Frugal Friday… Reality Check.
What does it mean when your “Other” category in your budget goes $65 over the budgeted amount?? Hmmm…. I’m thinking there may need to be some spending re-evaluation in the Dowd house.
I could say it’s because I bought new clothes for Molly at The Children’s Place sale– which were needed and at rock bottom price. AND Nate needed a new haircut after the front of his hair got burned off, poor guy. If you hadn’t heard, he saved the day during an adventure we had with a turkey. (You can read more about it HERE.)
BUT we could have bought LESS for Molly, we could have buzzed Nate’s hair ourselves, or gone to a cheaper hairdresser. My concern lies in the fact that those totally okay purchases shouldn’t have broke the bank. Its all the other “Other” purchases that I feel got out of hand.
I blog about faith, money, being a homemaker, crafts, but I also blog to be real about our finances for the sake of accountability and to encourage everyone else out there reading this that yes, even I the dedicated, coupon clipping, money saving, penny pinching person that I am look at my spending at the end of the month and go, huh?? What happened there? Oops. Goofed that one up!
Now that we’ve acknowledged the goof, we talked about what we are going to do about it, and what we are going to change so it doesn’t happen again the following month. No Molly buying for me, hopefully no burnt hair for Nate, however, the true enemy is the little purchase here and there. We are going to be watching the beast named “Other” in our budget very carefully in February to make sure he doesn’t eat up more than he’s supposed to.
Just a question for reflection for you all: Do you have an other category? Is it under control? Are there any changes that need to happen to tame your “Other” budget beast?
Becoming Proverbs 31… Revive Our Hearts Style!
As I am battling a rough week with Molly, I found some excellent posts on Revive Our Hearts website. I thought this may be a great week for us all to dive into some else’s teaching about this amazing piece of scripture and/or catch up on any of the weeks that you’ve missed or want to revisit from our series.
For the first five installments of my Becoming Proverbs 31 series, click on the categories tab and scroll until you see “Becoming Proverbs 31.” There you will find all the posts previously written.
Nancy Lee DeMoss is a wonderful teacher whom I’ve personally learned a lot from. I used to listen to her teach in the days I was so nauscious with pregnancy that I couldn’t really read my Bible! She is wise and has some different reflections I feel are also valuable to gathering as much as we can from Proverbs 31.
Here are the links to some of her studies:
And there are so much more! Just keep hitting the NEXT button at the top/bottom of the page!
Love you all and thanks for being patient for the next installment! I hope you enjoy Nancy’s teachings in the meantime!
“Charm is deceptive and beauty is vain, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised!” Prov. 31:30
I Have A New Obsession…
Aprons. I think they are SOOOO cute! Nate got me one for Christmas, and I LOVE it! I also stole one of my great-grandmother’s from my mom, (she never uses it anyways,) and now I have two! Well, I really want another one. There is a fabulous giveaway being held at The Suburban Jungle for an adorable “Flirty Apron!”
I Love THIS ONE!
If I blogged about this contest, I get five more entries into this giveaway. I figured why not?? Its worth a shot! Go enter, all you have to do is leave a comment. If you don’t, better chances for me to win! So maybe I don’t want you to go enter, but that would be selfish, so, go ahead, enter. 
WFMW Getting Laundry Done– Faster!!
I can’t believe it took me this long to figure this out, many of you may already be doing this and will laugh at me as you read today’s tip. I discovered that I can speed through my laundry folding/putting away if I do it standing up!! When I sit down, it becomes leisurely and I’ll turn a movie on or start yacking away about nothing. When I stand up, I’m more focused. I also noticed I get a bit more of a work out. Bending, lifting, yeah, its ALL good. I cut my laundry time almost in half by folding my laundry standing up. Amazing! Try it if you don’t already do it and then give me a giant hug later for helping you redeem so much of your precious time!
Love you all!
Click HERE for more WFMW tips and ideas!
Showing Off My Crafty Little Sister!
For today’s craft post, I’d like to feature my adorable sister Lizzy. She makes such cute stuff! She crochets and is AMAZING!! I love everything she makes and have decided that my pre-conceived notions that crocheting is for grannies is way wrong!
