I used to be a couponer. Having just gotten married and living on a graduate student salary, I found it critical that we reduce our grocery budget as much as possible. I would come home with a trunk full of groceries for just dollars. I had a friend who liked to coupon with me but was more particular about what she purchased for her family's health. I said that I just had trouble spending money that I didn't have to. She kindly pointed out that it was my health that I was paying the price for. That got me started thinking but I wasn't ready to take the plunge. I had the curiosity but didn't know how to get started. Once you make one change, there is always something else and I thought it would lead to such a financial burden.
It turned out I was helping my family financially but realized it was not worth the health risk in the long run. My job is to care for my family and so I was going to find a way to provide for my family in a healthy and frugal way. While some things did cost more, I found that if I focused on one thing at a time and determined what was most important it was feasible and didn't break our budget.
So what was the turning point? I kind of stepped into all this without realizing it. I saw a book recommendation on one of my blogs for Michael Pollan's book
In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto. The title sounded intriguing but I had no idea what the book was about. The title gives this book away because he is defending food. The thing that I didn't realize was how much of the things that we were consuming were not really food. Once I became aware of what we were really eating I couldn't help but change our ways.
A little disclaimer: I hesitate to recommend this book because the author is an evolutionist. I do not support the views of this author but if you are looking for information this book is well written, research paper style, and provides a lot of good information that makes you think. While he thinks that all of his findings support his evolutionist theory and it's a little tough to read through, it is amazing to see how God gave us everything we needed through the food He provided for us naturally.
On Monday morning my husband's car was vandalized and is not drivable for the time being. This has increased my time at home and given me more time to focus on the house and projects that I want to get accomplished. Yesterday I spent way too much time on a cover for my new recipe folder. I started this folder at the beginning of the year with recipes for our new eating lifestyle. I found it easier to have them all in one place and to not be tempted by some of the unhealthier recipes that we used to enjoy. I had begun to slack off in printing recipes to put in the binder and figured if I made it look nice, I might be more likely to keep it up to date. I used some old scrapbooking paper that matched the binder color. I told my husband last night that the colors made it look like Barbie threw up on my recipe book, but at least it was fun. I got this great organizational idea from my friend Emily Wylie. I'll be sharing some of the recipes from inside the binder soon. 
