I had such a light-bulb moment this morning as I sat down to work on our finances, and I am so excited to share it with you! It really was one of those moments when all of the pieces came together, and I finally saw the genius of what the Lord had put in our hearts to do. First of all let me say that I had deposited our salary check on Friday so I knew that we had funds to cover whatever might be automatically debited over the weekend. Therefore I was able to relax over the weekend and …
Feeding the Mogwai
Enemy, thy name is Ebay. Seriously, Ebay can be so difficult to say NO to. Especially when you find a great deal on something that you never knew you always wanted. All of a sudden that magical countdown clock until the end of the auction becomes your deadline for how badly do you want this one of a kind whatever? The minutes tick by, you refresh the page, the price climbs slightly, you feel a moment of “Oh no, I’m not going to win it.” Ebay should really come with warning signs like “Not for the fiercely competitive” or “Remember, …
The Cookie Jar
Can I just tell you how good it feels to have all of your credit card balances be at zero? If you have no idea what that feels like, may I suggest you join me on my credit card “diet”. Having credit cards at your convenient disposal is a lot like living with jars of cookies and chocolate all over your home. It is one thing to want to eat healthy or lose weight, but if your weakness is cookies and you are constantly surrounded by them, then you will have a very hard time reaching your goal. You will …
A Little Less Chocolate
Are you hiding from your bills and finances? I am… just a little bit. Christmas is such a magical season, but it is also magical how quickly money disappears during the Christmas season. Between the presents, stocking stuffers, parties, family and guests visiting, travel costs, the outings and even the utilities bills from having guests… it just adds up so quickly. Facing that final reality in the aftermath of Christmas can seem like a bucket of cold water. So we are all in recovery together. Let’s face it friends, there is no way through but to go through… and I …
Down Sizing Part 2 – A Little Pruning
What would you do if all of a sudden your income was cut by more than half? This happened last week to a man named Henry who was completely blindsided by his company’s decision to start layoffs and downsize. He was called into a meeting and given the option to quit or to be demoted. The demotion meant that his salary would be decreased from around $140,000 to $50,000!! He has given so many years to the company and all of a sudden he’s back at the beginning. He chose to take the demotion and stay with the company, but …
Down Sizing Your Life
The other day I had a conversation with a lady who is facing the decision of whether to leave her job and stay home with her children and whether her family can afford to live on just her husband’s salary. It is a very difficult decision to reduce your standard of living and learn to live on less, yet many people are facing this reality and for many it is not by their choice. There are so many companies that are cutting back and laying off people right now. But whether by choice or by necessity, the struggle to reduce …
Budgeting for A New Home
As I write tonight I am faced with a quandary. I know that many of you have gone back and read my early blogs on setting up a budget and have a budget in place, but I also know that there is a lot of information there if you haven’t already read them. When my book is completed I will have an easy solution to this dilemma. I will simply say, go read chapter “whatever” in my book 🙂 However, my blog is not as concise as my book will one day be, so… for today I am going to …
Owning the Process… and then Owning Your Home
Buying a home is such an exciting adventure, but it can also be one of the most stressful times of your life. Amidst the paperwork, and house hunting, and sudden immersion into the totally foreign world of mortgages, and realtors, and escrow accounts, and down payments… it can be very overwhelming. I am not promising to be your comprehensive guide through the jungle this week. There are very thick books that have been written on this topic… and I don’t feel like another writing one 🙂 However, I do want to present you with some thoughts that you may not …
Castles in the Sand
I have always loved making sand castles on the beach. From my earliest memories, I remember making sand droplet castles with my Mom and Dad and brother. My Dad would always build these lovely castles with deep moats that would fill with water. But being made of sand on a beach with a strong tide is a very precarious predicament for a castle. We would always search for yesterday’s castles the next morning and there would be hardly a trace. I guess if you really want a lasting castle you need a better location, a stronger foundation… and it would …
Putting Out the Fire
Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you are forgetting something? Something is not right, or you have forgotten something, or misplaced something… what is it? Well, if you ever get that feeling about a bill, it is probably the Holy Spirit reminding you. We talk ourselves around that feeling and ignore it. But if you have ever been late on a bill “by accident” or missed a payment… I am willing to bet that 10 to 1 you had that little reminder voice in your head telling you that you had missed something. I had that voice a …