[mom-from-missouri]

Monday was my last day at work. Saturday is my wedding. Then I will be a stay at home farm wife, moving to my new home 97 miles from here. So far, my house has not sold, but I do have a person who is interested in renting it. So I may do that route.
Here is my game plan....

Garden (already planted and growing)

Can foods from the garden and farmers market

Clothes line (have the post-he just needs to put them in for me)

Do all cooking from scratch (I basically do that now)

only go to town 1 time a week (20 miles 1 way)

I finally found a wonder bread outlet and an aldi's near his place. (backup plan was when we came back here to visit grandma, to stock up at this one) I will continue to buy in bulk as i do now.

freeze-he has a deep freeze, and I am also taking mine.

we already have beef in the field

i am adding chickens and turkeys after we return from the honeymoon

no trash service (he burns)

has basic dish ($20 or so a month) and he has an antenna so he does not have to pay the dish extra to get the local channels

he had an orchard, and we have now added 4 more fruit trees to it, as well as some grapevines. Several of the vines and trees already have fruit coming on. so far, we have apple, peach, pear, cherry and concord grapes.

he has a well dug, and we will be using it for laundry, stock, and the garden. But we will drink the rural water.

we have stocked both ponds with fish, to supplement our table

we may possibly board horses--we are checking into insurance and such on that.

this years garden is "an experiment" to see what does well. next year, when i will be living there throughout the entire garden season, we will double it, so i can sell some produce.

he has a wooded area he is clearing for another pond, so we have firewood to cut to burn, and possibly some to sell this winter.

my daughters will be transferring to a christian school in the country 8 miles from his home, which uses the same uniforms as their current school--so, we will not have their clothing expenses.

I sew what few clothes my daughters do need, but only after I can't find the item for a quarter at a garage sale.--same with my clothes. may sound gross, but when i am at his place working in the garden or mowing or whatever, i usually wear the same pair of work coveralls and tee shirt everyday. i strip at the back door and hit the shower. why get a different outfit dirty to work outside every day?

He just got the internet--we plan to sell a bunch of stuff on ebay-things we have duplicates of since combining households. we both collect antiques, and several items we need to clear out now.

we are going to put in a "fire pit" in the back yard. thats a round area of stones, where we can build a campfire. we love to cook out, and that will acutally save ac from heating up the kitchen, and electric from the stove if we use it even 1 night a week to cook over. we have an over abundance of wood, so we can cook hotdogs over a wood fire as opposed to the using the grill.

does anyone else have any other ideas to help me maintain a 'frugal' lifestyle? our goal here is to not have his bills go up any at all, even with adding 4 more people to the household. the only bill we are wanting to see change, is the addition of the girls school tutuion. (yes, for us that is a MUST. his local elememnty school has almost 700 children in it, as they bus them in from nearby towns who have lost their schools due to school bonds that did not pass. it is a loud school, over crowded, and the kids have to walk to the highschool everyday for lunch, walk to the junior high for library and art....32 kids to a classroom...was not a pretty sight)