God is faithful!!!

So as I am writing my last post… kind of feeling a little frustrated, and upset, I hear the mailman.  No big deal right, just hoping there aren’t any bills.  Just went to the mailbox to find…… drum roll please………….. a sizable check from a referral bonus!  See God IS faithful, and He just slapped me right in the face with His faithfulness, and it felt so good!  Now, since I wrote this, I have something to go back to to get slapped many more times into the future!  PRAISE GOD!  hehe…

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Impatiently waiting

Have you ever had more month than money?  How about at the beginning of the month? Ha!  Yes that is what I am dealing with right now, it is actually quite frustrating, to say the least.  But it does lead me looking in one direction, and that is up!

I don’t know about you, but I am a recovering control freak, ok maybe I’m not “recovering” I’m “struggling”.  I am still struggling with the part about “giving it to God”, and “he will provide”, but my heart says yes and my mind says no!  I see my husband work so hard to provide for us, and it still doesn’t quite cut it some times.  But what do I do, I pray a lot.  I know this is just a season in our lives, I know God is there, I have seen Him work, I also know He has His timing… but of course I want it now!  Throughout this time of struggle it has forced me to pray all day, forced my husband and I to communicate on a different level, and is molding me in a way to make me better.  “He is the potter and I am the clay”, it just hurts a little right now, o.k., it hurts a lot!

Well tomorrow a new journey begins, bible study, with a great group of ladies.  An opportunity to “journey to my promised land”, and I can’t wait to see what that is.  the time I have the most growth and see God’s work is times like these.  I truly pray for His hand to touch my heart and change it.  I pray for all the ladies going on this journey with me, and I pray that y’all reading this will take a journey of your own, out of your comfort zone, to be molded and shaped into all God wants you to be, here in this world.  Because we all have a purpose, a divinely appointed one, it may be a hard road sometimes, but in the end, I believe it will be worth it!

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I’m busy, and so too are the ants

Wow, has my life gotten busy, and so too are the ants, right?  I think I have good reason as to why 😉

I have had quite a few blessings come just from a “decision” of debt reduction and writing this blog.  So I have missed sharing, and hopefully you have missed reading…. no feelings hurt if not, lol 😉  But I guess I’ll share what’s going on.

1st I’ve been selling more stuff on Craigslist (bed x 2- crib etc), and will probably have a garage sale next weekend to sell baby stuff and anything else I can find.  Speaking of baby stuff, any ideas on Maternity clothes?  I may just have to take those to a consignment shop, but any ideas appreciated.  Most of mine are “business” because I worked through my 1st pregnancy.  (or maybe I am holding onto them for a reason 😉 shhh don’t tell my hubby…)

2nd a friend of mine invited me to a “sell your gold, silver” party, we’ll see what comes from that too.  So if you have jewelery, that can get you some cash, go for it!  Don’t worry, when your out of debt, you can save up and buy more, or even better, get it as a gift from the hubby. (ok…maybe hold onto the wedding ring).

3rd I have been diligently working on my churches website, and I am loving it (but less time to blog).  It’s one thing to make money doing something you hate, but doing something you love is a dream come true.  I am praying for direction from the Lord with this, and have a ton of ideas moving forward to create a business.  That was not my intent originally, but we’ll see what He has planned.  He is so faithful!

See what can happen when you make a commitment to follow the Lord?  I mean, really, I thought I was following Him but now I am seeing what that truly means.  And that includes making my life “right”, which goes back to getting out of slavery… debt!  Come join me!

 

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Now get your creative juices flowing!

It has been a few days since I have been able to post.  Within that time I have had a few more opportunities come up to make some money.  So to update you, I have sold a  day bed on Craigslist, but don’t we need it?  Well actually, in serving some close friends by helping them move,  we were in the right place at the right time.  They had bunk beds they weren’t going to be using at their new house, so guess what?  We could use them so they gave them to us!  Also they had a bunch of “kids” stuff in their basement they were getting rid of.  So I took that as well.  We kept a lot of it and sold what we already had (their stuff was better anyways).

