What a month!

We moved! and it was a lot less stressful that I thought it would be, mainly as we paid a firm to pack, move and reassemble everything. It was a massive expense (£675!!) but we have our deposit from the old place and my wonderful parents paid half (how fantastic are they!) and to be honest if we had tried to do it all ourselves it would have been terrible. I was really poorly with a chest/ear/throat/cold thing and spent most of the time doubled over with a hacking cough (attractive, no?), our youngest was suffering with the same germs as me but was coping by napping or having many comfort feeds for me (which was not helping with my general exhaustion) and both boys wanted to get in amongst everything.

Anyway on Sunday morning we went off nice and early to church and then on to a really lovely picnic with everyone after and didn't arrive back until around 2.30 in the afternoon. It was very serial to walk back into a house full of boxes all ready to be moved. So we settled down for a family movie (despicable me two) and takeaway pizza on the floor of our lounge and relaxed with the boys.

The following day the boys went with our wonderful nanny (who has them every Monday morning whilst both hubby and I work) to a friends house. Long story short by the end of Monday we were in and surrounded by boxes but thankfully the boys room was ready for them to sleep in.

That was four weeks ago and time has flown by! we have been so busy with life that I just haven't had time to write about what we are up to. Mr M has been working very hard, we have been to visit family and had family visit us. There has been very little sleep but have almost unpacked, and to top it off last week we have had a house warming to which 16 of our new neighbours came!

I am so thankful for our new home, but also very much looking forward to a bit of 'normal' life for a few weeks, and hopefully a chance to get a few more posts up.

Almost ready to move on.

Over the last couple of weeks we have spent a lot of time at our soon to be new house, painting and measuring. (We have also been ill, the baby is teething, which means no sleep, we have both been super busy at work and the man of the house was off for a weekend at CVM's The Gathering, so its been a bit crazy).

Not the most exciting way to spend precious sunny days but our current contract runs out in 5 days and we need to take advantage of the empty house. Our fantastic new landlords have had the house cleaned, the carpets cleaned and have agreed to pay for paint if we do the decorating. No big changes yet, just painting a new coat of magnolia in the lounge and the boys room and white gloss on the woodwork in both rooms too.

My rather more technologically minded husband has drawn up each room on the PC and printed out some room outlines for me to play with. As sad as it is to admit we already have little to scale shapes for every piece of furniture we own, and once they are printed and cut out, I will settle down with some blue tak and work out whats going where, hopefully this will make moving day less stressful.

You see I dont really like 'stuff', although I am terribly sentimental, I especially keep gifts (even if I dont like them) from people who have put thought and time into what they are giving. Stuff makes me stressed, I like order and to be able to find anything I need quickly and for it to be ready to use (there is a reason people joke that I am OCD). But piling all our stuff into boxes makes me realise how much of it we have!
 
So this move will see the biggest and most extreme thinning of stuff so far, not least because the house we are moving into is a fair bit smaller and we need to get rid of some the furniture we have been holding onto 'just in case', but because we have the boys, our wonderful boys who seam to have some sort of gravitational pull for small buts of plastic junk.

When I say we have our boys, I mean we have our lot, team Morgan is complete (God willing!) and so its time to wave goodbye to the baby paraphernalia, which takes up so much room and start a new season. But how will I cope? Every baby item has a memory, if I get rid of it will I start to forget how wonderful it was to hold those tiny bundles?

Maybe its a good thing that the new house has a fully boarded loft?....

The house to home challange.

In a few weeks time we are going to be moving house, and I am really looking forward to it. Since we got married (almost 7 years ago) we have lived in rented accommodation, each address chosen solely for the low rent.

I have found our most recent house the hardest to be content in, and to be honest I haven't been truly content at all. It has many flaws, damp, mould, single glazing, a very old back boiler, ill fitting doors, terrible condition carpets, artex (3 different patterns in our lounge alone!), very old badly fitting kitchen, a smelly toilet (we have been here over 18 months and I still cant figure out what the cause is) and some very loud and aggressive dogs next door, and that's just to start. However, we have been paying way below the area average so its truly a case of getting what you pay for.

