Spending Less, Loving More - The September Saving & Giving Challenge

>> Saturday, August 29, 2015



I know it's been MONTHS since I posted here....and I'll be honest....the past few months have been a rollercoaster of ups & downs. I have not given up on my journey or my goals....but I'll be honest and admit that I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. As the holiday season quickly approaches once again, it's time to brush myself off, dig deeper and get myself back on track.

Recently I started reading "7:  An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker. 



If you've read it, you may know how incredibly life-changing it could be.  If you haven't, in a nutshell, 7 is the true story of how Jen and her family identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.  Their categories included food. clothes. spending. media. possessions. waste. and stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, and only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.”

It was amazing!  I highly recommend it!

After reading it, I felt so incredibly pulled, deep in my soul, to conduct my own version of "7".  So for the month of September, I'm doing a "Saving & Giving Challenge".



For the "Saving" part, I will:
*  Stick to the "want" vs. "need" plan
*  Refrain from shopping craft stores, bookstores, clothing stores
*  Shop the pantry and freezer.  I will be allowed to purchase fresh fruits & vegetables, milk, bread and other "perishable" items
*  Any sales from my Etsy store goes immediately into the savings account....as does any of My Marines extra pay


For the "Giving" part:
*  The main thing will be to declutter our home and donate everything.  Normally I would save hoard everything and then try to sell it all on online garage sale sites and save the money for Christmas.  This Christmas, I am challenging myself to cut down on the QUANTITY of gifts, in favor of QUALITY of gifts.  And that will mean trusting on God to provide if that is the right gift meant for my family.  And so by trusting more on God to provide, I'm giving away everything I would have held back to sell.
*  Go through our family's closets and if the items haven't been worn within the last 6 months, then it gets donated
*  Have the girls go through their toys and books
*  I will sort through my craft supplies and books and donate

My plan will be to do a weekly update here on how my progress is going.  I hope you'll continue to come back and see how it's going!  You can also check in on my Facebook page - Spending Less, Loving More - for more real time updates that may not get posted here.

I also invite you to join me in September and do your own spending and giving challenge.  Whatever that looks like for you, but challenge yourself, just a little bit.

Will you join me?

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