If you think that all you can crochet is grandma’s doily/afghan-ish/kleenex box covering type stuff, you are in for a surprise! The stuff she makes is pretty hip. (Do people still say that??)
Plus, if you go to her blog, you can see some cute pics of Molly with her sweet little creations! Pretty sweet little bonus.
Check her out HERE and get inspired!
Decorating Imperfections In Your Home…
We all have them. Trouble spots. Irritating areas we just can’t seem to wrap our decorating minds around. I have many… my house is so totally in progress, its just not even funny.
I decided to tackle just one for today.
Remember how I told you all we had gross 70′s wood paneling in our living room? Icky. Well, it came down pretty easily, but the tricky part is that there is a vacuum system installed in that wall. The hole to it is covered in paneling. So, we have this lovely painted wall with this little rectangle of paneling sticking out. Its a bit of an eye soar. So, I got out the scrapbook paper and hit it up!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Its the little things.
As a side note, I also centered the little side table I jimmy-rigged out of an old apple crate and some books directly underneath the little guy to make it look more on purpose– if you will. Above that little section, we are planning on putting up one of those vinyl wall decals of a scripture. I have a friend who makes them and can’t wait to see it when its all done!
Do you have a decorating dilemma in your home? What can you do to tackle it? I challenge you to. You’ll feel better. Promise.
Our Turkey Adventure!
So… we had a turkey that was purchased on mega sale around the holidays. We decided to cook it and fill up our freezer with meat, stock, soup, you know– the good turkey stuff.
We put it in the fridge to defrost. It was really frozen, so a few days in the fridge were necessary. When I pulled it out, turkey “juice” was everywhere! I had to throw out some cheese, pie crusts, and apple. Thank goodness there wasn’t much in the fridge at the time! It took us a good half hour to clean and disinfect the fridge. Gross.
Nate helped me get the beast into the oven. I had looked up “How to cook a turkey” on allrecipes.com and was following the directions to a tee. Well, Nate was concerned about the amount of excess liquid. It kept like splashing out of my roasting pan and smoking a bit. When he was pulling the turkey out to take out some of that liquid, WHOOSH!! FIRE!! It was the hugest flame I’d ever seen in a kitchen, and believe me I’ve set some doosies! Nate knew just what to do, I had the baby so I ran out of the kitchen. He shoved the turkey out of the way and starved the fire of oxygen by slamming the oven door closed.
Poor man lost some of his eyebrows, some eyelashes, and singed his hair. His forehead got a little red as well. BUT believe it or not, the turkey survived just fine and tastes pretty darn amazing. We decided we need to invest in a fire extinguisher, a baster, and a better pan.
The bad news? My ugly carpeted kitchen floor is soaked in gross greasy turkey juice from Nate shoved it away!! Right now we have towels laid out in a path. The grease gets on your feet and gets tracked all over the house! Also, Nathan now needs a haircut.
Sometimes being frugal requires an adventure now and then! Though we realized why people do turkeys only once a year.
Becoming Proverbs 31 Part V… Continuing In Everyday Excellence
Today is a continuation of last weeks study on Proverbs 31:12 “She does him good and not harm all of the days of her life. “
If you’ve missed the first parts of the study, click on the categories tab to the left of this page and scroll down until you see “Becoming Proverbs 31 Series.” There you will find all four of the previous installments.
Last week we talked about how this verse states ALL the days of her life, not all the days of her married life. So single or married, our days can bring our husbands/future husbands good and not harm!
I shared with you how this verse had a huge impact on me during my single days in college. I shared about how I learned to stop my flirtatious ways, and alter the way I dressed in effort to bring my future husband good and not harm.
After my husband Nathan read last week’s installment, he had some interesting insight I’d like to share with you all. He told me about how much he respected modesty in young women and how he had yet to meet a Christian guy who had not stumbled at one point in his life in this area. He brought up the passage in Romans 14:13-19 which states:
“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building.”
If we apply this same principal to our appearance with others, we realize our appearance may cause someone else to stumble. I love the last part of that scripture and feel it is totally relevant to our current study- “let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual up building.” AMEN!
