Where to Start......

Having a large family can put a strain on your finances. One thing that we would like to do is to help to share the ways that we have overcome some of this strain. One of the ways that we have done this is by reading a book called Miserly Moms, by Jonni McCoy. We first picked this book up when Dawn was pregnant for our fist child more than ten years ago. Dawn and I knew that raising our children was more important than an extra income. Dawn really wanted to quit her job to stay home and raise the kids, we just needed to figure out a way that we could do it financially. We were young and starting out when a friend of mine from work recommended this to this book to me. We will do a short review of the book here. Please leave comments and let us know what has helped you.


For starters, this book is very helpful for large families because it discusses many ways to cut expenses. For example, it covers how we waste so much money without even realizing it. It also uncovers the "cost" of working. How going to that job every day costs you a lot more money then you may think. It also covers how to reduce grocery and clothing costs.

One of the best parts of the book is how to cut the grocery bill. I know in our house, the grocery bill one of the largest "black holes" of money. Ms. McCoy covers many ways to reduce the grocery bill, from making certain things homemade to not buying certain convenience items. She goes into great detail (with examples) on how much you can save. As an example, one of the little things we do is to make homemade maple syrup. It takes about as much time to make this as it does to boil water. A bottle of syrup cost $1.59, we can make the same amount for 11 cents. Now, you may be saying, not this not much of a savings. Well, if you are like my family ( 2 adults, soon to be six kids) we go through a few bottles of syrup a week. See below:

3 bottles of syrup per week 52 weeks per year.

3 x 52= 156

That's 156 bottles of syrup per year...

Store cost per year: 156 bottles x $1.59 = $248/year

Homemade cost per year: 156 bottles x $.11 = $17/year


That is a savings of about $231 per year. That could pay a winter heating bill! That is only one example, I will give more in the posts to come....

There is a tremendous amount of research that went into this book. Mrs. McCoy covers what are good deals at warehouse clubs and what are not. This book will pay for itself several times over, even if you just implement a few of the ideas in her book! If you are trying to go from two incomes to one, or just starting out and trying to save money, this book is an excellent resource.

You may be able to pick up this book at your local library, if not it is still available at Amazon . Just follow this link to go directly to Miserly Moms.