This is my journey to get my family to be self sufficient. I know living the simple life would be very hard for me. I just did not realize how satisfying it could be. Let me begin by telling you about my transformation.
I was born in 1979 and grew up as a young girl in the 1980's. My mother and grandmother each summer would can peaches, pears, tomatoes, potato's, and other such produce. We would fish and my mother would pressure cook the fish we brought home. she said it was to keep the family on budget. She would sew our cloths for school and birthdays. She would make us new hair bands and other such trinkets for special occasions as well. She was and still is "crafty". My mother and grandmother always had a garden and we pulled weeds in it , which for a 13-16 year old I hated! I swore I would never make my kids do this kind of work.
As I grew up in the 1990's my mother would ask if I wanted to learn how to sew or put up various produce. "NO, if I want that stuff I will go buy it from the store." would be my answer every time.
In 1997 I married and started a family by 1999. My mother again asked me if I would like to start canning produce when it was in season. Again she received that old familiar answer "no it is cheaper to buy it in cans from the store mom, you are so old fashion." I never had a garden, never learned to sew.
Fast forward 10 years now my oldest is 12 and my youngest is 5. I am single and raising 4 growing boys and living on a budget that is short every month. I was living in an apartment in Lehi when I decided that paying almost 900.00 a month with a budget of 1200.00 per month was not worth the head ach. I moved back to my roots you could say. I live less than a mile away from my mom now and she can help me with my boys. I am learning with the help of my significant other how to live a satisfyingly simple life.
For me this change has taken years of fighting the thing I new to be true, My mom was right! I needed to have a budget, I need to live with in my means, I need not have credit cards, I need to know how to do basics such as garden, can, cook, sew, do crafty stuff, and live life to its fullest potential with out the means of lots of money.
Now fast forward to present day. I rent a small farm type house in a small community paying only 695 per month of my 1200 budget. So it is a three bedroom that has no A/C, no Dishwasher, did not come with a ref so I had to find one (thanks to a great friend that had a used one she was not using I got this for free) , a boiler for a furnace, and it was built in the 1950's sometime. But Hey it is a good sturdy roof over my head and I love the feel of it.
I am now learning to sew, can, garden, and do all the stuff my mother so patiently asked if I want to learn. Wow what a shock and turn around. SO this blog is so anyone else out there that may be going through his lifestyle change may know you are not alone.
We are all in this big world together so This is my story from this point in 2011 forward. I will keep you posted of ups and downs. If you can think of things I might be able to do better let me know and keep the discussions open.
Mannie
I was born in 1979 and grew up as a young girl in the 1980's. My mother and grandmother each summer would can peaches, pears, tomatoes, potato's, and other such produce. We would fish and my mother would pressure cook the fish we brought home. she said it was to keep the family on budget. She would sew our cloths for school and birthdays. She would make us new hair bands and other such trinkets for special occasions as well. She was and still is "crafty". My mother and grandmother always had a garden and we pulled weeds in it , which for a 13-16 year old I hated! I swore I would never make my kids do this kind of work.
As I grew up in the 1990's my mother would ask if I wanted to learn how to sew or put up various produce. "NO, if I want that stuff I will go buy it from the store." would be my answer every time.
In 1997 I married and started a family by 1999. My mother again asked me if I would like to start canning produce when it was in season. Again she received that old familiar answer "no it is cheaper to buy it in cans from the store mom, you are so old fashion." I never had a garden, never learned to sew.
Fast forward 10 years now my oldest is 12 and my youngest is 5. I am single and raising 4 growing boys and living on a budget that is short every month. I was living in an apartment in Lehi when I decided that paying almost 900.00 a month with a budget of 1200.00 per month was not worth the head ach. I moved back to my roots you could say. I live less than a mile away from my mom now and she can help me with my boys. I am learning with the help of my significant other how to live a satisfyingly simple life.
For me this change has taken years of fighting the thing I new to be true, My mom was right! I needed to have a budget, I need to live with in my means, I need not have credit cards, I need to know how to do basics such as garden, can, cook, sew, do crafty stuff, and live life to its fullest potential with out the means of lots of money.
Now fast forward to present day. I rent a small farm type house in a small community paying only 695 per month of my 1200 budget. So it is a three bedroom that has no A/C, no Dishwasher, did not come with a ref so I had to find one (thanks to a great friend that had a used one she was not using I got this for free) , a boiler for a furnace, and it was built in the 1950's sometime. But Hey it is a good sturdy roof over my head and I love the feel of it.
I am now learning to sew, can, garden, and do all the stuff my mother so patiently asked if I want to learn. Wow what a shock and turn around. SO this blog is so anyone else out there that may be going through his lifestyle change may know you are not alone.
We are all in this big world together so This is my story from this point in 2011 forward. I will keep you posted of ups and downs. If you can think of things I might be able to do better let me know and keep the discussions open.
Mannie
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