Spending or Saving: Part 7 (4 More Habits to Cultivate)

Welcome! Thanks for joining in this series about financial literacy, finances, and our spending and saving habits.

If this is your first visit - wow, thanks for spending your time here.  Please stay awhile. I'd so enjoy getting to know you.

And, maybe you'll want to click here and check the bottom of the post to find the other parts of this series.

I'm stealing a few quiet moments away with a steamy, smoky, and spicy cup of coffee to keep pressing on keys and chronicle some habits we can cultivate to achieve both short and long term financial goals. Whether it's to have more money than month, take a special vacation, a kitchen remodel, or a great pair of shoes we all have things that we want to afford.  And, we all have things we need to afford.

I think this next set of habits will help.

Dave Ramsey  says, "Cash is King".
Really, is it any surprise that in general consumers show more restraint when using cash to make purchases?  There's something physical, visceral even, in drawing bills out against the sides of an envelope or billfold and using our senses to understand that there is such a thing as empty.

Talk to anyone who's used a zero based budget and a set of envelopes filled with cash for purchasing fuel, clothing, food, home goods- you get it, whatever, and they'll tell you it works.  They may no longer be using a cash envelope system, but I bet they'll tell you it was a valuable reset if not total revamp of their budget.  In a good way.

Weekend Farmer husband and I are slowly changing our practices to use more and more cash.  
Yes, it means more trips to the bank and more careful planning, but in our case that's exactly what we need.
Two changes in particular have been to purchase prepaid bank cards for specific events like Christmas or my occasional but important trips to IKEA.  And, as there is no particular incentive or savings to have Weekend Farmer Husband's paycheck direct deposited, we've elected to receive it in the mail (he works from a home office in one of our outbuildings), thus requiring us to bi-weekly at least pay attention to what's coming in, and you got it, what we're spending!

I feel like I risk insulting you when I write the next tip, but it seems like our culture has moved in such a way that this next habit is particularly challenging.  So at the risk of offending and or overstating.-

Save. (duh.) 
I'd venture to say eleventy billion words have already been written about this habit.  But, I cannot imagine what stress and suffering our family would have endured during Weekend Farmer Husband's season of unemployment if we had not had the sense to ask the question , "What will we do if we are suddenly without income?".  So, we were a little bit ready (if there is such a thing in relationship to trauma), and had a three to six month plan loosely formed for such an event.  It was messy and we disappointed ourselves, and our plans didn't cover our lifestyle and perceived needs as well as we anticipated.  But, phew, although we're set back a ways in saving for the future, we didn't incur debt.

If you read nothing else please read this:
God mercifully and abundantly provided for our needs, taught us gentle lessons about His character, exposed idols, ministered to our hearts, and gave generous gifts from family and friends.  
Although I would not choose it, I would not trade it.

This is pretty simple stuff actually.  There are expenses you can predict like insurance, taxes, gifts, monthly prescriptions, etc. that logically fall under the umbrella of savings.  Short term savings that is.  You know you're gonna spend the money, so put it aside or plan for the expenditure.  No surprises.

Sometimes surprises come.  I've lost track of the number of times I've had just enough savings stored up to purchase a new sofa, or a pretty light fixture, or a better set of pots and pan, and boom - time for a new transmission, or a hospital stay.  God's providence has always preceded us and we've often had just enough to meet the unanticipated.

But, that's not really what I'm advocating.  I'm storytelling.

What I want to make a better habit of is growing a small savings account that is specifically set aside for this type of surprise.  My understanding that this account should have about $1000 dollars available quickly, liquid.

Other savings include down payments for homes, vehicles, vacations, orthodontia - again, it's a spending plan that begins with saving.

I think I'd also categorize an emergency fund that covers approximately 3-6 months of living expenses as yet another savings plan.  When trauma comes, and it always does, this is intended for spending to meet needs and relieve at least a portion of the financial assault that loves to piggy back on trouble.

