I took a plunge this week that I’ve been wanting to take for a while now. I made my own laundry detergent. *gasp* I know, but what do you expect from someone who prides herself on frugality? I want to do everything I can to save our hard earned money. When you boil all the water out of the pot, the homemade stuff cost three cents a load., Aldi’s brand cost 14 cents a load and Tide with bleach cost more. It’s cheaper. Period.

The recipe I tried was from my friend who calls herself  Homestead Mommie 2009. HM and her husband are almost totally debt free, have a couple kids who she home schools and she is only 24. (A darn-sight more grounded at 24 than I ever was. I admire her greatly.)  Her husband is a mechanic and her kids like to get outside and get dirty. I love it. I figure if it works for her family, it will work for us too. You can check out her recipe and more homesteading tips here at her blog.

Homemade Super Stain Remover Laundry Detergent

On vacation Ben got me this T-shirt. I say ‘Ben got it for me’ because I am way too cheap to pay $25 for a t-shirt for myself. Even though I love everything thing about and even got caught saying once, “If I ever see another Bed and Breakfast t-shirt I’m going to buy it.”

I saw another (not on clearance this time, dang it), choked when I saw the price and cried when Ben insisted on getting it. I guess he figures since he has another woman  my love affair is with cast iron and cooking outdoors seem minimal and I needed this t-shirt.

Like all good things, Jake…

and the ”Life Is Good” wear, was built on a simple idea…

 I love it.

Before I married Ben, the Marine, I told him, “I don’t care what you do for a living. Pump gas for all I care. Just come home happy.”

God bless him, he does.

In my opinion, God designed everyone to do something. He gave everyone a passion. A passion is where you go to work and do what you do and when you come home you feel like you never went to work. If you are not working in your passion, you should be working toward working in your passion.

I love to garden, cook, write, and nurture those around me. Ben working in his passions allows me to work in mine. We go together like potatoes and carrots.

Simple ideas turn into dreams. Dreams turn into meager starts. LIG wear was started by two brothers spreading good vibes by selling t-shirts from the van they were living in at the time. (You can read about it here.)  Throw in a little (or a lot) of perseverance and presto…your life can be good too.

Ben feels (for the most part) his job allows him to pursue his passion. When he comes home, he is happy. When he leaves again to play his banjo in a gig somewhere and comes home late, and has to get up early, he is happy.

That’s passion.

However, if he got a phone call tomorrow to play his banjo full time, he would really be happy. (Yes, you can email me with offers. I’m he’s agent. sis at reclaimsimplcity dot com)

In the mean time…Life is good. 

I have a t-shirt to prove it.

Simply,

Sis

PS ~ Check out this website http://www.48days.com/ for my info about pursuing your passions.

Boundaries, now there’s a fifty cent word. I don’t if I should like it or hate it. It’s one of those evil necessities, I guess.

I was talking to my running buddies and one was trying to define it in action.

“So it’s like peeing around your trees to mark your area?”  I replied.

They laughed at my description, but agreed boundaries are exactly like that. Some days, I just wish it was that easy to have boundaries.

When people ask me, ‘How do you become debt free?’  My go-to answer is focused discipline. Since that is so hard to define, maybe I should say, boundaries.

Learning to tell your self, your spouse, your kids, and others, NO, is 99% of every battle. No matter how you slice it…delayed gratification is a booger bear. Who wants to put off feeling good?

Here’s some examples of a life without boundaries…

Getting to swimming lessons late, because let’s face it…my life is more important that anyone else’s.

Chocolate always tastes better when I’m on a diet.

Those cute name brand sandals look better when I pay full price, who cares if I have to put it on a credit card.

That spur of the moment vacation to Mexico at peak price was really worth it. It’s such a waste of time to shop around. 

That banjo I bought cause it ‘almost’ had the sound I was looking for is still just killer…well kinda.  

And finally, when it comes to kids… That new gaming system, latest cell phone and brand new car will make you smarter, more popular at school. Besides, I can’t stand the thought of not giving you the very best.

Actually the brainwashing mantra ’you deserve it’ has been repeated for so long people actually believe it. Truth is….

My neighbors who I’m sharing this journey called life with, respect me more when I respect their time, too.

My waist line and self esteem like me better when I make a snickers bar last a week, savoring one bite at a time. (Or until Ben finds my stash. No. Sniff. I’m good. *Shaking* I’ll be fine.)

The hardly used name brand sandals I found at a garage sale for a dollar are rockin’. And my kids think I’m a rock star for having enough blow money left over to hit happy hour at Sonic.

Our family vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota was one of the best connections with my kids, husband, other mom and God that I’ve had for a long time. Relationships are something I can’t put a price on.

God bless him, my husband, Ben, the free spirit and big spender has never bought a banjo, gun or otherwise without lots of planning and thoughtful thinking about whether or not his family was taken care before he commits to the purchase.

And my favorite. It’s fun to watch our kids puff up and say, “It took me FOR-EV-ER to save my commissions to pay for this PSP. Then it took another FOR-EV-ER to save enough for the game I wanted. I’ll probably be really old, like 35 when I’ll have enough for a car.”

The pride that comes with boundaries is priceless.

It’s a good thing they can’t be bought, or I would tell Dave Ramsey to pound sand again and would be broke. Busted. A boundary-less loser, just like I usually am. But, for now I’m having a good week day hour.

Got boundaries?

Simply,

Sis

I am a lady of luxury who, most of the time, masquerades simply as a stay at home mom. I’ve been married to my banjo playing, soul mate, Ben, since 1995. We bypassed living in town for a simple life in an old farm house, that smells of two boys, and sits in the middle of a wheat field in Kansas.

Ben and I decided early on, one paycheck (whatever the size) is simply ENOUGH. Come to find out, like a good wine…money has legs too. After a few years of chasing our dashing dollars, we found our ‘money legs’. We paid off our debt and started making choices for our money instead of our money making choices for us. We live DEBT-FREE, except our dwindling mortgage, choosing to invest our time and money in simple things and relationships. We have discovered in the process we simply have more than enough. In fact, we are rich.

Of course…our life isn’t easy or perfect. And some days..okay… most days… I fail miserably at being content. In fact this site could be called a lot of other, more fitting things…but reclaiming simplicity is what I DO EVERY DAY. Turns out…all and all…I’m purdy good at the place in life that has been reserved for me. I’ll share some zany tales and tips I’ve learned along the way.

Ben’s work requires crazy hours, so I keep the fire stoked, the garden weeded and good food ready for any stray kid, cat, neighbor, coworker or otherwise, who we are blessed enough to share our journey with. And now, YOU! I’m honored! Welcome to my hilariously simple life. You can have one too, FREE for the taking, if you choose to CLAIM it.

So sit deep and come often.

Sandhill Sis