This is my first post on homeschoolblogger.com and after reading a few other blogs, I have to admit, I'm feeling a little inadequate. Gosh, everyone seems so much more experience than I am and I've been homeschooling for going on five years. I'm looking forward to learning all I can!

Today we went to a used curriculum book sale! LOVE LOVE LOVE those! Got about $300-400 books for only $91.00 bucks! That included all my 7th, 4th, 1st, Kindergarten books plus extra stuff like a great atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, and art books  My husband is one of those employees who felt the impact firsthand when Chrysler filed bankruptcy. The factory shut down where he worked as a Pinions Technician and Asst. Supervisor. So we're finding all the deals we can.

Let me give you a list of things we've done to save our family. 

First of all, we invested in a deep freezer. My aunt taught me how to bake and freeze my own breads, rolls, biscuits and she even showed me how to make cakes from scratch. Since then, I've learned to create my own freezer jams, buttermilk cornbread, vegetable soup, homemade chili, and whatever else you can imagine. We know which days our local supermarker put out the best beef at the cheapest price and only shop for groceries on those days. We buy many items in bulk. We don't buy things like potato chips and store bought cookies such as Oreas anymore. We don't even buy cereal anymore. Instead, we make our own home-made breakfasts like biscuits and gravy, homemade pancakes. Every now and then we will buy some oatmeal. And our kids don't miss the cereal or all the candy.

We are also learning a few home remedies, we don't go to the dr. for runny noses and coughs. We don't buy cough syrup or other OTC cold meds. We've learned that the best medicine for colds are lots of love and liquids. When you can't foot the bill from going to the doctor, you learn that you will get over the regular flu without taking Tamiflu.  Your favorite fever reducer, rest and relaxation will work just fine, although, a flu shot does at the beginning of the flu season will make all the difference. (My daughter is the only one in our family that had the flu shot this year.) She's the only one who didn't suffer nearly as bad as the rest of us.

We've also realized the healthy benefits of changing our eating behaviors and are currently looking into purchasing Farm Fresh Eggs, too. We try to eat as organically as possible. We even make our own peanut butter and almond butter. That way you don't have all the extra stuff in it. I was watching something on TV a few weeks back. A lady on there said, "Only eat foods that come from the ground or that have a mother." In my opinion, it was good advise so ever since then I've been reading food ingredient labels and doing research on words that I can't produce.

It's kind of scary but for as long as I can remember my mother bought Shedd's Spread County Crock. All along, I'm thinking I'm eating butter. And up until 6 months ago, like my mother, I loaded down everything I could with Country Crock. And then my blessed aunt, Michal, showed me that I wasn't eating real butter at all, only a small percentage. Try to stay away from anything that says "Partially hydrogenated oil or soybean oil". It's one step in the right direction.

Right now, when money is short, we can't afford extra things like Karate lessons, gymnastics, clogging. As a matter of fact, just last week we recieved a disconnection notice for our phone. Times are hard, that's for sure. So, instead of dwelling on how much money we don't have, we kind of realize exactly how much we do have. We've been checking out all the local parks for the past couple of weeks and have found that experience to be a very pleasant one. We're saving money but more than anything, we're spending quality time together as a family.

It makes you wonder why I didn't figure this out a long time ago, BEFORE I had 5 kids. I'm growing as a mother, growing as a woman. And I hope that when I'm dead and gone that my children can liken me to the woman in the last chapter of Proverbs.  Until then...

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