~ This month's topics: Becoming a Christian!, $$-Saving Ideas, Home Decorating and Losing Weight ~  The month of March has been a memorable one for several reasons! But before I get on to the ways we managed to keep striving for the simple life, I must share with you something very personal and dear to my heart. On March 22nd, my husband and I accepted Christ as our Saviour and have begun to feel a peace we’ve not ever felt since our marriage in 1990. I don’t want to offend any of you with different beliefs, but I must say that there is no better way to simplify your life than to learn to lean on Him during your daily struggles. Jim and I have become better people since we’ve begun to attend a new and growing church in our town. We have felt welcome there since day one and it’s a joy to have met such wonderful people! We are truly looking forward to learning more about Christ and to forming lifelong friendships with many of the church members and our pastor. As many of you know, I lost my website in March and struggled for a few weeks over whether or not to just shut it down completely. However, I just couldn’t do it! I felt that I had too much to share with other people, so I hunted the net for another free site and worked hard for about a week designing the site to get it up and running. I hope that you enjoy the new look and that you will come back often to visit. Although it doesn’t "simplify" my life to have to keep the website, it doesn’t take that much time and if I can reach one person and touch their life in some way, then the extra hours are well worth it! If you find any problems with the site (dead links, typos, etc) please email me and let me know so that I can fix it! We managed to make the final payment on our credit card and are relieved to have the debt gone! We were hoping to be debt-free (except for our mortgage and school loan) by next summer and it looks like we’ll be able to do it! Taking charge of our finances has really lessened our stress levels …learning to pay for things with cash is easier than I thought and it has made us more disciplined in our spending. One interesting thing did happen this month and it was a real test for our desire to simplify. Jim was contacted for a possible job in another city. We first had to decide whether we even wanted to pursue it and send in his resume to see if the company was interested in him. The salary was supposed to be several "grades" above his current salary (we had no idea what it could be). In discussing all the possibilities, we decided that we had too many things holding us to Morristown to bother stressing ourselves out for several weeks (or months?) over another job in a different town. The potential money gain was just not important to us! Jim and I truly feel that money doesn’t buy happiness and we just weren’t willing to sacrifice all we have at the moment for the almighty dollar! We are at peace with our decision! As for the ever-present desire to lose my extra weight, I’ve not managed to tackle that successfully since January. My husband truly thinks I look better than when I’m thin, but I just can’t accept the double chin (hehehe)! However, with the weather warming up I’m hoping to begin walking and bicycling on a daily basis. I know that once I begin the exercise and make it a daily habit, I’ll find it difficult to give it up when the weather cools down in the fall. Drinking water has become easier but I’ve fallen off the wagon again and have to begin again making it a part of my daily routine. I wanted to share with you some ways in which I save money. Some of these ideas won’t work for you, but they may work for someone you know! First, I shop for all of my non-food items at Walmart or Kmart and I try to make one trip a month to purchase these items. I take a list with me after inventorying the house for what we need (toilet paper, dishwashing soap, etc.) and then I know exactly what we need. I only buy the items on the list UNLESS it is something I use often and is on sale….then I stock up! I know that a lot of frugal living books recommend viewing the sale circulars in the paper on a weekly basis and stocking up on items that are at rock bottom prices, but this method just doesn’t work for me because it puts me in the stores too often and I end up spending more money than I should! Some things we don’t have are phone extras like call-waiting and we don’t have any cable service past the basic cable package (although my hubby is beginning to complain about that….might have to go back and add on extended cable after this 6-month trial period of basic cable only!). Jim and I use our debit cards (credit cards tied to our checking account) as much as possible. This keeps us from having lots of cash on hand. Having cash in my purse just begs me to spend it! The following idea may not be possible in your home, but it works for us! We’ve chosen NOT to have any pets. It is expensive to feed and take care of a pet and since allergies abound for ¾ of my family, it isn’t really an option anyway. One thing that I do have is Caller ID on my phone. Yes, it’s $7.50 a month, but it’s been well worth it! I can see who is calling and can save time during the day by not answering those pesky solicitation phone calls! I don’t have a problem with telling people ‘no’ but it’s better for me just to not get on the phone with them because I don’t like having to turn them down. I’m sure there are other ways in which spending some money actually saves you money (or time!) and I’ll post them as I think more about it. For me, it’s also nice to know who’s calling because then I don’t have to tear myself away from the kids if I don’t want to (on the other hand, if I need a break from the kids, I can decide to answer it and talk to a friend for a while …smile!) We are continuing the wallpapering inside our house and it is making our home so nice and cozy! I’ve been reading lots of home decorating books in the past few months and wanted to share with you several that I have really liked: Welcome Home by Emilie Barnes, The New Decorating Book by Better Homes & Gardens, Decorating Rich and Decorating For Comfort by Teri Seidman and Sherry Cohen. They all have lots of great ideas! Well, I guess I’ll close for now. I’m so looking forward to April and the warmer weather. I’m also looking forward to deepening my relationship with God and ask that if you have read any books that touched you in a special way, please email me and share that book with me. Or if you have a favorite spiritual or inspirational website, please share that too! Before I go, I’d like to remind you that if you would like to try out some new family activities for April, please visit the kitchen where I have typed up some ideas from Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions! Make it a simple month! WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
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