Getting Started

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frugalmom
Posts: 1710
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:52 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by frugalmom »

Heloise wrote:Warm thank you to you, BevMoore and Jackielou!

Will check out the Daily Check-in thread!
A warm welcome to the frugal living forum,Heloise! We love to have new members join the family! Do ask any questions that you may have and if you have any advice or tips,we would love for you to share it as well! There is never a dumb question,as many may have the same question and I am always learning from this wise group and have been with them for 17 years now-wow! Has it been that long-sheesh(started with my 4th child while pregnant with her and she is going off to college next year!!!)!?

I am now a stay at home mom with 5 children (3 grown now) and 2-3 left at home(one goes back and forth to college and another heading to wherever she gets accepted) and my little one who is 11 yo!
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by Heloise »

EllenMarie. Thank you so much for the grand welcome! I've been loving it here so far and hope I, too, can settle into a comfortable place within the group as a long-time member.

Nice to see other moms of large families here. I feel at home. As far as hints and tips go, I have lots. Can't wait to share them!
frugalmom
Posts: 1710
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:52 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by frugalmom »

Heloise wrote:EllenMarie. Thank you so much for the grand welcome! I've been loving it here so far and hope I, too, can settle into a comfortable place within the group as a long-time member.

Nice to see other moms of large families here. I feel at home. As far as hints and tips go, I have lots. Can't wait to share them!
I love large families! In our family we have even mega families-my gp had 17 siblings and my mil had 14 siblings (but maybe that was the norm back then!?). My mom had 6 and my dh had 5,I come from a family of 4 and now we have the biggest family on both sides with 5 and my brother with 4. We are dwindling with each generation-lol!

I can't wait for you to share your tips! :D I would love to hear them-esp pertaining to raising a large family! Have you ever read Tightwad Gazette books-they are my favorite frugal books! You can probably check them out in the library and I also like authors Ellie Kay and Jonni McCoy books--they are good mom and frugal books!
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by Heloise »

EllenMarie wrote:I love large families! In our family we have even mega families-my gp had 17 siblings and my mil had 14 siblings (but maybe that was the norm back then!?). My mom had 6 and my dh had 5,I come from a family of 4 and now we have the biggest family on both sides with 5 and my brother with 4. We are dwindling with each generation-lol!

I can't wait for you to share your tips! :D I would love to hear them-esp pertaining to raising a large family! Have you ever read Tightwad Gazette books-they are my favorite frugal books! You can probably check them out in the library and I also like authors Ellie Kay and Jonni McCoy books--they are good mom and frugal books!
There's a definite warmness that arises with large families. Always something or another going on, lots of laughs, endless trials and tribulations, and the closeness of having so many under one roof at the same time.

OMG... you come from such a large background. I always think about the Partridge Family, the Brady Bunch, or the Waltons, when I read about or hear of large families. Growing up, I knew two REALLY large families and it was always chaos in their homes. Laundry scattered all around, dirty dishes always on the counter and sink, everyone going in all directions, but closeness was still retained and there was structure, and of course, frugal living practices was all in a day's work.

Yes, most of the frugal and simple living hints and tips I have revolve solely around family, kids, baby care, you name it. I read a copy (version) of the Tightwad Gazette many years ago and enjoyed it for the most part. It's always fun to know there are others who live by and enjoy living frugally.

Another read I enjoyed, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House: by Cheryl Mendelson. This woman covers it all and so thoroughly. A quality read.
frugalmom
Posts: 1710
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 10:52 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by frugalmom »

Heloise wrote:
EllenMarie wrote:I love large families! In our family we have even mega families-my gp had 17 siblings and my mil had 14 siblings (but maybe that was the norm back then!?). My mom had 6 and my dh had 5,I come from a family of 4 and now we have the biggest family on both sides with 5 and my brother with 4. We are dwindling with each generation-lol!

I can't wait for you to share your tips! :D I would love to hear them-esp pertaining to raising a large family! Have you ever read Tightwad Gazette books-they are my favorite frugal books! You can probably check them out in the library and I also like authors Ellie Kay and Jonni McCoy books--they are good mom and frugal books!
There's a definite warmness that arises with large families. Always something or another going on, lots of laughs, endless trials and tribulations, and the closeness of having so many under one roof at the same time.

OMG... you come from such a large background. I always think about the Partridge Family, the Brady Bunch, or the Waltons, when I read about or hear of large families. Growing up, I knew two REALLY large families and it was always chaos in their homes. Laundry scattered all around, dirty dishes always on the counter and sink, everyone going in all directions, but closeness was still retained and there was structure, and of course, frugal living practices was all in a day's work.

Yes, most of the frugal and simple living hints and tips I have revolve solely around family, kids, baby care, you name it. I read a copy (version) of the Tightwad Gazette many years ago and enjoyed it for the most part. It's always fun to know there are others who live by and enjoy living frugally.

