Monday Q&A-short answers edition
Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you want me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me(thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
I'm kinda behind today, so I'm going to answer some easy questions! 😉
1. You have mentioned that you buy your wheat from a local farm and grind it yourself. Is that purchase included in your $80/week goal?
I buy my wheat in 50 pound bags from a small family-owned business that delivers natural and organic foods to my state and several adjoining ones. They do have a farm and grow a fair amount of food, but I'm not positive that they grow the wheat themselves.
When I buy wheat from them, I buy enough to last for quite some time...so I haven't had to buy any since I starting tracking my grocery spending so carefully. When it comes time to buy again, I'll hopefully have saved some of my grocery budget to pay for the wheat. That will be a while from now, though, because I think I still have 50 more pounds of wheat!
2. If you could travel anywhere in the world for any amount of time, where would you go and for how long?
I don't honestly know! I'm not a big traveling person...I really am happiest right here at home, and I've always been that way. I do really enjoy it when we get to go away for a short while sans kids(I love them, but it's nice to have a break every now and then!), but when we do that, it's not really a matter of the destination. It's more about getting time together, and it doesn't really matter where we go.
If I had to pick a destination, I'd probably like to go to a tropical beach somewhere(although maybe I'm thinking that because I am very tired of being cold right about now!).
3. You have mentioned that you don't like the style of your house (the split foyer or something like that). How did you end up choosing that house?
Yeah...it's a split-foyer, which is pretty much the only house style I don't like. I like ranchers, I like Cape Cods, I like Colonials, but I don't like split-foyers. I don't really like the way they look on the outside, and I hate the traffic flow problems that the tiny foyer creates.
So, why did we buy it? Sometimes we wonder that ourselves(!), but it was mostly because of the location. It had by far the largest, flattest lot of any of the houses we could afford, and we liked the neighborhood. It's an older one, with towering oak trees and wider streets than the new developments have. And while the houses don't have acres of land each, they do have some space between them(more than the other houses in our price range did).
We didn't buy the house for this reasons, but our neighborhood borders the water, so when it's warmer, I can get up and go for a walk and see the sunrise over the water, which is really nice. Our community has a pier and dock, which you can see here. And since it's an older neighborhood, we don't have a bunch of annoying covenants and HOAs...this means that there's a house here with burgundy siding and aqua shutters, but it also means that there's a field with horses in it a block from my house(we like to go feed them apples and carrots).
Like every house, this one has its good sides and its bad sides, and so instead of focusing on the tiny foyer, I remind myself of the open streets, the tall trees, the flat lot, and too, I remind myself to be thankful that we even have a house! It's not something to be taken for granted, even if it's a split-foyer. 😉
Kristen - Your reasons for buying that house are awesome. It's a lot like why we chose to rent the apartment that we're in right now. It's on the small side for the rent, but we live within walking distance of two golf courses, a library, a discount bookstore, a regular bookstore, a small movie theater, 4 coffee shops, a food co-op, a locally-owned hardware store, a regular grocery store, numerous restaurants, beatiful tree-covered boulevards, and the Mississippi River, which is boardered by a walking/biking path that is just plain beautiful. There are also multiple churches, a synagogue, several different schools (public and private), bus lines that allow us to be a one-car family, and the best feature of all - a friend who lives down the hall from us and is willing to babysit!
Sure, we don't have a dishwasher, we've had to deal with a mouse problem, I have to carry all groceries and the munchkin up 3 flights of stairs, there's no garage (but there is off-street parking, thankfully), and we have no control over when the walkway gets shoveled, but the location is fabulous.
You can grow cilantro in a small pot in a kitchen windowsill and if used sparingly a 3 dollar pot of it will last 4 to 6 months,,and always be fresh!!
Your children are beautiful, and so is your photography.
how the hell do you grind your own wheat? thats a question that is now swilling about my brain. am kind of wow about that
Steve - Have you ever tried growing herbs in a west-facing window? Does it work, or is there something special you have to do?
I'm very impressed that someone in your family babysits your kids so that you can get away with your husband!! How wonderful. We have only 1 kid, and there are 3 grandparents, and an aunt within a 35 mile radius but in almost 8 years, we've only been away for 1 night. (Thanks, sis.) My parents and mother-in-law have never so much as offered to watch him for us, it's very sad. I remember staying with my grandparents several times during the year and 1 week every summer...apparently my parents have forgotten that they benefited from it and/or don't believe in paying it forward!
So kudos to you for taking the time to nurture your relationship and kudos to the generous soul(s) who care for your kids.
@Julia - I wonder if there is a post on some alternate-universe blog: We would love to have our grandson come visit but my daughter has never so much as offered to let us watch him.
🙂
Mo-I have a grinder. Don't think I'm sitting there with grinding stones, ok? lol I'll post a picture next week.
Julia-yes, we are very blessed to have family that helps us out! For our tenth anniversary, my dear parents took all four kids for an entire week, while my husband I went to the beach all. by. ourselves. Holy cow, that was awesome.(happy sigh) I could use another week like that.
I'm totally going to babysit my grandkids when the day comes...I'm going to remember how desperately my husband and I needed some alone time, and I'm going to make that happen for my kids and their spouses.
I also plan on babysitting my grandkid(s)some day, and being the best grandma ever! 🙂 CathyG, maybe we can work out a deal, hah hah!
Hi Kristen: Love your post about not being poor. I had a friend who once said that he had been broke once or twice but never poor. It's a state of mind. I live so frugally, and love it, that I can make a nickle beg me to let it go. Love, love the resale shops, estate and garage sales. Some folks are in a sorry state, don't have a faith walk so look to criticize those who seem to be managing their life in a tidy manner. Shake this off now - you cleared the air and let's all pray for that poor buzzard