Self-Reliance

After my last post, Segullah was mentioned by two family members as a blog that they liked. I have to say, I'm not so sure that I like it. That might be too harsh ... but some of the writing is not to my taste (too flowery). I know for a fact that others love that, but not my style. It actually hurts my head to try and consume the writing that way.

But then there are others that are right up my alley. In fact, I read several posts today that made me cry .... not just a tear or two, but cry. Losing a child, getting divorced, watching someone go through a hard time.

The latest one that struck me was on self-reliance: http://segullah.org/daily-special/finding-balance-thrift-versus-consumption/. I thought that I had already put my thoughts down on this, but it doesn't appear so.

For many years I've been confused about self-reliance. The church has given us two different messages: be self-reliant and support/give to each other. Okay ... what am I missing? How can I serve or give to others, if I'm supposed to not only take care of my needs now, but put away more for later? Sounds like two opposing messages, doesn't it?

Then one day during a lesson in Relief Society on self-reliance ... 'Bing!' ... the light went on. Oh ..... I get it! If you take care of the things within your home, you have the capability of looking outside of your home to bless others.

If we have extra food stored...

• we can give to a family in the ward who is out of a job
• we can make dinner for a young mother that just gave birth or got sick
• we can make a meal for a funeral or for ward function

If we have extra money put away...

• we can give more towards the ward missionary fund
• we can double my fast offering
• we can give towards a family that has to be for an unplanned funeral
• we can give to a family that has an unplanned medical expense

Yup - I can't tell you how long it took for me to get this concept ... years! I'm a little ashamed to think I was so thick-headed. But I'm really happy that I know it now. Now, I can focus on getting my act together so that I can bless others lives.

Hmmm - Could this be our Purpose?

As I mentioned before, I've been thinking about my motivation for doing hard things and what my (our) purpose is right now. In other words, what is it that drives me to make a decision one way or another (like getting out of bed in the morning or doing something a little uncomfortable at work)?

After the kids are grown, I'm sure it will change. But for now, I want to raise my kids to want to serve others and share the gospel. It's something that we've talked a lot with our kids about and started finding ways we can act along with that teaching. The kids have shoveled walks, we donate to Sub for Santa at our work places, we've given from our home to families in need, and we help when asked to help at church, school, or in our community.

But, I kind of want to take it to the next level. I want them to know that there is more than just little things that people are in need of. Like homes, clothing, clean water, healthy environment, etc. So, that's what we are going to focus on.

Sidenote: I have this amazing friend. She has even stated that she's a 'gypsy.' Well, I fell in love with her and her outlook on life the first time I heard her talk in sacrament. And subsequently have loved all the new things she is constantly trying out. I still need to 'stretch' in order to fulfill that, but she has really inspired me to look outside of the norm and seek new things.

On that note, at some point I was talking to a co-worker about the possibilities that would be open to us if we didn't have debt of any kind. What could you do if you only had to have $25,000/year to cover your necessities?

Think about it ..... work a job, any job, for nine months out of the year. Make sure you have enough to cover your needs for twelve months. Then what would you do?

Well, I want to teach my kids service by having them live it. So what programs are out there? After Leon and I talked through this in a lot of depth throughout January, I spent 30 minutes or so researching on the internet. And I found two programs that will allow our family to spend 2-12 weeks on a volunteer vacation in other countries. I know there are more out there too. I'm giddy right now over what we could do.

Not that we could drop everything right now and leave next week, but now I have a goal in mind and can layout a two or three year plan. I already knew I wanted to pay off all my debt, but now I know what I can do once that is done. Something that might drive me to get it done faster if I have the chance. Something that will make a difference in my life and my families lives.

What would you do if you only had to have $25,000 for your necessities and then could save up $25,000 for something else each year? Oh, the possibilities!

Couponing...for real?!?

Yup. For real.

