Sunday, December 11, 2011

Budgeting: Living for Today

The Lord continues to teach new lessons on living below poverty level. (So silly to even write that.. I don't feel poor!)

One lesson I am learning is that it's not always a bargain to stock up even if it's on sale. I used to stock up on sale items no matter what. I liked keeping a well-stocked pantry.  But, I'm playing under different rules these days since we are living on at least a 1/3 of what we used to. (My husband says we're living on less than a 1/4).

I normally allow $5-10 a week for stocking up. But, it just depends on the month. For instance, this month I've had to use money from my grocery budget to help pay for Christmas. So, I'm not going to be able to stock up on any sale items. My goal is to spend as little on groceries as possible so I can use the rest for Christmas gifts.

I continue to pray and ask the Lord to show me what we can live without. I've simplified our menu and dropped a lot of recipes due to the cost. If a recipe has out of the ordinary items then I don't use it. When looking for new recipes I scan the list of ingredients to see if they're items I normally stock and if the cut of meat is cheap. We eat very simple these days.



I realized today that I could actually live without another expense. I have a Brita pitcher that I bought at a garage sale for $2. We use it continually throughout the day because the water is bad where we live. The filters are on sale this month but even so it will cost me $14 initially. Since this month is very tight I hesitate putting out that kind of money.  I started asking the Lord what I should do. The lady I care for has told me more than once that I can use her water which is filtered. Ah ha!  There's my answer. I can easily fill my pitcher each morning and save the expense of purchasing filters. Yay! Another expense bites the dust!

Thank you Lord!

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful! I love how you ask the Lord to show you where you can live without. You are a great example of how we should give our spending (all of it) to the Lord. I'm learning too :-)

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  2. I think of Christ, "who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor."

    At first I didn't want to drink our well water here in the country, but now I am used to it. We refill water bottles because refuse to fix the water/ice combo in refrigerator door.

    Hugs,
    Carol

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  3. A wonderful example of how we can always make ends meet. Like you I don't like saying "we live below the poverty line" even though we do. I think it's all perspective. For one it is, for another it isn't. I so enjoy your posts. Hugs

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  4. Thank you for your blog, you have a very joyful attitude and it is very inspiring :)

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  5. this fall.. when the canned veggies went on sale I realized I still had most of the ones I bought last year. I decided to give them to our kids and stop stocking things up for now. We are hoping that hubby can find a job close to home and we can move back to SC soon, hard to leave a good company but this is not home. I just don't see the point in stocking up for 2 people who move all the time. I think sometimes you need to live like that ant--storing it away for winter, sometimes you need to live like Israel in the wilderness on daily manna. You just need to discern what season you are in personally.

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  6. @Pokeberry Mary... I believe you are right on. I hope that you'll be able to move back 'home' and closer to the kiddos!

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  7. I just read Jill Cooper's book, "500 Ways I lived on $500 a Month." I love how she says use what you have. It has gotten me to thinking. We have a lot! I'm running low on regular coffee, so this morning I mixed some decaf in with it, because I don't shop again until Dec. 22nd. My goal is to live on what we have in our checking account and leave the savings account alone!

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  8. And yet--we have CLEAN, potable water. most of the world does not have that.

    People hate to drink tap water where we live, because of the high chlorine content. Chlorine dissapates, however. We let the water sit in bottle in the refrigerator for several hours and the chlorine taste is gone. We have avoided using a filter of any kind for the 11 1/2 years that we have lived here by doing this. It also means we have cold water all of the time (we don't have a fridge dispenser, and our water tastes better than my mom's next door, who has a fridge dispenser, a water softener, and a fridge filter). We never have to wait for water to get cold from the tap (it never does in the summer, anyway).

    I switched us to eating a lot more of our most inexpensive meals this year, even more so from last year; now we eat for .40 per person per day.

    We've had our income cut by 70%, and we're below poverty level as well. We are always looking for new ways to save money.

    I have been making Christmas gifts, mostly using items I already have on hand (and a few from garage sales). If we look at what we already have, we can often make a lot of gifts. Good luck figuring out the rest of your gifts! I hope you find some freebie ideas out there!

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  9. I'm so pleased to have found your blog! It's very timely as my husband recently switched to a different job which pays less, but at which he is also much happier and less stressed out.
    You could say we've never had a lot by the world's standards, but when you look at all God has blessed us with we have above and beyond what our income alone could provide.....and no debt!

    Looking forward to reading through your posts!
    Merry Christmas & God bless!

    Theresa

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  10. Georgene, I'm just stopping by to say a big THANK YOU for your blog. Last night I awoke at 3:00 a.m. in one of those states of panic over money (or lack thereof). Don't you just hate that? I don't know how after all these years of dwelling in the Lord's provision I can still succumb to such silliness. But anywho, reading through your blogposts today reminds me that Living on Less Money really can be done. May God bless and keep you in 2012. Happy New Year!

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