The Benefits of Budgeting

Call me a nerd, but I like living on a budget. Alex and I are in the middle of our second month using an envelope budgeting system and it's going really well. I bought Dave Ramsey's book, The Total Money Makeover on cd for Alex for Christmas along with one of Dave's seminars on cash flow. We finished listening to them in January and jumped into our new routine in February. Since then, I don't stress about money as much and Alex and I are on the same page about where our income is going. If you aren't familiar with Dave Ramsey, he is a best-selling author, a radio talk show host and creator of Financial Peace University, which teaches people "baby steps" to get out of debt, save for emergencies and plan for their financial futures. I'm happy to say that by the end of this month, we'll be debt free (except for our house)!!! Throughout this process, I've learned a lot about my spending habits. There are some great benefits to living on a budget.

1. You tend to buy less stuff on impulse and instead, think before buying that "stuff- you-just-can't-live-without-because-it's-only-$1! A dollar store opened up a little over a year ago just a mile or so from my house. They have an entire aisle devoted to scrapbooking and card making supplies (and much of it is name brand), which is right up my ally. I bought countless brads, buttons, paper packs, stickers, and more with the intention of making my nieces homemade cards every month to let them know that their Aunt Amanda loved them. And then I never used any of it. The stuff just sat around my office taking up space. So, $30 and a shipping box later, my nieces received a lovely care package in the mail full of those kiddy embellishments so that they could make their own cards (which they had been starting to do with my sister and her Cricut).

2. Because you don't buy as much on impulse, your house isn't cluttered with STUFF! This is pretty self-explanatory. It's amazing how I used to go into a store and buy something without much thought about it. Now that I have a set amount of spending money every month - in cash, so as not to be tempted by the debit card - I really think about what I buy and I usually end up walking away without feeling deprived.

3. You have less stress! Knowing when money is coming in and when it is going out and having it all accounted for on paper gives me peace that bills will be paid on time, there will be money put in savings and not taken out because we overspent and our goals will be met because we're actually doing something to reach them.

4. Budgeting gives you goals to work towards. We're working toward saving up 6 months of living expenses in case of an emergency, saving for retirement, and eventually some home improvement projects. We also know the timeline of how long it should take us to reach these goals.

5. Budgeting opens up communication between you and your spouse about goals, dreams, etc. Statistics show that fights about finances are a major source of strife in marriage, even leading to divorce. Thankfully, so far, Alex and I haven't really had any issues in this area. We sat down and talked about how much to budget for everything from spending money to vet visits. After the budget was set, we kept talking about it to work out a few kinks and discuss new dreams and goals that we wanted to be prepared for.

6. There is freedom in having boundaries. Simply, I don't feel controlled by money. I know how much I have to spend every week on groceries, eating out, hobbies and clothes. If there is no money in the "Amanda's spending money" envelope, then I don't buy the pretty fabric to sew a new purse until the next month. I've learned a lot of self control over the past 6 weeks!

Sometimes I look back over the last two and a half years that we've been married and regret that we didn't make these changes sooner. We could have had our emergency fund ready by now. We could have replaced the 1984 faux-butcher block laminate kitchen countertops already. I can't change the past, but I can change our future and it's looking bright!

Craft Room Revamp

I'm back from the land of "No Blogging Inspiration"! No matter how much I wanted to post something, nothing interesting came to mind. I've been dreaming of how to decorate our house so that I could post pictures of a finished project, but nothing has been accomplished on that front yet. I did finally clean, organize and expand my office though, which was a long process. Alex helped me with the final touch today - a sewing space! No more cluttering up the dining room table with fabric and such! Woohoo! I'll admit, the "before" pics are really embarrassing, but it makes the "after" pics that much better. My office is my old bedroom from when I lived at home with my parents. It's now the place that paperwork goes to wait 6 months before being put in the filing cabinet, where random "stuff" gets thrown when I don't know where else to put it or I'm trying to hide it before company comes over. Then we close the door and ignore the horrendous mess until I can't stand it anymore. Please, please, please don't judge me for the chaos that you're about to see. Before:



I told you it was horrendous. Ugh. Here's the after:





In a perfect world, the desk would be held up by actual legs or something other than mismatched hand-me-down furniture, but hey, free is great! After we moved into our house almost two years ago, my mom and I went to a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in Lexington and found two doors to use as a desk top. I paid a whopping $1.00 for two doors (one was FREE), but stored one in the garage until today. I'm really excited to have more wide open space to be creative and sew. I should be getting an embroidery machine soon, too, so there will be plenty of room for that as well. The wall decor has been a work in progress, but I have a few ideas to change it up a little and make it less cluttered. Hopefully that will happen soon and I'll have more material to write about! Hope you had a great weekend!

Dining Room Decor

I'm feeling better today since my fever has broken and my aches have gone away. Layla has been keeping me company on the couch while I rest/stalk people on Facebook/read blogs/watch tv. I used to follow the blog "Better After" and decided to check out what home improvement projects had been posted recently to see if I could get some ideas. Wouldn't ya know, I've found the perfect decorating idea for my design-deprived dining room! Here's what the room looks like right now:


Nothing on the walls, very boring!!! I'm overwhelmed by the size of the walls and don't have anything large to hang on them. I've thought about doing wanescoting, but we don't own many power tools and my skill level isn't quite up to that task. Better After posted this picture of a dining room with a shelf that I LOVE:


Here's the link to the full post with a before picture, too. If I channeled some creative energy and braved a trip to Lowe's, I might be able to make a chunky shelf like that for my dining room. A black shelf might look better than white in my room though; what do you think?