And, I must tread lightly here- I have mixed feelings about long term savings.  I have to admit that there's a tremendous amount of common sense that accompanies retirement accounts, IRA's, 401k's, annuities, etc.
But, here again, I tip so easily over into false gods and the idol of perceived security.  Weekend Farmer Husband and I try our darndest here, and a healthy portion of each year's income is deposited into long term accounts, but speaking for myself, I am too often confident of what our portfolio should look like in 30 years (r-i-i-i-i-ght), than I am what my heart should look like.  Do I depend entirely on my gracious and generous God for every good thing?  Or, do I work a little harder, tighten my belt one more tug, and place my trust in my works or man made structures more than the God of the universe therefore "allowing" myself to dabble in excessive work (or not challenging Weekend Farmer Husband to moderate his work) in order to self righteously prepare for whatever the future is?

What's the line between responsibility and trusting in things that will pass away?

Am I alone in this?

Credit cards?  Best advice - avoid 'em.
Some of you probably do very well with using credit cards for targeted purchases, perhaps taking advantage of incentives, and pay your balance off monthly.  That was never us.

If you've read this far and stuck with me until now, I would advise you to ask hard questions about whether or not you really do have the capacity to avoid the easy pitfalls credit cards present.
Some folks suggest they keep them for emergencies.
Ok. I can relate to that, but to me they add the potential for more trouble.
I like to keep cash/liquid assets for emergencies.
Emergencies are trouble enough without adding debt.
Sometimes it is unavoidable, and I've signed on the debt line enough times myself to understand being between a rock and an empty bank account.
May I present this to you as a non judging habit to practice?
Unless you can not love brownies, baby bunnies, unicorns, and all manner of awesomeness this life presents, it's likely best to shred the plastic as we were made to love and worship, so something is always pulling on our hearts, and often our bank account.

Learn how to wait.
Make do.
Find a substitution - shop the house, barn, garage, or closet first to see what you already have that might fill the gap.
If you have to buy now, buy used.
Life without craigslist and rummage sales would be very bleak indeed.  And, I'd probably still be sitting on my father in law's favorite couch from 1965, generously donated to our home some years ago.  When springs and sticky out metal parts began to threaten our legs and send us running for band aids after every story time, it was time to replace it.
We waited until we had enough to purchase a new couch up front.  And we put band aids on the old couch's poky parts so it's couldn't grab us every time we got near.
In our nearly quarter decade of marriage I can find 5 furniture items in our house that we bought new aside from mattresses.
Most of our clothes are from swaps or thrift stores.
All but one of our vehicles was used when we purchased it.

Not only can you find a great deal if you're patient and wait for the right amount of finances and opportunity for making a purchase, you have opportunity to discern if what you're pursuing is truly a need, or might it fall into a want category thereby giving you opportunity to evaluate if this is where your limited resources are most desired and best channeled.

None of these are too hard for us are they?
They're hard, but not too hard.
I'll tell you what I tell  myself and my farm kids.

Laura, farm girls are tough.  You can do it.
Fairy princess farm girl, farm chicks are tough.  You can do it.
And so on.

Friend, you are tough.
You can do it.

Building a Bridge - can I even get from 25 to 26?

It's all good here on Liberty Farm.  The wheels of life have been spinning merrily along and I'm thwarted at every turn when it comes to finding my way to the keyboard.  I must have written at least 39 blog posts (in my imagination) today alone...and it seems like hundreds of ideas and words have knocked around in my grey matter for the month preceding, but alas, they may only remain sentence fragments in my head.

Unless...I resume the tap dance here.  The key stroking, story editing, picture taking, chronicling habit that brings me to the keys, and the heart skippity happy sound that comes from them pressed down, forming into words that fill the empty space and breathe life back into this routine.

