How Financial Stress Can Lead To The "D" Word

Jake and I were recently talking about how hard our first two years of marriage were, specifically the first year. We have publicly stated before that had we not taken Financial Peace University, we may not be married today. That statement is not something I am proud of, but it is also not much of an exaggeration!

Debt, finances, and no real money-management plan can cause a lot of stress on a relationship, and when that relationship is fairly new that stress can be hard to bear!

I remember there were times when we would just walk away from an argument and not speak because frustration, misunderstandings, and hurt had caused both of us real pain that we didn't know how to communicate.

Even after we started budgeting there were times that our financial meetings ended with me in tears and the hubby frustrated that we still weren't on the same page or that our money didn't seem to be doing what we wanted it to.

We had made a promise to each other to never mention divorce, not even jokingly. It is a word we just don't want in our vocabulary. Still, in the midst of those first couple years, we both contemplated how we were ever going to make this marriage work, and whether or not we even wanted to.

Fast forward to where we are now.

This summer has been amazing, not that our marriage still hasn't had its challenges, but because we've become more united in our goals. We've begun to cement as a team with a single vision of where we want to go with our finances, our family, with God.

When we decided to sell our house it was a huge relief to both of us. After living there for almost two years we realized that it was way more house than we needed, more work than we could handle, and really not in the location we wanted to be in. So, a few weeks ago, we packed up our bags and moved in with Jake's beautiful grandmother, one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet. The situation is mutually beneficial for all of us because having us there at the house helps Grandma and also gives us some time to save some money and invest a little more time in finding our dream home.

Some may consider moving in with family a step back, but for us it has been freeing. I don't completely regret buying our big old homestead because while we were living there we learned a lot about what we really want in a home, what we really need, and where we want to be.

The weirdest part about all of this, however, is that even though we're probably facing more stress than ever right now—with trying to sell the house, with Jake possibly losing his job soon—we're dealing with it much better than we would have a couple years ago. Instead of all this stress driving a wedge between us it has become something we can come together about, praying and trusting that God has a plan in it all, and being thankful that we do have that 3-6 months savings set aside for these uncertain moments in life.

I think the reason we are both so passionate about Financial Peace University is because of how it helped not only our finances but our marriage.

If you're facing marital problems, won't you let us pray for you? Click the contact button above. And if you'd like more information about Financial Peace University, ask us!

Keep pinchin'

What Strawberries and Finances Have In Common

Remember those lovely little strawberry plants that I thought I had killed in my fridge? (You can catch up here in case you missed it).

Well, I'm happy to report that not only are they thriving in their new garden home—in fact, they're basically the only thing thriving in my garden—but they are also delicious! Take a look at those beautiful red rubies. I get to pick about this much almost every day.

If you ever consider growing strawberries consider planting everbearing ones. While you typically don't get a harvest of strawberries the first year you plant them, with everbearing plants you do. Why? Because after you pluck off all the first flowers that arrive—this helps the plant focus on growing—the everbearing plants continue to flower and produce strawberries. For someone that likes to be rewarded for their hard work right away, this is the way to go!

As I was picking strawberries the other day, my thoughts turned to our finances.

I know. Radical subject change. But bear with me here.

You might be thinking it's too late to start on your journey to financial freedom. Living debt free or creating a retirement plan may seem so impossible that it's not worth striving for, BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE! It's never to late!

Just like my strawberries that lived in the fridge for three weeks and nearly froze to death, you can still see fruit from your hard work even if you're only just beginning. Some of your hard work may pay off right away, like my everbearing strawberries. You may pay off a credit card or a small loan. It may not be much, but it's a start.

You should've seen the first strawberries I picked. They were so tiny they looked like chokeberries. My husband chuckled at them. But it was only the beginning! The strawberries we're seeing now are big and bright and delicious!

Creating a good financial base and climbing out of debt takes time, and it's never too late to start. So don't believe the lie that you missed the train. Hop on board and decide today that you want to live differently. Create a budget. Maybe check out a Financial Peace University class and start working your way to your financial goals.

Otherwise, if you sit in the fridge any longer, you probably will freeze.

Keep pinchin' :-)

The Best Homemade Strawberry Jam

Growing up I remember picking strawberries with my mom and sisters on hot summer mornings. Returning home with my fingers stained red—and probably my lips too because I had to taste-test every few feet :-)—we would enjoy those strawberries whole, crushed with sugar for strawberry shortcake, and, of course, mom would make strawberry jam.

I swear homemade strawberry jam cannot be compared to store bought in any way, shape or form. It is beyond delicious, and that is probably why I have found myself making it for the past couple of years. While I planted 100 strawberry plants this spring, they won't really produce until next summer, so for this year I headed out with a dear friend and picked about 10 pounds of strawberries.

I decided to use the bulk of them for strawberry jam because, to my delight, I'm not the only one who can't get enough of homemade jam—the hubby loves it too! I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process, but, alas, my tired mind was only focused on the job at hand.

Here is the recipe and instructions to the yummiest strawberry jam that you can make too!