This week, I will be sharing with you the last two things I learned from this verse:
1. God taught me about my obedience regarding singleness and marriage.
2. God reveals His glory through understanding His purpose for creating marriage here on earth.
1. God taught me about my obedience regarding singleness and marriage.
“For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Phil 4:11b-13
Marriage was definitely the desire of my heart at the time I battled with this teaching. I didn’t feel content with my singleness and felt like if I could only get married, everything would be all right. Marriage would complete me, and fix everything that was wrong with me. If I had had the desire to be a wife/mom my whole life, doesn’t that means my desire comes from God? Is it wrong of me to desire these things? I often asked myself and others these questions. Here is what I learned:
*God needs to be the number one desire of my heart:
Psalm 37:4 tells us “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Our delight needs be first in Christ, and then through His love and grace, He will bless us with those desires. Christ himself tells us in Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If getting married is that treasure, that thing which for us will make life better, then our hearts will follow and therefore be removed from where they truly need to be– in Christ.
We learned in an earlier segment that what God truly desires is our hearts. King David cried out to God in his lament following his affair with Bathsheba.
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Ps. 51:16-17 God didn’t want sacrifices from David to make up for his wrong doing, all he wanted was his heart.
Married ladies can still and are still very susceptible to placing marriage above Christ in their lives. I had a friend once who would speak as though marriage solved all problems. A single friend was talking about a struggle she was having and her answer for her was “Just get married! You’ll get over it then.” When truly marriage solves nothing. Nothing, no struggle you are having, no sin in your life, nothing will disappear once you’re married. In fact, you will find that those faults are only magnified!! (Mine sure were!) However, when we take our burdens and struggles to the cross, we can find forgiveness and healing.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:30
Married ladies, I’d like to address you for a moment. I find that I can easily run to Nathan over going first to the Lord when I am hurting. Its like I’m surprised when I hear him ask me, “well did you pray about it?” Hmm… nope. For me, if I notice that I am running to Nathan before going to the Lord, its time for a heart check. Where is Christ seated in my life right now?
*I needed to trust God with His plan and timing in my life.
Jer 29:11 tells us “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
God knows his plans for me, marriage or no marriage, he says in His Word that they are plans for my welfare, and not for evil, plans to bring hope and a future!
Prov. 3:5-6 also encouraged me to not depend on my own thinking regarding my future. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Also in Isiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”
And I could sit there and plan out my life step by step, but ultimately God is in control. That doesn’t mean that I’m excused from being responsible with the life He’s given me, don’t get me wrong. BUT it is His plan, my job is to be obedient to Him and trust Him in all things.
Prov. 19:21 states “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
I discovered that although I needed to wait on the Lord, I didn’t have to sit around. In my mind, I pictured waiting to involve sitting in a rocking chair, rocking away while I waited for God to bring me a husband. One of my friends used the analogy of sleeping beauty up in her tower just waiting for the prince to come along and wake her up. This kind of waiting is boring.
Look again at Prov. 31:12 “She does him good and not harm all the days of her life.” She does him good. She does stuff. She is totally not sitting around or sleeping up in a tower. She is up and doing stuff for the Lord and for her family, community, the needy, the merchants… we’ll get into more of that in later weeks. Once I discovered that I didn’t have to be a passive waiter, I felt so free to serve God! And in serving Him, I learned how to trust Him more! Its amazing how that works.
As a married woman, my need to trust in the Lord morphed into trusting Him with His plan regarding our children. I have a health condition that could have prevented me from being able to conceive, but God had other plans and blessed us with Molly! I really struggled with this for about two years. I felt confused by my loving God who gave babies to women who didn’t want them, and to me? What was I to receive? His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts.
Ps. 62:8 states “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” He is a refuge for us while we wait on Him.
*I need to be satisfied in my singleness:
Paul himself even wished singleness for Christians! He says this in 1 Cor. 7:7-8
“I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am.”
You heard the man, single is good! Why? Vs. 28b “Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.”
He goes on in verses 32-35 “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.”
Marriage brings with it distractions. Its no secret that divorce is a huge problem in Christian marriages. Only half of Christian marriages survive! This disjointed and fractured picture of marriage that we see today can be traced as far back as the fall of man.
In Genesis 3, we see Eve take and eat of the forbidden fruit and then hand some to her husband to eat as well. God comes and asks them what happened. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent. Regardless, they face consequences for their sin. God says to Eve in verse 16b “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” That sort of relationship folks was not the glorious state of marriage God intended for His people. That relationship is in direct result of the fall of sin.
