$3.18 for Anna's New Sneakers!

Just in time, as my little girl wears out her shoes so quickly and could use a new pair of sneakers...

I was able to use a $5 off in points birthday offer (my birthday is this week and I'll be the big 3-0) from Shop Your Way to snag a pair of sneakers for $3.18 with free store pick-up at Sears.

Sears is also awesome because they bring out your order to you and you don't have to leave your vehicle (this is amazing for moms with little kids)!

*Shop Your Way is the rewards program for Sears, Kmart, and Lands' End. You should totally sign up... they send out free points offers all the time and I score a lot of sweet freebies/deals.

Year-Long Zero Dollar Clothing Budget Update

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" Luke 12:27-28

Some people have asked me lately, "Are you still not buying any clothes this year?" I haven't posted an update in a while so I thought I'd better keep you up-to-date!

The kids on Memorial Day Sunday

The answer is still, "yes!" We have made it through half the year now without spending any of our money on clothing for our family of five. It actually has been pretty easy for me, though I will probably want to go shopping for a new wardrobe once 2016 hits, or at least a few new pieces. :)

The one area of challenge has been shoes for my active five year old girl. She tends to wear her shoes out quickly, and though I've stockpiled shoes from a previous sale at Payless, I don't have her exact size right now. However, in comparison to the rest of the world, she has plenty of nice shoes. We're learning how to make do with what we have and be content despite the culture around us.

I've mentioned this before, but I have actually gained back a lot of time from no longer looking through clothing deals or just not giving myself the option to look. I've enjoyed the tranquility of trusting in God to provide for us, and honestly, our closets are overflowing. We might not have all new clothes, but we have beautiful clothes nonetheless.

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." Proverbs 31:25

Easter 2015

With birthday gift money and Shop At Home rebates, we have about $100 in reserve already for clothing needs. I've spent about $7 on pants for our baby boy (who really needed some comfy pants in the waist), $1 on white dressy church socks for my daughter from the Dollar Tree, and $10 on two matching shirts for my boys that should have been $1 total, but the coupon didn't work (frugal flop). So that leaves about $82 in gift money that we could still spend if need be.

I'm hoping to keep most of that reserve gift money for other non-clothing purchases, and see how far we can stretch our current clothes. I've also gotten two free shirts from Old Navy for myself that were on clearance, using a $5 cash rebate from last Christmas. Plus, friends have given us outgrown clothing, which is always an exciting blessing. I have bins upon bins full of kid clothing for their upcoming sizes.

"...give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

Do you think this would be an area you could cut out of your budget for a year? Maybe I'm low maintenance, but it hasn't been too hard. I find a lot of joy and freedom in escaping the materialism the so easily entangles us in our wealthy, consumeristic nation.

Sweet baby Joel

Also, the past few months have been extremely busy for me as I've helped put together a community-wide church event offering various free items, including a free garage sale. Even without buying new clothes, our family was able to give away about 15 bags/boxes of clothes and household items. I'm really not even sure how we have that much stuff to give away, but it is a joy to be able to continue to give to others.

"For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints...." 2 Corinthians 8:3-4

We're currently serving as full-time missionaries as my husband works as the Chief Technology Officer for the unfoldingWord Project. After raising support and making the leap of faith to become missionaries last summer (Jesse had another job position that he could have taken which would have been much more "secure," but he turned it down), we have not lacked for anything, have actually thrived, and continue to joyfully give to people around the world.

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6:10

With love, Kelly

It is such a joy to follow the Lord and trust in Him. He will not fail you. He will surprise you if only you trust in Him. I pray that continually for myself, and for you. I see fellow believers around me hurting because they are pursuing more money. Please listen child of God, stop worrying about money! Let go of your own security and trust in Jesus. He will provide more than you ever could. I promise. I've seen it happen so clearly over and over again in the past year.

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me... And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:11-13;19

January Update on my Big Crazy Fru-Gal Resolution for 2015!

