What are you learning? What's been helpful? What's been challenging?
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Anonymous
said...
We were out-of-state for the weekend due to my grandmother's death/funeral. We sort of lost headway on simplicity as we ate out, stayed in motels, and had travel expenses. It seems things keep coming up that mess up the "simplicity" plans and saving money, etc. More examples: Saturday we have a going away party to attend for some dear friends and need to spend $$ on a babysitter and meal, the next weekend we have Chad's office Christmas party to go to (more babysitter money - that ain't cheap with 4 kids either). But how do you cancel such things? Then we are getting a family picture taken (church directory), that will cost $$ if we want to buy any and we don't have a family picture since our youngest was born so it seems a good opportunity...an on and on. Of course much of the world doesn't have a single picture of their family but I seem to think it's a need instead of a want. And all the money I've saved by shopping at Aldi and not buying junk, etc is more than erased by other stuff! So much for margin to give generously. I'm struggling to live within our means let alone beneath our means to have excess. I start thinking January was a bad month for us to try this but really every month seems to have random extras come up. It's hard to say "no" to things that seem important.
Anyway, I don't know how to balance all that, but in losing my grandmother (who was 97) I was thinking about her life. She was someone who I think accomplished living a simple life. She and my grandpa always said things like "a penny saved is a penny earned". Grandpa died 18 years ago and left grandma plenty of money to live the rest of her life in comfort (due to their diligent saving). She could have afforded a fancy place but always lived well below her means in a modest little apartment, didn't even have a microwave. She was very frugal towards herself... but instead gave with incredible generosity to her church, missions, anyone she thought was in need, she even paid for my college education (same for my siblings). She truly lived out the "blessed to be a blessing" thing.
Oh my this is getting long. This whole experiment is sure giving me a lot to think about!
Heidi, Your grandparents sound like they were amazing and wonderful people. I hope this weekend was a good time with family sharing and celebrating your grandma's life. My grandma passed away last January at age 96. She too is my greatest role model of simplicity. Simple faith and very clear, uncompromised priorities in her life.
The "extras" do happen every month it seems. I find that too. That's what got me thinking that I have to deal with groceries and entertainment better, because inevitably there's a few hundred dollars a month needed for something I didn't plan into the budget.
I am also convinced that Aldi needs to be my main stop for grocery shopping. I think I'll need to stop at Fareway for a few items from time to time, but last week I armed myself with my calculator and headed to Aldi's. I was amazed with how much less I spent compared to my normal way of shopping.
2 comments:
We were out-of-state for the weekend due to my grandmother's death/funeral. We sort of lost headway on simplicity as we ate out, stayed in motels, and had travel expenses. It seems things keep coming up that mess up the "simplicity" plans and saving money, etc. More examples: Saturday we have a going away party to attend for some dear friends and need to spend $$ on a babysitter and meal, the next weekend we have Chad's office Christmas party to go to (more babysitter money - that ain't cheap with 4 kids either). But how do you cancel such things? Then we are getting a family picture taken (church directory), that will cost $$ if we want to buy any and we don't have a family picture since our youngest was born so it seems a good opportunity...an on and on. Of course much of the world doesn't have a single picture of their family but I seem to think it's a need instead of a want. And all the money I've saved by shopping at Aldi and not buying junk, etc is more than erased by other stuff! So much for margin to give generously. I'm struggling to live within our means let alone beneath our means to have excess. I start thinking January was a bad month for us to try this but really every month seems to have random extras come up. It's hard to say "no" to things that seem important.
Anyway, I don't know how to balance all that, but in losing my grandmother (who was 97) I was thinking about her life. She was someone who I think accomplished living a simple life. She and my grandpa always said things like "a penny saved is a penny earned". Grandpa died 18 years ago and left grandma plenty of money to live the rest of her life in comfort (due to their diligent saving). She could have afforded a fancy place but always lived well below her means in a modest little apartment, didn't even have a microwave. She was very frugal towards herself... but instead gave with incredible generosity to her church, missions, anyone she thought was in need, she even paid for my college education (same for my siblings). She truly lived out the "blessed to be a blessing" thing.
Oh my this is getting long. This whole experiment is sure giving me a lot to think about!
Heidi,
Your grandparents sound like they were amazing and wonderful people. I hope this weekend was a good time with family sharing and celebrating your grandma's life. My grandma passed away last January at age 96. She too is my greatest role model of simplicity. Simple faith and very clear, uncompromised priorities in her life.
The "extras" do happen every month it seems. I find that too. That's what got me thinking that I have to deal with groceries and entertainment better, because inevitably there's a few hundred dollars a month needed for something I didn't plan into the budget.
I am also convinced that Aldi needs to be my main stop for grocery shopping. I think I'll need to stop at Fareway for a few items from time to time, but last week I armed myself with my calculator and headed to Aldi's. I was amazed with how much less I spent compared to my normal way of shopping.
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