10 Ways I save money

1. Don't have Cable: This actually is a good time-saver too because hours wasted watching television, because there is limited television to begin with.
2. Don't go out to movies: With Red Box or Netflix instant downloads, we only need to wait a couple months and watch a movie for $1-$2 as a couple instead of $20.
3. Make my own tea: Instead of picking up a cup of tea at Starbucks for $2 a pop, I buy the 25-pack of the same tea for $3.
   
4. Use online bill pay: The money comes out and pays the bills on the same day: pay day. This prevents over drafting funds and the bank charges that go along with that.
   
5. Use cash: While cash can burn a hole in your pocket, using ONLY cash does prevent over-drafting the bank account and the charges that go with that. A couple months of using cash squashed any itch to spend the cash in my pocket because I knew that there was nothing left when that was gone. Plus, the change at the end of the day goes in the piggy bank!
6. Bring a sack lunch. Lunch on the run can mean spending $3-$10 if I am careful, and even if I only have a few meals out during the week, that is $20-$40 a week.
7. Unplug: Unplugging lamps, appliances, and electronics even when they were turned off brought our electric bill down by 15%.
   
8. Make a list: Before I go shopping for groceries, clothes, or anything. Then, I stick to the list. If I need one pair of jeans, then I write that down and it helps me not pick up a couple shirts and some cute sandals because they aren't on the list.
9. Don't buy bottled water: We love our Brita water filter, so we just fill our pitcher from the tap. Then, we use reusable water bottles and refill them as needed.
10. Skip the salon: pedicures, massages, waxing, haircuts...they all add up fast! I have opted for the Great Clips around the corner for hair cuts and save the pedicures for the summer months, but I'm going to try to do my own toenails this year.

Go Big or Go Home?

My husband and I love our home that is so often described of as "cozy," "cute," or a "cottage." It's our 1000 square feet tucked in a quiet neighborhood in the middle of Tucson. It definitely allows us the discipline of limiting our acquiring of "stuff" because, frankly, there is no room. It is quiet, relaxed, and right next to a great walking, running, cycling path on the mighty Rillito River (or as in Arizona, we know rivers as a big dusty ditch).

And then there is the option to buy a bigger house, over double the size of our house, smack dab in the middle of the Foothills, becoming more available to ministry. Needs a lot of updating, but it is geographically central to the direct ministry that I do, which means that there is a high likelihood that Ashley and I will never be in want of company.

So what's a girl to do?
Go BIG or go home?

Take the Long Way

I drive the same routes and roads over and over, I begin to notice signs to interesting sites. I mean, not interesting enough that I have made it to those sites before, but interesting enough to say to myself, "Huh...maybe I should check that out some

time." Of course, I never do and I just drive by the sign over and over again. Some of the Tucson signs I see are: "Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm," "Biosphere 2," and

"Tucson Botanical Garden Butterfly Magic."

It's time to take an extra 10-20 minutes out of my travel to see the sites.
Recently, I was heading to Pinetop with some friends, and lo and behold, we see the "Biosphere 2" sign, and one of my friends suggested we check it out. I wrestled with my rigid commitment to promptness, and turned off the main drag to the side road.

I wish I had tales of Biosphere 2 to dazzle you with, but the truth is we arrived as it was closing and guffawed at the $20 per/person entry fee. But we had a great photo opp and curiosity was suppressed.

But most of all, we laughed together.

We shared an adventure and we laughed.

Take the side road for three reasons:

1. Quench curiosity (De-clutter the brain from the list of future "to do's" by just doing it)
2. Not be a slave to the clock (realize that taking 10 minutes out of the day won't end the world)
3. Laugh

Rest, God did.

Genesis 2:2 "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."

Yes, we have heard that it is important to take a Sabbath because, after all, God did on the seventh day. Easy to say before the day of the Blackberry. It is so tempting to just glance at that one email, but that one glance steals my rest immediately. Why do I do it? If God rested, what do I think is so important to keep me from doing the same.

As I looked closer at this verse, I not only see how God rested, but how He worked contributing to the ability to rest. Here is what I saw:

1. "God finished"--It is so much easier to rest when a task is completed and not taunting us with "if you just gave me a few minutes, I'd be done." Even though we know it really means an hour or two.
   
   
2. "the work he had been doing"--There was focus on a specific task until it was complete. I tend to start a new task in the middle of another one, so that on my desk there are four or five incomplete tasks instead of one finished one.


3. "He rested"--Just those words make my shoulders relax and my heart rate slow.


4. "from all his work"--Everything is put away; there is no checking that one email, or looking up that one report. It is rest from all the work we have, putting it all down for the sake of rest.

I let technology steal my rest all the time. When I put it down, I am freed up to engage with the people, silence, laughter, or creation around me.

Rest is good for my health (spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional).

Rest is good for my marriage.

Rest is good for my relationships.

So let's rest!

Food for Though

These are some quotes I ran across this week that I enjoyed:

"There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less." G.K. Chesterton

"Everything we own owns us. It takes time to use it, dust it, paint it, maintain it, build space in a house for it, and work to pay for it." Richard Swanson

"My joy comes from clothing myself with the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. It is joy because it is so precious to God." Cynthia Heald

Enjoy!