Yes, I have some unfinished business here.  Y'all need to come set a spell while I wrap up 31 Days of Green Acres.  I owe you six. Phew-I can't even think that far ahead.  Getting from Day 25 to 26 is going to be quite enough of a stretch, not because of the content, but because of absence.  And, heavens to Betsy, I still haven't got those bovine beauties to wrap up their gripping tail ahem, tale, of their weekend away. Seems like that story might be a good fit in the series.

But first, an update.

It's a good one.

Weekend Farmer Husband is once again gainfully employed.  He'll be working in the same industry, doing the same thing, in the same/similar region, and, as before, will be able to spend most of his office time in his home office.  His "official" start date is likely to be next Monday and while I'm filled with profound gratitude for the return of income to our life, I'm kinda wiggy about the transition we'll undergo.  He's enjoyed every moment of Full Time Farmer, and there wasn't a day that he couldn't find something productive and enjoyable to do, so the return to corporate culture and its demands seems overwhelming.  He's ready though.  For that, I am thankful.

Lacking a graceful transition other than the photograph above I'll plunge right into one of the "things" that's kept me a little distracted from writing. I've been challenged, reawakened, engaged, and blessed to participate in an online book club hosted by the effervescent, brilliant, one and only Edie, from life{in}grace..  Y'all should pop on over and meet her.  You'll come away warmed, inspired, convicted, and probably wanting your very own pair of cowboy boots.  I also hope you'll be interested in reading along as a few of us nerds unite to page by page read through the classics of Western Literature.  The first two books we read, Homer's Odyssey, and Antigone by Sophocles, were (dare I say it...?) a breeze and blew through the cobwebs of my mind to clear out the accumulated clutter of an active but too often unintentional mind.

 Plato?  The Republic?  Kicking me in the backside it is.  I am so looking forward to the online discussion starting.  I think it'll be a little like a literature based 30 Day Shred!  What?  You aren't interested in that kind of pain?  Me neither.  That's why there's so many other books on the stack.  I can only keep my eyeballs on the pages of The Republic for a short time before I'm unable to keep my attention.  The seed catalogs, library books, and over all easier reading have kept my reading muskles, ( you should be hearing Popeye here folks...), from seizing up.

What's this about a bridge?  After all that's in the title. Well, nothing really.  It was just a way to step into this gap and with words build a metaphorical bridge of sorts to help close the space between where I left off and where I must continue to go.  So would you pretty please leave this poor beggar a comment and let me know you've come visiting?  Us country folk love a good chat.

Here and Now

Do you have a few minutes?  Please stay, if you can, and savor some of the images of summer so far.

When I was a professional outside the home gal, I taught a number of courses for a local university.  One of the more fun classes I taught was a sort of introductory class for adults returning to complete their degree following an extended absence from the classroom.  One of the chapters in the required reading for the course focused on memory skills - how to build them, how to keep them.  And, it provided a list of 20 tips.  Each time I taught the course we'd do a lot of interactive experiential exercises to create multiple pathways for learning and then take a quiz to try and recall all 20.  I might score 60% now several several semesters removed from the classroom...?

One of the tips has had a lasting impression on me.

"Pay attention to your attention."

What am I thinking about right now?  What's going on here, right where I am?  What am I giving my attention to?  Am I focused on what I should be or am I wandering and allowing myself to become distracted?  How will I pay enough attention to this moment that I'll remember it?  Am I here right now?

Hence the post's title - Here and Now.  And for my former students who might stumble upon this little space of mine, I do also remember that one of the tips is "Be Here Now".  The ideas are quite similar.

This summer I'm trying to linger long in the moments we have.  So much is unanticipated and brand new.  And even though I feel like the world would tell me to worry because we have no steady source of income, the Lord has gently shepherded our hearts and is making real to us a feet on the ground understanding of, "Do not be anxious for anything".

There's been little time for words on the screen or page.  But the camera is always near and ready to capture and chronicle image where symbols are scant.

There'll be another season where life gives way to words and expression can be cultivated in sentence form.

