Well, after my last post on budgeting with passion I was invited that very night to a meeting with a few friends at Starbucks. The topic of discussion was "moms on a budget." A friend from out of town was there who I greatly respect as an amazing homeschool mother of 4 children. She shared with us about how her family of 6 lives on $1500/month including a $400/month food budget. And they eat really healthy homemade meals based on my personal favorite cookbook (also could be a textbook!), Nourishing Traditions.
After feeling crippled by my own greatly reduced food budget, I was quite inspired by what she's been able to accomplish on such a small amount of money. It's one thing to feed a family on Top Ramen and Mac 'n Cheese with practically no living foods in the mix, but another thing entirely to meet the goals of nourishing a family by preparing real foods organically, traditionally and seasonally. It's just not cheap, but there are ways to cut corners and find deals if the planning is done right.
What I found most interesting is that this amazing family has been able to accomplish so much with so little because they made decisions which have enabled them to live out their dreams and passions. They travel the world a few months out of every year with all four of their children to support missionaries in Africa and other parts of the globe. To do that, they've made great sacrifices which, I'm sure they would say, have brought challenges along with the immense satisfaction that comes with really doing what you know you're called to do. The convenience of taking the family out to eat at restaurants is just one of the opportunity costs of living this life they've chosen. And that is what budgeting and living life out of passion looks like. What can I live without in order to re-direct funds towards making my dreams a reality?
My friend made the same remorseful comment I have made myself: "Oh, just think of the money I could have saved if I had started living this way a long time ago!" Ha! Well, we live and learn and cut our losses along the way. The important thing is that we know NOW what it takes to be good stewards of what we've been blessed with. Feeling guilty about past ignorance isn't going to help anyone anyway, right?
Practically, there are simple things that can be done to save money in areas we might not have considered before. My friend, for example, makes all of her own cleaners and soaps for pennies. Laundry and dishwasher detergent, liquid soap, household cleaners, all of it. I've done some of this before, but I'm excited to branch out and really go for it myself. While I still really LOVE going out to eat, it is definitely something we have almost entirely given up. I must say that living outside of the city limits makes that discipline just a little easier as those conveniences are just a bit more inconvenient due to the drive. Country living wins again!
So I think that will do it for today. I have another inspiring friend I want to talk about in my next blog entry, so stay tuned!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Budgeting with Passion: Part 1
This blog entry is a prelude to what will become series of entries on the subject of budgeting with our life passions in mind.
I don't know about you, but 2012 has so far been the year of throwing all of the proverbial cards in the air and starting over. It's the year of re-inventing the way things have always been, old habits, dreams, goals, the whole shebang. While looking at all the facets of my life and cleaning house, some things are re-arranged and assigned a different order in the hierarchy of priorities. Old forgotten dreams are dusted off and added back into the mix. The excess is trimmed and cut off. It feels like being put back on the potter's wheel and formed into a new shape.
This is such a broad and fresh subject for me, I can't possibly cover it all in one blog entry. So I'll start with what I've been working on today: budgeting. But before I get into the nitty gritty of that, I have to give some background info that will lead into where we're at today.
I'm one of those nerdy types who loves looking at all the numbers in detail and making them work for us. Of course it's a lot more fun when there's an abundance to play with, but that is not often the reality. Right now Peter works about 2 days a week doing business management. He also pulls in some small-ish residuals from past entrepreneurial endeavors. And that's it. It's tight, but not impossible. I'm glad he's able to work from home on in his own time schedule, giving him the freedom to process through all that he needs to process in this season.
While living in Hawaii we sold a business that allowed us to become debt-free (hallelujah!). Then we were able to buy some things we needed (like a dining room table) and some other things we just wanted (like a kayak and camping gear and my oh-so-lovely wedding ring). We put the rest in savings and were in a position to coast comfortably for a while. It was then we were faced with the question: What do we do with our life when time and money are not holding us back? Did I mention we were living in Hawaii? Ha! Time. Money. Hawaii. Family. Community. Bliss. Right?
