No man is rich who spends more than he earns and no man is poor who earns more then he spends.

Jill

Not to long ago I wrote an article about fear and the spirit of fear. Shortly after I wrote it I had a very interesting conversation with an older woman. I have known this woman for a long time and even though she has always considered herself a strong Christian, fear and worry have been her middle name.

What made me stop and think was a story she told me. Some how we got to talking about parking garages and she told me how her granddaughter had worked at a place where she had to park in a parking garage everyday. The woman went on to say that she each day she worried herself sick that something was going to happen to her granddaughter in that parking garage.

Many months even years later this granddaughter is fine and nothing ever happened to her. This woman has worried about many things like this all of her life and not one of them have ever come to pass. Do you know how much time and energy she has wasted and spent on something that never even existed in her life and the chances are that they never will?

I wonder how many of us use up our time on worrying about things that will never happen? Think in your own life, what have you worried about in the past week, month or year that never came to pass or that if it did happen it worked out fine, you lived through it or it didn’t turn out as bad as you thought?How many things do we buy or see advertised that are suppose to help take care of something we are worried about?

Maybe when in Philippians 4:8 it talks about thinking on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and anything that is excellent or praiseworthy, one of the things it is really meaning is to think on these things because it will help you get rid of worrying thoughts and fearful thoughts. If you read the verses above it ( vs 6) it says be anxious about nothing and then follows with what you are to think on. Worrying thoughts are not on the list.

God gives us many commandments. All of which are for our own good. So often we become self righteous and proud of ourselves because we wouldn’t dream of committing adultery, murder or steal but how often do we fall into Satan’s trap and break what we Christians sometimes think of as the “little or not so important” commandments like do not be anxious, fear not, don’t gossip etc?

Like the “main” commandments He gives us these others for our own good and protection in the same way we give should give rules to our children for their own good and protection. Worries and fears can not only destroy our lives but our family’s lives just as murder, adultery and stealing can. If you think about it worrying and fear is a form of stealing, adultery and murder; it steals from our mind good, loving and practical thoughts, it commits adultery by causing us to always think on our worries instead of God and our family, it murders because if you worry enough it will kill your physical body, your emotional life and your spiritual life.

You have all heard the story of the man looking down the road and there were 10 “worries” headed toward him. He didn’t know what to do he was so afraid but in the end only one arrived.

Don’t allow Satan to win this battle by keeping you wrapped up in your worries. You and I both know worrying has never ever fixed one thing whether it is your finances, your marriage or your kids. Get rid of your worries and fears so you can use the common sense that God has given you to deal with the one problem (like in the story), when and if it comes because chances are it won’t even happen.

I hope you all have a “worry” free day.

Jill

Since today is my Birthday and I LOVE cheescake I just had to make sure you guys knew about this great deal! I just wish we had a Cheesecake Factory here!
Tawra

From: Rebecca P.
On July 30th the Cheesecake Factory is
celebrating its 30th anniversary. You can buy a
slice of Cheesecake for $1.50! This would make a
great date night.

From: suzanne balvanz
Hi Tawra:

I am a constant reader. LOVE your blog. And I
love saving money. I wanted to share this tip
with you. In my “real” job, I am a photographer.
Since I work myself, I call the shots. One of the
things that I do probably every six months is do
a Freebie Call. This means I offer a bunch of
free sessions to a large cross-section of people.
This gives me fresh faces for my portfolion and
it gives my clients FREE PHOTOS. It’s a win-win.

I just offered a Freebie Call to some seniors in
the area and had 12 families participate. You can
let you tell your readers that they, too, can
contact photographers in their area to see if any
such Freebies exist where they live.

I would even be willing to offer a Freebie to
readers of your blog, if they live within a 30
mile radius of my address…(with gas prices gone
crazy, I don’t drive far unless I HAVE TO…)

Thanks for all you do. You’re awesome!!

Suzanne Balvanz
Mom, ARMY wife, Homeschooler and Photographer
www.PictureThisbySuzanne.com
and my blog is at
www.suzannebalvanz.blogspot.com

EMail: balvanzfamily@gmail.com

Don’t forget to get your free Money Management e-book from us today only!
Feel free to pass this on to your friends! Tawra

http://homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/

We have all heard it said that we are to encourage our kids and that they respond better to encouragement than to criticism. Usually when we think of encouraging, we think of something like saying, “Good job” or “You’re doing really well”. This is one way of setting up your kids for success.

