I am praying for all of you who are unemployed.

I didn't think my husband would be unemployed when I began my first 'No Spend Month'. My initial reason for doing it was to become debt-free. To take advantage of his income to pay off as much debt as we could. It was a great idea!

Being unemployed is difficult, for anyone. Having children makes it even more difficult in my opinion. I could totally go through this a lot easier if I didn't have children. It is so hard to look at them and know they understand what is going on. Not being able to fill a 'need' of theirs is heartbreaking for me.

Eventually you come to a point where you just know all the plate spinning you've been doing cannot be done anymore and those plates are going to fly into the air, hit the ground and break into a million little pieces. What do you do when you know the inevitable is going to happen?

I am cutting out as many expenses as possible. I am continuing to sell as much homeschooling curriculum I can, we have fliers posted around town to sell our chickens and I am selling some household items we don't need.

Mostly I am praying. I am praying for a job for my husband. A job for me. I pray in the morning, while nursing our baby, in the shower, and as I lay my head down to go to sleep. Praying is something I do all day long. Even with all that praying I have my days where I feel like nothing is going to change anytime soon. That our situation will continue to get worse. I've had pity parties too...sorry to not have invited you.

Then a day arrives where the Lord shows us that He is still here with us. He recently directed us to a movie, Facing the Giants. If you haven't seen it, go to your library and see if they have it. It is a fantastic movie about faith. Really, really wonderful. I highly recommend it. And that is all I am going to say about that, so I don't ruin it for you. Just make sure to have your Kleenex box handy!!

I know times are tough for many of us. I know so many who are unemployed, struggling as we are. I want you to know I am praying for you. I know the Lord has a wonderful plan for your life, your family. Trust in Him.

Your fellow unemployed friend,

Sorry about the confusion.

If you happened to read my post yesterday you will see that it is no longer here. For those who don't know what I am talking about, I had blogged a new post yesterday to update you, my NSM friends but I've removed it. It is for a personal reason and because I apparently can't be that transparent here. Not that I don't want to be, but because of a few who follow this blog.

I know, that should not matter, but it does.

I am going to think and pray about this situation. Prayerfully, I will be back here blogging again...

Thank you all for following this blog...

PS ~ read the Bible verse that God showed us today on the right side of this page. I feel deeply that I should share it with all of you.

Economical meals...

Even though we are on a limited budget we are still able to eat well. Cooking from scratch is very economical and also healthy. I bake homemade biscuits, pizza and bread for my family at a fraction of the cost of buying in the store. You can find my recipes at my cooking blog Cookin' Cheap.

There you will find many economical recipes to try. One thing to remember, it so much cheaper and healthier to have basic ingredients on hand than prepackaged, processed foods.

The snow has melted and we've been busy!

First let me say, I've not forgot about this blog or my 'NSM' enthusiasts! I just need to get back into the groove of blogging regularly. It is quite an adjustment having my husband home full-time. I am getting there so stick with me, please.

Lots of work going on at our place. First off, we've had plumbing issues for a couple of months. Before my husband lost his job we had gotten a quote from a plumber for $1200...yikes! There is no way we would pay that much if my husband could do the job himself. He did a little reading about fixing the problem and what do you know, he fixed it for $100. What a huge savings! He is an awesome 'Mr.Fix It'! Now we are free of plumbing issues...yay!

We live on 2.5 acres and will be getting 25 chicks the end of the month. We are so excited! Again in keeping expenses down we bought the chicks for their egg laying. Being a family of 9, we eat a lot of eggs! My 'Mr Fix It' is building our chicken coop for our ladies. We estimate the savings for the coop to be about $500-700.

To add to the eggs our hens will give us we are putting in a large garden. I cannot get over the price of fruits and veggies in the grocery store these days. Seriously, $5.95 for a 10 pound bag of potatoes...no thank you! We are just plain tired of the high cost of produce and are going to plant our own. We are excited about being able to walk out to our garden and pick fresh produce for our dinner. What a great, rewarding feeling it will be.

It is amazing how much you can save by doing things yourself. The plumbing issues were at first a bit intimidating for my husband but he took it slowly and did a great job....just make sure to research! Same thing with the coop. Having a garden no matter how big or small will save you money. It should be something you seriously consider doing.

We are just saving money where ever we can right now...how about you?

No Debt Paid Off in March...

As March comes to an end I leave it with a heavy heart. I also look ahead to the coming months with hope. Despite my original plans in getting debt free, sometimes uncontrollable situations occur...like your spouse losing their job. Which makes your plans impossible to achieve. I do have faith in God and I know His plans are much better than mine and more than likely better for us.

On the bright side, each month that passes we will get closer to my husbands car getting paid off...all on its own. It will just take patients on our part. We can certainly be patient and it will feel so GOOD when that last payment is made. I will be rejoicing from the roof tops!!!

Good bye March...hello April!!!