This is where our story can get really long, so I'll keep it simple. Peter, true to form, gave it all up to the Lord. Together we went on a 21-day fast to seek God's path for us in this dramatically new season of freedom. And you know what happened? On the last day of our fast, Peter received an unsolicited phone call that opened the doors for him to record his first album. This was a dream he had been storing up on the shelf since the early- to mid-90's when he originally wrote most of his songs. He had an interested producer and the timing with the rest of the band, now spread literally around the world, all came together for recording both in Redding and Kansas City. So that was it. Peter went downstairs to our garage every morning at 9 a.m. as if he was going to work and pursued the presence of God. He worked on his songs. And that was it. (Oh, there was some surfing and camping and other fun stuff, too, of course.)
Fast forward to October 2011. We're in Redding (where's the beach, again?). We still have some money in the bank, enough to get us through another 8-9 months of comfortable living. We're pretty well-thrashed from life's unexpected and shattering turns. Our lease is about to expire. Peter weighs what we should do with our last bit of savings and BOOM we're signing docs on our first home before we knew what had happened. And POOF there went our money. Ha! Of course we think we're sitting on a pretty great investment with this house of ours and we just love it, so we have no regrets. But now the tables have turned and we have a new question: How do we pursue our passions with limited cash-flow?
That's where I'm at right now. I'd love to hear how other people answer this question and I'll continue our story very soon...
I don't know about you, but 2012 has so far been the year of throwing all of the proverbial cards in the air and starting over. It's the year of re-inventing the way things have always been, old habits, dreams, goals, the whole shebang. While looking at all the facets of my life and cleaning house, some things are re-arranged and assigned a different order in the hierarchy of priorities. Old forgotten dreams are dusted off and added back into the mix. The excess is trimmed and cut off. It feels like being put back on the potter's wheel and formed into a new shape.
This is such a broad and fresh subject for me, I can't possibly cover it all in one blog entry. So I'll start with what I've been working on today: budgeting. But before I get into the nitty gritty of that, I have to give some background info that will lead into where we're at today.
I'm one of those nerdy types who loves looking at all the numbers in detail and making them work for us. Of course it's a lot more fun when there's an abundance to play with, but that is not often the reality. Right now Peter works about 2 days a week doing business management. He also pulls in some small-ish residuals from past entrepreneurial endeavors. And that's it. It's tight, but not impossible. I'm glad he's able to work from home on in his own time schedule, giving him the freedom to process through all that he needs to process in this season.
While living in Hawaii we sold a business that allowed us to become debt-free (hallelujah!). Then we were able to buy some things we needed (like a dining room table) and some other things we just wanted (like a kayak and camping gear and my oh-so-lovely wedding ring). We put the rest in savings and were in a position to coast comfortably for a while. It was then we were faced with the question: What do we do with our life when time and money are not holding us back? Did I mention we were living in Hawaii? Ha! Time. Money. Hawaii. Family. Community. Bliss. Right?
This is where our story can get really long, so I'll keep it simple. Peter, true to form, gave it all up to the Lord. Together we went on a 21-day fast to seek God's path for us in this dramatically new season of freedom. And you know what happened? On the last day of our fast, Peter received an unsolicited phone call that opened the doors for him to record his first album. This was a dream he had been storing up on the shelf since the early- to mid-90's when he originally wrote most of his songs. He had an interested producer and the timing with the rest of the band, now spread literally around the world, all came together for recording both in Redding and Kansas City. So that was it. Peter went downstairs to our garage every morning at 9 a.m. as if he was going to work and pursued the presence of God. He worked on his songs. And that was it. (Oh, there was some surfing and camping and other fun stuff, too, of course.)
Fast forward to October 2011. We're in Redding (where's the beach, again?). We still have some money in the bank, enough to get us through another 8-9 months of comfortable living. We're pretty well-thrashed from life's unexpected and shattering turns. Our lease is about to expire. Peter weighs what we should do with our last bit of savings and BOOM we're signing docs on our first home before we knew what had happened. And POOF there went our money. Ha! Of course we think we're sitting on a pretty great investment with this house of ours and we just love it, so we have no regrets. But now the tables have turned and we have a new question: How do we pursue our passions with limited cash-flow?
That's where I'm at right now. I'd love to hear how other people answer this question and I'll continue our story very soon...
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