Things We Are Learning to Live Without

My husband surprised me by posting a list of things our family is learning to live without on his facebook page. We have been on a journey of moving away from being a 'consuming' household' to a 'producing' household. So, to get an idea of what this journey has been like for us and how we've been able to afford to live off of one quite modest income, here are some steps we've taken as written by my husband.

Part of the process downsizing and becoming more economical is finding ways to save money. So Jen and I have been brainstorming over the past 9 months on how we can save money and what items we can live without. Here are some we have done or are in the process of doing. I'm planning on making this an evolving list so I welcome additional ideas.

1. Used Car...we sold the nice Subaru Outback and replaced it with an older Subaru Forester that we paid cash for. It is not nearly as nice, but it gets from point A to point B all the same. We don't have a car payment and we also save money on insurance since it only has to have liability coverage.

2. Fresh Produce...this is a work in progress but we are becoming urban farmers more and more, growing our own fresh produce that is both organic and GMO free.

3. Cable/Satellite TV...okay I admit I'm a TV junkie, there I said it. Now moving on the plan when we get to West Linn is to not have Cable or Satellite service. We will attempt to get broadcast TV which should be possible being closer to the Portland area. We also will have faster and more reliable internet service and we have a dedicated "Net top" computer for streaming video and music.

4. Gym Membership...no more paying for gym membership that admittedly goes under utilized. We will be in a nice neighborhood where walking and riding bikes is safe. If I want to go to spin class, there are places you can simply pay by the class.

5. Smart Phones...we have pay as you go "dumb phones" that work just fine for calling and texting. No we can't post to Facebook from them so whatever we have to say will just have to wait till we get home. Our monthly bill for two lines is $50 and some change.

6. Clothes...I've never been on the cutting edge of fashion so this doesn't bother me much. I wear my clothes till I wear them out and buy neutral styles that aren't in style but don't look terribly out of place a few years down the road either. For holidays and birthdays I often ask for gift cards and such and use those to buy clothes, otherwise I haven't purchased much over the past few years.

7. Heating costs...It took some negotiations with Jen (who runs colder while I run warmer) but lowering the thermostat has saved us $16 a month in the gas bill even though she is home during the day now. We lower it even more at night while we are sleeping. Putting on a sweater or crawling under an extra blanket is much cheaper than keeping the house 5-10 degrees warmer.

8. Commercial Cleaning Products...More and more you can make cleaning products from inexpensive materials. Take household cleaners for example, you can use items like Baking Soda, Borax, Bleach, and Vinegar for many cleaning uses and it is not only cheap but also non-toxic. Once I use up the cleaners I purchased at the store, I save the spray bottles and mix my own cleaners for pennies to the dollar.

Here are a few more items added by me, Jenni.

9) Cooking from scratch. This means I keep my pantry stocked with useful items that are multi-purpose and are 'whole' foods. Cooking from scratch takes time. I know there are some wonder-women out there who work full time and do it all, I just wasn't one of them. We ate a lot of prepackaged and processed foods when I worked full time as a social worker. Now, we don't and I've cut hundreds of dollars off our monthly grocery bill. 

10) Preserving food. Last summer when my husband was in the hospital for nearly two months, I was a mess. But, I managed to keep my garden thriving and I was able to preserve vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots and zucchini. I also froze strawberries and raspberries from our gardens. This year, despite the chaos of moving and remodeling the house in West Linn, I will easily triple my food preservation. Eating from our freezer this winter was awesome and shaved $ off the grocery budget. 

11) Kid's activities. We pay for our son to play 1 recreational sport and I hope to be able to offer my daughter the same opportunity. We have been gifted a membership to the zoo as a Christmas present. That's it. We regularly take trips as a family to the beach, play board games on week nights together, have a weekly movie night together and often, our kids accompany us on all our errands. (yes, grocery shopping with kids bites, but it teaches them what choices we are making about the food we consume.)  Hyper-scheduled kids is not a lifestyle choice that fits in with our families values.

Speaking for myself (Jenni), giving up our nice car seriously sucked. But, it's done and it was the item that was requiring me to work full time outside the home. I'm totally over it and running my small business from home has been well worth the trade. 

Scaling back and living more simply has eased so much stress from our family and freed us up to spend more time together and enjoy better health and have less dependence on a consumer driven lifestyle.


Who knows what is around the corner for us? But learning to live without some things and employing frugal house-holding practices has 'paid off' thus far for our families journey.


Do you employ any frugal practices in your household?
Cheers, Jenni