I try to always wear jewelery to church that my mom makes, now much of the time, I get no comments or anyone interested.  But today, guess what, someone bought it right off my neck (thanks Teresa :))  I have had this happen quite often (I actually keep the price tag on it, lol).  Another friend of mine shared with me that she is trying to do some of the things I am to make some money as well.  She is actually going to be at a festival, and offered to sell my moms jewelery for me, what a blessing in serving others she is showing, and she will be rewarded ;).  We are also going to be selling together in a couple of other local festivals, fun stuff if your like me and love to people watch and interact with others.  (bonus-they are usually on Saturday mornings, and my husband can parent the kiddies)

Update:  After selling the copier from church, I had lady approach me about helping her sell some of her stuff as well.  More to come on that!

And finally today my church has approved me to begin construction of our website (we have been without one for quite a while).  I am so excited because it has been a total learning experience in patience, trust, understanding protocol, and being emotionally intelligent (which I really need help with).  But who knows the blessings that will come from this… I know one already, everyone will not have to contact me any longer to get other people’s contact info…. ( I have been a walking phone/email book).

Hopefully, this post has given you some hope, and got your creative juices flowing, in looking for opportunity.  I give all the glory to God for his “plans” for me, and opening the doors.

Please feel free to comment and share what you are doing to get rid of debt.

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Honoring commitment.

This post may be off the subject I have been discussing, but has been heavy on my heart, and I just need to share.  My 5 and 1/2 year-old son has started baseball.  Last time we “tried” this, he was 3, high-strung, and a very emotional child.  Now with 2 competitive parents, baseball and a child like this does not mix, at all.  Even after the horrifying, yes it was horrifying for all of us,  1st experience of baseball, we decided to take another stab at it.  Difference is now he “wants” to play.  Alleluia! But still, we’ll see.

Now I am a very “committed” person, in that when I say I am going to do something I do it.  There is a character issue, I believe, for not following through.  Now of course there are exceptions, but most feel any excuse, or non excuse cuts it.  Trust me I have been on the receiving end of this many times, and most excuses, well, were less than worthy.  But hey, I made be totally committed to a fault, and may set too high of an expectation for others, who knows.  But why am I discussing this?  Mostly because I have been told, that in the league my son plays in, we are expected to drop everything (mind you he is only 5 and 1/2)  for practices and games.  I have a little problem with that, because we are “committed” to some other things as well.  Now, so far, it has not been an issue, but I was told it would become one in the future “if we did not make baseball a priority”.  Both my husband and I are on the same page with this issue so we have decided to make all decisions based on……… you guessed it, our priorities!  And baseball seems to be a little lower on the list at this moment.  Have you ever heard the phrase “God honors commitment?”  I believe that wholeheartedly mainly because I have seen him work (example to come).

When was the last time you made a list of priorities?  Now yours may not be the same as mine, but see my point.  Our priorities are as follows:

  1. God
  2. Husband/wife
  3. Kids/family
  4. Finances
  5. Friends

And it goes on from there.  But if you have problems making decisions about what to do in a certain situation, as we have in the past, you can always go back to this/your list.  What I mean is, our son had baseball practice (could go under kids or lower) on Wed night, but we also had AWANA (God) that night.  our decision was easy, our son was going to AWANA, because that is our priority.  As far as God honoring our commitment, well, practice ended up getting cancelled anyway!   We also received the baseball schedule for games, I was told we may have games at 1 on Sundays, where as I said, we will get there after church.  I was told most people get there 45 min before games, again, sorry, but what are our priorities?  Guess what, since our family already had our priorities in order, the decision was made.  And I believe God honored that by having all his games later in the day.  We are also, as parents, willing to take whatever time and energy is needed to work with our son, outside of practice, you want to know why?  Because we are committed.

So I guess this article could be considered part of the subject of getting rid of debt, because God does honor commitment, and if you are willing to commit to debt reduction to honor Him, he will show you the path to get it done!

PS- we have not had any issues with our baseball league, my husband and son are loving it, it was just a perfect example for this post at this time.

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Seek and you will find

Picked up my check from the consignment sale today, not bad for the time spent preparing.  Unfortunately I think most consignments near me are completed for the year, so hmm, what to do with what I didn’t sell?  I think I see a garage sale in my near future (hint, hint), or maybe taking pictures and posting it on Craigslist.

