Excess in Excess

I can't believe it is already the middle of September!  I want to talk about EXCESS.  Excess is anything more than what you really need.  Most of us have it.  In looking at the things I use every day I began to evaluate how much excess I now have nine months into our little no-buying experiment. My piles are dwindling.  If you are curious about how much excess you have answer the following questions.
1.  How many containers of lipstick/eyeshadow do you have?
2.  How many bottles of perfume do you have?
3.  Do you have a blender, a juicer, a food processor and a food chopper?
4.  How many cans of furniture polish/cleaners do you have on hand?
5.  Articles of clothing - Do you have more than 3 white shirts/blouses?  More than 6-8 handbags/purses?  More than 20 pair of shoes (any kind)?  What about belts?  And don't get me started on jewelry.

My point is - do you really need all that extra stuff?  Is it just taking up space until you finally realize it's still in the closet or under the cupboard?  And do those extra things that you probably never use or wear ever enter your mind when you are out shopping for more?  We have all bought stuff we don't need and don't use and don't wear - but we don't have to keep doing it.  Couldn't you think of a better use of your money and your space?  Food for thought - eat it up or spit it out.

The Birthday Boys

Both of our boys have birthdays within 8 days of each other.  We usually celebrate them on the same day.  This year of course we have to be creative.  I have included pics of some of the things we made this year.  For both boys we made duct tape swords.  They both got plastic jar banks - three each;  giving, savings and spending.  Caleb received some homemade edible play dough and Kelby received a paper bag scrapbook that I made for him.  They both also got McDonald's gift cards (the edible gift) - these were put into a creative box that I made from scrapbook paper.  Of course the grandparents gave them gifts and they both got money, which they were allowed to purchase some things they wanted with. They seemed to love their birthday and had no complaints whatsoever about their gifts, for which I am very grateful.  Can't wait til Christmas - I think I better start planning now.  Making almost all the gifts required quite a bit more time than running to the store to pick something up. 

What a Deal

I mentioned in a much earlier post that we wanted to cancel our Dish Satellite to save money.  Then I found out we were still under contract and couldn't cancel it. Recently, however, the contract was up so we planned on making a big change.  We signed up for Netflix at $8.99 a month, which we LOVE.  We do get shows streaming through our Wii system.  Although they may not be this season's latest programs, there are still so many shows and movies to choose from that it is worth the bargain price all the way!  Well, I called Dish to cancel and they tried offering me other deals, especially after I told them what we were switching to and how that price couldn't be beat.  They then made me a deal I couldn't refuse and now we are getting a handful of stations, including local news and a few popular cable programs, and we are keeping Netflix.  We were spending around $40 a month plus paying for Redbox rentals from time to time. Our expenditure for this form of entertainment has now been cut in half.  If we decide we no longer want to continue with Dish, though, we can still cancel it.  The main reason I have for even wanting to keep Dish (which I think is a good company) is for the local channels when there is bad weather. Otherwise, I can live without paying for regular television.  Unfortunately, where we live does not allow us to get any digital programming, even with a digital television and the converter box.  The offer by Dish was a really good one and it tells me that Dish is trying to keep its customers, which I appreciate. 

Tithing

By now you all know that we don't buy things that are not edible or depletable.  But a word needs to be shared about tithing and offerings at church.  When we fell under conviction to tithe 10% of our gross income it was many years ago. We believe we have been blessed because of it. No matter our choice to live by this "shopping thin" method, we will not quit giving to our church, either by tithing or by offerings - something given above and beyond the tithe.  Initially, I wondered how we would be able to purchase things needed for the church without breaking our rules, but then the words "our rules" hit my like a brick.  This method of not spending is something we came up with - The Lord still expects us to fulfill any calling He puts on us and so the decision was easy. 

I encourage you to consider tithing if you are not already. If the Spirit is nudging you in this direction, allow yourself the opportunity to be blessed by giving.  One can always give their time and talents, but we must also give of that which the Lord has provided in the way of an income and provision.

