Honoring God....Frugal doesn't mean cheap

Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine." Proverbs 3:9

My miniature testimony about how giving finances to God turned things around comes from my junior year in college.....  Things were tight, as they often are for college kids, and (thankfully) I wasn't receiving any financial aid.  Between my parent's help, my scholarship, and a part time job...ends were being met.  But it was still tight.  And tithing? I couldn't possibly.  Or could I?  Giving my finances over to God was a bit scary at first but very freeing subsequently.  Learning that my stuff is not really my stuff and my money is not really my money is a process.  Living off 90% of my "income" was much, much better than 100%.  I was working at an office on campus at the time, and also taking notes and recording books on tape for disabled students, and making minimum wage.  And once I started faithfully tithing, I did not feel the financial burden that I had just months before...and I was not making any more.  Actually less once I started student teaching.

I truly, truly, believe that when we honor God with our money that he will overflow our "vats" so to speak.  I do not believe in magic prayers or weird stuff about money showing up on your porch.  I also don't think that honoring God will make you rich. But with God in the driver's seat...things will be much better than having Him ride shotgun.  And maybe it's not that you will actually make or have any more, but that you will be more content with less.  Not sure!


It's no secret that I love budgets.  Having and sticking to one helps Aaron and I live within our means and intentionally give.  On FrugalLivingNW's page, a motto I read once said: Be content, Spend wisely, Be Generous. I love that. Frugal doesn't have to mean cheap.  I want being frugal to help us be generous.

My favorite budget category is one we call "Hospitality".  I got the idea from this blogger who I got to hear speak at a conference a couple years ago.   We use our hospitality budget to be able to bring meals to people, pay for hosting expenses, etc.  Our grocery budget is so tight that I really appreciate being able to freely spend some money from this "category" without it feeling at all like a burden.  It's a fun category.  We buy things that we probably wouldn't buy for ourselves, but when it's for other people or for hosting we can justify it. It's not a huge amount, but having it intentionally set in the budget gives hospitality a priority spot in our spending.

What's your favorite budget category?

Budget Smarts

I am back to e-blogger! The thing I liked about Xanga is no longer available- so here I am.


Saving Money #1

I've decided to write about budgets and saving money for a while. I find the topic very important. It's very near to my heart. I'm not sure quite yet WHY it is, but it is. I see so many people hurting financially. I hurt with them. I see so many moms that want to stay home but can't. My heart breaks with them. Of course there are plenty of moms that DON'T want to and I can see why. Believe me. I can see why someone wouldn't want to do that, hehe. But for some reason, I do. And many other women do, too. Yes, there are moms who are the sole provider or are single, etc. But there is a small part of me that thinks that more moms (that want to) could stay home if they made some changes in how they used their money.

For me it isn't that hard b/c I've always been a saver. When my sister and I were kids, we would get Christmas money from Grandma. I would save mine. She would spend hers. I don't know why, but part of me is naturally frugal and a saver. I'm being honest when I think that's just how God designed me.

When Aaron and I got married, we set up a computerized budget not long after. It was good and really interesting to see where we were spending our money. You can categorize your budget however you want and there are a lot of options. Some of our categories are groceries, gas,savings, eating out, utilities, toiletries, rent (then mortgage), etc. Some new categories we've added recently are a BABYSITTING fund b/c it really is nice to get out of the house just the two of us a couple times a month and since we don't have family in town, we have to pay a sitter. We also added a hospitality fund for hosting things or bringing food to events so it didn't seem like a burden and was more of a privilege. I got that idea at a women's conference recently.

Regardless of what categories one chooses, the important thing is to know how you're spending your money. Look at your income, then allocate money to bills and different areas accordingly. If you do this, you aren't spending money you don't have. It can keep you from falling into the trap of our country and going into DEBT!! I hate that word. Debt really is restrictive. If you want to be a SAHM (Stay at home mom) or just want to stop being mastered by your finances, get out of debt ASAP! Start a budget!

Take into consideration that I am ultra conservative with money at times. Not always, but in some sense, yes. Which is good b/c Aaron works hard to bring home a paycheck every month and I work hard to spend it wisely! And when I was working and we lived in our apartment, we tried to live off of just one income in preparation for having a baby and save as much as possible. God has really blessed us us.
That said, If I had a debt to pay off (college, car, credit card, etc.), I think I'd rather go without certain things (like cable, smart phones, nice clothes, new danskos, a trip to Japan, etc.) and put that money towards the debt. I know, I'm WEIRD!! A very low percentage of people would actually do this. But what if....... people really did this??

What if we lived within our means?!?! Imagine what could happen. Interesting concept. More to come. This is one of my favorite verses in regards to how God would have us use our money:

"Honor the Lord with your wealth. With the first fruits of all your crops; then your bars will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine." Proverbs 3:9-10

What does honoring the Lord with your money mean? Could be different for each person. Not something I can tell you. But I think I know what it looks like for us right now and we continue to pray to be wise stewards of our resources and money.