Ingredients

6 2/3 Cups Crushed Strawberries (hull, wash, then crush one layer at a time using potato masher)
1 2/3 Cups Water (or unsweetened fruit juice, thawed fruit juice concentrate)
1/3 Cup and 2 Tablespoons Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin
2 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar

Instructions

I began with filling my big canning pot with water, enough so that when I put my jars in they would be covered by 2 inches of water. Place this on a burner set to high.

I then hulled, washed, and sliced 6 & 2/3 cups of strawberries, crushing them with a potato masher. It is best to crush one layer of strawberries at a time in order to get them really crushed. After they were all crushed I placed them in a big pot along with 1 & 2/3 cups of water. You can also use unsweetened fruit juice, but water works fine for me.

After I was finished crushing the strawberries I prepared my jars by making sure they were clean and then setting them in a sink full of very hot water, where they will remain until I fill them with jam.

I set the strawberries and water mixture on the stove to bring to a boil. While waiting for it to boil I slowly added in 1/3 cup & 2 tablespoons of RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. I then brought it to a rolling boil, meaning I couldn't stir the bubbling away.Then I added 2 & 1/2 cups of sugar and mixed it in well. When it came to a rolling boil again I set a timer for 1 minute and stirred constantly. After the minute I removed it from the heat.

I took my jelly/canning jars and began to fill them with the strawberry mixture until they were about 1/4 inch from the top. I wiped off any jam that was on the rim or around the band area of the jar and then I placed a clean brand new lid on the top and screwed the band on loosely. With this recipe I was able to make just over 10 cups of prepared jam. I had a small amount left over so I placed it in a small container to be used right away and didn't bother to give it a water bath but instead placed it in the fridge a couple hours later.

I placed all of the jars gently into the canning pot, which at this point was gently boiling, and boiled them for 10 minutes. Upon taking them out of the pot I set them on a towel on the counter to sit for 24 hours, and listened for the beautiful popping sound that ensured they were properly sealed. After 24 hours you should press your thumb into the middle of each jar lid to ensure the lid is properly sealed, if it is not it will pop in an out. If you find that any of your jars didn't seal properly place them in the fridge and use them first.

We enjoy using our jam for PB&J's, toast, on crackers and ice cream and in some recipes that call
for jam.

Here are some of the products I used to make my jam. These links contain affiliate links, which just means that if you choose to purchase them I get a small commission at no additional cost to you, which helps compensate us for the time we put into bringing you Penny Pinching Prose.


The start up cost to make your own jam may seem like it's not worth it, but once you have the jars and canning pot the only thing you will need to purchase in the future is the pectin and lids. I made my 10 cups of jam for less than $20, and not only is it yummy, I know exactly where it came from and what's in it!

Keep pinchin' :-)

A House On The Market Is Like A Tomato Drying In The Sun

Sun-dried tomatoes are exactly what the name implies—tomatoes that have sat in the sun for ten days and had more than 90% of their moisture sucked out. To me, the longer a tomato sits in the sun the more disgusting it becomes. Like a wrinkled old piece of human flesh. Blech. Amazingly though, tomatoes lose none of their nutritional value when sun-dried. Put a human in the sun for ten days and it will lose ALL of its nutritional value, but tomatoes are... I don't know. Immortal or something. They can sit there for days and days, shrinking, getting all wrinkly, and yet still have all the necessary goodness to amount to something. What's interesting about putting your house on the market is that as soon as the listing hits your house starts drying out, like a tomato in the sun. When the listing first hits the house is a novelty, capturing the curiosity of simple spectators and hooking the interest of serious buyers. The longer it sits there however, soaking up the sun, the less attractive it gets. Our realtor calls this a "stale listing," a home that has been sitting on the market for so long that it has become unattractive to buyers. The home still has all of its nutritional value—you know, all the good stuff inside—but people judge it based on the fact that the prolonged listing makes it look ugly. Like a sun-dried tomato. What constitutes a stale listing seems to depend on the market, but in general it looks like any house that's been listed longer than two months can be considered stale. Our lovely 2,500-square-foot colonial went on the market two weeks ago this Saturday. We've had four showings so far, but that's all. One interested buyer came to look at the house twice, but we haven't heard anything since. It's a bit irritating having to be constantly available for showings, especially when you're still living in your house. You've got to keep it cleaner than usual, keep your junk put away, and your underwear off the floor. And if you have a wife who works nights and sleeps during the day than, yeah... it's especially irritating. Anyway, everyone keeps saying the market is on an upswing and that "this is the time to sell." So here's hoping we can sell our home while it's still juicy, before that sun-dried tomato look starts to take hold. Keep pinchin' :-)

Transformation Tuesday

I promised some pictures of the progress we are making on the second floor of our house, but then we found out that our realtor was going to be showing it to some prospective buyers on Saturday. In the mad rush to get our house organized and the inch of debris on the upstairs floor, we got a wee bit busy. In fact, I think between Thursday and Friday we must have spent about 20 hours working on it.

But here are the fruits of our labor!

This is the before photo of the ugly green wallpaper room. Thankfully I was able to pull it off pretty easily, and so this became my fastest transformation to date.

After peeling off all the wallpaper, prepping the walls with join compound, sanding them down, and painting them grey, this was the outcome. I also spent a fair bit of time on my hands and knees cleaning up old paint drops and spills. Look at that floor shine!

