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Don’t Fight Over Finances

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

fight-over-financesIs money tight at your house? Does it cause stress in your marriage? Are you the opposite of your spouse as far as spending? All of these things were true for me. God transformed my mind to have supernatural peace about finances, even though we were still spiraling deeper and deeper into debt.

I came to a point in my marriage when I was yelling at my husband for how he spent money. I was so stressed over money that I felt like I was drowning. My husband wanted to go out on a date, but we didn’t have the money, so I couldn’t enjoy it.

I was bitter against my husband for how he spent money, even though I had no idea that I was bitter. If your marriage is strained, you might be bitter and not know it. Get into the silence and ask God if you’re bitter. Then be quiet, and you’ll know the answer. Ask God to help you get rid of the bitterness if it’s there. Only God can supernaturally take it away.

To be honest with you, money is still tight at our house. But all the stress is gone. I have complete peace. I don’t even care if I end up in a cardboard box on the street with my family, because I trust God, and my marriage is sweet. I trust my husband. He can buy anything he wants, and I feel sweet and happy and don’t judge him. How can this be? Yes, we’re out of credit card debt, but we were in deep credit card debt for 10 years, and I had this supernatural peace way before we were out of debt.

In other words, if you can actually manage to hand this whole finances thing over to God for real, even in the middle of your horrible finances, your marriage can be sweet, and you don’t have to fight, even if you’re still in debt.

I explain this way more in my audio, where I go into tons of detail, but please ask me questions, my sweet friends. I want so badly for you to have peace in the area of finances, and you can have that peace today.

I’m giving away three copies of my testimony “Don’t Fight Over Finances.” If you want to enter the drawing, leave a comment. Here is a description of what I’m giving away, which you could actually purchase if you don’t win the drawing: Don’t Fight Over Finances.  I will announce the winners (and e-mail them) on January 12, 2013.

Congratulations to the 3 winners of the giveaway, “Don’t Fight Over Finances”: Judi, Jane, and Brenda R. (I’m e-mailing each of you with the audio!)

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Posted in Creative Finances | 17 Comments »

Top Ten Ways to Get Out of Debt

Tuesday, January 1st, 2013

ways-to-get-out-of-debt

Here are the top 10 ways to get out of debt:

  1. Cancel your cell phone. You don’t need it. Your quality of life will improve, and you will be “present.” (Read How Technology Rules Us.)
  2. Cancel cable. If you spend less time watching TV, you will find things to do that will relax you and create joy and family bonding.
  3. Don’t eat out. Have easy meals that you can make for little to no effort. A speaker once asked the moms in the audience if they had ever served Cheerios for dinner, and a huge number of hands went up. I didn’t know I was allowed to serve Cheerios for dinner! But it’s better than going deeper into slavery (debt).
  4. Sell everything in your house that you aren’t using. If you were to pile all your stuff on your front lawn, the pile would be higher than your house. You have that much junk. Get rid of it and make some cash for paying off that debt.
  5. Buy used clothing. Brand new clothes are way more expensive, both for you and for your children. (Read Saving Money on Children’s Clothes.)
  6. Cut the hair of your family. I am a pathetic hair dresser, I don’t know how to cut hair, and I hate doing it. But I’ve saved over $1,000 by cutting the hair of my family. Buy the hair cutting scissors only, and buy them separately. You don’t need all the other junk in the kit.
  7. Buy groceries with cash. If you use cash, you will count the amount that you are spending as you put the items in the cart; you will spend way less and eat healthier. It’s been proven that you spend more when you pay with a credit card. (Read Saving Money on Groceries.)
  8. Cancel all of your credit cards except for one. Pay that one off every month. If you don’t have actual money for something, don’t buy it.
  9. Stop buying your coffee at Starbucks. Make your coffee at home.
  10. Pray that God will help you get out of debt. God is in control of the entire universe, and money sometimes comes from sources you would have never imagined. The truth is that in all of the points above, if you ask God to help you, He will. God has provided specific clothing needs, for example, and hunters have given us frozen meat to fill our freezer for free. God’s economy is outside the box and unconventional. Seek Him first, and all the rest will follow.

Here is a funny video about cutting up your credit cards:

Don’t forget to leave your comment: What are some ways that you have gotten out of debt or stayed out of debt?

Posted in Creative Finances | 33 Comments »

The Aftermath of a Movie

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

conversation-about-teenagers

My family usually doesn’t go to the movies unless it’s the dollar movies. Well, the last movie we saw as a family was “Brave.” It’s a cartoon about a woman who liked to shoot arrows and ride horses. She was rebellious against her parents because she didn’t want an arranged marriage, so much so that she accidentally turned her mother into a bear. The mother nearly died several times in the movie, and it was the daughter’s fault.

When the mother was lying (apparently) lifeless on the ground, my 7-year-old daughter burst into tears, turned to me in the dark theater, and said she was sorry. She apparently identified with the main character so much that she thought her rebellion had killed me, and she was sorry. Of course, the mother ended up not being dead after all, and they lived happily ever after.

When we walked out of the theater and into the bright sunshine, my family had a conversation about teenagers. My 12-year-old son said, “She was so rebellious toward her parents.” I explained to him that when he becomes a teenager, he will be overly emotional, and he will think that we as parents are against him. “Why would I think that?” he asked. “Hormones,” I replied.

All four of my children insisted that they would never be that rebellious. I said, “But it was legitimate that the girl in the movie shouldn’t have to marry a man she didn’t love. It seems like the parents weren’t listening to her. And that is how you will feel as teenagers. You will feel that we as parents don’t listen to you. But you need to understand that your dad and I will always listen to you. We can change our mind based on what you say. We are responsible before God for the decisions that we make for you. Because we have more life experience, we usually see things more clearly than you do. We want you to have the best life possible, and we will always try to do the right thing. But we sometimes make mistakes because we’re not perfect. All we can do is the best that we can.”

My kids said that they knew that we would always try to do the right thing and they trusted us. They insisted that they would never go through teenage rebellion. I said, “Just wait… When the time comes, remember this conversation.”

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Posted in Parenting | 3 Comments »

How to Make Marble Fudge

Monday, December 17th, 2012

how-to-make-marble-fudge

Marble fudge is delicious and simple to make! You swirl white chocolate and dark chocolate together for a perfectly blended flavor. If I had known how easy it was to make, I would have made it sooner.

How to Make Marble Fudge

In one saucepan, throw:

  • 3 cups of white chocolate chips
  • 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda

white-chocolate-melt

Throw these ingredients into another saucepan:

  • 12 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips
  • 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda

dark-chocolate-melt

You need two people, one to stir each pot. When both chocolate pots are melted (after about 5 minutes), take the pots off the stove and add to both pots :

  • 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Then add to the dark chocolate:

  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

marble-fudge

Now scoop out the white chocolate and dark chocolate in blobs, placing the melted chocolate on top of a 13 by 9 by 2 inch glass pan lined with non-stick foil. Grab a table knife and swirl the chocolate on the top of the fudge. Place it in the fridge for 3 hours. Then remove the foil and place on a cutting board.. Cut into squares. You now have delicious marble fudge to give to family and friends. Or you can eat it all yourself!

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Posted in Cooking and Baking, Fun Winter Activities | 15 Comments »

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