Money Money Money

I feel like such a novice on this subject, and a little out of place in this group of amazing women.  My husband is not in grad school of any sort right now.  We both held steady, good paying jobs for the first year and a half of our marriage, allowing us to build up a little bit of savings and work to move forward with the building of our future home (EEK!  A house?!  That seems so...adult.) I quit my job to be a play at home mom, which was a tough decision for me, though not as tough as it could have been had my husband been in grad school or had he not had the job that he has now.  All differences aside...we're still cheap.

In my 7 months of housewiferyhood, I've learned a few tricks that have cut my grocery budget down quite a bit, and helped us to capitalize a little bit more on the money we earn.

First and foremost, we pay our tithing.  I, like Jessica, don't know how it works, but I do know that it does work.  I'm so grateful for that.  I know that blessings come not only in the form of an increasing bank account, but in every other form (ie: receiving 3 boxes full of hand-me-down girl clothes in the same seasons as Lucy would need them, having no cavities at the dentist, receiving an extra coupon insert in the newspaper, having food enough to eat each week, temples, church buildings, a plentiful year in the garden).  You name it, and I'll bet its a blessing from tithing.

Second, like mentioned in the lesson this week by Pres. Faust, "Solidify strengths and family resources." I felt like this meant that I needed to use my talents as a resource to my family.  I know how to sew.  Because of that, I was able to prepare many of the needed things for Lucy, as well as many of her clothes and toys now, at a fraction of the cost. Jake and I both know how, and enjoy cooking.  We've been able to save a lot of money by making dinners at home, even for date night.  I've been amazed at how many restaurant recipes are out on the internet! (Olive Garden, Cafe Rio, Panda Express...)  Its awesome!  And one of the greatest of all blessings, I married a handy man.  We're renting from Jake's parents right now, and yet, we're still always "fixing up" something. The clogged drain, the broken light switch, and creaky, squeaky floor, the uneven door frames (yes, my husband has OCD.  I didn't even notice it was crooked!)  I know that using our talents can bless the lives of our families, and those around us.

Third, COUPONS!  Yes, I'm a budding couponer in the making.  Sad day...but so far this year, we've saved over $200 in groceries and have a well stocked pantry. Discount websites help a lot too. We recently bought Lucy a high chair on KSL.Com for $20...and its normally $80+ in the store.

We, by no means, are living as frugally as we should/could, but we're trying.  I know that we're being blessed for trying.  We set a goal at the beginning of the year to review our budget together twice monthly on family night.  We use Quicken, mostly because its an easy way to categorize all of our spending (and the graphs help a visual learner like myself see what's really going on). Anyway, I know that sometimes its hard to watch everyone else who seems like they're moving ahead so much in the world.  I loved what Amber said about clearing out covetous feelings.  Its so easy to see what other people have and feel forgotten because you haven't been "that blessed."  I know that as we push forward, doing our very best, the Lord will see us through.