Trusting God with my Stuff

Matthew 6:28-34

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I've (Lindsey) been thinking about this verse SO much recently. It's amazing how, even in the times in life when you can see God's provision so clearly right in the times you need it, that you can look forward to the things you still want/need as more important than looking back at how far God has brought you. I love that verse 32 says your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Father God is a great father. He knows that we need shelter and food and the physical things that nourish and protect us and keep us healthy. He is not ignorant to the fact that we can't survive without them. He also knows that we have wants and dreams beyond just what we need to survive.

But I also love knowing how perfect His motives are and His plan is in that true fatherly sense. I can imagine it in a small sense with Kenna- sometimes she wants certain things that I know she does not need and won't be good for her in the long run. It's hard to tell her no (especially when she's learning to ask nicely!) but as her parent I know she will come to trust me because of the love that I have for her as her parent. How much more immense is my father God's love for me, and yet still I rebel from it. Still I ask for things I do not need, and whine sometimes if I do not get them.

It's scary sometimes when you wonder if you can make one paycheck stretch until the next one. When the car breaks down, or there's a leak that skyrockets your water bill, or an accidental injury (thankfully nothing major) that still causes a trip to the doctor and a prescription. I would by no means call these things suffering, but our daily stresses that can so easily distract us from the goodness of God's mercy. I'm always relieved to know that God himself walked this earth and knows exactly what it's like to have stress take a toll on you. So I take verse 30 to heart that God says He loves me enough to take care of me, and my faith in Him should reflect that I trust Him to provide. He's not worried about my 401K or my retirement fund or even my child's college fund. My goal is supposed to be "seeking His righteousness," by trying to change every thought and action from selfishness to something that will glorify Him by serving others with a cheerful and grateful heart- easier said than done, especially when I am focused on myself and my perceived needs. Tomorrow and everything it holds belongs to Him, not me.

The bottom line is that we have what we need. We own a car that can get us to and from jobs that pay our bills. That alone makes us "wealthier" than 93% of the world. I think about that often. How much would your life fall apart without your car to get you to and from all the places you go? I panic when the battery dies in my car, yet I know we can run out to Wal-mart and get another one, and probably have the car back up and running within the hour. And for some reason, God still chooses to allow us to have much more beyond that... a comfortable home, plenty of clothing, (too much) good food to eat, computers to use, and fun things to do. (That percentage, by the way, is from a really great book called The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision).

God has really been challenging me recently on my attitude towards my "stuff." I realized that since I started couponing, I've given more "feedback" to companies complaining about bad service or an incorrect advertisement, etc than I ever would have in the past. And while I can rationalize it all I want as being a good steward of our money/spending wisely/making the most of what we have- in my heart it is self-righteousness, trying to take matters into my own hands to provide for myself instead of trusting God.

I want to travel light while passing through this place that is not my eternal home. I want what I can give to others to be more important to me than what I have. And very most of all, I never want to value my possessions or my ability to accumulate possessions more than I value my loving Father who has provided them for me in the first place.

Adventures in Couponing.

Last week, I was so excited to take a coupon class with Su Soutter at Bayleaf. She feeds a family of six, including their toiletries/tylenol/TP/paper towels, etc. for $100 a week... and that also includes one child in diapers! She writes a blog with TONS of useful information about using coupons, building a stockpile, meal planning and freezing, and home decorating.

The Intentional Home

I have only been couponing since this past summer, and knew I could use some help to step up my game. The class was an intense, high-energy 2 hours full of how to stack coupons, how to use double/triple coupons to your advantage, and how to benefit from store rebate and register rewards programs. It was a lot of fun, and Su's very encouraging motto was, "you can so do this!"

