Saving Money #9 Reuse and Recycle
Hello Sisters!
I pray you are standing strong and watching out for our adversary (1 Peter 5:8)
Because the weather is so cool right now we have changed our travel plans to stay here at our homestead in Missouri to work on orders. Every day something changes and so I'm glad that I've killed enough flesh to where it really doesn't phase me when we have to drop plans and redo them....sometimes a couple times in a day:-)
So on to #9 how we save money.
This post is on Reusing and Recycling.
One way that most people can save quite a bit of money is by going to resale shops, consignment shops, and rummage sales. Throughout most of my life I have shopped that way and it was rare for me to pay full price on anything from clothes to furniture to everday household items. I exercised (and still do) a lot of patience and waited (sometimes years) to find items that I was unwilling to pay full price for. It wouldn't have been sinful for me to pay full price, it was something in my own conscience that I wanted to wait for a better deal.
By shopping like that you will also eliminate the temptation of browsing regular priced stores for all their newest and latest gadgets and getting swept away in your flesh with things you really didn't need or couldn't afford.
Every house that we have lived in has had a recycle pile. By that I mean things like left over pieces of metal roofing, random hardware, ends of cut off lumber, scraps of this and that which could be used on a homestead for fixing things. Jim ends up using most of it over time, therefore saving us money from having to buy a new piece.
There are many ways to reuse items in the household as well. Washing out ziploc bags, save left over food scraps for soups, making aprons, curtains, bedding and rugs from worn clothing, old work clothes can be rags, save spray bottles for making your own cleaning supplies or air fresheners, reuse your rinse water from your dishes to water plants, newspapers for the woodstove, scrap candles for firestarters, there are thousands of ways to recycle in the home and I'm sure you all do many such things.
Our Missouri home itself is recycled:-) It's an old rv camper that we pulled on the land. Jim built a roof over it, a porch on it and a shop on the back half using mostly recycled materials except the metal roof sheets (but we did get a discount on that because they were scratched) and some lumber we had to buy. Other than that our deck is from old oak boards, the railing is from driftwood we collected by the lake and the poles are cedar logs we had.
We put up old tin on the outside of our house for siding...
Brother Jim made us furniture like this bench along with chairs and tables from logs.
Even our fellowship room and walking deck to it is from recycled materials.
(You can see my handwashing plunger and bucket there, I was letting it air out before I put it away.)
We also use solar lights and fans which is a form of recycling energy:-)
We advertise online when we need to buy something or if we have something to sell. Sometimes we get to barter and both parties get what they need without costing anyone anything. There are times we are able to drive around the local towns during their spring clean out. That's where people in town are allowed to put out on the curb any item they want to get rid of that normally doesn't go in their regular trash pick up. Oftentimes we find tools, shelves, lumber etc.
Our cargo van is recycled in a way because we downsized our cost from a newer pick up truck to the older van and with just a little money to fix a few things on it, we have a great vehicle!
We wanted to be set free... free in Christ first, free from debt and free from worldly jobs so by doing what we do, living minimal and willing to leave everything behind including what we knew for our home and the state we lived in...we are now set free in all ways.
It's sometimes a challenge to see what we can do with what we have or find something and recycle it into something useful.
Maybe someday I'll make a list of what we used to recycle when we had our sustainable homestead going on but for now this gives you an idea of how we reuse and recycle to save money.
I hope this helps inspire some of you to be creative in your own homes.
Have a joyous afternoon sisters and let us give thanks for each and every one.
Love in Christ,
Sister Deb
I pray you are standing strong and watching out for our adversary (1 Peter 5:8)
Because the weather is so cool right now we have changed our travel plans to stay here at our homestead in Missouri to work on orders. Every day something changes and so I'm glad that I've killed enough flesh to where it really doesn't phase me when we have to drop plans and redo them....sometimes a couple times in a day:-)
So on to #9 how we save money.
This post is on Reusing and Recycling.
One way that most people can save quite a bit of money is by going to resale shops, consignment shops, and rummage sales. Throughout most of my life I have shopped that way and it was rare for me to pay full price on anything from clothes to furniture to everday household items. I exercised (and still do) a lot of patience and waited (sometimes years) to find items that I was unwilling to pay full price for. It wouldn't have been sinful for me to pay full price, it was something in my own conscience that I wanted to wait for a better deal.
By shopping like that you will also eliminate the temptation of browsing regular priced stores for all their newest and latest gadgets and getting swept away in your flesh with things you really didn't need or couldn't afford.
Every house that we have lived in has had a recycle pile. By that I mean things like left over pieces of metal roofing, random hardware, ends of cut off lumber, scraps of this and that which could be used on a homestead for fixing things. Jim ends up using most of it over time, therefore saving us money from having to buy a new piece.
There are many ways to reuse items in the household as well. Washing out ziploc bags, save left over food scraps for soups, making aprons, curtains, bedding and rugs from worn clothing, old work clothes can be rags, save spray bottles for making your own cleaning supplies or air fresheners, reuse your rinse water from your dishes to water plants, newspapers for the woodstove, scrap candles for firestarters, there are thousands of ways to recycle in the home and I'm sure you all do many such things.
Our Missouri home itself is recycled:-) It's an old rv camper that we pulled on the land. Jim built a roof over it, a porch on it and a shop on the back half using mostly recycled materials except the metal roof sheets (but we did get a discount on that because they were scratched) and some lumber we had to buy. Other than that our deck is from old oak boards, the railing is from driftwood we collected by the lake and the poles are cedar logs we had.
We put up old tin on the outside of our house for siding...
Even our fellowship room and walking deck to it is from recycled materials.
(You can see my handwashing plunger and bucket there, I was letting it air out before I put it away.)
We also use solar lights and fans which is a form of recycling energy:-)
We advertise online when we need to buy something or if we have something to sell. Sometimes we get to barter and both parties get what they need without costing anyone anything. There are times we are able to drive around the local towns during their spring clean out. That's where people in town are allowed to put out on the curb any item they want to get rid of that normally doesn't go in their regular trash pick up. Oftentimes we find tools, shelves, lumber etc.
Our cargo van is recycled in a way because we downsized our cost from a newer pick up truck to the older van and with just a little money to fix a few things on it, we have a great vehicle!
We wanted to be set free... free in Christ first, free from debt and free from worldly jobs so by doing what we do, living minimal and willing to leave everything behind including what we knew for our home and the state we lived in...we are now set free in all ways.
It's sometimes a challenge to see what we can do with what we have or find something and recycle it into something useful.
Maybe someday I'll make a list of what we used to recycle when we had our sustainable homestead going on but for now this gives you an idea of how we reuse and recycle to save money.
I hope this helps inspire some of you to be creative in your own homes.
Have a joyous afternoon sisters and let us give thanks for each and every one.
Love in Christ,
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...