For now however, sit a spell, soak it all in with me.  Savor life to the full giving thanks to the Giver of all good gifts who never leaves us nor forsakes us.  He is here.

What Heat?

Undaunted by sustained and soaring temps, undeterred by air quality alerts, and unashamed to be sweaty, shirtless (for the guys of course), and covered with grime we press on with projects.

The day - the week, promises to be a scorcher and we will enjoy it to the full with power tools, swimming, berries, our county youth fair, and cool breeze from fan blades playing over our skin while we sink into slumber.

Tasks fill the time and strangely push away worry even though there are no imminent prospects for new employment for Weekend Farmer Husband.  We've been blessed by the "extra" time afforded by the loss of his day job, and trust that our efforts to redeem the land and this farm bless the Lord as we seek to be faithful to steward time, energy, and talent well.

Mulch and a deep weekly watering have preserved our front landscape transplants, the posts and porch floor have received their much needed coat(s) of paint, and today we will build new steps and a rail.

Looking forward to a great big photo "Why don't y'all set a spell" blog post.

Frankly, I've lost track of my list of gifts in recent weeks- it has shaped my heart and thoughts for so long now that I strangely do and don't miss it.  I miss it because it's been a rich habit to cultivate.  I don't because the Holy Spirit has so changed the way I see that I no longer "need" a list to experience the wealth of an abundantly present completely good Lord.  I won't abandon the list...still finding my bearings in the newness of Weekend Farmer Husband always home and him driving the schedule and activities all day rather than our customary shared roles in determining what is to be done and when. And, you know it - as do I - just when we think we have a handle on a habit, unforeseen forces almost always threaten to undo it.  I hope I know better than to invite that kind of trouble...

Savoring - Little Things 2012

Patience, my friends, patience.

While these docile creatures sniff the breeze and feast on long grass, Part II is in it's final stages of development.

Edited to add: And please forgive the random advertising pop up hyper links.  They're all underlined.  I don't know where they came from or how to get rid of them? Obviously I will be learning something new in order to resolve this intrusion.

Meanwhile, we're drinking deep of sweet sweet summer and savor its gifts from sun up to sun down.

Is there anything more divine than a perfectly sun ripened strawberry?

We have the tiniest most succulent strawberry patch in two raised beds that yield ruby red jewels.  Weekend Farmer Husband and I often stroll the property in the evenings with fists full of berries, slipping each berry into our mouths and wondering if we can even comprehend how blessed we are.

To fill the pantry with summer's stores we buy multiple flats from local growers.  And then we commence to make a steamy, sticky, syrupy, sensational mess of the kitchen for a couple days:

Mmmmmmm - Strawberry jam in shiny glass jars and freezer bags full for pies, smoothies, and baking later in the season.

When the kitchen has cooled, is cleaned and reclaimed, we start all over again after supper.

Mountains spill over the counters:

The sharp contrast of steamy bright asparagus plunged into icy water while evening breeze ruffles through the kitchen windows brings a settled deep satisfaction to the night.  Bags ready with spring green wait in the freezer to accompany hearty roasts, potatoes from our garden, and lingering Sunday dinner. The sting of January seems less concerning.

Seeds are sown in long rows and the sprinkler makes it's regular hum through the day, coaxing optimism from the soil.  Sprouts are pushing through and there's less anxiety that we got our gardens in "late" as we see the earth yield.  Our soil will require years of amending so we're avid composters.

Good thing I'm finding these all over the yard and porches!

Home days have been very restorative for Weekend Farmer Husband, and there's been a chance to grieve, reflect, pray, and rest.  Faithful prayers of family and friends have upheld us and we are encouraged and made hopeful by a flurry of interviews and possibilities for the near future.  We are settling into a more mature understanding that the LORD is our provider and He may require us to wait rather than have work (income), and if that is so, we will yield to Him and His blessings rather than our own comfort or plans. (Did I really just type that...*gulp*)  Well, at least that's how we in humility hope to respond.

