(Image credit: QuestionandPlanters)

The other day I was reflecting on how blessed I’ve been over the years by a community of families (mostly women) in my church. I began thinking of all the ways we’ve swapped items and services and cared for one another and I wanted to share some of these ideas with you, too. When we work as a community to share and help one another, we all win!

After thinking of all the different ways I could structure this post, I decided it might be simplest to just share some of the things we’ve done in bullet form. Here are the ones I could think of, and undoubtedly there have been others:

• Taught each other skills (couponing, gardening, etc.)
• Swapped coupons and stockpile items
• Swapped garden seeds, plants and produce
• Gone in together for bulk food purchases (meat, farm produce)
• Provided free childcare for one another from time to time
• Swapped lawn equipment and tools
• Shared less commonly used kitchen appliances such as canning equipment
• Swapped freezer meals
• Swapped clothing and accessories
• Swapped professional services (for instance I’ve swapped ad space before)
• Brought one another meals when someone had a baby or has been ill
• Shared a maternity wardrobe (I’m not kidding – some ladies in our church have been basically sharing the same set of maternity clothes!)
• Carpooled

I would encourage you to meet up with some of your friends or neighbors to see what you might do to help one another in this regard. If there’s someone struggling with paying childcare, might there be a potential swap of services? If someone needs help getting a garden started, maybe they could make some freezer meals and organize a work party? If you’ve been needing to use a pressure washer and your friend has one, maybe you could ask to do something in return as opposed to buying one yourself? With a little creativity, you might find that money can be saved in new ways among friends.

What things have you done as part of a group to save money? I’d love to hear what you’ve done too!

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Canning applesauce

If you’re reading this blog, chances are saving money and living beneath your means matter to you. They matter tremendously to me, too! Working to this end has helped me stay at home with my two children, helped our family pay off debt, and put food on the table.

But as of late, I’ve been contemplating pursuits that may seem “frugal-ish,” for lack of a better word, but may not really be the cheapest option available. Or maybe just hobbies you’ve taken up that seemingly don’t gel with a money-saving lifestyle. Today, I wanted to expand on this topic and then provide an opportunity to hear from you.

The Simple Life

Consider if you only learned how to use a calculator – that you had no concept of how math worked. Sure, you could bring that calculator with you everywhere you went, but isn’t there a bigger freedom in having that calculator and also being able to quickly add, subtract, multiply, and divide on the fly?

When was the last time you did laundry like this?

This is exactly why I’ve taken considerable time in my own life and here on the blog to write about things such as: making your own bread, canning applesauce, dehydrating fruit, and making your own laundry soap. There’s something inspiring about making something from scratch that you just buy at the store every week. It’s empowering, isn’t it?

Many of these pursuits will save you money either short- or long-term. But let’s not kid ourselves, sometimes they don’t save you money. And if that’s the case, why bother?

Value Beyond Frugality

The other day I shared a photo on my Facebook profile of a cooking project I just completed. One of my friends shared that she used to cook that way, but couldn’t do so any more due to the cost involved. (If you’re really curious about what I cooked up now, patience…promise, I’ll be sharing it here soon!)

There are times when saving money trumps everything. Job loss, income loss, unexpected expenses, emergencies. In these situations, you are operating from “how can we live for the least amount of money possible?” I get that, because that’s been us at different points in our family.

Other times, you might find different goals that sometimes compete with saving money. Here are a few examples of hobbies and pursuits I’ve taken on and the value they’ve provided beyond saving a buck:

Gardening. Lots of people will tell you it’s cheaper to grow your own food, but I’m going to argue “not necessarily”. Particularly when you are getting started. No doubt, there are ways you can save (check out Erica’s Urban Gardening posts for some ideas), but chances are you’re going to need dirt, seeds, supplies, and possibly lumber, compost, tools, and other related items. Let me fill you in on a secret: when we started our garden three years ago, saving money wasn’t our primary goal. Our goals were: 1) to turn our yard into more usable space, 2) to fulfill a desire I had to start this hobby, and 3) to appreciate the work and reward of growing your own food and work to eat a better diet. We’ve been relandscaping for the past four years now, paying cash and doing it ourselves to save on costs. The past few weeks I’ve enjoyed not buying salad or smoothie greens and just picking them out of my garden, but we’re a long ways yet from breaking even on our investment.

Parsnips!

Traveling. When you’re on a budget, traveling is probably the first thing to nix, right? Well, when my husband and I got married 10 years ago, we decided that traveling was a priority for us. It’s how we make memories as a family, and how conversations have the time to open up. Last fall, we splurged on a trip that screams anything but frugal – a trip to Disneyland. Now before you begin to think we up and go to Cabo or Bora Bora on a monthly basis, let me clarify a bit. Traveling for us can be as simple as getting in the car for a day trip or an overnight stay (usually bought with a Groupon) to a nearby town. To some this might feel like a wasted gas of tank, but I wouldn’t trade those day trips for anything. They’ve helped shape our family into the fun-loving, tight knit unit that it is.

Our favorite family trip to-date!

Cooking (some forms, anyways). When I was in high school, my parents had me take this test to gauge where my strengths and interests lie to help me figure out a future career. (I apologize, I forget the name of said test.) The results indicated I should do something culinary. While I’m feeling fulfilled in a career that uses my love of writing, I have to agree with the test that yes, I LOVE cooking. I love creating new dishes in the kitchen, trying new foods, exploring different ingredients – it’s a form of play for me. While the large stock of recipes I make are budget-friendly, there are times I bust out the Grand Mariner for a decadent dish, or splurge on good quality balsamic from Pike Place, or bake something from scratch that would’ve been infinitely cheaper to buy pre-made. What am I doing? I’m playing, honing a skill, cultivating a hobby.

This yule log was NOT cheap to make!

I’m sure if you thought about it, there are areas in your own life you can relate to the examples I shared above.

It’s all About Balance

In Financial Peace University, Dave Ramsey explains that budgeting is a lot like choosing what to eat from a menu. You can’t have the steak and the prawns and the appetizer and the soup and still have money for cheesecake and a 40-year old port. You pick and choose.

Ramsey has real wisdom here, it’s simple truth, but good to remember. While we may like to getaway here and there, we don’t often buy fancy clothes (or really, go clothes shopping much at all). While I like to garden and cook, I don’t have other crafting hobbies. While I like to make fancy and complicated dishes on occasion, I often am doing probably exactly what you all are – clipping coupons and shopping with sales most of of the time.

And now, I’d love to hear from you. What pursuits have you taken on that don’t save money, but provide value in other ways? When does frugality take second seat? When does it trump everything else?

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