When she told me she never pays more than $4.50 for a pack of diapers, I was sold. That equates to about 16 cents per diaper (she has gotten as low as 8 cents per diaper), and the best I've been able to find was about 21 cents at BJs or Sam's. I was excited and anxious to try out some of her ideas, so I used one of her exact examples to try it out on my own. My results proved that this would take a lot of practice to get it just right.
This was the plan:

Regular price of jumbo diapers at Rite Aid:
$11.99 each (approx. 52 cents per diaper)

Sale price at Rite Aid: $9.99 each
I bought 3 making it$29.97 (down to 43c/diaper)

Coupon printed from online: $5 off a $25 purchase
Print and use as many as you want!
$24.97 (down to 36c/diaper)

3 normal coupons from the Sunday paper, 1 per pack of diapers
$1, $1.75, and $2 off... $20.22 (down to 29c/diaper)

Rite Aid was offering a $10 gift card with any $30 PG purchase (Pampers qualified)
making the total $10.22
which is $3.30 per pack
and down to 14 cents per diaper!

Not too bad! So I went on Saturday and they were out of Kenna's size, so I remembered to get a rain check and was so proud of myself. I went back today and they were still out of size 4s, but I didn't want to have to come back a bunch of times, so I got size 5s instead. When I got to the check out, one of my coupons was only good for swim diapers. So that's $1 added back on. And, since the drug stores start their sales over on Sundays, I didn't realize the gift card option had expired.

So I ended up actually getting the diapers for 28 cents each... not the best deal. Live, learn, try again.

Here's another one I'm excited to try:

CVS has Raisin Bran on sale 4 for $10 ($2.50 per box) and you also earn $5 in Extra Care Bucks (ECBs)- store credit that prints out from the register after your transaction.

So that is like getting them for ($1.25 per box).

Then from the Sunday paper I have 2 coupons for $1 off two boxes
I can use both since I'm buying 4 boxes anyway (.75 cents per box!!!)

That's already a great deal, but I happen to have a $3 ECB from another purchase, so really I'm getting 4 boxes of cereal for free!

The $5 in ECB that prints out from the purchase I can use on anything else I want in the store- I'd probably get milk or paper towels, things we are using up daily. It really is like a game with CVS because each transation links to another- you earn ECBs on one purchase, then use them with coupons for the next and start getting things free.

If you're thinking as you read this, "yeah, but that's a lot of work," you're right it totally is. It's a lot to keep track of, getting rain checks, making sure things don't expire on you, etc. I feel like I'm doing a middle school math/economics project, to be honest. But when I think about it as Su put it... she reduced her family's monthly budget from $1000 to $400 by using coupons. That's a savings of $600 by doing 8 hours of work a month (about 2 hours a week). It's like having a $75 an hour part time job (that you can do in your pajamas at any time of day you prefer!).

And even though I'm still not convinced that "couponing" is an actual word, the thrill of a bargain probably transcends all languages! The big thing for me will be to not be a perfectionist about it, and remember that sometimes your time is worth more than driving all over town using up a whole tank of gas just to save 50 cents on some paper towels!

Here are some basic and really helpful tips from Su's blog:

List of restaurants' Kids Eat Free days

How to start a stockpile

List of target prices (how much is a "good price" for something)

What are your favorite coupon tips or the best bargain you ever found?

Ways We Try to Save!

Having a baby has been one of the most fulfilling and joyful experiences of our lives and marriage. But as most parents know, a child can put a strain on almost any budget! Matt and I would be the first to tell you that we are not always the best with money- we are both pretty big impulse buyers, and for me, shopping can be not only a fun/social hobby but also a stress reliever at times! Since I'm a nerd and get excited over things like coupons, I wanted to share some of the fun and easy ways that I try to save money in our everyday lives. As a mom who does not work outside the home, I look at trying to save money on our everyday basics as a way to help provide for our family.

1. Big-store shopping

We've been blessed since day one of our marriage in having a Sam's Club membership! It can be a bit of a pain sometimes since it is hard to make quick in-and-out trips, but we try to use this to our full advantage by stocking up on anything that we use very frequently (diapers!) or that won't go bad if we stock up on a huge amount of (cleaning supplies, tp, paper towels, etc). We have found that diapers and wipes are a great deal here. Pampers here average 25 cents per diaper, and Huggies wipes are a steal at 2 cents each when you buy these ginormous packs. Sam's has the best deal on baby formula we've ever seen (19 cents per ounce) and has almost exactly the same ingredients when compared side-by-side to Enfamil which averages more like 78 cents per ounce, even on sale! I had hoped to breastfeed exclusively and never need to buy formula, but had lots of difficulties and am so thankful that we could find an affordable way to buy formula! Sam's also now offers multi-packs of Gerber's fruits and veggies which average 50 cents per container. For a little over $100 we bought the following, which will last us about 2-3 months (longer for the wipes!).
2. Online Free Samples