Sick Day

I'm not a superstitious person, but I think I jinxed myself the other day by proclaiming how my multivitamins must be keeping me healthy because I didn't call in sick once last year. Then I woke up with a scratchy throat yesterday. Tylenol masked my aches and pains so I could make it through the work day, but this morning I woke up with a lovely cough and even more aches. My sick-day free streak officially ended today. It's almost 6 pm and I'm still in my pjs, haven't brushed my hair and really haven't left the bed. Today, I'm thankful for satellite tv (sorry, Jamie!) because it passed the time while I waited for Alex to get home from work. I'm also thankful for President's Day on Monday so I have an extra day off work to recover. Hopefully I'll be good as new by then and can write a more interesting post! Hope you have a great weekend!

Things I've Learned Lately

1. I can't manipulate God's timing. Even though God grants me the desires of my heart, I still have to wait for Him to fulfill those desires in His time. Abraham and Sarah had to wait a long time to have Isaac, and even though they kind of messed stuff up big time with the whole Haggar and Ishmael thing, God still came through, gave them a son, and the wait was worth it.

2. No matter what I'm going through, I'm not alone. This seems cliche, but I've really felt all alone in an area of my life, and just last week, a close friend and I discovered that we're walking through the same journey and it has been so encouraging to have someone to share my heart with that completely understands. I have a prayer partner on my side and I know that I'm not alone.

3. I shouldn't put expectations on God, but instead, should anticipate good from God. When I'm hoping for something, I shouldn't make a list of things that I expect God to do. Instead, I need to let God answer the way that He wants to and trust that He will handle the situation in a way that will blow all my expectations out of the water.

4. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew marijuana on their farms. Seriously? Just heard that on a tv special called "Marijuana: A Chronic History". And now the tv has been shut off...

5. Sometimes I just need to turn off the distractions and LISTEN. Stop singing, talking, listening to the radio, complaining, procrastinating, and listen. God wants to speak, I've been crying out for answers, and I've been too busy to listen.

6. God holds man's heart in His hands. No matter what I do, I cannot change a person. It's up to God to mold us and change us in His timing, in His way. He is the potter and we are the clay. My own will cannot change someone else's heart.

7. Whatever happens is God's will and I can't let fear overshadow what good things, what promises God may choose to fulfill in my life. I've been worried what if certain things in my life that I've been praying for don't happen before other certain things are worked out? My engagement to Alex was overshadowed by people telling us we shouldn't get married for reasons that they couldn't explain to us. It was horrible. I don't want the next phase in my life to be overshadowed by anything. Even if there are things that I want breakthrough in that haven't been overcome by the time we have kids, it's all going to happen the way that God wants it to, and I won't let the blessings of motherhood be overshadowed by fear from unanswered prayers.

Valentine's Lion

After two serious posts, I thought it was time to lighten the mood around here a bit. I could use some light-hearted fun right about now. After learning to sew stuffed animals, I wanted to make one for my cousin's little girl, Julie. With Valentine's Day around the corner, it was the perfect opportunity. Lions are my favorite to sew because of all the fun fabrics around their manes. I used polar fleece and corduroy on the back of the mane to add texture.



I hope Julie likes it! I've actually never met her, but I've heard all about her from my dad and have become acquainted with her mom, Annie (my cousin's wife), on Facebook. Julie just turned 2 in January. After difficulties during her birth, she was born severely visually impaired and with cerebral palsy. She can "see" shadows from black and white patterns, so I'm hoping she'll like the lion. Recently, Julie's story was published on a blog that advocates for children with disabilities. You can read her story here. Happy Valentine's Day!

True Serenity

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. Your encouragement and prayers are so greatly appreciated! I've wanted to have a good cry for a few weeks, but no tears would come. After getting all that stuff out of my system and reading your thoughtful comments, the tears finally came, but they were good tears. The soul-cleansing kind.

This morning, I met my mother-in-law at the local coffee shop for breakfast. She told me a few days ago that she had been praying for my situation and asking that the Lord would give her scriptures that she could share with me for encouragement/guidance. Since the coffee shop was cram packed and not very private, we headed to my car where we proceeded to talk, laugh and cry for an hour and a half. It was wonderful and I feel so much better! One thing she shared with me was a poem that you are probably already familiar with, but I had never heard the second part of it (which we agreed is the most powerful part of the poem). I don't know the title of it, but here it is:

God grant me the serenity to accept
The things that I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it,
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to his will
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next

-Reinhold Niebuhr

My first thought after reading this was that it was ironic that part of the poem is about serenity and that is the name of my blog. I really want to live a life of sweet serenity, and most days I do. My next thought was that I cannot change anything about my situation except myself. I can't change my husband; I can't change other people. I can only rest in contentment and trust that God will make things right according to His will. Tough situations in my life are like fuel to the fire that is refining me like gold.

I want God's will for my life above any of my own desires. I must have faith to believe that even if things don't turn out like I want them to or like I thought they would turn out, that it's still all a part of God's plan for my life and He is still in control.

We weren't made for this world, although our flesh is certainly part of this world and we must battle against it daily. Our souls were made for Heaven, to be in God's presence, to overcome the world.

I don't want external circumstances, which influence my happiness, to steal my internal joy that comes from a relationship with God. I realized today that I don't let my joy shine through. I let my circumstances dictate how I feel, I wear a frown on my face, I worry, I get angry, I hold a grudge, all getting me nowhere. What kind of testimony is that? I'd rather be reasonably happy in this life and be forever supremely happy with the Lord in the next. I'd rather let go of all the baggage. How about you?