Frugal Homes

We are thinking of downsizing to a smaller home. This is contingent on our being able to sell our current home. If we are able to successfully sell then a much smaller home is in our future. We will be going from approximatley 2400 sq. ft. home down to under 1000 sq ft. I know that this is a drastic change, but it is a change that we are looking forward to. It will enable us to get out of house debt, have more time to spend on family instead of house cleaning and maintinance, and hopefully have less stress. I have decided to chronicle the journey on my website, so if you are interested stop by Simple Living and click on the Frugal Homes link. I will be adding articles on downsizing, frugal decorating, and decluttering. Hope you enjoy!

God Bless,
His girl

New article on budgeting at my website Simple Living!

I just added a new page under the budgeting menu. Go over to http://www.simpleliving.orangeserve.com and read Budgeting 101. If you like what you see don't forget to link to my site or blog! Also tell your online friends about me! There is a FaceBook like button on the homepage of Simple Living as well as on my blog. Please use it if you like what you see! Stay tuned for more updates, I am working on new content all the time!

God Bless,
His girl

Is it worth it to budget? YES!

I spent many years trying to convince my dh that we needed to set up a budget. There was always some sort of reason why we couldn't. Now he is a budgeting convert. He has come to realize that even if we aren't making a boat load of money, we can be need free through budgeting.

Many people look at budgeting with the same distaste as dieting, both words have achieved a "four letter word" status. It doesn't need to be that way though. When you decide to lose weight and to make it a "life style change" instead of a "diet", you have changed the bad word "diet" to a good word "life-style change". You can do the same with budgeting. Just like a diet is a plan for eating, budgets are a plan for your finances. It isn't restricting what you can do, it is you PLANNING what you can do. Do you want a new car? Then budget for it. Do you want a new home or pay off the one you have?...Budget for it.

I like things simple, if it is complicated then I won't do it. Budgeting is simple. You write down the amount of money that comes in each week or month, then write down how much you spend in that time frame. If you spend more than what is coming in then you need to look at what you are spending and cut out the extras. (Thats the hard part!) You have to do it though so you can start living within your means. When you are living within your means you have less stress. Now raise your hands if you want less stress! Next look at any debt that you could start to eliminate. Credit cards, car payments, house payments, ect. all can be eliminated. Start with your smallest bill and pay any extra that you can over the minimum payment. Once that one is paid off then take what you were paying on that bill and add it to the next smallest bill. Before you know it you will have paid off your debt! Now don't expect this to happen over night, it does take time and discipline (another bad word!).

While you are using your budget to pay off your debts you can also budget (plan) for things that you want. Just add a category for your particular want. If you want a house then add a category for new house and start putting back money for it. It doesn't have to be much. Remember "A penny saved is a penny earned." any amount you are putting back will add up. Then put compound interest to work for you instead of against you. Put the money that you are putting aside into a savings account AND DON'T TOUCH IT! Then the bank will start helping you attain your goals, but the key is to NOT TOUCH IT!

Knowing what your money is doing and where it is going will help you achieve your goals. Please don't be afraid to use a budget! It is just a plan. I know that you have probably heard this saying a lot but I want to say it again...Failure to plan is planning to fail. Make your plan today!

New website on frugal and simple living

Sorry for being gone for so long. It has been a busy summer. Now it is time to get back to my normal routine. I will be posting here more in between my normal household duties and homeschooling my sons. I have also started a new website about frugal living. I am composing articles on how to do many things frugally.

I would like to invite you all to visit my new website. It is still under construction so please excuse our dust. :) It has articles on frugal- crafting, sewing, quilting, cooking, and budgeting.  If you like what you see, please let me know by commenting here or going to Simply Living facebook page and cliking like there. While there check out my sponsors, I would really appreciate it!

Simple Living

Enjoy and please let me know what you think!

Does God hold husbands accountable for wives actions?

Today's sermon (given by our soon to be married assistant pastor) really struck a cord in me. It was based on Proverbs 31 and how we as a church should have the characteristics of the proverbs 31 wife. As I have meditated on his message today and how marriage is a example of the church's relationship to Christ, I had the verse in Ephesians 5:25-28 come to mind. This particular verse speaks of the character of Christ toward the church and says that husbands should do the same for their wives here on earth. "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 without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." I have often came to this verse and studied it over the past year. Wanting to learn to be biblically submissive to my husband, and discussing this with him I have often wondered if he is held accountable for my actions. Not responsible for them, I am, but once married does the man become partly accountable for what his wife does or does not do? This line of thought comes from where God asks Adam why the forbidden fruit was eaten, even though it was Eve who actually began the whole sorry mess. The requirements for leadership in the church is that the man be able to rule his own household. The hirearchy that is set up in the bible is God, Christ, man, then wife. 1 Corinthians 11: 3 "But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God." So the question that has been raised in my mind is...is my husband accountable for holding me up to Christ without spot or wrinkle or without blemish. I have heard people talk of how the husband is to give himself for his wife as Christ gave himself for the church, but the second part of the verse isn't addressed. That Christ cleansed the church. Why would that be placed in a passage where it is addressing how husbands and wives relationships should be. For me as a wife I do not believe that it absolves me of responsibility for my actions, it does make me wonder if my husband is held accountable for my actions by God then is there anything that I have done that the Lord would ask him, why was this allowed? I know that this post is really stomping all over feminisim and womens rights, but I never was a big fan of all of that, so that doesn't really bother me. My goal is to please God and I don't want to do something that will require my husband to have to explain why it happened under his watch. I know that this line of thinking is pretty much alien in this day and age but so is most of what you find in the bible. This is going to require more prayer and study on my part, there are many things in my walk with the Lord that I could do better in and I do not want my husband to have to answer for my failings.

While studying this I found this link that discusses this some, here it is for those who want a more educated look at this subject.  http://www.carm.org/questions/about-doctrine/what-does-it-mean-when-bible-says-man-head-woman

Rambling.

Just downloaded blogger buddy for my sidebar. I am hoping that it will help me to remember to go ahead and blog a little bit!
Today wasn't too great for me, I was feeling very lazy and didn't get very much done. I have been doing so good at my workouts. Today I had to force myself to get in even 20 minutes on the elliptical. The longer i went the more tired I was. :( Anyway I did exercise, just not as long as usual. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day for me.
I really like this blogger buddy! It is nice to have it up on my screen ready to use when I get an itch to blog. Not much on my mind tonight, so I will jump off of here for now. More later....

Checking in again

 I seem to have a hard time blogging like I had intended to. Of course it has been the Christmas season and things always get very busy around this time. We had a very nice Christmas, our oldest ds came home for 2 weeks for Christmas break from AIT. We have to take him back Jan. 2. While home he asked his girlfriends father for permission to marry her so they are now officially engaged. They are planning on a June wedding in 2011 so we have a lot of planning to do.
 My dh agreed to be my accountability partner/personal trainer. I am wanting to lose around 75 lbs but have never been able to stay the course on my own so I asked dh for help. I am using SparkPeople.com to track my nutrition and fitness. I am able to print out weekly reports for both so I can go over it with dh and we can adjust my plan. Over the holidays I lost 1/2 lb, not as much as I would have liked, but it was a loss.I am using their blog site to update on my progress in getting healthy.
 That is pretty much all that is going on in my little spot in the world. I hope that you were blessed in 09 and pray that you will be blessed in 2010.
His Girl