Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you

I can't tell all of you Thank-you enough.
Your kind words, prayers, and encouraging comments,
are such a blessing.

I was so reluctant and nervous to write the "moving" post...
I never imagined that I would receive such
a Blessing from all of you.

So again from the bottom of my heart
Thank-you!
You all are AWESOME readers and
I'm blessed to have you here!

There were many of you in similar
situations. Know that I will be praying for
you and your families too.

Moving...

I've debated whether to post about this and had pretty much decided not to.

However I kept feeling like I was hiding something if I didn't. I want to be transparent here, I want you all to know we're no where near perfect. We struggle and struggle in a lot of areas. But Even when life doesn't go as planned and even when you feel like all is lost. If you have Jesus it's no where near lost. Even if you mess up 100, 1000, a million times. He loves you and wants nothing more than for you to call out to him, to accept him in your heart, and to put your trust in him.
So here's what's been going on...

We're moving... (or I should say just moved)
Not exactly because we want to, but because we simply can't afford our house anymore. Our income has been going down for over a year now and it's just come to a point that we can't cut any more bills out except our house. We have some unsecured debt that has built up over the years mostly from our business and other unwise decisions. We're not proud of this and it hasn't helped our situation. But the main cause of all of this is income that has been cut by about 70%. So for now we're moving into my in-laws "Walkout basement home". I say "basement home" because it's fully furnished including FULL kitchen, washer/dryer, big pantry area, our own entry, and aprox.. 1300 sf. We have everything we need to live there completely independent and it's a beautiful place!

It will be tight for 6 of us but we're actually excited about the opportunity to get out of debt (assuming that work doesn't continue to go down).
We live in the middle of RV capitol and the economy around here has been crushed. My hubby's job is to install flooring (carpet & vinyl) He is paid per job. So when there isn't work he doesn't get paid. The store that he works from has went from around 20 installers to about 8 (and some of the 8 are very part time).

We're still trying to sell our house but it doesn't look good. We've had it on the market for almost 3 months and have only had 1 person look at it. If you could, pray it sells. I know it only takes 1 person but houses in this area are just not selling...

So there it is, that's what's going on.
I pray this doesn't hinder my testimony in any way here on Daily Essentials. We live for God but are obviously not perfect and have never claimed to be!!! We started a more frugal way of living a little over a year ago. That's when I started this site. Unfortunately it doesn't erase the years before. I hope this is an encouragement to anyone else out there struggling. God will provide all your needs according to his purpose and his will. We just need to let Him and lean on Him!

Things like this also make you remember what's important. We still have everything that's important. A Savior, Family, Health, Food, Roof, Clothes! Having our "own" is just an extra... I'm so thankful that God is providing so well for us and that He's given us so many Blessings.

And My God will meet all your needs according to his
glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 4:19

A new grocery budget challenge...

I'm taking my grocery budget a step further... So what am I talking about? Well currently I spend around $55. per week for groceries. That includes everything (except hamburger).
Just recently we were able to get 50# of hamburger for $1.99/lb. from a local butcher so we stocked our freezer with that. I'm curious how long that will last. (I figure we use about 1 1/2 lb./week which would be around $3.)

Anyway I am now going to do an experiment and skip 1 week of groceries each month. Why you might wonder?? Well because I am continually getting more food than we eat in a week. So my stock just keeps building. It will also save me a morning each month to do something else, it saves gas, and of course will save another $45. or more per month.

I'm sure I will still have to get milk so I'm allowing myself up to $10. on the off week to get that. Depending on CVS deals I may not need all of that.

This will make my new monthly budget for groceries around $175.00 (55.+55.+55.+10.=$175.) I'm curious to see how long I can do this and if my stock will begin to go down.

I was reluctant to do this because I wasn't sure if I can do the coupon matchups and then not go and get the great deals. But in thinking about it there will always be more deals and if I don't go get more boxes of cereal or more toothpaste...I think we'll live!!

So this week I will NOT be going to get the deals, I will not be grocery shopping at all!! Which will work great since I'm potty training my 2 yr old this week. Be sure to check that post out tomorrow!

So there you have it, My new challenge! If you do something like this I'd love to hear about it. I'll keep you posted as to how this new challenge is going each month when I skip a week!

BTW if you were wondering, Yes this was inspired by Money saving mom and how she takes time off every so often to use what's on hand. thanks Crystal, I think this will be good for me!