I hate to admit it, but I find myself pinching pennies event when it comes to the weekly collection at Church. I am by no means poor, but I am at least towards the bottom of the "middle class". I grew up pinching pennies for so long, being from a single parent household, that the thought of buying anything but generic/store brand items makes me feel like I am breaking the bank. So how, after doing everything to save every bit of money that I can, can I find myself able to break from that?
Well, I realized when I was shopping the other day, that if I look at the true value of what I am purchasing, I can warrant spending a little extra. For example, I believe it was Hunts Tomato Sauce, had a label on it that mentioned I could put in a code and they would donate money to hungry children. Well, the sauce was probably only about $0.50 more than what I would normally pay, but the payoff of helping those who don't even have the luxury of getting their food without assistance, was so much bigger. I also noticed all of the cereals and other items with the school box tops. Well, having a toddler at home, and a child-like husband (who is the one who always picks out the sugariest cereal he can find), means I go through a lot of cereal. This means, a lot of boxtops I can help donate to a local school (and then my daughters school when she finally goes, though hopefully that won't come too fast).
So now, instead of thinking about how much I can save on what I buy, I try to see first how much I can do with what I buy.
Taking this step has helped me loosen my purse strings quite a bit. Me and my husband have our own personal accounts, along with a joining account, and I try to pre-date as much of my bills from my personal account, then leave just enough in there to cover gas and emergencies, before transferring all that remains into the joint account. Well, I get paid bi-weekly, and I realized I can do a lot by just taking $80.00 if each paycheck and dividing it up over the two weeks before the next, before I find out how much I can put into savings. This gives me $40.00 each week, $20.00 of which now goes to the regular Church collection, then $20.00 to split between the second collection (this usually goes to maintenance of the church, projects, sister Churches etc.) and charity.
I have actually found myself having fun just looking at the various charities that I can send that extra $10.00 each week to. There are so many out there that I don't want to donate to just one. I also am finding different projects that charities are hosting/donating to, so that I can see if I can use my other talents (like my love of crocheting) to assist with.
I many not be rolling in the money, but this does not mean that I should hoard all of the money I do have for myself. My husband sometimes may tell me otherwise, but that is the luxury of having my separate account, I can do whatever I want with that money from my paycheck. That is part of the thing to, I don't want to just do what I want, but what is right. I sometimes want to buy that wonderful dress I saw at the store, but how many times will I wear it? How many dresses do I have in my closest I don't wear as it is? Do I really need a 7th or 10th pair of jeans when someone else may not have any?
I always thought that taking my friends hand me downs was great, it meant I didn't have to spend any money of the clothes I had. Then I realized, it was giving me clothes I honestly didn't even need. Now I need to take my thrifty, frugal ways, and try to make them work for others and not myself. I am not the only one who matters in this world, and my family is not the only family that matters. We all matter, and we need to remember that when we have more than we truly need to survive and thrive.
If there is anyone else out there who is reading this, or any of my future posts, and is either struggling with their faith and needs someone to share their fears and doubts with, or anyone who just wants to share words of encouragement and faith so that everyone can hear, please don't hesitate to leave a note on this blog. This is not just for me, but for anyone who needs to know that they are truly not alone out there and someone else may be going through the same things that they are now, or have gone through the same things in the past.
Thank you all of listening and Gold Bless!
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