Living Within the Means God has Provided for you.

I have been a stay at home mom since 2003, although living on one fairly small income has been challenging, God has always provided for our family. With a Gross income of aproximately $20,000 we own our own home, actually have two running vehicles and want for very little. Lots of people complain about not having enough money to pay their bills. I have a hard time understanding why. On a monthly basis, we make a mere $1, 356, I had no clue til recently how low that really was. Its funny, but being Poor is more of a mentality than an actuality for most of us.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Happy New Year

What are you doing to help yourself live within your means this year?
Are your means getting smaller? Ours certainly seem to be, we have insurance premiums coming out and costs going up. The rest of our bills will all stay the same or relatively close to the same.

Are you praying over those means, so that God can stretch them and maximize their potential?

I will be printing off some general ledger paper to keep tabs on our spending today. I already have three things to write in it. I have groceries bought yesterday, gas put in the car yesterday, and two medical bills paid (or at least they will be by the end of the day)

Old fashioned accounting to keep track of where the money is going.

You can not reduce spending, if you do not know where it is going. So our first goal is to see WHERE it is going.
Yes, I could go back and pick apart my check book, but its much easier to just start from scratch.


Another goal for 2008 is to begin appreciating what I have instead of always wanting more. I am already pretty good at procrastinating on getting what I want til I discover I don't really need it.
What I mean by appreciating what you have, is, well, Taking better care of what God has already blessed us with. Kimberly Eddy at A Joyful Momma puts it so nicely in her e-book, Thriving on One income When I read her book I had never thought about things in such light, but it does make so much sense. Why would God bless you with something better when you do NOT appreciate what he has given you.
I guess it all goes right back to determining what the difference is between a Need and a Want.

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