We didn't get a before picture of what we call the "upstairs living room," but it had the same awful textured walls as the first bedroom I redid.

After lots of scraping, peeling, mudding and sanding—and by that I mean a LOT of scraping, peeling, mudding, sanding—we were finally able to paint it this great color called Surfer. In the picture it looks more blue than it actually is, but I love it! I love it so much it almost made me reconsider selling the house. Then I reminded myself that I can paint a room this color in our next house :-)

We're still working on the second floor bathroom, and there's a kitchen and dinning room to do as well, but with the interested buyers we have looking at our house right now we may not ever get the chance to get it done.

Happy Transformation Tuesday!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Months ago I wanted to try making my own dishwasher detergent because I knew it would be a lot cheaper to make it than it would be to buy it, and... well, I just love DIY projects! So when I ran out of my last bit of store-bought soap last week I decided it was now or never.

I gathered the required ingredients: Borax, Washing Soda, Epsom Salt and Lemon Juice. Fortunately I already had most of the ingredients, which I had bought previously to make my own laundry detergent, or to cook with, except for the Epsom Salt, but I had been meaning to buy that anyway.

I measured out:

—1 Cup Borax
—1 Cup Washing Soda
—1/4 Cup Epsom Salt

into a large bowl and mixed it up really well, making sure there weren't any clumps.

Then I took 1 cup of the mixture and put it into another bowl and added

—4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice

and a tad bit more after mixing it together in order to get a sticky, but not sopping wet mixture.

When you add the Lemon Juice it makes it all fizzy, which is fun to watch :-)

I then placed the mixed-up goop into little silicone baking cups (you can also use ice cube trays, I just didn't have any), which I had lined with plastic wrap to protect.

I repeated the process with the second cup, making about 22 little cubes of Dishwasher Soap and placed them into the window to dry over night.

I popped them out the next morning and used my first one. The dishes all came out clean! All in all it probably took me maybe 10 minutes from start to finish, including clean up, but minus all the lovely photos I took for you all.

Hope you enjoy, and if you are leery of using the Borax you can still make this up, just omit it and either double up on the Washing Soda and Epsom Salt or make less and use less Lemon Juice.

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Little Sweat Equity Can Go A Long Way

Jake and I are getting ready to put our house on the market. Turns out our "forever home" isn't as "forever" as we thought it might be. It's a long story. You can read about it out here...

here...

and here if you're curious about the whys behind our pursuit of a drastic life change.

So in preparation for our realtor who was coming over to look at the house, I went upstairs to do some cleaning. Jake has been doing a little cosmetic work up there and the floors needed a good sweeping. Upon entering what we fondly refer to as the "rain room"—named such because the previous occupants had textured the walls with a thick white putty that made it look like angular rain—I noticed that Jake had done a little scraping to see if it was possible to get the texture off.

So I peeled off a little bit more. And then some more. Aaaaand then some more. And then my interest in sweeping the floors vanished and the rain room became my White Whale. I was now Ahab, determined to conquer it at all costs.

The textured walls of the "rain room."

The wallpaper came off with a little elbow grease, hot water, and a... scraper... big fat knife thingy. (I don't know what that tool is called.)

Peeling off the wallpaper.

All wallpaper successfully removed!

Yay, the wallpaper was off! I felt so proud of myself!

There were lots of little holes in the wall that needed filling. Marks left over from the trim molding. Screw anchors stuck in the sheet rock. A massive mess at my feet. Puttying that needed to be done. Taping. Sanding. More puttying and taping. Painting. Cleaning...

What had I gotten myself into?!

Regardless of the overwhelming nature of my little DIY kick, I was determined to get it done. Weigh anchor and set sail!

I did discover one interesting thing about myself after sanding down all the joint compound, and that's what my hair will look like in 40 years or so.

Dani in 40+ years

Lovely.

The mess before the beauty

Most of our upstairs is covered in beautiful hardwood floors, so, out of curiosity, I peeked under the rain room's ugly carpet to find more gorgeous hardwood flooring. Why anyone would have wanted to cover this up is beyond me.

So long, carpet! To the plank with ye!

After spending a good portion of three days working on this room I feel like the outcome was definitely worth it. No longer does it have thick, textured walls that look like a tsunami, but instead a classy room that will hopefully entice potential home buyers or vacationers looking for a place to rent.

Sweat equity is the best way to increase the value of your home, or at least help turn it into a place that you're proud of.

And I don't think my DIY kick is over just yet. So now it's onto the "weird old-fashioned light switch" room.

Keep workin' :-)

Learning What's Really Important Can Result In Drastic Life Changes

A screenshot from our "Penny Pinching Rap"
AS SEEN ON TV!

Blogging. It's a never-ending saga. Jake and I try to make each post stand on its own, but sometimes you may need to do a little catch-up reading to really know what we're talking about. So if you missed my post about being "house poor" you might want to check it out here before you continue reading. Or not. It's your choice. I'm just saying, it's what awesome people do.

Anyway. Moving on.

In our quest to be debt free as soon as possible, the hubby and I have chosen to put a lot more money toward our mortgage than what the bill calls for. Our plan was to get that bad boy paid off in about five years. And, honestly, we were doing quite well at that. We don't have kids yet. We've both been working hard. So things seemed to be going along beautifully.