So its time for a move! and guess what? we are moving to a friends old house! (our lovely friends and their 3 boys have moved away and they sold their home to another couple in our church who are going to rent it to us). Amazing!! we are moving into a home rather than a scruffy rented house, with landlords who want us there for as long as we want to stay!

But its not just the fittings that are important, the family that has just moved out are wonderful, God uses them, and they reflect him in their lives and because of that we have hope that we will be building on the foundations they made and quickly make connections with the neighbours.

Now our new place is going to cost us a fair bit more a month and it took a lot of prayer and thought to be certain that we are doing the right thing but we are sure we are where God wants us and see it as a huge blessing.

For the first time in my adult life I can really think about making a house our home. Since I was 18 I have moved 16 times! this will be move 17!! So I cant wait to get creative and decorate and furnish our home in a way that we really enjoy rather than with the first most cheapest thing we can find.

And so to the BIG CHALLENGE, how to do it all on a tiny budget? and when I say tiny I mean £50 per room. At first I thought that would be loads, far more than we have ever spent before but actually its going to take time, planning and a lot of trips to charity stores and car boots but what a great challenge!

I am hoping in the process I will be able to share with you some tips on how to make do and mend, up-cycle, recycle, and generally consume less new and love whats already out there. I am going to be trying out some new skills, I cant DIY at all and think that the only way to get this done on a shoe string is to get very hands on, so be prepared for a few epic fails along the way!

It's really happening!

So today I was checking our bank account online (I use the app to transfer money to our credit card every time I make a purchase so that we don't end up with a large bill at the end of the month and to keep our current account up to date but more about all that in another post) and wow did I get a surprise!

I knew it was coming, but maybe it hadn't sunk in, one minute I am tapping in my password and next BAM!...

THE KICKSTARTER MONEY IS IN OUR ACCOUNT!

And I am speechless.

All those people actually backed the project. They gave us the money to make it happen. And now its going to get done. All our prayers about seeing my husband get to fulfil his calling are being answered.

Wow.

WOW!

And now is when the hard work starts, for me this means a lot of change. You see I have been very spoilt for the last few months as my wonderful husband has been on paternity leave since February (that's 4 months!). He has mainly been working on preparing and running the kickstarter but he was here in the house, willing to help out and wanting to spend time with us all. He has been on hand so when it all gets a little crazy, I have just had to shout for some help. But now he is at home, but for 40 hours a week he is working working and unavailable and that's taking some getting used to.

But for now lets get excited, lets be thankful and lets get working, there is lots to do.....

What does 'frugal' mean to you?

What does being frugal mean to you? cutting back? going without? making do?

To me its a lifestyle choice, and not always an easy one, but in our consumer driven culture it just feels right to me. I find there is something wholesome and rewarding in making the pennies stretch, which turns out is a good thing as this year, its going to be a challenge.

As I mentioned in my very first blog my husband is an illustrator, although has spent the last 7ish years working in a pretty unrewarding call centre job, and he recently quit to focus on creating a word for word graphic novel of the bible (hers the website and facebook page). This was made possible through a successful kickstarter campaign which although went way over the target will see us bringing home around £8k (about a third of our total income) less than last year!

Now I know for a lot of people that would seam terrifying and I cant say that I didn't have a tiny moment of doubt when I overheard the phone call giving notice, but I know that this project is what this family has been called to and I know what God has already started us on the path to seeing it become a success.

So is frugal just buying stuff for a cheap as possible?

Just over 2 years ago, when I was looking at returning to work after a years maternity leave with our first son, we decided that we would both work part time (him 28hrs and me 8hrs) and so we had to start to be more considerate in how we sent our income.

It was only really when I started looking at alternatives to our regular shops that I started to realise that cost wasn't the only difference and surprisingly might not be the most important.

When you buy something, there is generally a profit, where is that money going? what are you funding? and if its seriously cheaper than at a competitors, how did they get it so cheap? who lost out? 

