A Work of Heart
• Dec. 29, 2006 - Being Good Stewards of Our Money
There are two wonderful resources I would LOVE to share with you.
The first is one that is truly a WEALTH of information for saving money on anything and EVERYTHING! I always check out this site first. They have a WONDERFUL and FREE newsletter with GREAT ideas, but that is just a SMALL amount of the wealth of information on this site.
The Dollar Stretcher
The second is one I just recently learned about from Cindy Rushton in this interview. It is called Living On A Dime and looks VERY good so far.
I also wanted to speak for just a second on buying stuff second hand. I know that this is becoming a HUGE trend, especially after a group of people did nothing but that for a year. But I wanted to speak about my experience. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to save money. I need a shirt that says "I LOVE GARAGE SALES" because I do. We can be traveling at 65 miles an hour on the freeway, I will see a sign for a garage sale and slam on my brakes and turn! And I love going to thrift stores (that might be because we do have some REALLY good ones near where I live). And I LOVE Ebay (boy can that become addicting, but be sure NOT to pay too much for something JUST because you want to win the item, I have seen people pay TWICE what I can get it NEW in a store for because they got caught up in the bidding process). And I LOVE the internet used book stores (bookfinder.com is an AWESOME resource and searches the web for new/used titles of books and shows you all the lowest prices).
But I have noticed that sometimes prices are lower in stores on their discount racks (Old Navy, Christopher & Banks, Sears). I find BRAND NEW CLOTHES for cheaper than thrift (even cheaper than Walmart and better quality too!!).
Christopher & Banks has be one of my favorite. I recently got a $65 dress for $5!! Become friends with the staff and find out when their do their markdowns. C&B does markdowns on top of markdowns. So if you see something you like, but don't like the price, try again in a week or two. If it is still there, they will have marked it down some more.
Sears is great because their KidVantage program is FREE. If the clothes stain, tear, rip, you name it, during the life of the clothing for that child (in other words, while Suzie can wear it, as long as it still fits) bring it back into the store for a replacement! I got a brand new winter coat for my oldest last year for $5!!! A similar coat in Goodwill was $8, had had some stains on it.
I know that this makes it more difficult to shop, especially if you have little ones in tow. But I use this as alone time with each of the children. I take them shopping with me. We try on clothes for Mommy, then clothes for them, then a trip to the pet store, and a lemonade to split while we walk around the mall. It is a GREAT bonding time, AND teaching time as well (teaching my daughters about frugalness, being good stewards, AND how to shop for QUALITY (not just the cheapest).
All this just to say, be frugal and good stewards of your money doesn't mean only buying second hand. If brand new is cheaper and better quality, you are still being a frugal and good steward by buying new.
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• Dec. 21, 2006 - Using the Fruit of the Spirit to get out of debt
This is just a small excerpt from a letter I got from Cat (Making It Home Magazine). If you do not belong to her yahoo group, I HIGHLY suggest you join!!
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What are the fruits of the Spirit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.
Love what you have already. If you do this you will not require more or
want more.
Joy in that you have so many blessings in your life that you can share it
with others. Don't take the joy out of your life because you are a slave to
your credit card.
Peace of mind when going to the mailbox not worrying about opening up a
credit card bill.
Patience in waiting to get what you want but only when you have the cash to
purchase that item. Patience in knowing that maybe by the time you do have
the cash to buy...you many not really want it.
Kindness to be able to share and bless others with your time...not your
money!
Goodness in being "able" to help and provide for the needs of others.
Faithfulness - are you being faithful in what God has given you? Are you
tithing? No? Why? Because you can't even meet your own bills and if you were
to tithe well...that would really put you out. What does God say about
tithing? What does God say about His being faithful to you when you do what He
has asked of you? Do you not have enough faith in Him to know that He will
see you through? Faithfulness in paying what you owe to others and seeing to
it that you pay them in a timely and God honoring manner.
Gentleness in how you spend your money.
Self-control is not just buying what you see but waiting. Self-control is
thinking purchases through before just allowing the impulse to take over. We
can see what little self-control we have when we open up our checkbooks or
when we look over our credit card statements.
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