More Expensive by the 1/2 Dozen

Making Financial Ends meet with 6 kids in this Economy

The price of food is going up, the price of gas is going up. All of the sudden making sure my kids are fed and taken care of is becoming worrisome and with the loss of my consulting contract, a little scary. Some ways that my family of 6 children, my husband and I are using to cut back on expenses include:

Eating the lawn _ I’m not kidding here. Our grandparents did it and then the art was lost. I now throw dandelion leaves (not the stems or flowers) into everything I make, I add them to salads, meatloaf, even chopped up into lasagna. They can be on the bitter side which only means that I need to be clever in how I prepare them – even the youngest will eat Dandelion greens sautéed with onions and garlic.

Dandelion leaves are free and are filled with nutrients, a perfect free world. As we don’t use chemicals on our lawn, I send my kids out the back door to gather some for dinners. If you do use chemicals then go to the woods, or the side of the road and gather them there.

We also use Peppermint leaves that grow wild everywhere. Peppermint leaves in cold water with just a touch of honey makes a delightful and very cost effective drink that rivals any lemonade.

Leftovers , a chance to be creative – There was a time in my life when I would throw out all leftovers, not now. Vegetables get put into a plastic bag in the freezer and they will become the weekend soup. Meats are chopped up and used in sauces or re-used in stir-fries or salads.

The point is to be creative. Some of my kids are still young and still hold onto the “yuk” factor of re-used food. I use the don’t ask, don’t tell rule when it comes to leftovers, if you don’t ask me where it came from, I’m not going to tell you.

Say Yes to Handouts – already we have been given rhubarb. It is more than I can use but I’ve cut it into small pieces, packaged it in “pie” amounts and have stored it in my freezer.

In the fall, people will very happily send over squashes and tomatoes to which we will always be thankful.

When people find out we have 6 children, they always want to pass clothes along, again we always take them with the understanding that anything that doesn’t fit will be passed on from us. In the total 16 years that we’ve had kids, I’ve only had to buy 3 new winter coats, all others have been hand-me downs. That represents a lot of money that was saved over the years.

Consolidate car trips – we keep a running list in our kitchen of school supplies that are needed. Our current list reads White Tee-shirt, large sheet of poster board, red fabric, white-out. We go once a week to the local department store for all our supplies. This has the added advantage of teaching our kids to organize and plan ahead. Whoa be it to him who tells me the night before that he needs a pack on construction paper!

We also shop once a week for our main groceries. We sit down with the kids and based on the Grocery stores’ sales, we figure out the menu for the week and then create a shopping list. In the summer we usually need to go mid-week to stock up on fresh vegetables or apples but even that is a planned event that is usually tacked onto another car trip.

Get those Bikes out – We have bikes,. Some of them are rusty, some have dents, but all work. If I need something from the grocery store that didn’t make it on the list, I send one of my boys on his bike to get it. The Grocery store is about 2 miles away. It’s a nice ride for him and nice gas savings for me.

Use your office as a car – One of my sons has Gymnastics practice the next town over. When he was recovering from an injury, he only went for one hour at a time. I couldn’t justify the cost of gas to come home only to turn around and pick him up again,, so I packed my laptop and notebooks in the car and spent the time doing work.

I also do this at my daughter’s soccer practices. I actually don’t mind it, it is amazing how much one can get done in a quiet car.

Home Remedies – instead of running to the Doctor or pharmacy everytime we have an ailment, we try home remedies first. Some of our favorites include:
• Canker sores– 1 teaspoon of baking soda (the one in the box) to a cup of warm water – swish and spit out.
• Bug Repellant – rub peppermint leaves around your neck, arms, ankles and exposed areas, this actually works very well
• Sunburn – oh where would we be without good ‘ol Apple Cider vinegar. Just soak a cotton ball in the vinegar and gently apply to the sunburn 2-3 times a day. It takes away pain and reduces the burn.
• Itchy bug bites – use Apple Cider Vinger on a cotton ball (note if the bite has been scratched and there is a small cut, this might sting and burn but if you can get beyond that, the itching will completely disappear
• Vitamins and Supplements – the best way to avoid illness is to keep the kids healthy. We al take fish and flax oil, along with a good daily vitamin. We also drink mostly water and have eliminated dairy from our diets (due to intolerances and allergies)

I don’t expect the economy or the price of gas to get better anytime soon, with that being the case, I’ll be on the lookout for more cost saving measures and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 8:35 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.