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.

The Wisdom of Food Storage

In my religion, food storage and self-reliance has been taught for years. It can be a daunting task to store food and water for you family for any length of time.....one-month, three-months, twelve-months.

But let's throw out the religious aspect - for giggles.

Having food storage provides peace of mind.

What kind of things are in food storage? Food for meal preparation, water storage, non-food items, and a few extra dollars, etc.

So, let's take a hypothetical situation that your tire on your all wheel drive van goes flat. Little do you know, that with an all wheel drive vehicle, you have to replace all four tires at the same time. No matter what!?! Seriously? I had no idea.

So, four new tires can be anywhere from $250 to $500+. If you don't have a good reserve, which we sometimes do and we sometimes don't, then where is that money going to come from. We don't have credit cards, so it can't go there (good decision on our part). Lucky for us, when these types of situation have come up, we can pull that amount from our food budget.

.....BUT only because we have food storage in the garage. Without that, we would have been up a creek.

Not to mention it's Sunday night at 6PM and you just ran out of toilet paper. Hmmm, sure is nice that we have some in the basement and don't have to break the Sabbath to run to the store for that item. Or better yet, a child gets sick and you have medicine on hand. So many little examples where food storage really comes in handy.

Just putting a little thought out there.....

Budget Crunch

So, we have now had our first real budget crunch since quitting work. After repairs, real estate fees and marketing, and additional costs for the kids, we have been at the end of our pay check. Which is awesome! A few reasons why this is awesome:

1. This is now the exception to the rule.....we used to live like this all the time - when both of us were working opposite schedules and our marriage was falling apart (we are still grateful none of our kids were seriously injured or died during this time).
2. We were prepared.....I knew there would be a time that I would be between commissions and we would be very tight on our budget. I was just hoping it would be a little further out. BUT we have plenty of food in our freezer and on our shelves in the garage. So, it's really easy to cut back on our food budget to stretch our dollars.
3. I've received some great advise.....like Morning Moo's powered milk is probably some of the best powered milk out there. I got this from a random woman who happened to be shopping bulk supplies at Macey's one day. She graciously answered a barrage of questions from me when I started to think about food storage. My kids happened to agree with her recommendation.
4. This offers an opportunity for reflection and resolve.....If anyone knows me, they know that I'm constantly doing little mini-corrections. The next few days will be great for me learn a) what's missing from my pantry, food storage; b) what I have that the kids will actually eat; c) what they love and I will need to make sure we have on hand. This is pretty cool.
5. My resolve to make real estate successful will increase.....there's nothing like telling your husband that we will be okay if I quit my job because I'll bring in commissions. And then not doing it. :) Granted, not everything is in my control, but I have really not pushed myself. Time to kick stuff off - which is great timing now that the kids are getting back into school.

There you have it, we've started on this adventure and three months into it, have already hit our first major s t r e t c h. The key is what to take away from it. Right now, it's faith that there is a greater plan out there for our family. And when we are through this - how to set ourselves up to not repeat it.

Life is full of lessons to be learned. And as my brother would say, "You can pick your trials or the trials will pick you." I kind of like being more in control of my life and choosing the areas that we will struggle in.