And then life happened.

It was around the end of winter that we had multiple unexpected financial burdens heaped upon us, not the least of which was the fact that our mortgage company had screwed up our escrow account BIG TIME! It upped our monthly house payment by $400, which took our whole "pay off the house in five years" plan by the throat, shoved it under water, and held it there until it choked and died.

Then came hurricane Obamacare which demanded every free penny we had and then some.

Moreover, Jake and I have spent the last couple of years realizing just how much time and money it's really going to take to manage our house, even after the mortgage is paid. I mean, the house is huge. It's 150 years old. It needs a new everything. Heating costs are astronomical, not to mention the taxes that show no sign of ever going down. Both my dad and Jake's dad would have a field day in this house, but neither of us are our fathers. We don't know the first thing about renovating. More's the pity.

After two years in this house we now have a better idea of what we want in a home, what we need. We've also learned a lot about each other, what our capabilities are and what's important to us.

On that list of importance is:

1. Being closer to our church in order to be more actively involved in it.


2. Being closer to Jake's job because the hope is that one day I'll be able to stay home with the kids and homeschool, and I know Jake would love not to have to spend five hours a week commuting.


3. Being able to enjoy our home instead of always feeling overwhelmed with a long list of repair jobs.


4. Being closer to family is important to us, especially when we have kids.


5. Being able to free up some money for adoption, which is something Jake and I have always dreamed of doing.

So, we have decided to pray about doing something drastic, and putting what we once thought was our forever home on the market. It's time to find a smaller place, a cheaper place, that will help us out financially and get us more in-line with what we now know to be the things that are really important to us. We want to be done with being "house poor." (Again, if you need that defined check out my previous post on this topic like all the other awesome people do!)

If we do decide to put the house on the market we know it will only sell by a miracle from God, and we are trusting that if this is what He would have for us at this time in our lives than He will do that miracle.

In the meantime, we've begun renovating the upstairs, which will either serve our future family, or perhaps serve as a space we can rent out to earn a little extra money.

Keep pinchin' ;-)

PS. We do plan to fix the basement, unless you all think an indoor pool would help in the selling process!

What It Means To Be "House Poor"

"House poor."

I'm pretty sure the first time I heard that phrase was when Jake and I went to meet with a financial adviser before we bought our house. He looked over our finances and gave us feedback on whether or not it was financially feasible for us to buy a house.

This meeting took place over two years ago now, but I still remember what he said. He warned us by saying that while we could probably swing a mortgage and all the home-maintenance frustrations that come with owning a house, but he wouldn't recommend it at this point. He took into consideration our income levels, along with some debt that we had, and said that, for us, buying a home might make us feel "house poor."

He then went on to describe what being house poor looks like. It doesn't mean that you can't afford to make the payments, but instead that you'll leave yourself with nothing much left after the bills. The house, essentially, will become your life. And since you can't really afford to do anything but stay home and pay for your house, you'll feel "house poor."

I heard him out, and although I believed what he had to say, I was hopeful that things would be different for us. I mean, we weren't planning to spend nearly as much as the bank said we qualified for, and I was sure that in the long run it would be wiser to invest our money into a mortgage instead of rent, and so I made it my mission in life to convince my then fiancé that buying a house was the best option for us.

After all, we were getting married soon and we needed a place to live. How great would it be to start out life together in our very own house!

So after looking at four or five homes we found what we believed to be our "forever" home—a place we could raise a family, grow old together, have the grandchildren come and visit, and host big holiday parties. We had to jump through a ton of hoops in order to purchase the house due to the type of government loan our bank recommended we go with—we had to get permission from the owner to go in and start cleaning to demonstrate to them how serious we were; we had to paint the outbuildings, the deck, the trim, and a bunch of other things. Finally, a month after our wedding, we closed on the house! OUR house!

Fast forward almost two years later.

I can now say I understand firsthand what the phrase "house poor" means. I wouldn't recommend anyone live this way. The house has, exactly as the financial planner warned, become our life. We work to pay off the house, and when we're not working we're thinking of other ways we can work to earn more money to pay off the house. And if we're not doing that we're making emergency fixes to the flooded basement or the broken furnace, we're renovating the upstairs, or just maintaining the property—mowing, shoveling snow, raking leaves, gardening. It never ends.

The time has come for a dramatic change. Jake and I have a lot of things we want to do in life and right now this house is holding us back. We're considering doing something drastic to change our circumstances... but you'll have to come back to find out the rest of that story.

Keep pinchin' ;-)

The Story Behind "Drowning in the Basement"

If you asked either of us where "rapping" fell on the list of Crazy Things We're Going To Do As A Married Couple, we'd both probably say: "Nowhere." Because it never would have occurred to either of us that it would ever happen. But we had so much fun creating "The Penny Pinching Rap"—which talk show host Katie Couric called an "ode to Dave Ramsey"—that we wanted to make another one.

We considered a variety of topics—married life, my motorcycle, an ice cream cone that fell on the ground—but when the topic of our flooded basement kept coming up Dani finally said that we had to do a rap about that.

