Don't be frugal with everything

As I was working on my Sunday School lesson, I was reminded that we should not be frugal with everything in our lives. Some things are given to us in abundance and we are supposed to pass it on to others around us. The first thing is forgiveness. God, through his son Jesus, gives us unlimited forgiveness. If we have accepted Jesus as Savior, He will forgive our sins. We only have to ask. There is no work to do to earn that forgiveness, no process or class we have to go through. After we have received that forgiveness we are supposed to forgive those around us, but sometimes we get stingy with that forgiveness. We look down on the person who may be struggling with an area of sin in their life or we judge another person for their speach or actions. The Bible tells us that we are to forgive the way we are forgiven, without limit and without restrictions.
The other thing we should never be frugal with is our love. God loves everyone so much He gave his son Jesus over to a horrible death so that He could have fellowship with us. As Christians we receive that love and God loves others through us, as long as we don't get in the way. The Bible tells us to love our enemies, but I want to remind you to love those closest to you. There are many hurting people in this world and many are children. Maybe your child. Or maybe your parents. They need your love. Tell them, show them. If you don't personally know God's love, then please search out His love. This is a link to the Southern Baptist Convention - http://www.sbc.net/knowjesus/ . Many denominations have information on the web if you prefer another one. Don't be frugal with His forgiveness and His love.

Not always for ourselves...

I got up early this morning. I even got my children up early, in spite of their protests. I have a preteen who is in training to be a teenager and I think she could sleep half the day if I let her. We got up early so we could go help lay sod at church. Our church is erecting a new building and it was time to put down some sod around to help reduce the erosion. Since the church customarily pays part of the cost for the youth and children to go to camp, the youth pastor asked the youth to come lay sod in order to save some money. I went because I have children who will be benefiting from the camp assistance and because I am one of the youth teachers. I believe in teaching and leading by example.

We were muddy from head to toe. It was cloudy (which was a blessing) and there were a few light sprinkles, but just as we were finishing up the skies opened. My husband says you can only get so wet...well we were so wet. But as I was driving a couple of the kids home I was thinking that helping others is a kind of frugality. Time is money and sometimes I have more money than time. Since I have been staying home I have more time than money. Combine that with an willingness and ability to do work and you have something of value to offer.

In this case I donated that item of value to the church which allowed the church to save money, but in other situations that value could be bartered for other services. I can sew, but I am not good with things electric. I could trade mending or making something for the installation of a ceiling fan. We have become so used to paying cash (or using credit, unfortunately) for products or services we have lost the ability or desire to put value on our talents. We also fail to value the simple work of our body. It took no skill to lay sod today. That sleepy preteen helped as much as the teenagers she was working next to even though she had never even seen a piece of sod before. When I asked her the previous evening if she wanted to participate she quickly said yes and then asked "What is sod?" Use of simple labor for others helps them to be frugal too.

A day at the flea market

I am so tired and sore, but Amanda and I had a good day at the 7th Heaven Flea Market in Monticello. Amanda is my 9 year old (almost 10) daughter. I feel good knowing that I have rid myself of excess stuff (at least some of it!) and made a little money in the process. I feel that reselling un-needed belongings is frugal as well as a form of recycling.
Preparing for yard sales or trips to the flea market can be time consuming, but it is worthwhile in the end. I spent an hour or so at the storage area on Thursday going through and pulling out the boxes I knew had stuff I wanted to sell. I spent the rest of the day emptying boxes and running things through the dishwasher. That evening I did some research on the Internet so I could price things more accurately. Friday I priced and packed everything in plastic totes. All this prep work made setting up Saturday morning a breeze. I set up the "breakable" table and Amanda set up the other table. At the end of the day we repacked what was left. I plan to have a yard sale some time in the next few weeks using the left over stuff. I'm sure I can find more as I go through more boxes in storage.
Why am I going through all this work? There are several reasons: reduce the need for an extra storage unit so we can save the expense, make a little money that I can then use for other home improvements, and to lighten the psychological load that too much stuff can cause. Simplicity in our surroundings can reduce our stress levels. Just think, less stuff in the house, less stuff to keep clean and picked up! Sounds less stressful, doesn't it! I started this process about four years ago and I have a long way to go. I guess I am a recovering pack rat.

Here I go!

Well, I always have liked to tell people how to do things. I think that is why I became a teacher. My husband is really into technology (it's his job) and he has been blogging for a while now. He suggested I try this and at first I thought, no, why would anyone want to know what I am doing every second of the day. Then I realized that this would be a great opportunity to talk about the many things I have learned about running a frugal home. I think that we are in a financial situation in this country that is similar to the one that existed in the Great Depression and many of the skills women (and men) had then are no longer taught.

When I lost my job at the end of March I decided that I would take advantage of the opportunity I was presented to complete some projects. I have painted my family room, planted a vegetable garden, and sewn many purses. I am sewing purses to sell in order to make money, but it also allows me to use up the excess fabric I have. Any one who sews knows that fabric seems to breed in the closet...I have so much of it. But the biggest project is to rid myself of the stuff I have in storage. I am a recovering pack rat. I have purged before; when we moved to Crawfordville four years ago, as well as several purgings since then. I still have too much stuff. You cannot be frugal when you have excess. I am spending money for a storage unit that holds stuff that I have not had out of the box for over 5 years as well as stuff I can't put in my home due to limited space. So I am sorting through it tomorrow and taking a load to the flea market in Montecello, FL. I will let you know how it goes...