Another read I enjoyed, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House: by Cheryl Mendelson. This woman covers it all and so thoroughly. A quality read.
Lol-I grew up watching the Brady Bunch,Partridge Family and the Waltons. I have the whole series of the Waltons (my kids think they are boring!) and Little House on the Prairie and I loved reading Janette Oke Love Me Softly series too and about their big family. I will have to check out Home Comforts-it sounds familiar. For the past year, at least I have been trying to read Breaking Busy to figure out how to organize,time manage and just slow down-but the problem is I am sooo busy that I have not had a chance to finish that book!!! I think I am on chapter 4 or somewhere near the beginning! I also have Large Family Logistics which you may like(although it is a bit on the religious side which some may not like -I don't mind that-but has lots of good tips too).

And yes,my house can look like that sometimes and it is never ending laundry for me-and dishes(since I cook 3 meals a day at least at home-it seems like as soon as I finish cleaning it is time for another meal!). But especially laundry-always a few baskets to wash or fold or put away and if not done right away the kids look fort heir clothes undoing what I had folded-grrr....whether they folded it or I folded it-if they don't put it away right away,it is I have to refold it! They do chores,but there are super busy days we have practices in two different cities and don't come home til 10 pm. But I am better now-my house is simple so not much decoration just clean and uncluttered so easier to clean and I like that airy empty type of feeling! Plus my dh for some reason likes it vacuumed every single day so my little one is in charge of vacuuming the whole house every day (we have girls with long hair which gets everywhere).

I think with large families you have to be frugal or you will be broke! And we live in an expensive area-well it is the cheaper part of the expensive area-lol! Over here million dollar homes are the norm and it is for a shack-SF Bay Area-we bought our house in a cheaper area which comes with its own disadvantages (crime,bad schools-and we had to work around that and so far okay). But we have paid off our house, so we are here to stay bc we don't want another mortgage and where else can we go bc we will probably then have to have another mortgage and hubby is near retirement so forget that! Plus we have to put 2 more kids through college-we paid for the others except one who wanted to do it herself-so she has some student loans,but others do not-well one son is going back to get his masters so he will pay for that himself. Usually I pay for just bachelor's-but one dd wants to go to medical school after,so Idk how that is going to turn out bc IDK if I can afford that without loans!? But I am trying hard to stay out of debt and never go in debt -I hate owing anyone anything whether it is money or favors,etc.

Talking about big families-there was one I grew up with which was a Catholic family and each fo their dd's were Mary something-they had 9 children and I always thought it was so cool to go to their house-each of my siblings were in class with each of their siblings and they even had a big shaggy huge dog that was bigger than me! My brother just told me the mom just passed away:(-none of the kids had a big family though but they are all successful(mom stayed at home but was an educator before). It was sad my brother was telling me many of his friends who look healthy and were young still passed away and they are only in their 40s! Scary! And my son who is a principal,one of their students had their dad fatally stabbed on Christmas eve-out buying a last minute gift and in front of the kids too-senseless act(over something stupid-dad told the guy to turn down the profane music in the toy aisle they were playing bc of his kids were there!) and everyone is so sad! Crazy! It was not in my area though. Poor kids-there were like 3 of them I think and he was a good dad.

Oh better go-I can talk to you all day-lol!
Heloise
Posts: 835
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 12:11 pm

Re: Getting Started

Post by Heloise »

EllenMarie. I loved the era I grew up in. Even if I could, I wouldn't change a thing. There's a lot to be said for how much has been lost over the past two to three decades. Society as a whole has slipped. I don't care for today's society (at all).

LOL! I know of the pillaging and plundering of the laundry baskets you speak of! When my kids were little, I often had a basket or two of unfolded diapers sitting around, and if I wasn't careful the younger ones would get into them and scatter them all around, dragging them under cribs, beds, and into closets. It wasn't uncommon for me to find diapers all balled-up in the toy box days later.

So true about having to be frugal with large families to make it. Aside from the economics of being frugal, I simply love the old-fashioned side of frugality. Doing things the frugal way is something I have always cherished and enjoyed. My guess is it's the result of my younger years when everyone did everything frugally.

Re: crime, sickness and disease, I was reading an article recently that touched on the fact that today's younger generation will die sooner than their parents generation. Statistics like that sure are unsettling. As a parent you never want to outlive a child. So sad.

As far as slowing down goes, I've had to work really hard at this in my life. I've always been a go-getter, a busy-body if you will, and aside from going from morning until night (nonstop), I just never take a break or rest. It was catching up to me and affecting my health, so I had no choice but to slow the momentum down some. Now that I have managed to scale back my approach as to how I tackle things, I've become happier and more relaxed.

Ellen. You can talk my ear off anytime! You're such great company! I always enjoy chatting with you!
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