Well it's almost been a month since I started my big, crazy Fru-Gal resolution for 2015, to not spend any money on clothing for our family of 5 for the entire year! I wanted to give you a little update as to how things were progressing:

- I've succeeded in not buying any clothing this month, and this resolution has certainly simplified my life as I can now simply ignore the great deals that marketers are constantly promoting in my inbox and on deal blogs. I'm not tempted to buy anything new because I know I've resolved not to.

- Five different families have given us clothes this month for our little boys! FIVE! Though friends often give us hand-me-downs, five families in less than two weeks certainly is quite rare and, to me, was a sweet way of God saying, "I will provide." I love purposefully trusting in Him to meet our needs instead of taking manners into our own hands, as is so easy to do. He is always faithful and good.

- Also, we've had family give us some new clothing items as gifts for the kids! Our daughter also received some new clothes for her birthday at the beginning of the month.

- We were able to give away two boxes of outgrown kid clothes to a couple different families as well!

I'm looking forward to seeing how God provides next month! It's not too late for you to join me in the challenge or find another area in your financial life to trust the Lord with. I'd love to hear your resolutions, too!

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28

My big, crazy Fru-Gal resolution for 2015!

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm changing that with my big, crazy Fru-Gal resolution for 2015! This next year, my goal/resolve is to not spend any money on clothing for our entire family of 5... zip, zero, zilch! How crazy is that?

Well, I'm excited to try... and I've managed to stockpile enough clothing for the kids over the past year from either good deals, gifts, generous hand-me-downs from friends, or garage sales that I think it is very doable! Jesse and I also received some updates to our wardrobes this Christmas, so I think we can manage a year also.

 If we do need items, I'm going to try to purchase these with giftcards or get them for free in some manner (i.e. coupon codes, ShopYourWay checks, Craigslist, Freecycle, hand-me-downs, gifts from family, etc...).

I'll keep you posted on my progress as the year goes by... I'm eager to see how the Lord will provide for our family as we rely on Him; He always does in such sweet, Fatherly ways.

Want to join me? Perhaps you can't foresee yourself spending nothing on clothes all year, but rather finding ways to reduce your yearly clothing spending!

We have so much here in America... I'm looking forward to freeing up time and money from clothes shopping to exert towards other aims (such as homeschooling my kids and keeping what we already own clean and nice) and being able to give more! 

Happy Thanksgiving! Our big blessing in a small package.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! 

We have been very busy this month with welcoming a new little one to our family. Here's our big blessing in a small package... oh how grateful we are to the Lord for our healthy baby boy!

"Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods." Psalm 95:2-3

God Provides: Little boy shoes

I love how God shows us His love in specific, "small" ways from time-to-time. This morning I said a simple, quick prayer to God that He'd give us some shoes for David, our two year old. I don't usually ask God for such little requests, but perhaps I should trust Him in even those more often.

A few hours later, while at church, a friend walked up to me with a plastic bag full of little boy shoes and asked if I'd like them for David.

Lord, help me to depend on you more and myself less, even in the small things. Thank you for showing your care and love for your children and thank you for using your church as your hands and feet.

"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11

Apple picking

It's apple time! A friend of our family has an apple tree in her yard that she invited us to come pick apples from! The kids had fun and we have a big bag full of apples now. We were able to share our bounty with some of our friends and the rest have either been eaten up by the kids or will be going into a batch of apple sauce this afternoon. And with that, I'm officially claiming that Fall is here! :)

God Provides: Sorting baby clothes

My afternoon project, sorting baby boy clothes!

We have had some generous friends and family members who have given us their pre-owned kid clothes over the years... it is always such a blessing! I've enjoyed giving my own kids' clothes to friends as well, and our church seems to be a recycling plant for kid clothes as many of us pass around items as our children outgrow them.

It's fun to see the different outfits on other kiddos each Sunday that we used to own and vice-versa. Here's Anna and her friend from church, wearing the same dress one Sunday that each of them were given from a mom of older twin girls. We didn't plan the matching outfits, but it was a joy for all of us to see.

With baby #3, we have been given many sweet outfits lately. One friend in particular asked us this past weekend if we'd like her little boy's outgrown clothes (which she had also received pre-owned from a family member and ended up not having to buy her son any clothes as a baby). She gave us 3 huge bags full! God certainly provides!