I looked into this a year or so ago and thought, no way. But then my sister-in-law (thanks, Melissa) invited me to her house and I checked out how she was doing it. And it was a really easy way of organizing coupons - just date them, combine multiple copies, and file away. Yes. That is how I can 'clip' coupons. :o)

So, I got four copies of the Sunday paper and I've been filing coupons for a couple weeks. It took me quite a while to figure out how to take the list on Grocery Smarts and find what I needed. I made a grocery list for the next two weeks, but it didn't really match. So I thought, "why don't I just find some things I know I'll use and go shopping for those to see if I want to do this more....."

AND I went on my first shopping trip today! Check out the picture to see what I got for ~$65!

Can you believe it!?! JUST the cans alone would cost $65! OR JUST the non-food items alone would cost $65! And I got it all for $65 and saved about $53!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I'm hooked! And I'm really excited that we now have about a year's supply of toothpaste, bars of soap, and razors for Leon (just from this one trip). Totally cool. (I just have to figure out how to match my list of menu items to the list of sales/coupons better.)

I'll let you know what happens the next time I go. Happy shopping!

Short on Funds

So, I spent several hundreds of dollars on real estate this past week so that I could be ready to list some houses (yay!). Needless to say, it cut into our savings and has left us a little short of where we want to be. So, the penny pinching is in full effect.

Cooking from scratch has already positively impacted our grocery budget. Also, cooking a little extra and storing for later has been wonderful. It has allowed me to be able to provide more for our family on less. I have also been picking up a little extra here and there to ramp up our food storage.

I planned the menu for this week - which I have found out that normally, I can spread the food across two weeks if I'm cooking a little extra each day. Not to mention what I already have in the freezer that we can pull from. Because of what we have in food storage and our cupboards, we only had to spend $85 (of our budgeted $350) to get what we needed. Now we will have to keep $40 or so dollars for milk, cereal and bread for the second week of the grocery plan.

BUT I overlooked one thing - we were having the whole family over for Michael's Priesthood ordination. Yeah, so I had to figure out what to cook. Well, it turned out that I had everything already in the cupboards for teriyaki chicken and rice. We were at such peace as we realized that we were already taken care of even though we hadn't planned, just because we were taking baby steps to fill our food storage, and I was willing to learn to cook and dedicate the time to it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish as we continue to plan our lives and follow that plan. God expects great things from us and is laying the groundwork for us to accomplish them.

Cooking from Scratch

In Book Club a few months ago, we read a book titled 'In Defense of Food'. This book talks about the trends of the American diet and how we have 'engineered' ourselves into poor nutrition and consequently poor health. One of the things it said was "If you grandma wouldn't recognize it as a food, don't buy it." Goodbye Twinkies! (This book is a must read!)

After reading this book, and also studying the Body-for-Life program and diet, my husband and I have been changing our eating habits for the last year. But I didn't have time to cook like I could/should. Now that I'm home.....I suddenly have more time to plan, shop, and cook. And I discovered that I actually CAN cook! Who knew?!?

A couple things.....I have four boys who like to eat. So they eat a lot and they enjoy just about everything. And I don't love to cook. So, cooking a lot when it will be eaten in an hour and then cleaned up, isn't very fulfilling. But I discovered a book "Fabulous Freezer Meals" at Costco. The author was there handing out recipes and I didn't think twice about it. Until we were about to leave and I read the card. She mentioned that she hated the marathon cooking days to freeze dinners and so she decided on a different approach. She decided to cook 'more' for each meal and freeze the extra. I know it's a simple concept, but I had never put it into place. (She also has bulk recipes for quick grabbing sauces and meats to combine with her other recipes.)

This has been such fun for me. More than the fun of cooking for my family, I am filling up my freezer with homemade goodness and purchasing more core items for my food storage (because I actually know how to cook with them more). Knowing that I have healthy choices readily available for my family is more fulfilling to me than the actual act of cooking. Now it's a win-win situation for me.

And, guess what we've discovered? #1 - we are more full when we eat meals that are cooked from scratch, and #2 - our bodies do NOT like fast food anymore. Even the kids complain about stomach aches if we grab a taco or hamburger.

Definitely a 'keeper' concept for our family!