contentment

Contentment

I believe contentment should be a fruit of the spirit! The spirit of contentment I think is so crucial to have.

Matthew 6:19

New International Version (NIV)

Treasures in Heaven

    ¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Fancy things, name brands, expensive cars- none of this matters in the end. What does matter is your relationship with God and others.

Buying what’s on clearance, cheap clothes at Walmart without the name brand tag, Tupperware from the $1 store, etc. should not bother you. If my house went up in flames all the money I wasted on trying to impress others or live by the worlds standards would be gone.

I am blessed that God has given me a content spirit and I don’t struggle with it very much but when I do feel the devil creep up I pray out loud that the Lord help me dwell on what really matters and NOT store up my treasures here on Earth. 

I felt this is what I was called to share today- on a side note....I did my first price match at Walmart tonight and it was very successful! Stay tuned- Sunday's post will be about price matching!

Preperation

~Menu~

How do you plan your meals? Months in advance? Weeks? Or hours?

I was touched in a study I did on the Proverbs 31 woman about preparation.

Proverbs 31:

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night;
   she provides food for her family
   and portions for her female servants.

This chapter goes on to describe that when winter hits her family doesn’t have to worry. They have clothes she prepared for them in advance. 

The point of this verse and one of the qualities of the Proverbs 31 woman is that she prepared .What would happen if you prepared all your meals before your family was up? I would be exhausted! We don’t need to do it her way but we do need to prepare and be faithful with our time. 

I have compiled a month menu of dinner. I do not do very well at sticking to it but I have it as a guide. I have a grocery list that I can check off to make sure we have everything we need to make any of those meals. This keeps me from being able to say “we have nothing to eat that I can think of, let’s eat out”

 My husband is extremely picky and I have food allergies so our menu is limited. I have shared my menu. I have the recipes for all of these so if you would like them please ask!

Dinner Menu

(in no particular order)

1.     Pork chops, apple sauce, broccoli, and rice pilaf.

2.     Hamburgers, corn and mashed potatoes

3.     Chicken fajitas

4.      

5.     Grilled chicken and mashed potatoes

6.     Teriyaki chicken and brown rice

7.     Dijon chicken with noodles and peas

8.     Baked breaded (with whole wheat Ritz) chicken with mozzarella and tomato sauce on top.

9.     Lemon butter chicken grilled with red potatoes

10.                        Chicken cacciatore and noodles

11.                        Baked pork loin and green beans

12.                        Pot roast with carrots and potatoes

13.                         

14.                        Chicken rice-a-roni and corn

15.                        Sausage egg hashbrown dish

16.                        Turkey egg casserole

17.                        Tacos with Spanish rice

18.                         Pesto chicken and noodles

19.                        Homemade chicken nuggets (with whole wheat Ritz) with homemade French fries

20.                        Italian chicken pasta (using a rotisserie chicken)

21.                        Chicken enchiladas (using rotisserie chicken)

Faithful God

New International Version (©1984)
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  Luke 16:10

Another word different translations use for ‘trusted’ is faithful. Don’t you want to be Faithful!? God is a FAITHFUL God- we should strive to be like him!

Being faithful applies to so many areas of our life. I feel one of the most important areas is with money. God has GIVEN you all the money you have as a GIFT. He does not HAVE to. He wants to because he loves you. In order for him to bless you with even more you have to be faithful with what you have.

Here is my story of a Faithful god this week-

Mikes employer gives him an allowance used to pay for data on his phone. The amount was raised this week with no notice or no reason to a payment beyond what the data cost. It was such perfect timing! As I think back to receiving that check I realized it was just days after I made a meal for a friend who had a baby using what little food we had to get us through the week. I was faithful with little- so God gave me more!

Mercy Gilbert Hospital has a financial assistance program that you can apply for and based off of a stack of papers 2inches high you provide them they determine if they will cancel part of your debt. The morning after I packed a small bag for the food drive at my church a letter arrived telling us that $1,072 of our bill was canceled! Completely! God trusted me with what food he had provided for me and he blessed me way beyond that amount. The food cost me just a tiny percentage compared to the BIG blessing he gave me in return!

God is SO FAITHFUL and TRUSTING. I want to be blessed by him. I want to be like him. I want to be FAITHFUL with the money he has gifted me. This is the reason I coupon and I am smart and diligent with how I spend my money.

Couponing

Todays blog- how I save money by couponing.

 Here is a document on made on the who/what/when/where’s of couponing! I would be thrilled to email this document to whoever wants it. Leave your email address in the comment section J

COUPONING~

Where to find coupons?

Sunday’s Newspaper

Sunday morning when the paper comes go through the coupons. If there are coupons that you will definitely use adding up to a savings more than the cost of the paper buy another paper!

Coupons.com

                Search different zip codes to get different coupons- all are able to be used at your store! You can print every coupon twice per computer.

Target.com

You can print Target coupons on their website. You can use 1 Target coupon and 1 manufacture coupon per item.  (I bought 7 items and used 12 coupons last week)

Facebook           

                Companies facebook pages give out coupons consistently. Like them so you get notified!

Ask!

If you go on companies websites you can email them for coupons and they almost always send you some!

Tips

Frys makes all coupons worth $1

You can print Target coupons on their website. You can use one Target coupon and 1 manufacture coupon per item.

Walgreens has coupon booklets in the front of their stores that run all month

By only when sale! (Except meat and produce). If this means stocking up- do it! Saves you money in the long run!

Anything you can get free GET- If you will EVER use the product.

CVS has coupon booklets at the front of their stores.

Best Store Prices

Frys is the best grocery store- buy their name brand. Anything that I don’t Have multiple coupons for or isn’t a great deal anywhere else I get here so that I can rack up the most amount of fuel points. Fuel points really save money on gas.

Costco has the cheapest chicken, soda and soy milk.  (Do costco once a month, the first week of the month)

Targets grocery section is actually very comparable and sometimes cheaper than Frys.

Walmart will price match, just bring the Ad to show the cashier!

Trader Joes has awesome prices , especially on olive oil and syrup- they DO take manufacture coupons!

Albertsons you get 10% off your grocery bill if you wear your cardinals jersey on Sundays!

Websites

www.thefrugalfind.com

www.couponingtodisney.com

www.whosaidnothinginlifeisfree.com

These sites find the BEST deals FOR YOU! It is SIMPLE! Just go to their link and click on your store. Deals of the week are posted on Sunday.

Like these sites on facebook. Every day they post coupons, giveaways, good deals etc. I follow thefrugafind religiously. 

Schedule

1.       Sit down with scissors, your paper, your computer, envelopes and a pen.

2.       Cut the coupons of the products you use

3.       Visit coupons.com and target.com to print coupons of products you use.

4.       Visit the websites listed. Look at the deals of the week at Frys, CVS, Walgreens, Target and Walmart

5.       Decide which stores you are going to get what deals at.

6.       Label each envelope the name of the store you are going to shop that week

7.       Insert the coupons in their proper envelopes

8.       Write on the outside what deals you are getting – use this as your list for that store.

    ~I do anywhere from 1 to 4 stores a week. ~

HAPPY SHOPPING