An unitentional green family.

We are an unintentional green family. No we don't think we have to save the earth from Global Warming. Climate change happens... yearly. However, as Christians we believe firmly in being responsible with all the resources we have been given. That said, I thought I would post how we live just in case it might help someone. In general, living green costs less...another reason why we live (mostly) green.

I am a stay at home mom, hubby works roughly 40 hours a week. Just in case someone thinks he must have a really great job- he works for a cleaning company and installs carpet. I don't think Forbes is going to feature us anytime soon. However by God working serious miracles on our behalf and giving us wisdom for ways to save money...we will soon own our home!

Here's how we do it...


1. We trust God for everything and we give what we have been given.
2.  We make sure we don't get into debt -with the exception of a mortgage. Any debt we do choose to incur we make sure we have an effective plan to pay it off with a set low interest rate.
3. No subscriptions... it's really easy to spend $6 a month. However that adds up to an additional $72 a year that isn't really needed.
5. We eat out once a week and we only spend about $20+ tip, twice a week is a splurge.
6. We work to keep an emergency fund and a savings. They're not the same thing!
7.We don't do cable or Satellite. Internet provides nearly all the entertainment we have time for, and we prefer to spend most of our time with our kids.
8. We live by a budget and we trust God for the rest.

Water and Electricity:
1. I do cloth diapers except when I'm out of the house
2. I don't drive any place that I can walk (at least for now we have one vehicle, though hopefully that will change this year).
3. I only run the dishwasher 2-3 times a week so I hand wash most of the dishes.
4. We use windows for our lighting, heating and cooling as much as possible.
5. When we leave the room we turn the light off and we don't turn it on unless we have to.
6. We keep our house at about 80 (Fahrenheit) in the summer and 65 in the winter.
7. We use low flow shower heads to conserve water.
8. We only grow native grasses in our yard and we water once the sun goes down.

We have a pretty simple rule, if we can do it, why pay someone else to? This of course means no maid, gardener or anything like it. My husband does most of his own mechanics, and house upkeep.

Food: I spend $30-$40 a week at the store.
I make nearly everything from scratch- no boxed or pre-prepped items as those add up fast!
I grow herbs and veggies organically, in a small garden big enough to feed ourselves and give some away.
I plan our meals once a week so we only buy what we need and don't get trapped buy meal ideas at the store which are designed to make you spend more than what you intended.
We try to make sure we go to the store once a week so we don't spend more than our budget.
There are certain things I never buy unless they are on sale.
Do the math- check the price per ounce and not just the sale price. Compare the store brand with the name brand. Since stores usually change their sales once a week, look  for what is cost effective and not what you normally buy. 
We shop at Sams and Costco. However we still price compare. Just because it comes in bulk doesn't mean it's cheaper.

Lastly we don't take vacations unless we can afford them and we only take vacations that we have saved for and can pay for in cash.

It's not always easy! We are tempted all the time to change our ways, especially when more money comes in. One thing we keep in mind is that money and resources are not given to us to use solely on ourselves. So I hope someone might be inspired by this to do better. I don't think everything that the way live is what you have to do to live rightly. However I think there are lots of ways that we can change the way we live so that we can give more to others.

Date Night

Yesterday Steven took me on the most amazing date. First, on his way home from work,  he picked up a iced lattes from Marfa. Yum! Then after he got home he took Joanna with him to the store, so I could put Noah down for a nap and get a shower. It's a serious blessing when you're a mom with little ones to be able to get a shower! When they got home he packed a back pack for us, told not me to look and we loaded up the kiddos and took them to their grandparents for the evening. Then we headed off on our date.

We stopped for gas in Alpine and Steven had me call Murphy's Pizza in Fort Davis. He had the number saved and ready in his phone. Then we drove to Ft. Davis. I love the drive, it's so pretty! We pulled into Ft Davis, picked up our pizza, decided we also needed some cheese bread and then drove out of town onto the senic loop.

We drove till we came to this rock pile that's about the size of a small mountain. I knew we were going there and that we were going to climb it, but I didn't know what was in the bag or what he had planned. Steven had been up the rock pile before. So Steven grabbed the back pack and I grabbed the pizza and cheese bread and we began "bouldering" our way to the top. We had to hurry because we wanted to be up there long enough to look around and find a spot to watch the sunset.

It was kind of funny climbing. I've basically never been "bouldering" before. We were a sight climbing up the side of a small mountain, over boulders taller than me while passing the pizza and cheese bread boxes back and forth. In the end Steven had to carry everything, since it took me both hands to pull myself up the rocks

Then we hiked/bouldered to a spot Steven picked out, it was the perfect place to watch the sunset. Steven pulled out a blanket he had packed I had a soft place to sit. He also pulled out two small glasses and sparkling white grape juice. It was gorgeous up there. We ate our veggie pizza and cheese bread, drank our sparkling grape juice and watched the sun drop slowly behind the mountains. I nearly cried. Once we finished I was about to ask if he had some how managed to get desert up the mountain as well, when he pulled out peanut M&Ms! Everything was just perfect. The temp, the breeze, the clouds, hardly any cars drove by down below so we could hear the grass as it moved with the light breeze. It was lovely.

Since it gets dark quickly in the mountains we had to hurry down as soon as the sun dropped. When we got to the bottom we put our few things in the truck and drove back to Ft. Davis. We walked around for awhile holding hands and enjoying the time to be just us. Then once it got really dark we drove back to Alpine. However Steven had one last surprise for me. He found a spot off the main road and we parked the truck, climbed into the back and watched the stars, finishing our sparkling grape juice.

I am so grateful for a husband who takes time to plan things, who puts a lot of thought into what he does. He still sweeps me off my feet and carries me off in style. After 3 years of marriage he is still my Knight in Shining Armor.