At this time of the year, with only about 10 shopping days left before Christmas...do you find yourself STRESSED? WORRIED? Financially strapped??? If you said YES...Then this post is for you.I have felt God nudging me to share with you some truths that I have come to learn over the last 4 years. I'm gonna tell you a little about my journey, how some things are easy to learn while others have to be learned the hard way...I'm gonna be honest with ya...I ain't gonna lie to you. It. Ain't. Pretty. (just keepin' it real) But it's all for the greater good (at least that is what I keep telling myself, lol)
It's a really long post (consider yourself warned). Sooo, if you need a good laugh...grab a cup a joe...settle in and start readin' ;-)
I share in my classes that when we actually sat down and prepared a budget for the first time..I didn't like it...I was sorta like one of those bad kids you see in Toys R Us after their mom just told them No, you can't have that toy...you know the one that kicks and screams and generally makes it known that their not happy! Well, that was me...I mean I wanted to be debt free...I really did...BUT I also didn't like feeling restricted or like I was be told what I could or could not buy. You know...the whole "if the envelope is empty that means no more spending" restriction...You've been there right? (please say yes)
It was really hard for me, but after some prayer time and some soul searching I realized that Dave was right...yes, Dave...you know, the great DR...Dave Ramsey. Yeah, he was right...if you always do what you've always done, then you will always get what you have always gotten...OUCH! Thanks ever so much DAVE! :-) So basically he meant if I continued to use credit cards to purchase the stuff we didn't need in the first place...then I would continue to get the bills in the mail asking me to pay for the stuff that we bought that we didn't need in the first place and while I was at it I could throw in a little interest too, just as a stupid tax? Yep, that's what he meant!
Soooo...we sat down and I made a conscious decision to try and do better with our money. We started planning things and buying things only when we had the money not just the available credit ('cause there is a big difference in a credit line and cash money...can I get a witness???)
We also put God first and started tithing BEFORE we paid the bills (man did that ever make a difference...but that's a whole nother post). Then we starting paying things off as quick as we could...we cut up the credit cards and tore up every offer that came in the mail. We shut off the cable, starting using coupons, sold our house and started renting...all the things that you should do when trying to get out of debt...BUT there was still one battle that we still seemed to fight. CHRISTMAS.
This was me (in a nutshell)...I always LOVED Christmas in December when I could go buy the gifts that I wanted to buy 'cause I had the credit cards to charge it...BUT then I dreaded, no...hated January when the bills would come for all that charging...yeah, January was a drag! BUT then February would come and hey, we could do our taxes and then...whoopie...we had some money again........NOT! That just meant that we had money to pay the credit card bills. That made me dread February!!! Can ya see the cycle here??? (Hey, I warned ya it wasn't pretty :-)
But all that changed when we embraced 2 principles...
1) It ain't about the
gifts.
2) It is about Jesus.
THE gift.
Since we started walking the road to becoming debt free, I have found that each Christmas becomes sweeter and just gets better! Let me tell you why...the first year we started out on a cash only Christmas budget it was tough...but we were determined that we would make the best out of a low budget Christmas and find the joy in the true meaning of Christmas...those two things changed our Christmas outlook for the better AND more importantly it shaped our kids mentality on Christmas.
We started teaching our kids the things that we really had always believed and knew were the true heart of Christmas, but that we had somehow lost sight of in all the hustle and bustle. Here are 5 simple things we did that made a BIG difference in our holidays:
1) We refocused on the true meaning of Christmas...we started reading scriptures and bible stories to the kids, we made an advent wreath and bought an advent calendar to celebrate the birth of Jesus for the entire month...each day the kids would get a treat and we would share something that we were thankful for, we sang carols and hymns, we would read books, make crafts and just enjoy time honored traditions...Little things that make a huge impact!
2) We focused on giving to others...Angel Tree kids, kids from school, kids from church, our
Compassion kids...that kind of thing. We started adopting families that couldn't provide Christmas for one reason or another. Don't get me wrong, we have always been givers...it's my nature...I LOVE to give...it makes me happy! But for some reason at Christmas time, I would loose sight of that and I would focus more on what my kids needed and how I wasn't able to buy all the things that I wanted them to have...when the truth was they didn't "need" anything, they had everything they needed already. Giving to others became a priority...it happened before we did anything else...the kids began to love this and now they look forward to it every year...they anticipate it :-)
3) We cut down the ole' Christmas list. We told our friends and family that we just could not buy for everyone (though we would love to). Then we asked for understanding and in the end no one hated us for it. (whew) Man, did that lift a load off my shoulders...no more worry about what to buy, would they like it, where was the money coming from...it was no longer an issue. If the year's budget allowed, then we would make homemade gifts for those special people...but if it did not, I knew there was always next year. I learned that if people really love ya...the lack of a gift is not gonna be a deal breaker for the relationship. Truth be told, most people want to crack their list down too, but are afraid of hurting your feelings...you're really just helping them to help you :-)
4) We stuck to a cash only Christmas budget...meaning if we could not pay cash for it, then we could not buy it...plain and simple! Each person on the list had a set amount of money that could be spent on them and guess what...you can learn to be really resourceful when given a limited budget. It's true. Now, repeat after me...sales and coupons are my friends...(your turn)...great job, you said that with such enthusiasm :-) Seriously though...it's true...pair a great sale up with a great coupon and SHAZAM...you just got an AWESOME deal on something that other people are paying full price for. One other tip...pray about finding those great deals...God cares about the little details too you know...if it's important to you, it's important to Him. When I get a great deal on something...my husband calls it "favor dust"...he does this little dance, all while pretending to sprinkle favor dust on his head...true story! He's crazy like that...but then again isn't our God just as CRAZY about us? I know, I know...TMI (but you know your laughing right now, just picture the dance ;-) Really though...every time he does that, it reminds me that God's favor was upon us...gotta love that!
