I've never been rich. I've also never wanted for anything.
My dad is a preacher and I grew up living in the house owned by the church, loaned to the preacher while he worked with them. Giving the preacher living quarters allows a church to pay the preacher less. I'm not saying this as a bad thing. It's a good idea in my opinion. We didn't always have a lot, but we were fed, clothed, and happy. That's the way I grew up.
I never really expected to have a lot of money in my married life, either. I married a teacher -- who wants to teach in a private Christian school. That doesn't pay much, in case you wanted to know. For the first two years of our marriage, we actually were sort of backwards for the way you normally think of a couple earning money: I had the full-time job and he had the part-time while he took classes for his masters. When we moved to Texas for him to take a job at a private Christian school, we agreed that we'd switch so I could do the part-time thing and he'd do the full-time. And it worked fairly well for the first three years we were down here. However, when he lost his teaching job (stupid economy!) at the end of last school year, we had to do some quick thinking. God gave him a job at an electronics store for the past year and we're so grateful for him to have a job, period. It doesn't pay as much as the school, though. So, while we weren't rich, but weren't too bad off before, this year has been TIGHT. And I do mean TIGHT. Some months I haven't known how we were going to pay the bills. And some months they got paid by credit card because there was no other way.
All this to say, I've learned a few things about trying to save money, and while I'm not perfect at it yet, I feel like I'm getting the hang of it as we come to the end of this school year. I follow a couple of blogs/websites that help some. www.moneysavingmom.com and www.dealseekingmom.com are great, although a lot of the time they say the same things. I follow one on facebook and the other through her blog. I've also signed up for some programs like swagbucks (a search engine that pays you "swagbucks" occasionally for searching with it, which you can cash in later for fun things like gift cards and all sorts of things). If you want to join swagbucks, please put me as the one who referred you! I get swagbucks for that, too! :-)
And at the grocery store, I choose not to buy chips or things that are not "necessary." I do keep some cokes around because my husband gets headaches if he doesn't get caffeine for a while. And I do keep a good stash of tea and chocolate. A great friend in college pointed out that it's cheaper in the long run to keep things like that on hand instead of giving in to a craving at a more expensive place like a coke machine later on when you can't take it anymore because you haven't had it in so long. I clip coupons and try to use them as often as I can. I compare the price per unit. I cook at home a lot. We hardly ever eat out anymore.
It's not always easy. I'd love a new pair of shoes right now -- and probably need one soon -- but that will wait for a while. I'm hoping this summer might be a little easier money-wise because of my working at a day camp, which is longer hours for me, but more money per month, too. Maybe we can even get the new tires I need, and the new brake and shocks. And new glasses and contacts. And a few other things that have been pushed to the back burner over the last year.
One thing I've learned this year: the verse in Matthew about God caring more for you than the lilies of the field, it's true. He's helped us over and over again this last year. I can't imagine how people get through things like we've been through without the church family and a faith in God to support them and hold them up. Praise be to the Lord who cares about me so much that He knows how many hairs are on my head and who loved me enough to not only give me His Son, but to take care of me in this lifetime, too!
No comments:
Post a Comment