Here are three posts I read in the last day that I really enjoyed and wanted to pass along:
::How a Nagging Thought Left Me $15 Richer — “Just because it’s an amazing deal…doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for me.” Excellent words of advice from JessieLeigh.
::Turning Failure to Your Advantage — Michael Hyattshares five components for turning failure to your advantage. I loved his last paragraph: “…failure is inevitable if you are going to tackle significant goals. You have to learn to make it work for you. In doing so, you are planting the seeds of your eventual success.”
::There’s Beauty in Your Ugly Stroller — “Managing our money well to gift our family a debt-free life is a choice that has us frequently asking ‘How ugly is it?’. It’s a choice that encourages us to swallow our pride, look past the ugly, and see the beauty.”Amy’s post was spot-on.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” —Matthew 6:19,20
I loved the post about ugly furniture. I am in the military and I’ve moved frequently over the past 10 years. I frequently buy many used items on craigslist, get hand me downs, or just keep the stuff we have! When we got married, we merged from 2 places to 1 small 700 square foot apartment. We are so thankful because our small places is easier to clean, easier to maintain, and the furniture, while not the most expensive is comfy and adequate. We even ended up giving a lot of our stuff away/selling it because of no need for it! Plenty of people do that on various sites: freecycle, craigslist, etc,! Thank you for the encouraging posts. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the materialistic nature of the world and feel like “we have to have it!”. I so appreciate your website Crystal, and the focus on not what we have here, but we are investing for the future!
I love your hints on saving money and your recommendations and encouragement. They are especially valuable for those with strict budget restrictions. They also give us ideas on how we can help others less fortunate by spending our time to find good deals we can then donate to charities. However, there is another reason to read your post. This hit home when you posted the three quotes of encouragement from others, especially the ones on not spending $15 and the “ugly stroller”. For me, protecting the environment is also important….keeping things out of the landfill, fighting the consumerism in the U.S. (the average household in China spends roughly 30% of earnings, in the US we spend 70%), reusing, renewing, or repurposing items to make them “new” again, and freecycling. Unfortunately, many of the items for which coupons are available are often “junk food” and those who purchase mostly those items are also not treating their families with their health in mind.
Buy basics, cook and bake at home, “don’t buy anything your grandmother would not have recognized”, and so forth. An occasional treat is OK, but I tell my kids….it was “free” or “I got a bargain….but don’t expect it again”. I would like to see more postings on ways to make our foods healthier, and also, more ways to protect our precious environment. For example, many “ready made” foods have too much fat and sodium, but if you use them for basic flavoring and then add more healthful fillers such as brown rice, fresh or frozen plain vegetables, and lo-fat products, that would be preferable.
Thanks so much for passing along the encouragment. How wonderful it is to know there are others thinking, feeling, struggling, and praying about similiar issues. Appreciate the “up” moments! Thanks!
JessieLeigh – Don’t worry about it, we will keep trying. It isn’t the first time these followers have crashed a website with our interest. 🙂
I too loved the “ugly” post. I feel the same way…now if only I could get my hubby on board to not care what others though (and to put aside how WE sometimes feel) 🙂
The ugly stroller looks fine to me. The only time baby equipment really deserves to be judged is if it’s expired or unsafe. Expired car seats, like all the old shield ones, make me cringe.
I’m so sorry my blog went down! 🙁 I’m working to try to figure it all out. Thanks so much for including me in this fabulous list, Crystal!
I think so too! I’ve been trying to read it for awhile now! 🙂
Thanks for the mention! I took that photo and wrote the post (in my head – ha!) after a trip to Kohl’s last week… wondering if anyone was staring at my stroller, and deciding I didn’t care. 😉
I loved the “Ugly” post! Our house is ugly, our furniture is ugly, our car is kind of ugly (well, my husband likes it lol). I like ugly stuff; most other people don’t, so I’m able to get the ugly stuff for cheap or free while they’re paying top dollar for the high end, attractive stuff. I just have a place in my heart for ugly things 😉
This was a nice post, and the last one really hit home. I have a toddler and an infant, luckily both boys. We went from being a 3person 2 income family to being a 4person 1 income family, and it has been rough. Sometimes, you do just have to look past the ugly. I wish I didn’t have to reuse some of our baby things, but I am thankful I have those things to reuse!!!
Thank you for posting such uplifting quotes and articles!! I love this site 🙂
I think we crashed the server for the first link 🙂
I think so too. I’ll have to try later 🙁