THERE IS SUN AND it is getting WARMER here!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I am sick of winter? A year in Africa made this winter harder then normal, then we had a longer winter then normal for our area on top of it, sigh, I have been a very very cold woman this year. But the high is around 45 for today and will be 70 by Sunday (I am praying the weather men are on target for once).
Things are still busy around here but in a good way. I have been learning to take more time, to tune out the chaos and focus more on my Heavenly Father and get more study time in. I also am taking a bit more time to focus on my household things, not standing in a cold wood shop doing nothing :).
Cabinet Maker is doing very well with being busy and getting a job or 2 more. We are praying that between his own business and working with my dad for the summer, we/he can slowly dig us out of debt and have us on the plus side by winter.
I have a very special young woman that I know who will be getting married in May and I will be putting together a gift for her. I am going to try and remember to take pictures of each step and the full gift put together and post it all for you once I have given it to her, I am not positive if she reads this or not, Hi Katy!
Today's Doings and Dones:
~Up early to be off to Spencerport to take before Pictures for Art on a new kitchen job he has.
~Today's post on HomespunScarlet
~Spring Clean Downstairs Bathroom (it is sunny have the itch to be clean and spring smelling)
~Start on shower gift
~Blast Worship Music while doing all of the above!
Today's Ponderings:
She is not afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
Proverbs 31:21
Do you plan ahead for the things that you will need? Or do you just worry when an emergency comes up and you can't afford to take care of it? How little worry would you have if you just planned ahead? If you were more frugal and a better steward of what you do have, would you be a bigger blessing to your family and be able to show others around you the blessings that you do receive.
Being organized is not a normal character trait for me, not in any way. I am a walking disaster, come into my kitchen sometime when I am cooking, it looks like everything exploded while I am in there. Cabinet Maker on the other hand is a ORGANIZATIONAL FREAK!! I say that in a very loving way. So by virtue of years of having him get upset at my disasters I have learned to be better at keeping things clean and organized. But not only learning to be a better steward of what I do have has blessed me to teach and help others when needed. Ok here is example time , this is not me telling you how you should do it, but what has worked for my family.
We are a one income family, I do things to help out here and there but my income is not by any means consistent. When Cabinet Maker had a full time job (with an outside company) he made decent money, but we were by no means every well off, comfortable yes, extras no. Then we spent time as missionaries, you don't do that in prospects of being well off, your lucky if you can afford your basics. Then we came home, Cabinet Maker was able to work with my dad last summer and fall but that again barley covered the basics. I worked for a bit as a nanny and that didn't come close to covering the basics. Ok you get the idea.....
In order to cover our needs I have to be very frugal with what we have. I spend a total of $250 a month on groceries, out of this comes all groceries, paper and cleaning products, personal products (soap, shampoo etc.) dog food and any eating out we may want to do which is usually pizza and wings once every other week. Now we have 2 people in our house with special diets, teenager can't have milk and I don't eat anything that has been bleached so that makes our budget for food stuffs even harder to stretch at times. We eat lots of casseroles, with beans in them and sometimes meat too but anything to stretch a meal to be really filling. We eat lots of eggs, healthy a lot more filling then cereal and less money when you figure there aren't mid morning snacks because the teenagers belly is empty, again. Rice is a staple in most meals, healthy (we eat only brown rice or wild rice) you can flavor it a million ways and it is filling.
I also shop for most everything only once a month, this allows for bigger quantities to be purchased at lower prices. I plan plan plan every purchase there is NO running to the grocery store for anything that hasn't been thought about for a few days. My medicine cabinet is replenished ahead of time so there are no late night runs to the most expensive place (which may be the only place open). With the price of gas there are no special trips out to buy that milk or bread you ran out of with no other purpose for the trip. Cloths are purchased when they are on sale, there is usually at least one pack of socks or underwear tucked away for when the old start to fall apart (or get so dirty from mud or whatever that they need to be tossed in the rag bin). Things are bought when they are on sale and when there is only one package left in the house, instead of once it is gone. Example, had a coupon for $5 off $25 or more at a local store recently, had other coupon for toilet paper, so stocked up and got all my paper goods for 2 months for cheaper then normal and my plan is to stay at the big of a stock. That way if sickness and or any other emergency strikes I have a stock pile to hold over till things settle down. Now I do this with groceries as well. It has taken me almost 8 months to get a food stock established. The plan is to do this for one more month then just buy necessities for the summer. Now grocery money will be saved to buy tons of canning jars (for the garden we will be putting in soon if the weather cooperates) or if things don't do well to buy from the farmers market. I will also be saving towards buying meat from a processor hopefully the equivalent of a half a cow and a bunch of free range chicken in the fall. That way I wont be paying the higher prices at the store and will have to go to the store less. PLAN AHEAD.
Now, I do know that this means having the space to plan ahead. I am blessed with 2 chest freezers. However no excuses for them being too expensive. I found one of it for free on Craigslist, it is ugly but does the job. Use the space under your couches and beds. Rubbermaid bins are my friends. Free book shelves from craigslist once again serve as food storage. Be creative, need help coming up with ideas email me, I have a million.
After this long explanation, the blessings that I am able to give because I do this are amazing. It is always so cool to hear about a family in need, the single mom struggling to feed her children, and be able to go to my shelves and freezer and send healthy usable food their way. I know that many items from food banks are not always the most healthy. I never give away or buy things for this purpose that I wouldn't eat myself. I am not tooting my own horn here, just sharing what the Lord does through us. Last month we heard about a mom in need, and filled a weeks worth for her, and we never once, did without for giving away that much.
We do live without a lot of luxuries, but this is a matter of choice. We drive a beat up truck and a used car. We don't have cable or dish for tv. We don't eat out much at all. We don't have junk food in the house as a rule. We don't take expensive vacations. We don't buy brand new clothes much (for my son it's hard to find things at a consignment shop). I shop at yard sales and Salvation Army. I make my own laundry soap. Each of these things are by choice, and I enjoy doing them or not doing these things. I love hunting for that great deal or making laundry soap, and dish soap and household cleaners. I enjoy cooking all our meals. It takes a lot of time, dedication and planning. Detect a theme here?
Challenge:
What are you going to change so that it is planned out? Pick one area to start your planning in. Set up a house hold notebook, what is that you ask? Tune in next time for more details........
Have a beautifully planned and blessed day!!
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