My name is Heather, and I’m a stay-at-home mother of two beautiful daughters, ages 6 and 2. I feel so blessed to be a mother, because I struggled with infertility, and both of my children were conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). I’ve been married for seven years to my wonderful husband who is a self-employed real estate broker and appraiser. He works from home, so we’re fortunate to enjoy lots of time together! I was born in the Midwest USA and have lived here my entire life.

My blog, Want What You Have, began as a response to what I felt was a calling from God. My husband and I had spent the last 5 years working toward financial freedom. We sold our business, 7 rental properties, cars, a motorcycle, a boat, a snowmobile - basically everything that we felt we didn’t need - in order to pay off our half million dollar debt, and achieve a simple life. I had always been frugal, but I became a real penny pincher. I used cloth diapers, made my own baby food and wipes, cooked from scratch, and did anything else I could think of to save money. On July 4th, 2007, we paid off the mortgage on our home, and achieved 100% debt freedom. Since then, our life has been calmer, happier, more orderly, and less stressful. We have more time to devote to our children, our faith, and each other. In January, 2008, I felt that God was urging me to share my experience with others, to help people realize that frugality can be fun, simplicity is rewarding, and money and stuff do not lead to happiness. One of my favorite quotes says it all — “Happiness is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you
have.”

I believe in simplicity, organization and frugality in the kitchen. I’m kind of an organizing-obsessed geek! I label everything, and organize canned goods by category, with all the labels facing front. I find that it saves so much time when I can just grab what I need without having to rummage through a disorganized mess. I also keep only a bare bones set of kitchen tools and appliances because I’ve found that most specialty kitchen gadgets rarely get used and take up too much space. I have a rule that if it doesn’t get used at least once a week, it isn’t allowed to live on the counter! As a result, we have only our toaster, coffeemaker, and bread machine on our counter, which frees up space for food prep.

We have specific meal times — breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 11:30, and dinner at 5:30. I don’t believe in long-range menu planning. Instead, I plan our meals each morning, based on what we need to use up because this insures that no food goes to waste. I also don’t shop to make specific meals because I buy groceries based on what’s on sale each week. I have a list of pantry and freezer staples, and I shop to replenish my supply. In doing this, I always have the necessary ingredients on hand to make pretty much any recipe. I cook nearly everything from scratch because it’s cheaper, and it tastes much better too!