It has been more of a delight than a chore to go through the baby outfits and sort them by size. This was my afternoon project, after buying the extra large Ziploc bags at the store yesterday. Now, I can see what sizes we have plenty of and what sizes we are a little lower on. Plus, it'll make it easier to just pull out the next size bag every few months as baby gets older. I have bins downstairs for the bigger sizes that aren't outgrown as quickly.

Do you enjoy pre-owned kid clothes, too? Check out my post on: Ways our Family Saves: Opt for Pre-owned Kid Clothes!

Sunflower Seed Cake!

My breakfast this morning, Sunflower Seed Cake with honey (oh, and coffee of course)!

Jesse's sister is in town visiting with her family this week and some of her friends from Arizona were able to come up as well. Providentially, these friends are on a similar diet as Jesse (don't you love how God works) and the wife/mom, Danielle, runs her own amazing blog, It's a Love/Love Thing, with so many helpful resources for people with dietary restrictions. What perfect timing for us to meet, thank you Lord!

One of the recipes she suggested for us was a cake made out of sunflower seeds. I tried it out yesterday and it's actually quite easy to make (only 6 ingredients). Plus, my husband can eat it on day four of his diet when I substitute sunflower oil for the coconut oil! So exciting....

If you'd like an easy, fun recipe to try for any friends/family who may have allergies, this would be a good one (it's nut, grain, egg, dairy, and gluten- free). It goes well served with honey on top and my kids also enjoyed it... my two year old loved it! Check out the recipe here: GAPS Sunflower Seed Cake!

My $1.45 Baby Clothing Purchase at Sears

I can't say how much I love and recommend the Shop Your Way rewards program (the rewards program for Sears, Lands' End, and Kmart)! I've had it for a few years now and have been able to get new clothing and other items for pennies without even shopping there on a regular basis (see links below for my other sweet scores). They often send free points to my inbox, just because.

I celebrated a birthday last week, and excitingly, they added enough points to my card for it to be $10 off a $10 or more purchase at Sears. I shopped online and found two sweet outfits for our newest boy, due to arrive this Fall. I chose in-store pick up and paid $1.45 total for the outfits.

After a few days, they e-mailed me to let me know my items had arrived at our local Sears. When I went to pick them up, I waited for five and a half minutes for them to be brought out to me (there was a timer going) and apparently the store's policy is that if a customer waits longer than 5 minutes for an online purchase to be brought to them, they get a free $5 off coupon for their next store purchase!

Sure enough, the clerk brought out my 2 outfits plus the coupon! So I guess that makes my purchase a $3.55 moneymaker?! The coupon expires in September, so I'm waiting to see if something comes up that we need before I use it.

Here are some of my other Fru-Gal trips using Shop Your Way free points:
My $1.03 Sears Purchase
Big Spender
My $1.07 Trip to Kmart
2 Free Nuby Sippy Cups

A peak into our week! Frugal fun and many blessings.

The kids were excited to visit one of their favorite places last week, our friends' farm! Here, they're sitting on a pig statue.

Jesse with his early Father's Day gift, a bike! Plus, David is enjoying the free rides, too.

We had some wonderful friends over for dinner and the kids had fun playing in the kiddie pool and eating ice cream!

Jesse and I took the kids to a free event on Saturday called, "Wheeley, Wheeley Fun." Here they are in the cab of a big snow plow. They also got free shovels and buckets (which their old buckets had recently cracked, so that was Providential).

David's favorite part of the event was the John Deere tractor. He didn't want to get off of it.

Jesse and David riding on a four wheeler on Father's Day.

David received a toy tool box with tools as a gift from a family friend! It is a perfect gift for him and he loves it. Notice the new bucket that also came with the gift (Anna got one, too). I guess we don't need to buy any, since we went from two broken buckets to four brand new ones in a few days (I love those little reminders of how God provides and looks after us)!

I had Jesse snap this picture before church on Sunday with the kids. We're usually looking our nicest on Sundays, so I wanted to make sure to get a picture! Anna is wearing a super cute Gap dress that I found for about a $1 at the local Goodwill!

Other frugal blessings this week:

- We were given a huge bag of clothes for Anna by a friend.

