Why I Am Frugal and the Start Of a Frugal House Tour!

I guess I will start with the frugal house tour...today I am going to give you a peek at my dining room and kitchen. As I show you each part of my house I will share some of the frugal things about the area shown :0)

Pictured above is a bookshelf my husband just bought at a yard sale for $5! I love how rustic it is and how cheap it was to buy! On it we keep our "special prayers" board, cell phones, there's chalk in the white dish on top, next shelf is where we keep our Bible's and tissue box, next shelf is where I keep my cookbooks that I most often use, bottom shelf is potatoes, papers to change out our "chore cupboard" (it gets poopy..lol), and my purse. Please don't come rob me now that you know where I keep my purse! LOL....just kidding!

This bench is a special to my heart bench! My husband made the top out of scraps from when we replaced our dining room floor...and the legs are made from part of a tree we cut down :0) It was FREE! We had the paint...and he had the stuff...and the labor...hehe... :0) We have used this bench for LOTS of things over the years...as a school seat, as a tattle-tail bench, as a time out spot...now it holds my "menu board". I made this chalk board from an old picture I no longer wanted. I now write daily on it what we will eat...the kids LOVE it! They read it many times a day...and I never hear..."what's for dinner??"! The chalk board paint I had and the picture I had, so this was free!

Here is the view of most of my dining room. Some is not shown in the picture. Our table, buffet, and china closet (not shown) were a gift from Rob's parents. They were the same ones he had growing up....so they are special to us! Our table is not large enough to fit us all, so we just pull up a folding chair at meal times. This was a free alternative to getting a larger table. My husband made a large leef to go in the middle of the table to make it as big as it is now!

Here's is the kitchen...where I spend most of my time! We just "re-did" this room over the winter. It was SOOO UGLY before...and we did the whole thing (some things twice) for only $1,500!

Ok...so why am I frugal?? I am frugal by choice and by necessity. When we got married I worked outside the home. We made more money than we do now and only had a small family. We spent every bit of what we made and were not very happy. Ty (my oldest son) got ill when he was a baby and I had to quit my job and stay home to take care of him. We found out we were not any more broke than we were while I was working! We didn't eat out, but I was home to cook, we didn't go on dates, but I was home to "date" hubby all the time...not just weekends...you see what I'm saying...by me staying home, we saved. Then my MIL started teaching me about being frugal and how to do some things to save here and there...and we sarted to see a difference! Fastforward a few years...and here we are with 7 kids...we are now frugal out of necessity! I am so glad that I learned about being frugal when it wasn't so much of a necessity, but a choice. I was so ready when it came down to it...as we added more mouths to feed and more kids to clothe, I was ready! God has blessed us with much...and I want to show Him my love and appreciation by being a good steward of what I have been given!