31 Days of Thriving on a Low Income

 Everyone has a different opinion on what defines a low income. Some may think an income of $40,000 is  low and others might think $20,000. My own family's definition of low income is $28,000, which is about what we gross annually.

We are family of seven, my husband, myself, a teenage boy, teenage girl, and three girls ages eleven, eight, and six. My husband works full time at a local factory and I work part time at our local YMCA. We also have a small hobby farm that consists of fifteen laying hens, six dairy goats, seven rabbits, several barn cats, and one English Mastiff.

If you google thriving on a low income, there are many tips advising you to stop purchasing Starbucks coffee, cancel your cable, or  pack your lunches. For most families living on a low income we're already doing all of those things. It can be frustrating to hear the same tips over and over. We need practical tips to stretch our already small income. During the next 31 days, I hope to present you with several hints that you can actively do right now to help stretch your money.

Today, I am working on our monthly menu plan and grocery list.  Menu planning is a HUGE way to help your grocery dollars stretch.  My goal is to have 35 meals written down, I like to have extra meals so I know I have food for Saturday or Sunday lunches. Once I have my menu planned, I write down every single thing I will need to prepare those meals.  With my list in hand, I head to the pantry to cross off everything we already have in stock.  I also check the freezer at this point and clean out the refrigerator so I can see what we have left in there.  Be sure to check your baking supplies now as well.

 It's time to write your final copy of your grocery list! I keep several lists, one for Aldi, Kroger, Costco, and Marcs.  Each one is broken down so I know where the cheapest place is to purchase our ingredients. I don't always go to each store every month, it depends on what we're running low on or how high our budget is.

It typically takes me two hours to meal plan and write out our grocery list. I have found when I rush, I forget to write an ingredient down or I don't plan enough meals to cover the entire month.  I have been able to lower our grocery budget to around $300 by consistently following our meal plan and having a detailed list.

31 Days of Thriving on a Low Income

Welcome to a brand new series! We've all been there, too many days till the next paycheck and not enough money to last.  How do you thrive when the pantry is almost empty and the bills still need to be paid? Join me for a month long series on thriving on a low income.

I'll be focusing on four different areas:

Week one: meal planning, stretching our grocery budget, quick meal ideas, eating gluten free on a budget

Week two will focus on saving money on our utility bills, our gas budget, household needs, and entertainment.

Week three's focus will be on affording activities for your children or yourself.

Week four will be spent looking at savings for birthdays and holidays.


This post is linked to Cornerstone Confessions Titus 2 Tuesday

Menu Plan Monday

One of the best ways to thrive on a low income is to have a meal plan.  It's easy to become so busy that you don't follow it or you chuck the entire thing in favor of the drive thru! We are a busy family of seven; a mom, dad, a 15 year old boy, 13 year old gymnast, 11 year old gymnast, 9 year old girl, and a 6 year old gymnast.  If I can meal plan- you can too!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday- gymnastics 

*slow cooker spare ribs 

  sweet corn

  fried potatoes

Tuesday- cheer clinic/ gymnastics/ work

* Creamy Ranch Pork Chops 

   potatoes

   carrots

Wednesday-gymnastics

* gluten free pasta and meatballs

Thursday- cheer clinic

* beef pot roast

   potatoes

   carrots

Friday- gymnastics

* homemade pizza

Saturday- ballet/concert/birthday party

* chili 

   baked potatoes

Sunday

* hamburgers/fries

This year all of my children are in public school. We're blessed to live in a community that offers free breakfast to all it's students every day. My girls usually eat breakfast at school. If it's a chilly morning I make baked oatmeal or muffins. 

One of my daughters cannot have gluten so I pack her lunch every day. My other kids qualify for free lunches. My oldest two buy lunch every day. My youngest two usually buy but also pack on occasion. 

This is linked to I'm an Organizing Junkie's Meal Plan Monday 

Coming Soon: 31 Days Writing Challenge

I have read the Nester's 31 days of series for several years. Each year, I think, next year is my year to join in. Each year though, it seems that life happens and I don't get to write. This is my year! I have felt such a burden to share with others who might be struggling and feel like there's no hope or end to the battle to make ends meet. I don't have all the answers- heck, you might think I don't have ANY answers, but I am going to share what works for our family and how we are raising a family of seven on $29,000 a year.

I hope you'll join me for 31 Days of Thriving on a  Low Income !

How to Afford to Be a Stay at Home Mom

Not long ago somebody told me that it must be nice to be able to afford to stay home. I wanted to say... You could do this too! Have a garden, make all your meals from scratch, buy all your clothes from yard sales, don't eat out, don't waste money on entertainment, etc. I didn't say that however because to her, it was to radical! They didn't think they could live on less than $30,000 a year. We have never made more than $30,000 a year since I have been home and we have five children, they only had one.

Making a choice to purposefully live below the poverty line isn't a choice many are willing to make. We have chosen this lifestyle and God has blessed it. Here are some things we have done to make our money s-t-r-e-t-c-h.

When we were "poorest" we didn't have Internet, cable, or cell phones. We also didn't buy clothes. We each had a couple "go to town" outfits and the rest were only worn at home to make the nice clothes last. I only hung our clothes out to dry. We did not eat out at all. We also didn't use our air conditioning so I would bake and clean in the morning and then we went outside if it was warm. 

I bought our toys at yard sales. Home school curriculum was only a phonics book and nature walks. Our children didn't get allowances, we couldn't afford it. Now that we have (almost) two teenagers and older children we use 4-H as a method for them to earn money. The oldest three each raise a market animal every summer.  We have a yearly yard sale to buy extras for our school or fun books. We still buy 99% of stuff we want from yard sales or Goodwill.

