What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

On Gold

The morning's that I wake up with Matt have been few and far between. Which is bizarre because when I DO, I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated. Strange how that works. My laziness always seems to get the better of me.

This morning, though, I did and the dawn lured me out into the brisk air for a walk before the children woke up. It was nice, huffing and puffing in the fresh and calm of dawn. I left the house when it looked like this.


And by the time I was done, it looked like this....



How refreshing! Beautiful! And it was a good time to *think*. It was nice having some time for reflection before the kids woke up.

This week, after reclaiming my kitchen desk chair (after moving Andrew's boosterseat) I reclaimed my kitchen desk from the junk pile that had ensnared it. Since then, I have been working at it non-stop-doing all sorts of things I have been MEANING to do for quite a while! One of which was to work out a budget for our family.

I have worked it out that, if we are wise and frugal, each year we should be able to save a surprisingly large sum to put toward our dreams of house and land. Makes me think-where did all our money go this past year?!? I still need to work on being more money conscious and even more frugal. I have a ways to go.

But-as with every delicate balance, I have made great strides too. I am happy to report, that after working at it since we have been married, I just mailed off the LAST of Matt's college debt payments. His schooling bills are now officially done with. Gone forever. Paid for in FULL. And GOOD RIDDANCE.

I have also nearly gotten our credit down to a zero balance. Two more payments and that will be done with too. We have always been very wise with our credit handlings-always paying off our balance at the end of the month. But with the move, we had accumulated a bit.

There is great good that is happening, even despite my continued shortcomings. I am proud of our accomplishments thus far. And even happier that we can put that money toward the future.

And while we are still on the topic of money, I must tell you about my dream camera. Not surprisingly, a several hundred dollar camera is just not feasible for us right now-no matter what. I have said that before, it is nothing new. But it has gotten me VERY motivated to start saving money to put toward it.

Sometimes I feel guilty for wanting such an expensive thing for my very own but I remind myself that God does not tell us as Christians that we cannot have nice things. He DOES tell us that we must be wise in our decision-making, we must WORK for the things we have and be owing to no one, and that we should appreciate that which we do have.

So-I have begun looking for ways to set aside special 'camera money'. I already save all of our silver change and have accumulated about $100.00 of that. I am having a yard sale the first weekend in June and all the money earned at the yard sale will go into my 'camera fund'. Finally, every time I think of buying fast food, I am going to put that money into a jar too. I think I will be surprised how quickly that jar will add up. I will, no doubt, put any future craft show profits in the pot as well. I hope that, with work, I can hold a Rebel beauty in my own two hands by the end of the year.

In the meantime~I comfort myself in knowing that when I get my Canon Rebel, I will appreciate it that much more.

That is what the golden sun had me contemplating on today. Our shortcoming in finance, our SUCCESSES and our goals.

I leave you with this picture of my Mattie. Fast asleep in the car as he so graciously gave in to my silly whims. He works so hard for us.


6 comments:

Christine said...

Way to go, Rebecca! There is truly nothing more gratifying than getting out of any debt. To me, it is far more gratifying than buying something new! Blessings to you!

Lori said...

I hope you don't mind my stopping by your site again.
I came by a week or so ago when Kelli had show and tell.
Feel free to come back to my site again anytime.

Those are all great ways to save up some money.

I need to have a garage sale myself and clear out clothes that the kids have grown out of and toys they have outgrown.

Those first two photos are beautiful.

Kelli said...

Congratulations on paying off the school debt, Rebecca!!! It sounds like you have a great plan for saving up for your dream camera. I'll bet you'll be at your goal in no time!!
Kelli

Full of Grace said...

Way to go Rebecca and Matt! It always feels like a burden is lifted off our shoulders when some of the financial burdens are taken care of!

I love your early am/ sunrise shots- they are so beautiful, and one more reason why I wish I lived in the country!!!

Abigail said...

I love those photos, and congrats on ridding yourselves of college debt!!!! That'll be the day... :)

Keep on pinching your pennies for that camera; it'll be worth the wait!

I have occasional plans to save the money I make at Fabs for a fancy camera, but I always end up spending it on stupid things like toilet paper or at the laundromat instead. Maybe your quest to fancy-camera land will inspire me (though if I did save up enough, I might break it with clumsiness, and that would be too sad to bear.)

Rebecca said...

I had a 'camera fund' once before, when we first got married-and I used the money to buy a washing machine.

It was a bit sad-but that was one of those times when practicality ruled over desire. One of the few good choices I've made in life.

It was more necessary, even though I couldn't claim to use it any MORE than a camera!