Projects abound.  We wonder how we ever maintained/sustained all the operations of our mini farm before Weekend Farmer Husband was devoting most of his days to fixing, building, tinkering, and overall giving his focus to Liberty Farm.  It's a little frightening how much we fly by the seat of our pants...but, it points to God's faithful confirmation of this venture.

And as I suspected in writing earlier this year about how I hope to focus and respond to what the Holy Spirit equips us for in our kingdom work, the little things have continued to hold my attention and teach big lessons.

Psalm 46:10
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; 
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

Whose Idea Was This Anyway?

Picture this.  We're young and probably immature.  It's a family member's birthday and he's just ever so slightly older than us.  There's not a history of exchanging gifts, but we do seek the perfect card.

The one.  Simple.  A line drawing - almost a sketch - with just the minimal water coloring to fill it in.

Is there such a thing as the perfect hybrid of wonky and geeky?  That's what this youngish looking line drawn man looks like.  The text balloon above his head says, "Remember when you were 14 and you couldn't wait  to grow up?"

Inside - "Who's good idea was that? Happy Birthday anyway..."

Ha. Ha.  It was funny back then since we had just entered into the realm of grown up, newly married, finishing up school, managing finances, and excitedly living the adult experience.

Fast forward.  May 2012.  Being a grown up is tough. Although many are in bloom, things just aren't coming up all roses around here.  And being "grown up" is a good idea.

We've encountered unprecedented challenges in parenting.  The mini farm we're gratefully developing taxes all our limits.  Finances are strained.   No kidding, our cows ran away and took a three day mini vacation in the 100+ acres of woods, swamp, and neighbors fields - unbelievable stress and exertion tracking them, understanding their away from home habits, and eventually just waiting for them to come home.  (Do you want to hear more on this later...it has the potential to be a pretty entertaining post?)

And here's the biggie.  Unemployment.  Ugh.  That's a weighty one to type.  After many years of commitment,  sacrifice, and personal investment, Weekend Farmer Husband's company has severed ties and he's out of a job.

So, how could this possibly be a good thing?  A good idea?

Although the stress and discomfort produces a constant ache in my chest, there's a deeper knowing even more central.  This is the process of maturing.  The coming to contentment in plenty or in want.  Personally experiencing weakness, completely coming to the end of ourselves, and resulting in the increased understanding that when we are poor He is rich.  It's the feeling like you're at the edge of an endless abyss and circumstances beyond your control shove you in.

And it feels like a bad thing, this free fall.

But, God's ideas for how we grow are far beyond ours.  And He is always good.

So, for those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and live to glorify God our Father, this is a good idea. It necessarily and logically follows.

Because this free fall doesn't require or even offer a safety net - no matter how much we want or think we need it.

Unconcerned with how fast, how far, how sloppily we fall we can only end up in one place.

We fall into the infinite character of God who never changes and who's promises hold fast.

And when all else seems to be coming undone it comes to me as more than a good idea.  It is my only comfort in life that I belong body and soul to the One who holds all things together for His glory and my good.

Amen.

• In uncertainty and want, the Holy Spirit tenderly leads through scripture, songs, and worship to minister to my fearful heart.
• Friends rally.
• Holiday weekend takes the edge off no office hours required.
• Plenty of deferred work getting done in barns, around the property, and the messy stashes of a busy life.
• Cows quietly enjoying their green pastures while the electric fence (newly reinforced) hums all around them.
• Strangers providing for needs we didn't even know we had.
• Friends just showing up and praying.
• Seeds going into earth promising a harvest and providing metaphors for hope in this gritty personal growing season.
• Mercy poured out and lavish forgiveness for the guilt I bear from selfish sin.
• Excellent hospitality in recent weeks growing relationship in our community of faith.
• Enough for now.  Isn't that always enough?
• White Horses  stampede and threaten to sweep away, but this repost reminds me it's all good.
  
• Grace aplenty.