Suddenly there's an ethical issue but guess what, shopping ethical is not cheap. Pop, fair trade, free range, cruelty free, or locally produced, on the label and its priced as a luxury item!

So its about buying the 'right' stuff?

The other week I took our 3 year old to a huge supermarket (one of those 24hr, sells everything and makes you thankful you got your girl guide orienteering badge, affairs). We don't go very often but there a few things that I cant get at our regular weekly shop that mean I have to visit there once every month or two. Thankfully it was post afternoon nap and my little shopping companion was safely stowed away in the trolly rather than running free as we passed the toy aisle (I say aisle, there were about 5, all over flowing with shiny, flashy, noisy, plastic stuff). Suddenly he shouts 'STOP!' points and with all the compelling seriousness a toddler can muster declares 'I NEEEEEED THAT!'.

It turns out he had no idea what 'that' was but it looked good and so obviously he wanted it. I tried to explain that the entire store was designed to make us think we needed 'stuff', but unsurprisingly it was lost on him.

The hard thing is that a large part of me wants to give him every thing his little heart desires, why not? there is very little else that can bring me as much joy as seeing our boys happy. But does happiness come from stuff? Its certainly what retailers want us to believe. Its what the media tells us every day, buy this car and you will look sucessful, but this face cream and you will be beautiful, get more stuff, enjoy life more, spoil yourself, go on! your worth it!

Why not? because none of its real, sure it will fill up your home and entertain you, but stuff wont bring you joy. Have you ever bought yourself something that at the time you thought was just the most fantastic thing, and within a week/month/year it will be old and you will be off finding something new to give you that happiness again, even if you dont realise it.

Is it about NOT spending money?

Our income has never been huge, its probably always been less than average but by being frugal we can be much more generous.We enjoy supporting different charities, tithing, hosting, blessing and surprising people both openly and anonymously. The bible is full of instruction to share, (Hebrews 13:16, 1 Timothy 6:18, Luke 3:11) but it worries me how these days sharing seams to be so counter culture. I hear often how people believe charity starts at home, its all about taking care of ourselves, but what would the world be like if we all just took what we needed and shared the rest?

I am also so lucky to be able to put my faith and trust in a God who is for me. A God who has always provided for me and if everything is from him, who am I to greedily hoard it up!

So finally I want to say that for me being frugal is taking a stance against consumerism, spending my money wisely, understanding my role in the bigger picture, and finding my joy in real things. Its honoring God who has blessed us abundantly and showing His love to those around us in a very practical way.

Getting Started.

So I have finally taken the plunge and started a blog, which is both scary and exciting all at the same time. Scary because writing has never been my strong point, I cant spell, I have no idea what a verb or a noun is and my vocabulary is minuscule!

But talking, talking is something I am good at. To be honest I talk too much, every thought I have comes spilling out and so I wonder if putting some of my ideas down on 'paper' would perhaps help control my lack of inner monologue.

Recently my wonderful and very talented husband ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, his project is to write/create/illustrate an unabridged graphic novel of the bible, starting with the book of Judges, (to find out more about the project go here).

It was so encouraging to see the target totally smashed through, eventually achieving 125%, what an amazing answer to prayer! It was wonderful when the countdown ended and we knew that Hubster could quit his call centre job and focus on his true calling and passion.

But the next day, when the dust had settled a bit, I started thinking about all those people who had pledged their money. We are going to live off their generosity for the next year! (and longer if I can make it stretch). That's very humbling and a little daunting, what will people think if we splash out on a treat? What if we feel God call us to give some of it away?

Now we are not big spenders, we like being frugal, and thrift was second nature to us even before it became trendy, so I know we are not going to waste this money, but how can I make the most of it? And importantly how do I keep a generous heart?

So I decided to write about living a Kickstarter funded year, how I make money stretch, being frugal and thrifty, about how I make a house a home, enjoying life, raising a family, blessing others and most of all living by faith, living on a prayer!