Living debt free, the secret to cooking from scratch, and how I plan my days

I’m sitting down to answer your questions about finances, cooking from scratch, and minimalism! If you have been around here for long, you know I am passionate about debt freedom. I’m diving into our financial mindsets and the major pitfalls we avoid as a debt-free family. I’ll also explain how cooking from scratch is the best way to stretch your grocery budget and how minimalism is a non-negotiable for us as a family of ten!

In this episode, we cover:
- How monthly payments create financial traps and sabotage your long-term goals
- Considering the opportunity cost of carrying debt
- Making unpopular sacrifices to maintain peace in your finances
- The surprisingly simple answer to saving money on groceries
- The key to keeping meals on the table in your from-scratch kitchen
- Organizing my time for maximum efficiency in my business
- My strategy for maintaining minimal wardrobes for our large family

CONNECT
Lisa Bass of Farmhouse on Boone

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[joyjanczak]

You are so amazing! You remind me of my mother. She had 11 children and my dad always said she could put on a meal faster than anyone he knew. One story you might like: there was time in our lives when she would get everyone dressed for church, send them all to the car with my dad, then she took 2minutes to get ready herself. True love. She always put my dad and the kids first. She never asked for anything except to die in her own home. As you can imagine, we made that happen for her. She died at the age of 100 and we took turns caring for her. She had a rousing birthday party in August (and enjoyed every minute of it) then passed in January. What a legacy!

[TheWillisHomestead]

In January we paid off ALL debt. We are building a brand new home on a brand new homestead, all DEBT FREE. Living debt free is the seriously THE BEST FEELING. And we did this all on one income. It IS achievable. Buckle down friends, it’s all WORTH IT!

[luckypenny]

I’m going on 27 years no car payments !!!! Every time I get the urge for a new car I just wash my car and clean inside and out. Works every time. Makes me appreciate what I have as in debit free. I listen to Dave Ramsey for years and he’s the reason I don’t have car payments anymore.

[EmilyBGates]

Just want to say, one of my favorite things about you, is that you dont plan everything in your life. You are so go with the flow, for a crew of 10, its so peaceful. Im truly happy for your family. Fantastic content, love from Arkansas ❤

[gunnikr]

I love when you talk about your finances and family life. It will NEVER get old because it’s motivating us each time ❤

[TheTidyNest]

I will be having our 7th baby any day now. Our oldest is almost 13, and we drive an 8 passenger Honda odyssey😂 whenever baby arrives my husband will have to follow us in his truck. But we haven't had a car payment in years and I can't fathom that people spend 25k+ for a used transit! We are still on baby step 2 and I'm not willing to go backwards on that for a van.

[cominghomewithsusanne]

We finally paid off our debt in January. At 51 years old, it took us 15 years but it is worth it. I’m so thankful God gave us the perseverance and means to do it. ❤✝️

[abbyd]

I have never commented on YouTube before but I just have to tell you how helpful your videos are for me. My oldest is 14 months old and I feel like I am really going through the learning curve of being a first time mom. Not enough people talk about strategies, ways to think about different things, and how to adapt to this complete life change. I go around quoting you all the time – in my head and out loud! Thank you so much for making your content, I would have gone on being an anxious stressed out mom for many years before figuring these things out organically. I’m very thankful to have those who share who have gone before.

[meganhimiller]

Glad someone is influencing others with good finances. Getting debt free this year at 27. Our parents influenced us into car loans and student loans. But we’re setting a new standard for our children - financial peace in the home..

[Just-Nikki]

I’m 50 and I have never had a credit card or any debt - other than short term monthly payments for medical emergencies. We buy used when we can. That means vehicles, clothes, appliances etc and what we don’t buy used we pay in full at the time of purchase. My husband learned trades and received on the job training as well as having skill certifications paid for by employers. No college debts to pay off and we live well below our means. It’s funny to me that we have family members who think it’s insane that we bought a $600 canner, for example, but they spend almost that much EVERY MONTH on a car payment.

[christineshah]

This is NOT a criticism. I think you are extraordinary, Lisa. You seem to have no idea how creative and intelligent your cooking process is. I didn't understand it about myself until I started getting lots of amazement over how I managed our food supply, how I invented meal combos on the fly, how I shopped based on sales and a general idea of what we like to have rather than a meal plan. It makes sense to me and shares characteristics with what you describe in this video...but perhaps you and I take for granted our ability to puzzle out food for our family without much of an obvious plan. Your description of what you do sounds like wizardry to an awful lot of people. I know this now. LOL A good friend made this quite clear to me many years ago when I would talk to her about some random dinner I had made as if it was nothing. Apparently it was far from nothing.

[samanthahoos]

For 5 years of being a stay home mom with 2 children we only had one car to save $. When we fostered children we were required to own an 8 passanger vehicle so we bought a suburban used and kept a Prius for regular driving to save $ on gas. While not having car payments (cars are paid off) I keep putting that monthly payment amount into my savings account or retirement fund rather than spending it.

[Omer_of_Manna]

We used to be in a lot of consumer debt. Credit cards, car loans, etc. we are lower- middle class and we lived above our means for years. Now we have no consumer debt and that has brought so much freedom to our finances. I would never go back the car and credit card payment life!

Currently a one (paid off) car family of 7. It’s inconvenient sometimes but I will not go back to payments lol

[judithbutler]

I think this video should be in every high school, college and prime time tv! My kids fortunately listened to us about debt cars etc, and I learned from you about meat in a pan and making meals and I’m 68. No stress🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[singerjo]

When you came from a poor family that scraped by, you have no concept of investing. There was no internet to learn these things. Young people now are blessed to be able to find out anything they want to know.

[wendeymorales]

I really like this style of podcast and I hope you do more. It's like a little girlfriend get together.

[elle]

Can I just say, I tried for TWO YEARS to figure out how to do sourdough bread. I went down so many technical rabbit holes, wasted so much time (and flour) trying to make the perfect loaf, until I found your channel. The way that you explained how you fed your starter by eye-balling it and then how you simplified the recipes made it so easy to me. Thank you.

[erinmorgan]

My husband and I are both 37 years old. We started paying off all of our debt in 2020. We had a lot of medical debt, two car payments, credit cards, etc. As of May 2023. We no longer have any medical debt, paid off both of our newer vehicles, 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan and a 2016 Dodge Dart, we have a couple credit cards but we don’t use them much, just to maintain credit so we can buy a
Homestead. We have zero debt now and it feels good. We bought both cars new and won’t ever do that again. They all can break, no matter the year lol We will keep them until they no longer run. We budget and manage what we spend but still don’t go without. Just wait until we have cash to purchase instead of using the cards 💀 Every families story will be different, but if you want something bad enough, you can do it.

[StephanieGiese]

You're so right about how you start to look at things differently. We needed a new roof this year and financing it was not something we wanted to do, but our home owner' insurance said they would drop us if we didn't replace the roof. In the past that would have seemed like a financial emergency and we might have financed it. Instead, we sold my husband's truck and used the money from selling it to pay for the roof outright. I'm now sharing a car with my mom when he's at work. It's been six months and it hasn't been a problem at all. Sure, we need to coordinate at the beginning of the week and occasionally (maybe twice in the past six months) one of us needs to reschedule an appointment because of a scheduling conflict. But ultimately, it has saved us thousands of dollars in interest and car maintenance, and saved my mom money too because we are now splitting the cost of her gas and car maintenance with her.

[ribbonriver]

I love the episodes you do by yourself.