Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.

The past few months have taken a toll on our finances lately. We put another $1000 worth of repairs in our car last month, school started for Ben which meant tuition and books. Tuition was quite a bit more than I was expecting and last month we went on a camping trip. I realize the trip was not a necessity, but for my sanity it was. Anyways, so we have been pinching pennies lately trying to get our savings back up and since we found out yesterday that James needs hand surgery on both hands, we will probably need those extra pennies. So, I have once again adopted the motto "Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, Or do without." I love that phrase. I always think of it when I am shopping or dreaming about beautiful furniture for our home. It makes me realize how much of that stuff is simply not needed. I have spent quite a bit less on our grocery bill lately, but I have to say that we have still been having quite good meals. Our garden put forth way more food than we thought it would. It was great for many a salad or sandwiches or other yummy meals. It was crazy to see how much just a few vegetables could add to our meals. Also I have begun making bread again. I forgot how much I love to make bread. I know this sounds weird but I love the feel of the bread dough after kneading it for a while and it is just that perfect smooth soft feel I am looking for. I also discovered a use for all of Ben's worn out old jeans. Make little jeans out of the big jeans for my little boys. It is really quite simple. You use the same side jeans and hem so it keeps that "jean" look and then just sew the inside seams and waist and badda bing, a pair of jeans for James. They aren't the best looking but they will do for playing around the house. I remember when we were saving for the down payment on our house. We were living pretty similar to how we are now and I made James' entire summer wardrobe. I really enjoyed making those shorts. Plaid shorts were just coming back in style so he actually looked pretty darn cute. He still wears them and even after 2 summers they look okay. It is amazing how much you can save and use when you really try. It is actually kind of fun to get creative and seen what different things you can do to save money. I will say this though. We most definitely cannot take all the credit for any money we have been able to save up over the years. We have always found that when we are trying our hardest to save and paying our tithing and a generous fast offering, money just seems to come our way some how. When we had Harrison we were saving for a house and knowing that a baby was on the way we didn't know how much we would be able to save. Well we decided to double our fast offering. Our bishop had told us that when you pay fast offerings you would definitely see financial blessings. So we gave it a try. I seriously cannot count the blessings that came our way that year. Here are a few of them, My student loan for 10K was forgiven (long story there), Ben got several contracting jobs, and was able to earn extra $$. After we turned in our taxes we got a note from the IRS saying they owed us more money (no complaints there), Harrison was premature and had to be in the NICU for a while, & somehow we were able to pay all those bills and still have the down payment we needed. And during all this time we were plenty comfortable with food, clothes and whatever else we needed. So this is what I am saying, when you need an extra buck, pay more fast offerings and never skip your tithing no matter what. We have seen that money a thousand times over, you can't count the blessings you get in return. What a great blessing tithes and offerings really are.