Too Much of a Good Thing?

I think perhaps I have been talking about being frugal too much. On the way to the dollar store to buy some craft feathers for our 5 year old's project, he called out while motioning towards the side of the road : "Just hit that bird there, Mom! Just hit the bird- we can use it's feathers! Then you won't have to spend lots of money at the store!" I explained that it wouldn't be very nice to kill it for just a few feathers. He then suggested that we eat it as well. Um, roasted sea gull, anyone?


I thought that was pretty cute, but we are taking measure to tighten our belts, just like every one else. On the west coast of Canada, we are fairing better than Eastern Canada or the US, as our economy is stronger due to our proximity to Alberta and it's oil, and our own natural resources. We are also enjoying the boom of hosting the Winter Olympics in 2010, so there is lots of building and construction around. Though The Skipper is also a builder, our main source of income has been fishing, which is a little more unpredictable, so we have been having a few talks over ways to be a little more careful with our finances.

Though we live in a beautiful place, it is an expensive place to live. We don't have a lot of big box stores in our area to shop at, which I actually like, until I need to buy shoes for my kids or something. We have a lot of higher end stores, but when your kids are growing, who can pay 40-80 dollars per child for footwear? It used to be that we would pop into Vancouver to stock up on supplies, but our ferry rates are going through the roof, with more increases to come. Right now, for our family, a round trip costs about $85.00. That is just the ferry- not gas, food, or anything else. I can easily slip into rant mode on this topic- like I could mention that the ferry board just gave themselves a 60% pay increase on the very day they raised our fares again, but I won't go there 'cause I will get all red faced and blustery and you will leave my blog feeling overwhelmed. My point is that we are limiting field trips, shopping trips, sight seeing trips to the mainland because it is just too expensive to get over there much. We have decided to camp locally this summer instead of our usual foray into other areas of our province- you don't even want to know how much it costs to get our old 5th wheel across! I have begun ordering from a warehouse store here that makes trips into a Costco in Vancouver for supplies. They add a small percentage onto the price, and I can pick it up here in our nearby town.

Some other ways we save money:

-carpooling to sporting events, etc.

-freezer meals with group of friends-mainly using clothesline

-no extra rinse while washing clothing (I have double rinsed for a while as one of the kids gets bad eczema- we'll see how this goes)


-homemade cleaners/laundry soap- I am going to try doing this again- we the help of Gayle and Julie. Go here to get instructions from them both. I did the whole natural cleaning/eating thing sometime in my 20's- my cleaners didn't work, my spelt bread could have broken rock, and I mixed plain yogurt into almost everything- appetizer, main course, and desserts. I won't go that extreme again, but I will try their laundry soap.


-setting dishwasher to non drying mode


-trading/bartering/sharing with others- plants, veggies, sea food, construction, etc. Usually, as a group of friends and family, we just help out, and then when we have need, we receive back, etc.

-if my hubby has to go through town for work, he often stops at the grocery store for me to save an extra trip in.

-each of the grocery stores in my area have discount days at the beginning of every month- i do the bulk of our shopping then.

- I cook and bake mostly from scratch, so that is helpful, plus now I have committed to baking bread regularly. I am also going to can more this summer and put in a bigger garden.

- I may take in some children for daycare after the summer if we don't have a great fishing season- we'll see.

These are just some things that we do- nothing amazing, but every little bit counts, right?



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