Inventive Gifting

Can't believe it's been a month since I last posted - been a busy summer!  We did take a short vacation to Holiday World in Indiana - We didn't purchase a single souvenir to bring back and the kids never asked for anything, either!  And wow, what a deal that place is - very family friendly, with free drinks and sunscreen.  Loved it. 

So we got a birthday invitation last week for a one-year birthday party for a little boy.  Now, a first birthday is a special birthday.  We needed to have a gift for this little fella, so what were we gonna do?  A friend told me that he liked Puffs (a toddler's snack).  That got me thinking - how about a snack pack?  Fill up a container with little snacks that a growing guy might like.  I have included a pic so you can see what I came up with.  I had the goodies but no container to put them in, so I had to get real creative real quick.  I looked around my house and saw a pair of cut-off shorts that belonged to my oldest boy - he hated them so never wore them.  I did a quick stitch to the bottom with hemp and had an instant "SnackPack".  The pockets served to hold two yogurt drinks and the rest of it held the other little snacks.  I made a decorative box to put some of the banana cookies in and a card to match.  I tied two more strings of hemp through the belt loops for handles.  The whole family seemed to like it, and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Shame, Shame, Shame

My husband came in with a couple of bags of groceries the other day - everything in the bags was on our list of allowable items.  However, there was something in his smile that said he was up to no good.  Of course, I needed only look directly North of that grin to see the object of his sheepishness - sunglasses!  He bought himself a very cheap pair of sunglasses!  But I didn't care if they were $1.  The point was that they are not an allowable item.  He, of course, was very aware I would react with disdain and began offering an 'explanation' for his indiscretion.  He claimed his eyes were going to be damaged if he didn't have them and pulled a little guilt trip on me. So, he has a pair of sunglasses.  Honestly, I am thrilled that we have stuck with this as closely as we have for 7 months - it has really been eye opening - I think there may be a pun in there somewhere.

Where is the Money Going?

We have established that we are saving approximately $250 to $300 a month using our no-shopping method.  So, do we have a pile of cash somewhere because of this?  In a word - NO.  Prior to our beginning this method, we had  put our student loans in 'forbearance'.  This is the action of putting repayment of the student loan on hold, while still making the interest payment on the loan.  Now that we have extra money from not shopping for a bunch of stuff, we are able to make the payment on the loan again. In addition to this, we have been able to continue making extra payments on our Visa credit card - a major blessing. So, we won't have a big pile of cash at the end of the year, as we initially thought we would.  But we began to see the wisdom in having debt wiped away, and we will have some major debts paid down and/or completely gone by the end of the year.  The Visa alone is major.  If we simply made the minimum payment on it, we would be paying on it for the next 20 years - that's not an exaggeration - it is a fact. Yet, it will be a distant memory by December 31 of this year and we can't wait to celebrate that one!  It is important to note that we canceled this credit card so we CANNOT use it for any reason.  That was a difficult decision for us, because we have always used our credit card as a safety net in the event something 'happened' or an emergency came up.  We found, though, it was just too easy to use it for other things - stuff we wanted when we wanted it.  And it got us up to $10,000 in credit card debt!  It's funny, because before we started this no-shopping method, I would have been ashamed to admit that.  I was hiding it, from everyone and myself - not wanting to admit it even existed, but it was a deep wound on our finances, insidious and dangerous, and if allowed to continue it would have poisoned our financial security.  There is a certain freedom in being able to say it out loud and know there is a plan in place to heal the wound.  We pray we are making the right decisions for our children, because that is the number one reason for doing any of this. I often fear that next year will bring some incredibly bad economic woes to our nation and our people.  I pray I am wrong, but it's not looking good.  I am a woman of faith and I pray we all weather the storm, and it will take faith to do it, but I do think the storm will come. We are to be good stewards of what we have been blessed with. We can't live willy nilly, tossing money around like it's confetti, so we must do what we should to prepare for what may be a difficult future.