumber and electrician. another nephew is an electrician. Lots of knowledge floating around here. I have drawn up plans for a cozy little house for the 6 of us. There is not a square foot of wasted space. I have spent the last year drawing these up and perfecting them.

 

[love-my-wolves]

This sounds great! I'm going to get it for sure, we've been saving to go mortgage free! Thanks!!!

Quote:

 

[HeatherLynn]

It is well worth it. I am about to purchase a book he recommended by charles long called how to survive without a salary. Not that we intend to quit jobs or do without one but from how he describes is the purpose isn't to necessarily get everyone to quit working, but rather to hold onto the money they have. Every little idea that helps. I want more family time and if super frugal gets us there then thats what I am after. We can become workaholics after the kids are grown and before they give me grandbabies. Other than that we want as much time as possible with them.

I am pretty sure there will be many more part of the book by Mr. Long I am going to ignore as impractical in our situation BUT if I can find enough new ideas to fine tune our lifestyle I will be happy. Sometimes its a bit hard to step back and objectively view our life style and come up with new ideas for savings or change. I do recommend very highly Rob Roy's book though. Mortgage Free has been a big inspiration and its updated as of 2008 so its pretty current.

 

[Moonlight Piano]

My family and I have ahd to do this. My dad is a contractor so work is very scarce right now. We lost our house due to the fact that bank of america would not extend the loan from a 15 year to a 30 year

. So we are having to hike our skirts up and get things done

. We are currently under contract with 26 acres of land, that we will be paying cash for. The house will be made out of an old shed. There will be pigs, cows, and more chickens than I care to mention

! All will be built by hand and payed in cash. My fam. and I have had to put new meaning in the old saying 'when life gives you lemons make lemonade '. This si a bad situation, but we are taking it as a chance to live of-the-grid

. We will be moving about 40 min. away from any town, so trips will be vastly limited, grocery trips limited to once or twice a month. Luckily however, there is a feed store about a 5 min. drive from the house

. Though it has been tough to deal with all that has happened this year we have never been closer as a family

. So a long story short, frugality is now my friend

. and God has blessed the fam. would not change anything for world

. Life is good.