- We are starting a new venture in life (more details to follow) and have seen God provide for that opportunity in encouraging, humbling ways.

- Anna wore out her flip flops and I was able to order a new pair last night from The Children's Place for a $1.84 shipped.

- We've been invited by a friend to her neighborhood's pool, which makes it a free pool day for us!

- I'm getting a replacement smart phone for free, since the one I just got had some sort of glitch where the touchpad wouldn't work or just go crazy at times. Thankful the new phone is free and hoping it will work just fine.

I think that's about it. I've had a hard time waiting, but tomorrow is the big day where we get to find out if our baby #3 is a boy or girl! We're having a gender reveal party for our family afterward, and I'll be baking either a blue or pink cake for my mom-in-law to cut into. We did the same thing for David's announcement and it was a lot of fun. 

2 Free Nuby Sippy Cups!

You may have seen my $1.03 Sears purchase a couple weeks ago... well today, Shop Your Way Rewards sent me another e-mail deal with $5 in free points when you redeemed any amount of your current points. I had a few points on my card from the previous Sears purchase, so I was able to get 2 Nuby sippy cups for free with in-store pick-up at Kmart!

God provides! This was just what I was looking for, as the kids needed some plastic cups for when we are out and about (we have some nicer stainless steel sippy cups we use at home, but I hate to lose them when we're out in public). They've been using some plastic cups they received as gifts for Christmas, but the cups are starting to fall apart and Christmas-themed cups in summer does seem a little out of place. :)

You should really sign up for Shop Your Way Rewards! Using their free points offers, I get free/nearly free stuff from them quite often.

A Busy, Blessed January.

A new family favorite that we had for Anna's party favors: gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, soy-free Popcorn Balls!

Anna's family party in Colorado. I found the party favor boxes on mega discount a few months ago at Michael's, reused some decorations, and shopped at the dollar store for the rest. 

An excited birthday girl! She's wearing the pink tutu skirt that I got for 58 cents at Sears.

In New York, spending time with my Nana.

Anna adores her Aunt Danielle and they were snuggling here while watching Cinderella.

Spending time with my Grandpa. He loved seeing his great grand kids walking all over.

David had a blast with all the pets! He is talking to Rusty the dog through the glass door here.

I cannot believe January is almost over! We have had a busy month of family time, with a special trip to New York to see family and friends. Anna turned 4 and got to have two parties this year, a small family party in Colorado and a princess party in New York! The Lord looked over us on our travels, as we managed to fly in between two big storm cells that caused a lot of flight cancellations.

It was a wonderful time to see loved ones we don't often see, including my grandparents. Now that we're back home and getting back into our normal routines, I'm hopeful that February will be a little calmer and more productive with our preschool home school. I'm also looking forward to Spring and getting outside more, getting Anna into some kind of sport, and seeing the green grass and flowers again (today is quite wintry, but we have been blessed with some warmer weather lately)!

God continues to provide for us in restoring the kids back to good health after a terrible cough, providing financially for us including a new ministry position for Jesse, bringing wonderful friendships into our lives, and giving us much joy and contentment each day.

Thank you for your continued readership and support!

God Provides: A Freezer Full of Organic, Grass-Fed Elk Meat!

My awesome hunter got this 12 point elk up in the Rockies while on an 8-day hunting trip! Our 6th anniversary is tomorrow and my gift is a freezer full of organic, grass-fed elk meat (doesn't taste too much different than beef). What a blessing!

31 Days of Less and More: Less Greed, More Generosity.

As often the case, truth can sometimes appear illogical to the world's reasoning system. We think to give away means to lose, yet in reality, to give away means we gain. It takes faith to give, selfishness to keep; treasure in God to give, treasure in our possessions to keep. One is the Spirit, one is the natural man. Trust the Lord's promise, it is more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20:35). And let go.

This Week's Grocery Trip and Menu Plan for $28.65, plus God Provides Fresh Produce and Meat!

Getting ready to cook up some zucchini that was given to us! My one year old loves zucchini!

My grocery trip this week, totaling $28.65.

