Baby Steps

written by Laura

I feel like March has flown by.

I feel like there is so much more we could delve into on the topic of budgeting.

I hope that this month has been a good reminder of what is truly of value in this world, but also challenged you to rethink your spending and budget to be free (mentally and financially) to enjoy the treasures that God has given you.

One thing that I want to stress in regard to money management is to just keep moving forward, make small good financial choices and they will add up. Don't get overwhelmed, people don't get into debt, or out of it, in a day.

I am not an expert by any means, I am very much a student and learning how to be a better money manager every day.

Confession: I went over my grocery budget this week! Now, a Trader Joe's did just open here and I had to stop in. I had little man with me and I got swept up in the experience and all the new (to me) products and when I got to the checkout I realized that I had spent more than I had planned. Like $20 more!! It happens. The biggest thing is not to let one mistake sink you. Eat your Trader Joe's knockoff Doritos (hypothetically) and chalk it up to a learning experience. And try not to do it every week. 

One of the biggest things that I have learned about budgeting is that it isn't always about pinching every penny, but more about your attitude and evaluating how you can save money in a way that works for you and your family. And consistently challenging yourself to think outside the box, whether it's with meal planning, trying cheaper alternatives to products your family uses regularly, or simply doing without.

Some of the thing we think are "necessities" are actually luxuries for most of the world. I am not promoting a poverty theology any more than I am promoting a prosperity gospel. Money is something that God has given us to steward, but it becomes an idol when we look to it as a mark of our personal holiness (because of all we do without) or God's favor (because of abundance of material things). Both of these extremes miss the mark.

It is important to examine how we spend and steward our money to see if there is any way that we can be more faithful in our finances. Most of this starts with just challenging the status quo. Upon examination, many of our beliefs (especially about money or possessions) have roots not in scripture, but in our American culture.

Like for us, as much as I would have loved to buy a house right when we got married, we moved 9 times in 9 years of marriage. It wouldn't have made sense for us to buy a house. But, I love decorating and making a place "my own," so it was hard to be limited in that.

God provided some great places for us to rent that were cute, and I got really fast at hanging pictures and curtains. But coincidentally, now that we have bought a house and lived here a month, I haven't hung a single picture.

I am not saying that buying a home is bad, as it can be a really great investment. I am just giving an example of something that we often feel is our "right" as Americans and something that we can easily buy into without a second thought. Specifically for us, if we had bought a house earlier in our marriage, we probably wouldn't have been able to adopt Liam when we did. Could God still have provided another way? Of course, but we were thankful that our money wasn't tied up when we needed it.

We didn't set out to rent for so long, but it did allow us to realize that home is truly wherever we were together. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for my new home, maybe even more so because I had to wait 10 years for it!

Every solution for cutting back or saving money won't work for every family, but find the ones that will. It has been really fun for me to find creative ways to save and challenge myself to do things that I may not have learned how to do otherwise. It's about learning what you can do and what you can't.  It also helps to keep in mind what you're saving for, whether its a tangible thing like a car or vacation, or an intangible thing like getting rid of debt.

Here are some things that have worked well for us, and some that haven't.

Wins: sharing one car (for 2 years), haircuts/color at home, doing our own pest control, minor home improvements, making coffee/lunches instead of always grabbing them out, cutting our home phone (does anyone still have one?), cutting out cable (we do Netflix/Amazon), getting books/DVDs from the library instead of buying them, running outside instead of paying for a gym, cooking/eating most dinners at home, getting Little Man's clothes at consignment sales or thrift stores.

Not so much: homemade laundry detergent, making my own sushi, knitting, refinishing furniture (Which I decided to do outside, in the deep south, in July. The first words of instructions were, "Put on long sleeves, pants, gloves, and a mask." Not my finest moment.)

I am not going to pretend to know your specific situation, but I would challenge you to think about one change that you could make in your spending habits this week. I would love to hear your ideas! I am trying something very new for me, and very out of my comfort zone. I hope to share about it next week. 

To get you motivated, dream about and share with someone what you are saving for. We would love for you to share with us too!