There are LOTS of companies online that will send you coupons/free samples just for signing up or requesting them. The good ones here are all the baby websites- Gerber, Enfamil, Nestle Good Start, Pampers, Huggies, and Beechnut all have online memberships where you can sign up and receive freebies or earn points based on the products you buy. Wal-Mart.com has freebies that change monthly on their website. I went crazy one night googling "free sample" and requested them from probably 50 different sites. These are all the freebies I've received in the past 3 months or so:
This idea is great for mostly toiletries and houseware items. Two suggestions are to be careful to keep your computer's spyware up to date in case you run across a "bad" website in your searching, and also to set up an individual email account (or use an old one that you never use for real stuff anymore) to keep from cluttering up your inbox. That gives you the freedom to let them send whatever they will, but you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis unless you want to. Then enjoy finding surprises in your mailbox! (By far, my favorite part!)

3. Coupons!

There are LOTS and LOTS of websites out there that have done a much better job and much more research than I on the subject of coupons. Some of my favorites are: Mommysavers.com, babycheapskate.com, and smartsource.com

I had given up on coupons in the past because a lot of times they are for expensive items that I would not normally buy, but would just because I had a coupon for it. Then I would come home with an expensive grocery trip, and no "real food." Now I save them only if I know for a fact that we buy the item on a regular basis. I try to "stack" the savings by using a coupon for an item that is already on sale, and shopping at places that will double or triple coupons (Harris Teeter!). I've also found good deals at CVS and Walgreens.

I think the true trick to not getting frustrated with coupons is to have an organizer, use them on items that you always buy and that are on sale anyways, and make your list and THEN search online for a coupon for a specific item you want to buy... I ended up wasting money if I made my shopping list based just on items I had coupons for. For example, the other day I knew we needed dog food, so I googled "Purina" and ended up finding a $5 off coupon that I printed and took to the store, which ended up making it cheaper than the store brand!

I also have an organizer so I can see what I'm working with. I took a little $1 plastic photo album (and of course, stamped it up a little pretty downstairs in my craft room just for fun!):
This way, if I have multiple coupons for the same brand or same item, I can put them all in the same pocket. I put the ones that will expire soonest on top so that I remember to use them first. To save room, I also pair things that go together in the same pocket (ie: men's deodorant and razors or ziplock bags and trash bags).
Two other pluses: I can flip through it easily to see what I have coupons for, and Kenna sits and plays with it in the cart while I grocery shop and the coupons don't fall out easily! I also tuck store coupons inside the front and back covers (such as Michael's 40% coupons).

4. Have a "rock bottom price" list

This is something I just did recently that I am really happy with! A lot of times I see something on sale but have no idea if it is a truly a good price or not (example: I bought a huge pack of coffee filters at the dollar store and got really excited. Then I found a pack twice as big at Wal-Mart for 96 cents. Then I got home and realized our coffee maker uses a resuable, washable filter). I read online that you should try to pay 20% less that the least expensive, non-sale price you can find. So I made a list of things we use on a daily basis, and researched the best prices I could find for them, and wrote the price to beat next to each item- I try to find the item for that price or less. I typed them up in an Excel spreadsheet (only because it is a quick way to have all the info in nice, pretty columns!) and now have a quick and easy list that I can add to easily, or print off and keep in the back cover of my coupon booklet. Yay!

We also love consignment sales for baby clothes, toys, bottles, and other items that can be bought and sold gently used. If you are local to Raleigh/Wake Forest, the Kidaround Kidsale is a really good one (coming up soon!) that is great if you get stressed out by the ginormity of the Kids' Exchange out at the fairgrounds.

I hope these little quick tips are of help to you! I'd love to hear your tips or questions too.