Another way to encourage them and help them succeed is to arrange things so that their daily tasks or chores are easier.

For example:

• If you expect them to hang up their coats each day, you are setting them up for failure if the coat rack is too high or if the coat hooks aren’t large enough.

• If you expect them to pick up their dirty clothes, then provide them with hampers in their rooms.
• If you require your children to make their beds, give them comforters instead of bedspreads, since comforters are easier for them to use.

Companies that are successful usually have employees that enjoy their work. One way that you can make the work more fun for your kids by providing mini-aprons for the girls while they help mom clean the kitchen. If you don’t have a small apron, then just fold a large cotton dish towel into a triangle and tie it around her waist.

My daughter bought a butcher’s apron for my grandson and decorated it for him to use when he makes pancakes. He loved it and making breakfast for the family is now a treat and not a chore for him.

Another thing you can do to make it easier for both you and your kids is to make lists of chores and hang them in certain areas. I’m not talking about the usual chore lists. These are lists explaining how to do the chores.

For example, when you tell your child to go clean his room, “clean” could mean any number of things. Usually, what you consider cleaning the room is not your child’s idea of cleaning it. In his room, post a list of what specific tasks your child should do when you tell him to clean his room. Kids are very literal thinkers and being specific will make the process smoother (At the same time, avoid including too many details).

Here are some examples of this type of list:

Clean Room

Make Bed
Put dirty clothes in hamper
Pick up all toys off of the floor and put in bins
Vacuum

Set Table

Place mats
Plates
Forks, Knives, Spoons
Napkins
Salt and Pepper
Butter

Laundry

Sort into colors; lights, white, colors
Check for stains
Fill washer 3/4 full
Put detergent in washer
(and list the rest of the details in doing the laundry…)

Kids tend to tune mom out after she has told them the same thing over and over. A child will follow a list better than too many verbal instructions, and it saves mom from having to repeat herself. You can make these lists for all kinds of things including steps to clean the kitchen, the bathroom or the family room.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t have to pop in once in a while to help and teach them, but this will save some time. Kids are smarter than the credit we sometimes give them. (Just ask their grandma how smart they are– She’ll tell you!) Even though they’re smart, they still don’t have experience doing these things and you have to train them. This means lots of repetition, so be patient.

One last thing you need to do is always check their work. This way, they know they will be held accountable. John Maxwell says “…what doesn’t get inspected won’t be respected. If there is no accountability in an area, then there’s no incentive to perform with excellence in it. …the root causes of poor performance in a workplace are inadequate training, a lack of capacity and a bad attitude. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that they pick the right people for the job, properly equip them for the functions they are required to perform and above all else, model confidence and optimism in their work.”

These same ideas apply at home. And always remember you can get twice as much out of a child with encouragement, a gentle word and a smile than by screaming, criticizing and belittling. I hope this has been of some help to you. If you’d like more tips to help with your kids, check out our new “Saving With Kids” E-book series.

Jill

From: Christina
I have been stocking up on all the .01 sales that
the stores have been having around Cleburne.
Staples, Office Depot, WalMart have been haveing
penny, .05, and quarter sales.

I have to say that I am sick of hearing about these hard economic times on the news, particularly when in the next segment they are reporting that one million new i-phones (I don’t remember which one) were sold in one day! Then I look on craigslist and everyone is getting rid of their entertainment centers because their new Plasma TV’s don’t fit in them anymore! Augh!!!

What made me even angrier was watching a morning talk show and John Edwards was on there saying “we all know there is a rescession” but Phil Gramm, McCain’s advisor said that American’s are a bunch of whiners and there is no rescession. The host said “yes, we all KNOW there is a rescession,” when we haven’t seen any true economic crisis yet. Yes, prices have gone up but for the most part Americans aren’t suffering by any reasonable standard. Yes, we have to give up some stuff but it’s not like we are starving.

My friend Gary wrote a great article and I just had to share it.
Tawra

Recession or Depression?
The Dollar Stretcher Blog
by Gary Foreman

What’s the difference between a recession and a depression?
Which one are we in now?
Is it possible that the other will happen?
Thanks, Carrie

Perhaps an article on the definition of a recession would be helpful. Love the Stretcher, but you seem to accept that we are in a recession. Not by
the numbers - not yet, at least. We are experiencing inflation. But maybe not a recession. Time will tell. Just makes a great website and newsletter look less than stellar when you buy in to the conventional wisdom instead of stating facts…
Jennifer

Carrie & Jennifer,
Let’s start with the facts. A recession is when the economy shrinks for 2 consecutive quarters. A depression is when the economy shrinks by more than 10%.