Which comes first—music or words? For me it's always words. For two reasons:

1. I'm a writer. I like words.


2. I don't know jack about music.

After penning a first verse and a bunch of lines for a couple choruses, I couldn't think of a second verse. I presented my problem to Dani and said, "The only thing I can think of is you talking about how impossible it is to find someone who knows how to fix basements."

And she said, "There you go! Just have me a tell the story."

I created the music in Apple's GarageBand (because that's how sophisticated I am), and then we recorded our vocals, completed the audio track, and finally filmed the video.

People have already remarked about how they're delighted to see that we can take a stressful thing like a flooded basement and make fun of it. In truth, that's pretty much all we can do. We have a sump pump that works hard at controlling the incoming water, but our house sits right on top of the moisture bed and so water flows through our basement almost like a stream sometimes. When it rains hard, that poor sump pump runs almost all day. We can't afford to perform the exterior drainage work required to permanently fix the problem, not now anyway, but as long as it's under control we can live with it.

In the meantime we might as well just have fun and laugh because there's too much life to enjoy to get bent out of shape over spilled milk... er, water. So until our next major life event that inspires another rap video, we hope everyone gets a kick out of "Drowning in the Basement!"


Keep pinchin' :-)

Our New Rap Video: "Drowning in the Basement"

As we've mentioned in previous posts, our basement has enjoyed anywhere from 2-to-20 inches of standing water for the last 16 months. In celebration of our frustration, we present the follow-up to our hit music video "The Penny Pinching Rap" with "Drowning in the Basement!" Enjoy!

God's Grace In The Midst Of A Lawn Mower Battle

I have this buddy who lives in Virginia, and during the months of February and March, while Dani and I are still shoveling snow from our driveway and trying to stay warm, he likes to call me up and talk about how he's prepping the lawnmower for the first mow of the season. When we're still waiting for the temperature to rise above 30, he's out getting a tan. When his barbecue grill has gone through one propane tank, we're still waiting to even use ours.

I don't get to gloat to him very much, but I will say this: I have a far more awesome lawnmower! And though I don't get to use it as much as he gets to use his, mine's got more horsepower, a wider cutting range, and far more style. I try to use this to make him jealous, but I don't think it ever works.

Anyway, so after months and months of a laboriously long winter, we finally had a nice sunny day where I got to dust off my awesome riding mower and give the lawn a once over. First, it was time to change the oil.

And so began the first of many things that went wrong that day.

You shouldn't change the oil on a completely cold engine. It's best to let the mower run for 10 minutes or so to warm up the engine. It makes the oil flow better. But after sitting around all winter, my lawn mower's battery was dead. This did not surprise me, but it didn't really make me happy either. I did a quick internet search to see if it was ok to jumpstart a mower's battery with a car, and though most people said it was ok, they advised: DO NOT START THE CAR! Apparently the rev of the car's engine will overpower the mower's battery and potentially cause it to catch on fire. I'm no mechanic. All I know is what I read, and what I read on at least six different websites was: do not start the car! Do not start the car! Do not start the car!

Well, that didn't work.

My frustration was growing.

I called up a local retailer who serviced the mower and asked about how to jumpstart it. The serviceman said: "Start the car."

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I don't want to blow up my mower."

"What makes you think you'll blow up your mower?" he asked

"The internet."

He laughed. "Well, we do it all the time here."

So I said a quick prayer, started the car, and mower jumpstarted just fine.

Stupid internet.

Now, time to change the oil.

Again, I'm no mechanic, but I've changed the oil on enough cars to know the process. I know you're not supposed to over-tighten the oil filter. It says right on the oil filter: tighten by hand. Furthermore, the John Deere instructional video on how to change your John Deere oil filter clearly states: Be careful not to over-tighten your oil filter. Well whoever it was at the manufacturing plant who put this oil filter on must have used a power drill because I nearly broke my hand trying to get it off. I ended up having to make a trip to Home Depot to buy a special oil filter wrench. After another quick prayer and a few grunts and groans later the filter finally came off.

It was passed noon by the time I finally got the oil changed and I was thoroughly aggravated by what had become an exceptionally long task. My entire morning had been wasted on what should have been a 15 minute job.

And I still wanted to:

1. Mow the law
2. Clean the barbecue grill
3. Take down the broken pieces of fence
4. Stack some wood
5. And maybe get started on the upstairs renovation

Ambitious, I know.

I did manage to clean the barbecue grill though, and that was another laborious task more time consuming and messy than I had anticipated.

But back to the mower.

Ten minutes into mowing the lawn I noticed smoke coming out of the engine. The oil cap had popped off and the brand new three quarts of oil I had poured into the tank was having a party all over the engine. Awesome. Fifteen minutes later everything was as clean as I could make it, but the battery was still dead. So I pushed the mower over to the car to jumpstart it again.

At this point, it occurred to me that with so much oil spread all over the engine, and live jumper cables being hooked up to the mower, there was a good chance I could blow myself up. I had cleaned up the oil spill pretty well, and figured if I was extra cautious when hooking up the cables I would be ok, and—after another quick prayer—I was.

I mowed for another 10 minutes before I had to get off the mower and move the newly cleaned grill. Upon forgetting to put the mower in park, the mower powered down once I stood up. The battery was still dead, and this time I was too far away from the car for a jumpstart.

My aggravation peaked.