Speaking of Craigslist, I have been on it also looking at part-time gigs, in search of something I can do from home, with kids.  I like to write, and I am a stickler for grammar and punctuation, (if you see mistakes in my blog, it’s because it was 11 at night when I typed it), so there are some jobs for checking websites and other published media.  I also saw a “post a new restaurant, business, and promote through Facebook” $3 every time you post.   Sign up was free, and we’ll see how that goes.  Now I wouldn’t recommend doing anything that “costs” you money, (more about this another time).

Another way to make some coin, is to refer others to certain sites, and if someone you sent buys what their selling, they send you a referral bonus.  I have found quite a few places that do referral bonuses in my quest for a provider of a website for my church.  If you can post to Facebook, Twitter, your own blog, your signature on your email, it’s an easy way to market, without leaving your computer.  I am also in a quest to start a business that puts stay at home moms to work, in their true spare time, doing some data entry and such, you will be the 1st to know if it works out, message me below if you are interested in knowing more!

My mom loves to make jewelery, like hundreds of necklaces, bracelets and earring sets.  (message me if you want to buy some, lol)  What she doesn’t like to do is sell it, ok maybe she just doesn’t want to!  So that is where I come in.  I have signed up to be in a couple of festivals in my local area to sell the jewelery.  So far, from doing a jewelery party and selling at moms group, I made a few hundred dollars.   Do you know someone, or are you someone who can make something and sell it?

So far most of the opportunities I  found have been  through serving others, listening for the “knock”, and just living, out side of my home.  If I do know one thing, nothing gets done by sitting on your couch!  (ok maybe a craft or two)  Seek and you will find, sorry not sit and you will find.

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It’s not rocket science, it’s perspective.

In just getting out there, serving others, truly enjoying myself,  I had a few opportunities come about to help create a little income for me.  Just to begin, I am on craigslist (www.craigslist.org) a lot!  Most everything we have I found there, our kitchen table, kids toys, cars, baseball stuff, etc.  Well it turns out that is a great place to sell stuff (I am sure y’all new that), most of the time I sell things at the same price I bought them for.  So in order to get some quick money, I began to sell everything on craigslist… now I am not saying sell your couch and sit on the floor, but look around, in your garage and attic, you will be surprised what you can get rid of with a little time spent posting and arranging pick up.  Now have you ever thought of selling someone’s stuff that you know who may be too busy to do it themselves?   For a 20-50% commission?  I have had some doors open up to me in this way as well.  Just think about it… an item you sell for $200 can bring you in $40-$100.  You don’t have to get a babysitter, it doesn’t take a lot of time, and it’s quick money.  I just sold an old copier (not working very well), on craigslist, for $240 for my church!  Every little bit counts, but it’s listening for a need that brings opportunity, the church was going to throw it away! And I was there “serving” on cleaning day.

Next was consignment sales….  I always thought, boy that’s a lot of work, for not a lot of money…  but I had 4 years of boys clothes, and a ton of baby stuff, “just in case”.  My husband then said “absolutely not!”  So I went on a selling spree, with the time I spent, I made about $30 an hour… pretty good for not leaving the house, and even better because another chunk of debt is gone!  And if God decides to bless us with more kids, I will just go to a consignment sale and shop 🙂  Now there is a computer program that you can tag your stuff once and sell at multiple sales, hmm I wonder if they need someone to market their services to other churches? (again an idea to possibly make some money, don’t steal it, I am going to check into it, lol.)  So I was able to sell in 2 sales and not change any tags, and I made some money to take away debt.

I know of a family that both parents are working.  They get home late, and don’t want to cook (don’t blame them), so they order carry out a lot.  This is causing some health situations.  So what if I offered, to do what I do anyway (cook dinner), and make it for them too, for 4 nights a week, for $15-$20 a night, and they buy the groceries.   Or for a little bit more I will buy the groceries for them.  See it’s a win/win, I haven’t asked yet, but just through conversations I see a need, and find a way to fill it.  As one person said, it’s not rocket science, it’s perspective… sometimes we just need a different one.

Here are just a few ideas to get your wheels turning… What have you come up with?