So far we have not even had 1 quarter where the economy has shrunk. So we’re not in either a recession or a depression.

It’s possible (likely?) that we’ll go into a recession. We haven’t had even one quarter of economic decline since Q3 2001 (think the aftermath of 9/11) and no recession since before 2000. That’s a very long period of uninterrupted economic growth. So it’s remarkable that we haven’t had one before now. Based on past economic cycles we are long, long overdue.

As to forecasting the future? That’s something that I really don’t think I can do. Nor is it really necessary.

Do I buy the ‘conventional wisdom’ that we’re already in a recession? No, I really don’t. I think that the media will always promote a potential crisis. It helps them to keep readers/viewers and to make money. You’ll never see a big headline saying “Everything Is OK”. That doesn’t sell newspapers or keep TV watchers from reaching for the remote. In fact, I get bugged when they hype a recession that doesn’t exist. Frankly, they’ve got a lot of people scared who don’t need to be.

But, just because we’re not officially in a recession, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t discuss being prepared for hard times. Even when times are good. Just like the Boy Scouts we believe in being prepared. For a job loss, unexpected illness or other unexpected expense. That’s just being smart in my book. We’ve been encouraging people to save for a rainy day since we started in ‘96. I’ve been telling individuals the same thing back when I was a financial planner for the last 25 years. It’s always been good advice.
Does that make us look like we’re going along with the ‘conventional wisdom’? Perhaps. But, that’s really not the motivation.

It’s important for us to remember that not everyone is in the same place in life. Some of our readers are doing just fine. Sure, they’re not happy about higher gasoline or bread prices. But, paying for them won’t break their budget.

That’s not true for everyone. Some folks are really struggling with the higher gas prices. They can hardly afford to drive to work. Others may have lost a job or faced a sudden illness. For them it doesn’t matter whether the economy is in a recession. Their family is in a recession. And, that’s all that matters to them.

It’s our job to try to provide tools for those who need them and are willing to use them. That means that we’ll probably always pay a little more attention to the black cloud instead of looking at the silver lining. Personally I tend to be an optimist. But I think that being prepared for the worst actually gives you more freedom to be optimistic about the future.

Instead of worrying about it, you know that you’ve taken appropriate steps.
That really would make a good motto. “Expect the best, prepare for the worst.” (I googled it and find that it’s attributable to Zig Ziglar - it does sound like something that he’d say). But, it’s good advice. Especially for those of us who want to be in control of our financial futures.

Keep on Stretching those Dollars!
Gary

Gary Foreman is the editor of The Dollar Stretcher.com website and newsletters . Not only does the site host thousands of articles on various ways to save money, but you’ll also find a vibrant forum where people share their dollar stretching ideas. Comment on this entry here .

when the new school year is just right around the
corner in July, I also have my car tags due on
top of that and being a single mom with 2 boys
and NO childsupport it does make it difficult
thats for sure, we also have to pay school fees
and lunches OUCH!!! so usually I start the year
before, I have notice in the past years that as
soon as school starts all those supplies are 50%
off that includes backpacks but I also notices
that the summer clothes go way down Ill usually
find clothes for a dollar they want to make room
for winter clothes. SO the year before I picked
up extra school supplies at 50% off for the next
year, I also save the school supplies list so I
have it year round. Buying my sons clothes at
1.00 or 2.00 dollars and size larger hes ready
for the next year and Im never paying full price
for anything again. I will also pick up like new
backpacks at garage sales too. I truelly love
being frugal and see it as a challenge, I have
been frugal all my life. kelley

Deborah sent us this one from our friend Jim Erskine. It’s not just for homeschoolers. There are lots of great freebies for everyone. Be sure to check Monday because he is going to be featuring one of our e-books and you can get it for free!!

Also, don’t forget to check out our Christmas in July Sale!! You can get Dig out of Debt and Penny Pinchin Mama for 57% off!!
Tawra

This is a link for a free ebook or audio file that can be downloaded
each day. They will be particularly helpful to homeschoolers, but
many parents will enjoy the products.