It was now about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That's it. I was done. Apparently I was not supposed to work outside that day. Life tried to warn me first thing that morning when the mower's battery was dead, and again during my epic battle with the oil filter. I should've listened. I should've just stayed inside and procrastinated the day away.

But, in the plus column, I learned two things from all of this:

1. The internet is stupid. Granted, the internet has a lot of great advice and instructions for many of life's little issues, but I'm sure if it were possible to compile all of the info on the internet and sort it out into "truth" and "non-truth" 90% of it would be absolute rubbish.


2. God is never-endingly gracious. Despite my horrible attitude, God answered my prayers to help me get the oil filter off. Despite my near temper-tantrum, He answered my prayer to get the mower started. And even though I was ready to put my fist through a wall after the oil spill, God graciously prevented me from blowing up.

Despite all that went wrong that day, and despite my poor attitude, God continued to meet my needs and prove His reliability even when I wasn't acting very deserving of it. It just goes to demonstrate what a truly gracious God we have. His goodness and mercy extends to all those who ask for it.

As far as my awesome lawn mower goes, I'll revisit the dead battery some other day. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, to which I say: good. I didn't want to work outside anyway.

Keep pinchin' :-)

New Year's Resolutions 4 Months Down

Can you believe it's already May? While I have longed for the warmer weather, time seems to be going by faster than ever. I haven't checked in on my New Year's Resolutions in a couple of months, but that doesn't mean I have forgotten them, so here's my latest update.


Faithfulness in our finances. The end of March brought the end of our first time of leading Financial Peace University. It was so fun to go through the class again, and celebrate all the successes our group had throughout the process. In our own finances we have faced many unplanned bills with my car, the furnace, and our escrow account being adjusted up by several hundred dollars. However, God has been faithful to continue to give both of us extra work, so none of these costs have forced us to dip into our emergency savings. We also looked into our car and house insurance and just changed policies that gave us better coverage with a savings of over $300 a year!

Faithfulness in living a healthy lifestyle. My family decided to commence the Belyea Biggest Loser competition last week, which will go through the end of the year, and though I had already started runningI've found that this little competition is making me want to be more faithful. With the warmer weather I am also trying to be more active outside.

Faithfulness in my spiritual life. I am continuing to do the Word of Life Quiet Time online. We have been in 1 Thessalonians recently which I've really enjoyed. This past week I have begun to look into Scripture about our words, and am working on my own little devotional about that, which is fun and good for me. 

Faithfulness in being good stewards of the homestead God has blessed us with. We have continued to host a Faith Group in our home every other week, which we enjoy a lot! Our apple tree, blueberry bushes, and strawberry plants arrived a couple of weeks ago and are in the ground now. I also planted some peas last weekend, and hope to plant lettuce, carrots and more peas in the next week. We are also hoping to start renovating our upstairs into a vacation rental—we don't really use the upstairs space at the moment and we could use the extra income.

Faithfulness in being the wife my husband needs me to be. I am working on turning my sarcasm into encouragement, hence my study on words. That is the biggest area that I can currently see that needs work because I so often forget how damaging my words can be, and how much he really needs me to be his cheerleader.

How are you doing with your New Year's Resolutions? If some have fallen by the wayside, it's never too late to pick them back up again!

Keep pinchin' :-)

The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle - Feather Your Nest This Spring

So, the hubby and I are fairly new to this whole blogging adventure. Originally we set out just to tell our story, keep a journal of our progress, and share what works and doesn't work as we journey to debt-free living.

While we enjoy this whole blogging thing it does take time, and so we ventured into the process of trying to earn a little money from our blog, hence the ads you may see, and the occasional "plug a product" post, in which we'll include a link to a product that we may earn some money on if it gets enough clicks. Honestly we haven't really made any money off of it so far, but since an income is secondary to our original goal we keep pressing on.

Just this week I was given the opportunity to plug an awesome bundle of e-books, which will be on sale until Monday. While this opportunity does offer me a pretty decent commission, I don't share it just because of that. After looking into all you can get from this deal I wanted everyone I know to hear about this amazing opportunity.

Here is a little video which will give you some info about why you need the Ultimate Bundle.

I purchased mine the other night and am so excited about all it has to offer. There are 78 e-books in this package covering topics like faith, kids, financial stewardship, food, heath and wellness, holidays and special events, homemaking, homeschooling, marriage, motherhood, pregnancy and babies, self-care, working from home, and blogging.

Not only are these fantastic books, but the authors seem like great people. By purchasing this bundle you are actually supporting missionaries, stay-at-home moms, and many working moms too! Here is a picture of some of the books included:

Epic, right?

And there's also about $200 in bonuses!

These books sold individually would come to a grand total of $698.

So, why am I sharing this with you? Because if you want to get your hands on all of these great resources and not pay $698, then all you need to do is purchase it between now and Monday night at midnight and you can get all of this and more for only $29.97 for the PDF files and $39.97 for Kindle versions. If this is something you think you would like to give to a friend they also have a special offer of buy two get the third free!

All you have to do is click on the picture below! 