5) We implemented our friends Brandon & Kelley's kid proof giving plan...I have to tell you that this is one of those things that I just think it so SMART! (Thanks Kel for sharing it with us)
We only buy 3 gifts each for our kids...one big one and two small ones...Why is that, you ask? Simple, really...the wisemen brought Jesus 3 gifts...so it all ties right back into the Christmas story. Now, our kids are still little...so they still get Santa gifts...but whadda ya know, that Santa...well, he's a pretty SMART fella too...'cause he also only brings 3 gifts each and did you know that he loves to read the Christmas story in the bible while he eats his milk and cookies ;-) yep...he is one smart fella, I tell ya!
Oh and by the way...remember at the start of this post when I told you that one of the first things we did was cancel the cable...well, turns out that too was an added benefit for teaching our kids a lesson about Christmas...who'da thunk? You see no cable, meant no commercials. Before we even realized what had happened, our children had quit asking for all those toys that they always saw on T.V...It was amazing really...We would ask them "what do you want for Christmas" and it was literally like pulling teeth to get even one toy on the list...they just didn't have the same mentality that they once had. Their focus had shifted to others instead of themselves and they didn't know it was happening...I love that God used losing one thing to help use gain something so much more important...perspective. Sometimes what seems like a negative turns out to be a positive in the end :-)
I hope that sharing my experience on these lessons learned has somehow inspired you in some way to revamp your holiday plan...most of all to refocus on the true meaning on Christmas...to celebrate Jesus :-) Remember to GIVE, GIVE, GIVE...you can't out give God...it's not about us, it's about HIM! Be the light of Christ to someone you know this Christmas season.
Check out these great posts on keeping the holidays frugal...For The Mommas has a great post
HERE on "how to check your list thrice"
I love
"Advent Conspiracy" and their Christmas can still change the world campaign...Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All!
HERE are some ideas for cheap Christmas gifts
Get FREE holiday phone calls from Santa or Sammy the Snowman
HERE thanks to Kroger
About.com offers a whole library of cheap Christmas ideas...they even have some budgeting forms...go
HERE
Living a Better Life has a great article on 63 gifts under $10
HERE
Happy New Year everyone! Wow, can you believe another year has come and gone??? I hope that you have enjoyed your Christmas and spending time with family and friends...I know I have :-) I wanted to take a moment and say THANKS for all your support of the Faithful & Frugal ministry during the 2009 year! THANKS to all of you for your prayers, for your kind words of encouragement, for your testimonies and most of all for spreading the word about Faithful & Frugal to those that you know. As we prepare to close the door on 2009...I can't help but reflect on all that God has done during our second year of F&F ministry...God is so good!!! I am so excited and am filled with expectancy about what God has in store for the year 2010...I know that it will be another great year of ministry!
I made some rice crispy treats and cut them into squares...then I put them out wax paper and drizzled them with chocolate topping them off with some fall sprinkles, think red/green/white sprinkles or snowman sprinkles. Then I filled the bottom of a clear sack with candy corn...for Christmas think crushed peppermint, holiday corn, red hots, etc. Then I tied the bags off with some ribbon...think red, green, sparkly ribbon.
The next thing I did was make some brownies (these were the Betty Crocker cookie bar brownies) and did the same thing as the treats...placed them on waxed paper, drizzled in chocolate and topped with sprinkles. Now...I use Almond Bark coating for the drizzle (either chocolate or white chocolate) for one reason...it will set up hard once dry...making it much easier to package...plain melted chocolate will not set hard and it will smear once packed. If all you have is plain chocolate, you could add some Gulf Wax to help it set up.
Once the chocolate had set up, I wrapped each brownie in plastic wrap as seen below...
I then inserted a piece of tisue paper into a chinese style take out container that had a fall pattern...for Christmas I have seen some with really cute patterns like snowman, reindeers, snowflakes and Santa. Once the tissue paper was in, I added the brownies.
After I had the containers packaged, I took a sharpie marker and added the teacher's names and my children's names and tied some fall ribbon around the handle. Again...think Christmas ribbon for this time of the year...make it really festive :-)
Just put your chicken in the crockpot laying evenly across pot.
Top off as directed in the recipe and your pot should look like the picture below. That's it...now just cover and walk away...I cooked mine for 2 hours on high and it was perfectly done. This made 2 meals for us.
I had one more pack of those $1.00 chicken legs...so while the 
Yep...you guessed it! We're gonna follow the same procedure for deboning as shown in 
You can use this kind of chicken in all sorts of recipes...I decided on chicken pot pie (because of all those pie crusts I got during the Mega Event...
OR if you have kids and they like silly things on their pot pie AND you're a crazy mama or papa, like me...then it would look like this:
Them there are little dinosaurs ;-) but I've been known to make leaves, hearts, names and various other critters to top off our pies...just depends on my mood I guess, LOL. 
I cooked these on low for 10 hours (overnight), but you could also do high for about 4-5 hours. Once they are cooked, they will be falling off the bone...literally ;-) So at this point I remove them from the crock and let them cool slightly on a plate, just cool enough to touch.
And your house should be smelling fab-u-
At this point, you would either place in the fridge or seal up for the freezer...mine went in the fridge.
