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| Be frugal & bake your bread products from scratch! Very versatile machine bread recipe HERE! |
“We all need to build a personal ark . . . And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets in this dispensation . . . as well as the prophets of old.
“Unfortunately we don’t always heed the clear warnings of our prophets. We coast complacently along until calamity strikes, and then we panic.
“When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark. However, we do need to listen to the Lord’s spokesmen. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future.” (W. Don Ladd, October 1994 General Conference)
Could you live on less than you make? Could you? Honestly?? Living on less than you make is key. You should try it for a month. You might be surprised.
Living paycheck to paycheck is risky, it leaves NO buffer, nothing for the unexpected. Believe me when I tell you there are more unexpected things than you can dream up.
I want you to play the "what if" game. What if you lost your job with no warning? I actually want you to write on paper your plan for just that. Be honest, what would you do?? Then I want you to save it and put it with your storage. So I want you to do an in-depth mindful thinking and note taking and come up with a real plan.
For example, we got rid of our cable bill and went with Roku. We also got a magic jack for phone service, just things like this help.
It is amazing what you can live without. The very thing you think you cannot live without like a certain brand or food item, cleaning supply, cable... you can do it. It might be hard at first but then you are on the search for cheaper items.
You will more thoughtfully buy your groceries. A couple of times I was going to get groceries when I found out our income was cut. I totally redid my list and got things that I could get more meals out of and got a big bag flour so I could make bread, cake, whatever, knowing it would be bad times ahead. The entire list had to last way longer.
You have to stop thinking of the loss and stretch what you have - NO time for a pity party. You need to pull up your sleeves and go to work stretching food, mending clothes, doing all you can to help make life as normal as you can for your husband and family.
Remember, no situation is so bad it cannot get worse.
This is not time to point fingers at each other, it is time to pull together.
Your husband does not need you bemoaning how awful things are. He needs you more now than ever. He will take courage if you show him you both can manage. It could be hard but we are in this together, we will make it.
Get out the cookbooks and start learning to cook from scratch if you haven’t already done so.
http://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/recipes-grandma-knew/
Remember, Heavenly Father loves you and don’t think you are being punished because you are not. And please don’t blame your spouse for the loss of a job and how you cannot have this or that.
Hopefully you listened and have food storage, what I call real everyday food storage.
You will learn lessons but not for having done bad. These lessons of making-do don’t feel great but as I look back they are a very valuable education that now helps us in any hard time. I would not ever trade them. It is hard now to see it but one day you too will not trade the knowledge. For anything. You can help others. Yes, you work harder for this education but you can’t learn it at a school.
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/living-on-food-storage - must read for your homework!
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/blog?view=entry&id=88 - must read homework!
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/cooking/menus/strictly-pantry-menu - worth looking at
http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2015/11/english-muffin-bread.html - I have the round bread pan, you could save some veggie cans to do the same thing.
If you don’t have a bread machine, do it by hand. Yard sales and Goodwill have used ones for about three dollars. Or ask for one on freecycle or your sisters at church may have one that's no longer wanted.
If you have one, it could help but it's not necessary. You can follow the recipe but stir instead and you can make this work…
http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/2015/03/monday-message_16.html this can be made to make many
http://frugalmeasures.blogspot.com/search?q=bread+kits - scroll down to see kits to make.
Just a few things to think about. Do the best you can!
My husband and I live on a single income and have for years. We homeschooled our children so that was my full time job for a season of our lives. I used to work part time, but my health took a turn and now I only work about 6 hours a month during the school year.
ReplyDeleteI find that working as a team with my husband, despite any setbacks in income or job losses, is what has gotten us through. He works hard outside our home and it is my job to stretch our income as much as I can. Part of that is by baking most of our breads, rolls, cookies, etc. I also have a garden that he helps me with and that provides not only food for us, our family and friends, but has also produced some additional income with the sales of plants in the Spring and cherries in the Summer.
i am sure you are inspiring everyone i am proud of you working together is so important but doing what you can is great too. thanks
DeleteI have always wanted a bread machine and see them often in the thrift stores. I don't know how to decide if they work before purchasing one from there. Any ideas?
ReplyDeletewell i don't use them to bake just to mix and rise what i do is plug it in before purchase press dough cycle and start if it goes loud gruuuumf gruuuuumf then it probably will do fine and since i pay like three dollars for them so try that and see if it makes noise like that you could try sometimes the thrift store will let you bring back if it doesn't work but have them give you that in writing. most people only used them once and didn't like it but using it this way is so helpful on dough cycle this recipe is older then i am i am sixty one so if one chooses not to do this way you can stir by hand as that was the original directions but this is my go to recipe i just change it for what i want at the time
Deletethank you! I will def. plus in and hit dough cycle next time!!
ReplyDeletegood hunting i find this a fantastic tool as i am getting older but i can make it by hand just as good i really like having those kits made up it makes it so quick.
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