I hope you enjoy this bundle as much as I am. Now I'm off to figure out how to make some "ice cream with nourishing ingredients" and then maybe read the Frugal Secrets of Real Foodies. If you have any questions about the bundle feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Yearning for the Good Old Days of "Old Fashioned" Living

The hubby and I often talk about our imaginary kiddos and how we want to raise them amidst this crazy world we live in. We look around and see that most kids aren't living like we did growing up and we think it's detrimental to their development. It's not uncommon to see children—and I'm talking, like, 10 and under—pulling out iPhones or iPods when they're out of the house and glued to the TV when they're in the house. That's not what we want for our kids. We want a bit more simplicity, fewer electronics, more games of tag and Kick the Can, all of which, by today's standards, is pretty old fashioned.

Not only do I want this for the kiddos we will one day have, but it's what I want for us too. It's so easy to get home from work and for each of us to hop onto our laptops in separate rooms and spend most of the evening catching up on Facebook, Pinterest, or checking out the latest movie trailers. I'm not saying there is necessarily anything wrong with this, but sometimes it makes me wish for the past, before my life revolved around the internet.

I have to be intentional though, as the internet has become such a part of my daily life. It's where I catch up with friends and family, check out crafts and recipes, look at the weather, and get the news. But I know that if I don't start being intentional about cutting back now, then how can I expect to be able to teach my kids to slow down and enjoy life, to spend more quality time with the people in their lives.

I guess it's like that in a lot of areas of my life, areas that I hope will be different when we have kids. Without even realizing it I've convinced myself that I'm going to be this whole different person with lots of patience, wisdom, kindness, gentleness, self-control... You know, the fruits of the spirit thing?

Who am I kidding though? If anything all of those things will be even harder to cultivate in my life when those little bundles of joy arrive. I must begin now. Things must change. I have to decide what I want and move in that direction.

Recently I've begun reading a lot, and while I have a kindle, I really enjoy going to the library and picking up a real book, something I fear future generations will only read about in history. As a child I loved reading, but as an adult I've allowed the busyness of life to take that love away from me.

But, you know, there is something really special about curling up by a fire and diving into a good story that can take you to another world. I don't want to miss out on that anymore. I am hopeful that this is just one small step in moving back to my roots, to life before the internet. I'm not saying I won't use the internet at all anymore, but I want it to become something that I don't have to do, something that, on some days, I'm just too busy enjoying life to pay any attention to.

I want to begin the journey to old fashioned living, so that someday I can take my kids on a journey there with me, and share in the joy of being together, slowing down, and having the time of our lives!

Keep pinchin' :-)

New Years Resolutions 2 Months In!

Two months of the year 2014 are already in the books. Craziness! I swear that every year time goes by faster. Gone are the days where summer vacation felt longer than the school year :-) This past month has thrown my schedule for another whirlwind, as I've finally been transferred to my program here in Bethlehem, but have been working 8-4 Monday-Friday. It's hard being 'faithful' when I'm still in limbo with getting to my end goal of being the awake overnight staff.


Faithfulness in our finances. February proved to be another solid month in working on getting to be debt free. We base our budget on a four week plan, and so in a year's time we come up with an extra month of payments, which helped our mortgage greatly. In the past year and a half we have almost paid off $20,000 on our mortgage which can only be summed up as a God thing. Financial Peace University is also going well, and it has been fun to get excited over other's success in this area. 

Faithfulness in living a healthy lifestyle. Since transitioning to Bethlehem I have been trying to walk to work any day it isn't sub zero temperatures, which unfortunately has not been as often as I would like. Hopefully in the next couple weeks it will warm up so I can walk and also change to being overnights so I can get my exercise in during the night.

Faithfulness in my spiritual life. I went ahead and got the year subscription to the Word of Life Quiet Time Diary. I like devotionals because it is strictly Scripture with some commentary and thought-provoking questions. It doesn't take long to do it though so my hope is once I start overnights I can beef it up with other things or even just committing to spending part of my night in prayer and Scripture memorization. 

Faithfulness in being good stewards of the homestead God has blessed us with. This month we have begun hosting a small group bible study called FAITH Group, in our home every other week. This was our heart's desire when we were looking at purchasing a home. We wanted a space big enough to have other believers in and it's nice to finally see that happening on a more regular basis.

Faithfulness in being the wife my husband needs me to be. I completed my 14 days of Love for Jake, with writing something I love about him every day. It was good for me to think about things I sometimes take for granted and put words to things I should say on a more regular basis. I have been home in the evenings so I've been able to enjoy making dinner for the two of us, which is a nice change from the 3-4 nights I would get to be with him in the past.

Any progress on your resolutions or word for the year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Being Content When Life Isn't As Easy As I Want It To Be

If you remember our crazy lawnmower story from last week, it's easy to see how sometimes God decides to make things a little bit easier for people. Dani and I had spent a lot of time in prayer over our lawnmower situation, and God answered in a big, big way. Today, instead of pushing around an ancient little mower, we are blessed to have a brand new riding mower that was given to us by a very generous anonymous donor.

It's winter now, and for some reason God has decided not to miraculously bless us with a snowblower in the same way—imagine that. As any hardened New Englander will tell you, a snowblower is needed almost as much as a lawnmower up in these here northern parts, but God hasn't answered. It's not like we're expecting another giant yard appliance to simply fall into our laps, but to be offered a good deal on one would be nice, or maybe an affordable plow for the lawnmower. Something. Anything but shoveling it all by hand.