We have had some wonderful provisions lately from friends and family that has really helped our grocery budget! Several farming friends and gardening neighbors have given us extra produce over the past couple weeks (such a delicious blessing), plus we came home from our week away to a freezer stocked full of MEAT as well as some other goodies from Jesse's parents, and, while we were in the mountains, my parents bought us a whole bunch of groceries. God certainly provides.

I'm hopeful that we should come in under our grocery budget this month, which would be wonderful since we have been over the past couple months. Here is our gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut-, tomato-, soy-free, and organic (when possible) grocery shopping trip and menu plan for the week, totaling $28.65:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal for me, Five Grain Cereal or Cheerios for the kids, and Fried Rice with Dates/Raisins for Jesse
Bananas

Lunch:
Salad for Jesse and I
Almond butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids on homemade bread
Carrot sticks
Apples with almond butter

Dinner:
Baked salmon with sauteed zucchini and rice
Chicken stir fry with peppers, garlic, onion, zucchini, carrots, and lime over rice
Sausages with sweet potato fries and kale chips
Sweet potato, sausage and kale soup with easy homemade veggie broth
Hamburger and green bean casserole over rice

Desserts:
Fruit bar popsicles
Marshmallows or suckers for the kids
Chocolate chips... see that bag in the picture... yep, that's for me. Maybe it will last longer than one week (my sweet tooth can't go too long without chocolate, and gluten-free makes it a little harder to find acceptable treats)!
Our version of Sopapillas (we fry corn tortillas and then add honey/powdered sugar on top)
Rice pudding

Snacks:
Popcorn
Raisins
Yogurt

Top of the Mornin'!

5 Corned Beefs a boiling...

Top of the mornin' to ya! And the rest of the day to yourself... (As my 100% Irish grandma says)! We've got 5 corned beefs cooking here at my home at 7am. Should be a fun day with family and friends! Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day and don't forget to wear green or you just might get pinched!

God Provides: Our Free Dishwasher!

After remodeling our kitchen, we still needed a dishwasher! It was our final missing appliance, but we didn't really have the budget for it right away, so we decided to wait on purchasing one and to keep our eyes out for a good deal. Well, Jesse was driving down our street one evening, and a few doors down sat a black dishwasher with a sign that read, "Works. Free." We wanted a black dishwasher to match our kitchen and free fit in perfectly with our budget!

So here it is... our free dishwasher, installed and working beautifully! I love the ease of putting the dishes in the dishwasher and pressing start rather than washing them all by hand!

God Provides: 10 Adopted Shoe Boxes!

Today is the final day to drop off your 2011 OCC shoe boxes! 

God has provided for all 10 of our shoe boxes to be adopted! Thank you to those who adopted one of our boxes; it has been a great help to us financially, but also an exciting way to have the fruit of my couponing labor integrated with the love and support of family and friends.

God Provides: 4 Free Boxes of Toddler Clothes!

I've decided to do a new series on my blog called "God Provides." I am consistently amazed at how God gives us exactly what we need in His timing and how deeply He takes care of us (even in the "small" things)! Why should I be amazed? He is God, creator and orchestrator of the universe, and He loves us (Matthew 10:29-31). I believe that when we are open and ready to truly trust God to provide, instead of worrying and providing for ourselves, He is more than willing to show us He will provide, and that He does it much better than we could.

One recent provision for us has been with my toddler's winter clothes. I had very few clothes for her in the next size up, which she will probably be growing into this winter/spring. Again, I was just waiting to see how God would provide, not rushing out to Carters to be the great provider and probably spend more than I would want (I have done this many times in the past, so please know there is much grace in that statement). We often don't trust God to provide for us in our abundant, materialistic American culture. We usually have the means to do it ourselves and we like the control that doing it ourselves gives us. It is much harder to trust. But, also much more rewarding and exciting.

Last week, my good friend, Ashleigh, asked if I needed girl clothes, size 24 months and up. Yes! Yes, I did. Well, a lady at her children's preschool had posted a sign saying that she had 4 boxes of toddler girl clothes for free, and wouldn't you know, Ashleigh thought of me. God is cool. God uses people. Now, I have more than enough for my little girl! Now, I can also bless someone else.