This brings me right to my next point…
God reveals His glory to us when we understand his true purpose for creating marriage here on earth.
Marriage is a reflection of Christ’s union with His Bride– The Church.
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Eph. 5:22-33
“This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. “
Christ’s love for us is a profound mystery. That He died on the cross for our sins, while we were still in sin, he went to the cross in our place. Because His blood covers our sin, we may be united with Him in love for eternity!
“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
That great love is poured out on you. Whatever you’ve done, where ever you are in life, Christ died for you. He desires to be united with us– all of us. All you are required to do is accept that love and forgiveness. God will transform your heart once you give it up to Him.
I’d like to close today with one of my favorite quotes from Matthew Henry.
“Eve was not taken out of Adam’s head to top him, neither out of his feet to be trampled by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his heart to be loved by him.”
Father God,
We love Your Word. Thank you for the teachings in Proverbs 31. Thank you for calling us to live set apart for You. God raise us up as women who do good and not harm, who are a shining reflection of You to the dark world around us. Lord give us a burning desire to live for you in whatever circumstance you have us in– married, waiting for children, single, in our youth, in our middle ages, where ever each of us is at, help us choose to be content and obedient to You and what You would have us do with our lives. Teach us more and more about what it means to be the Bride of Christ.
Be with those in Haiti who are suffering Jesus. Give strength to the Christians who are there as they serve the least of these in your name.
We love you Father, thy will!
Amen
Just for fun, here are some pictures of Nathan and I in our first year of marriage! (We were so cute!)
Rockin’ Deals I Just Had To Share…
So, I had some luck in the deals department that I wanted to share with you all!
First of all, I hit up the Children’s Place Mega Sale, and nailed some great deals for Molly! Have you ever noticed that most people get you clothes in the cute little sizes at baby showers? We had some gaps in her 6-9 month wardrobe and even bigger gaps in the 9-12 and 12 months categories. I had a lot of fun picking stuff out! Most the stuff I bought was $2.99 each! With $5 shipping and a 15% coupon code, I got her 7 outfits and a sweater for $37 including tax and shipping. PLUS the cool thing is that this brand resells really well at consignment stores and online. So chances are I can recoup my cost! I’m not sure how much will be left at this point, but it may be worth looking into! The coupon code I used was E79AA.
I also got some great deals at Safeway today!
Sargento Cheese is $1.49 with the in ad coupon. Minus $.50 MC from last weeks paper = $.99 for cheese!
There is also a $4/4 promo for cereal right now. If you go to Honey Nut Cheerios website, you can print off coupons for $1/1 and $1/2 boxes! I also grabbed a box of Life cereal that was $1. Total I paid $3.50 for all four boxes. That’s less than a dollar each!
Annies Organic Mac and Cheese is on sale for $.99 which is an awesome deal! I stocked up because we love that stuff!
Ladies of Ephrata and possibly elsewhere:
I also found a free coupon book in the shampoo aisle with $26 in coupons!! I was stoked to see Huggies in there along with Dove, Children’s Tylenol, and all kinds of other brands I often buy. I grabbed three. Next time you at Safeway, pick one up!
A Little Bit of This and That…
So, here’s the story. We were getting close to pay day and low on food. So I pulled a little bit of this and that from the fridge and cupboards and made a tasty lunch for the hubbie and I!
I had a small baggy of left over carrots, a teeny bit of onion left, some potatoes, a small amount of breakfast sausage I saved thinking it would be good in some of soup, a little milk, a little chicken broth, three pieces of bread, some butter spread, and some cheese.
I threw the sausage and onions in the pot to make a soup base, added the carrots and potatoes with water, chicken broth, and milk. I stirred in a bit of seasoning and some salt and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
Then I made one and a half grilled cheese sandwiches and the hubbie got the whole sandwich.
With a little bit of this and that, we stretched out our food budget and had a tasty meal! Its amazing what you can come up with when you are determined not to spend money! A year ago, I would have looked at the fridge and sent Nate to the store. Maybe there is something about becoming a mom that makes you more resourceful, but I was pretty proud of myself for not caving into the “stop at the store” routine. (And I had fun doing it!)