We own two older paid in full vehicles. We do the maintenance ourselves. We also limit our trips into town. My goal for the summer is to only leave the house three days a week. 

I plant a large garden every year. I haven't mastered the art of starting plants from seed, so I purchase flats of plants. I have spent around $40.00 this year on plants. One of the best decisions I have made is planting red raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. We planted those as soon as we moved to our home and it has saved us hundreds of dollars.  The last two years we picked enough berries to freeze and last all winter!

Clothing can quickly be a budget buster. Here's my method for looking our best while saving the most. We have "home clothes" and "go to town" clothes.  Our home clothes are clothes that might be stained up or well worn. It doesn't matter though, because we're busy climbing trees, swimming in the creek, jumping on the trampoline, or frolicking with our dairy goats.  Our "go to town" clothes are reserved for when we leave the farm. By doing this each person might only need four or five nice shirts and a couple pairs of shorts or pants. 

I believe that God will bless your efforts in raising your children. It won't be easy. My husband has had many layoffs and injures that cost us months without any income but we have always stayed true to our calling. There will be times you want to quit. It is so worth it my friend. I wouldn't trade my time with my children for anything in the world.

This post is linked to Making Your Home Sing Monday 

Food Stamp Monthly Breakfast and Lunch Meal Plan

One of the biggest stresses of living on food stamps is making sure you plan well enough to have enough food for the month. Our family is blessed because when my husband is working overtime we are able to purchase extra food if needed, but for some families they cannot. They must survive only on their food stamps. We are also blessed that we are able to have a garden. We actually have two very large gardens with established red raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, and blue berries. Once gardening season kicks in we typically do not need to purchase fruit or vegetables often.

So, the question is, how do I meal plan for our $417 budget? Before the start of each month, I sit down with my calendar and pantry/freezer inventory list and make a detailed meal plan. I include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I try to plan crock pot meals for our busiest nights and quick and easy meals for days that I will be working in the garden.  I also plan around the weather, our farmhouse was built in 1831 and has no air conditioning so I plan to grill on extremely warm days.

 Our Monthly Rotating Breakfast Plan:
*Monday- muffins. (I make several types of muffins and freeze them so they're available even when it's too warm to cook.)
* Tuesday- pancakes. (We eat gluten free so I also make a month's worth of pancake mix to save time in the kitchen.)
* Wednesday- baked peanut butter oatmeal (this can be mixed the night before or frozen as well)
* Thursday- cereal ( this is on our menu because I found all natural gluten free cereal for $.79 a box)
* Friday- gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake ( I also make monthly coffee cake mixes)
* Saturday- cereal
* Sunday- bacon/pancakes

Obviously once the weather (finally!) warms up I won't be using the oven as much. Instead of coffee cake and baked oatmeal we will have smoothies, toast and eggs, and yogurt and fruit.

Our Monthly Rotating Lunch Plan:
* Monday- gluten free mac and cheese ( purchased at Aldi for $1.49 a box) and carrot sticks
* Tuesday- grilled cheese ( I purchase a large loaf of Udi's gluten free bread at Costco for $6.97)
* Wednesday- gluten free pasta ( I purchase whenever I see it under $2 a package)
* Thursday- peanut butter sandwiches/apple slices
* Friday- quesadilla ( I purchase fresh gluten free corn tortillas at Kroger for $2 a package)
* Saturday- grilled hot dogs or something quick and easy
* Sunday- I struggle with Sundays because we're usually not home from church until 12:30. I typically try to have leftovers available.

This menu isn't set in stone. If we have leftovers we eat those instead and save that days meal for another time.

Snack Choices:
* carrots, cucumbers, apples, bananas, various berries, peanut butter on crackers, popcorn, no bake cookies, homemade gluten free chocolate chip cookies.

Once the garden is going we have free choice of anything ready to eat.

Linking up with Making Your Home Sing Monday

True Confessions

The articles are everywhere, " How to Survive on Food Stamps", " Stretching Your Food Stamp Dollars",  and my personal favorite is the articles where the author pretends to eat for a month using a food stamp allowance.  The issue with all of these? 95% of these articles are written by people who do not have to depend on food stamps to purchase their food. If they get hungry or run out of their allotted food stamp dollars they can purchase more food.

I titled this post "True Confessions" because my family and I receive food stamps. My husband works a full time job and I am a stay at home mother. I am also a breast cancer survivor and living with mild congestive heart failure due to damage done from the chemotherapy. We have five children ages fifteen, twelve, ten, eight, and six. Our eight year old has many developmental issues and autism ( as a side note, I was also pregnant with her while undergoing chemotherapy, which we believe could have caused some of the developmental issues).

My husband works at a local factory and brings home about $1600 a month, during the summer they work 50-60 hours a week and we eat like kings, but the rest of the year he might only work 20 hours a week.  Our family of seven receives $417 a month in food stamps.

I will be beginning a series May 1 on how our family eats on a food stamp budget. I plan to include our monthly meal plan, grocery receipts, budget stretching tips, how we eat gluten free/ real food diet on a tight budget and where I find the best deals on food.

I understand that some readers might feel angry that we receive any benefits, and that you do not want to support others with your hard earned money and that's okay if you feel that way. I felt that way too before I was diagnosed with cancer and my husband had to drop out of college and quit his job to take care of me and our three young children. Our plans never included using food stamps or being one of the faces of the working poor.  My hope is that this series will give hope to anyone struggling to feed their families on a tight budget.

This post is linked to The Modest Mom and Mom's the Word and Growing Homemakers