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In asking questions, I almost become obsessed with finding answers, (just ask my husband, he uses the word crazy).  But at the time of needing answers, all that came to my head was “serve others”.  Now I know this is in the GREAT book, The Bible, but what does serving others have to do with making money?  Getting out of debt? And reaching my goal. (yes it’s my husband’s too but I am the one obsessing over it).  But as we all know, God may have some different plans for us.  I believe he was leading me to serve others for a few reasons.

  1. To stop looking inward, appreciate what I have, to care about and help others, and become less selfish.
  2. In doing number one, the Lord would give me ways to take care of my goal, because ultimately, as a Christian, I am called to do everything for His Glory and His Kingdom, including get out of debt, it’s not about me.
  3. To love and serve others (outside of our family), is fulfilling in itself.  Especially those who are hard to love.  The Lord blesses us when we do what He call us to.
  4. To expand my capacity in order to have an open mind and heart when He would show me the opportunities to accomplish My/His goals.
  5. To keep me in His Word, (I facilitate a bible study and go to one also), it’s amazing the answers the Holy Spirit shows you from the Bible.

In serving others, even with kids, no time, and unschooling, I found more answers to my questions than I could have ever thought up on my own…

 

 

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Now what?

Finally we had a plan, a little bit of resources (emergency fund), and the Lord on our side.  Issue being, my husband is in sales, which means some months are better than others.  We were able to pay our bills, just about, but only minimum payments on our debt.  I had read Dave Ramsey’s book, which is where emergency fund aha moment came from, but I am not willing to get a job (nor does my husband want me to have one), which is what Ramsey recommends.   I am not a coupon cutter, nothing wrong with that, you probably could get out of debt with what you save, but this is about making money not saving it.  I also only shop the outer aisles of the grocery, not many coupons going on there.   What I did begin to do is change my thinking.   I just started to ask different questions to myself.  Instead of saying “I can’t get a job”… “I have 3 little kids that limit me and how do I do something to make money when I have them.”… “the economy is horrible”… “I don’t have time”.  Instead I began to ask “what are my talents?”…”what do I like to do?”…”how much time do I actually have, that I may be wasting (for me it is watching tv, even though we don’t have cable, hint hint)”…”what can I sell, right now, in my house, that is sitting collecting dust?”…  “what can I do with the kids, that may teach them something along the way?”… “any invention ideas?”… “what about a garage sale?”… Are you catching my drift?  Our minds are amazing God given machines, that when you start to input the right questions it goes to work to find the answers!  Ponder these questions, come up with some more, start to change your thinking, and pray for God to guide you!  I would love to hear what you come up with, while I share what I have.

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One thing right and everything else seemed to go wrong…

When we decided to begin on this “get out of debt” mission, we did one thing right, we prayed for Gods guidance.  Finally, after trying to do it on our own, VERY unsuccessfully, for years, it was time to hand over the reigns to the true Master In Control.  Not only did that reduce a whole bunch of stress, but He also opened many doors, and closed some as well.

One of the 1st things we learned is the devil didn’t like our decision to get out of debt, and hand it over to God.  Remember, he likes slaves, so when he realized we were letting go, he had a plan himself.  Lets begin with cars breaking down, expenses going up, and compensation change at my husbands work (not the “add to our bank account” way either).  It seemed that every step forward was met with 10 steps back.  I couldn’t figure out why?  Then I read a book, where God  revealed  and pointed out a very obvious step we were missing (ok maybe smacked me upside the head with it).  When you are trying to get out of debt, don’t use the credit cards anymore…. hmm great point, but when you have no money, things are breaking down, what do you do?  1st thing is a $1,000 emergency fund.  (I am sure ya’ll already know this) When I first read that I was like “shouldn’t that money go to pay down debt?”.  Wrong!  If something happens to a vehicle, kids needs to go to the doctor, the fridge breaks, I was in the habit of putting $ back on a credit card.  With an emergency fund, we are “borrowing” from ourselves, no interest, and not going further backwards.  We just make sure it is a “have to have” before we borrow from it  (oops our TV died, doesn’t cut it).  It seemed like we were standing still for a bit, while we put the money we “borrowed” back, but at least we weren’t going backwards any longer.  But what a security blanket (me, as a woman needs that).    So all the Glory goes to God for His true compassion and guidance, especially when I asked!

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