Alas, nothing. Nadda. God hasn't seen fit to answer us in that department.

It occurred to me on my way to work yesterday that whenever I pray for God to bless us with a snowblower, what I'm really asking Him is, "God, please make my life easier." That's what we usually pray isn't it? I mean, really, deep down, it's what we're asking—God, help me earn more money; provide me with a better car; give me a good night's sleep tonight.

Don't get me wrong, these are all good prayers—God wants us to verbalize our every need to Him, and He delights in fulfilling those needs—but I think sometimes we need to take a step back and accept the fact that maybe making our lives easier isn't always God's main objective. Maybe, for now, He wants me out there toiling in the snow by hand. Maybe it's His way of keeping me fit. Maybe He just wants me outside away from the computer, the TV, the phone, and all the other distractions of every day life. Maybe it's His way of spending some time with me.

And I've squandered it all away because I've been too busy moaning over the lack of ease in my life.

I think I'm going to be shoveling snow differently now. I think if that's what God wants me to do then there must be a good reason for it. We'll get a snowblower someday, I'm sure, but for now God wants me out in the snow with a shovel in my hand. I'll try to just trust His judgement and not complain so much... well, I'll probably still complain. A little. But not as much.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Pinwheels For Spring!

Recently we had a bit of a warm spell, so I felt the need to transition our home from Winter to Spring. Unfortunately I don't have many Spring decorations, but I figured I could come up with something. I decided to make pinwheels in fun spring colors to decorate the mantle in our living room and the wreath on our door. I had made pinwheels before as part of the grand send-off at our wedding, so after a quick refresher I was on my way.

To make pinwheels you will need colored paper, scissors, a ruler, pins and tape. First I cut out different size squares, for some of them I used scissors that cut with designs to add to a little fun.

Then you need to cut a diagonal line from each of the 4 corners toward the middle, but don't cut all the way through!

Then fold the left corner into the middle and continue until you have 4 corners in the middle. I then placed a pin through the center of the pinwheel and, with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, bent the pin in the back 90 degrees to hold it in place. For some of my pinwheels I layered two different size pinwheels on top of each other to create some texture—if you choose to do this be sure to put the pin through both pinwheels and then bend it.

I taped the bent pin down in the back to secure it and then used a piece of florist wire to attach my pinwheel to my burlap wreath.

For the garland I taped the pin down in the back and then punched a hole through the tips of two of the petals on the pinwheel to feed the yarn through.

I made too many and so I ended up attaching some of them to craft sticks to display in a vase on top of the mantel and the rest I propped up against picture frames. 

The whole project took me a little over an hour from start to finish and it added a nice splash of Spring to the house! Here's to hoping Spring isn't too far off!

Keep pinchin' :-)

When You Want To Throw A Tantrum

Last week I wrote about how I don't cry at the grocery store anymore, and though that is true I said nothing about throwing a tantrum! Haha!

Today I went to get a "few things" and yet it still came out to almost my whole weekly budget, yet I felt like I walked away with so little. So what's a girl to do? BAKE and COOK! It's a simple solution to making your husband believe there really is food in your house.

Here are a couple of recipes for you that have been stamped with the hubster's approval:

Hot Dog or Hamburger Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon of instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg

Directions:

• In a small bowl, heat milk, water and butter in the microwave for about a minute, or until butter is melted and you can place your finger in the mixture without feeling like you would burn yourself.
• In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour a 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Or you can make it in your KitchenAid mixer and knead for a couple of minutes.
• Place dough in greased bowl, cover and let rise in your cold oven for one hour.
• Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for another hour in the oven. Take out of the oven to preheat and brush egg yolk or melted butter on top.
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
• For Hot Dog Buns: Make sure to roll the dough out into a rectangle, and then roll dough up along the long side. Pinch ends to seal shut. This will more than double in size when you let them rise for an hour, so make them very skinny, but long.

I chose to make both hot dog and hamburger rolls out of one batch—because there are only two of us—and I came up with six hot dog rolls and 10 hamburger rolls. 

Then I made yummy chewy granola bars:

No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quick cooking oats 
• 1 C rice crispy cereal
• 1/4 C shredded coconut
• 1/4 C butter
• 1/4 C honey 
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbs peanut butter
• 1/2 C mini chocolate chips

Directions:

• In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oats, cereal and coconut. Set a small saucepan over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the honey, brown sugar and salt to the melted butter. Stir together then leave it alone as it comes to a boil. Once the boil has reached all the way around the edges of the pan, begin timing. Allow this mixture to boil for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. During this time, you may need to turn the heat down a bit so it doesn't overflow, but be sure it keeps boiling.
• Add the vanilla and peanut butter then pour the mixture over the oats, using a rubber spatula to get all the sugar mixture out of the pan. Mix the ingredients together until the oats are completely coated. Add in chocolate chips then press very firmly into a lightly greased 9x13" pan. If you like your bars thicker, you can use a smaller pan. If you do not press firmly enough, the bars will fall apart when you eat them. Place them in the fridge for 20 minutes then cut to size and wrap individually if you want.

For more variations of this recipe and to see the original check out My Kitchen Escapades.

Keep pinchin' :-)