Jonni McCoy - Miserly Moms: Living Well on Less in a Tough Ecomony

This book offers much-needed encouragement to families who are tired of hearing societys endless whine about the impossibility of mothers staying home to raise their own children. The fact is, it can be done, and it is being done, with ingenuity and good cheer.... Her Eleven Miserly Guidelines are completely practical, and at the top of the list is the most important: Dont confuse frugality with depriving yourself.

Ginny Silva
In a review for Christian Parenting Today

Jonni McCoy shows great understanding in the power of living frugally. It can be done, and she can show you how, so if you want to take back control of your finances, start here.

Pat Veretto
Frugal Living Guide at About.com

Let Jonni McCoy be your guide through the jungle of hidden costs, misleading purchasing assumptions, and costly habits. She leads you out of the murky water of living up to the unrealistic standards of our society and into the calmness of balanced checkbooks and a peaceable home life.

Jill Bond
author of Dinners in the Freezer!

In this day of two-income families, Miserly Moms offers a refreshing look into the possibilities of having a stay-at-home parent. Todays families can live a full and joyful life, even on limited means. With warmth, humor, and candor, McCoy shows us how!

Deborah Taylor-Hough
author of Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month

Practical financial advice that makes sense, is easy to follow, and can be implemented today. One-income families especially will benefit from Jonni McCoys money-saving insights.

Cheryl Gochnauer
author of So You Want to Be a Stay-at-Home Mom

Miserly Moms
Fourth Edition
Copyright 1994, 1996, 2001, 2009
by Jonni McCoy

Miserly Moms is a trademark and servicemark of Jonni McCoy.

Cover design by Dan Pitts

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McCoy, Jonni.

Miserly Moms : living well on less in a tough economy / Jonni McCoy. 4th ed.
p. cm.

Included bibliographical references.

Summary: Practical, proven strategies and tips to help families live more frugally without being deprived, while still reaching their financial goalsProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-7642-0641-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Consumer education. 2. Home economicsAccounting I. Title.

TX335.M384 2009

640.73dc22

2009005552

This book is based upon personal experience, interviews, and research by the author. Although much effort was made to ensure that all information in the book is safe and accurate, this book is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher assume no responsibility for oversights, discrepancies, or inaccuracies. This book is not intended to replace medical, financial, legal, or other professional advice. Readers are reminded to use their own good judgment before applying any of the ideas found in this book. Also please note that prices quoted (e.g., grocery) are examples and may be different depending on where you live, the type of store, etc.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JONNI MCCOY holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Prior to motherhood, she spent ten years as a senior buyer and supervisor for electronics firms such as Apple Computer and National Semiconductor. She presents seminars on living for less to womens groups and other conferences. She has been practicing her frugal ways since 1991. Jonni has appeared on The Gayle King Show and The 700 Club, and radio programs such as FamilyLife Today and the Dick Staub Show. She has also been featured in Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Family Fun, Working Mother, and Womans Day magazines. Jonni and her husband, Beau, make their home in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they homeschool their children.

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WWW.MISERLYMOMS.COM

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book
to my husband, Beau,
and to my children, Jeremy and Jessica.
They never failed in their belief in me.

CONTENTS

When I first wrote this book, our family lived in one of the most expensive parts of Americathe San Francisco Bay Area. Most families were spending half their income to pay the high rent or mortgage. Consequently, most families needed both parents to work just to get by. We were one of those families. According to statistics, my husband and I were a middle-income family, with my job providing half of our joint income. I was a career woman who received much joy from her work.

After our first child was born, I began to feel God tugging at my heart to stay home to raise our family. At first I thought I hadnt heard correctly. We couldnt live in the Bay Area on half of our joint income. At least thats what we believed. Trying to interpret what God was saying to me, I arranged a job-sharing program where I worked part time. We continued in that lifestyle for several years. Once it became clear that the part-time arrangement was not Gods plan, and that I was supposed to stay home full time, we were back to square one.

We thought we would have to move to a less expensive community in order to live on my husbands salary alone. So thats what we decided to do, but things changed at the last minute. We made an offer on a house, and someone made an offer on our home. One night I realized that I didnt want my husband commuting several hours each day, and I didnt like the idea of being so far away from our church and our friends. We were able to get out of both house offers with no penalties. But I had already quit my job. So there we were, living on half of our income in an expensive area.

Our choices were either for me to go back to work or to somehow reduce our expenses. But I knew I was supposed to stay at home with my family, so instead of bringing in a salary, I began to research how we could make our money go further. This opened my eyes to the hidden costs in the way we lived, and I questioned whether some people could even afford to be working!

When we calculated what our loss of income would do to our budget, we didnt realize how many hidden costs would disappear once I stopped working. Given the cost of child care, taxes, gasoline, parking, convenience foods (we were often too tired to cook after work), lunches out, office clothes, and all the other amenities associated with working, not much of our salaries were even used at home. I wasnt alone in this realization. I read that some financial experts had calculated the cost of working as nine to twenty-five dollars per hour. I was stunned! This meant that many of us who worked were actually paying for the privilege of working. I was inspired by the challenge of reducing our budget instead of increasing our salary.