Our Story

I wanted to start with some of our story so there is a little background to where we've been and where we are headed.  Chris and I started our marriage 6.5 years ago with ZERO dollars having just come out of a few years of ministering in the innercity.  In our first year of marriage, we got pregnant and bought our first home.  And that was the beginning of our debt... LOL just the beginning.  Progressively over the last 6 years we have accrued more.  From the exploding toilet in our downstairs (not just once) to the water that flooded in our house every time there was a huge storm, we learned how to swipe that credit card.  Granted, we could have made some better decisions along the way, but thats all part of the journey now.  

So I did some assessing a couple months ago.  I added everything up and we were at least $500 OVER budget every month.  OMG!!  No wonder we could never get ahead!  Every now and then we'd catch a break with extra work, etc, but these are just average numbers. Chris had seen something on the Today Show about how a woman bought $100 in groceries for $0.25.  After seeing our current money crisis up close and personal, my ears perked right up.  Not only were we struggling financially, but we had hardly any seed to sow.  We didn't have anything to give and really wanted to.   A good friend pointed me to some great money saving blogs that really walked me through the money saving process.  Southernsavers.com, commonsensewithmoney.com and moneysavingmom.com are my favs.  Through smart spending, adjusting our cable bill and couponing, I am SO excited to say that we now end every month with at least a $300 surplus. That $300 goes directly to paying down debt.  By doing the things I mentioned before, we eliminated $800 in spending!!!!!  And not only that, but God was showing me that "seed" doesn't have to be just money.  It was using my knowledge to pick up that free tube of toothpaste at walgreens or the $0.20 deodorant at Walmart and donating it.  We started giving what "seed" we had and we have seen God's faithfulness in big ways in our lives!

I would love to be as cool as the ladies who write the above mentioned blogs, but I don't have the time or energy to come up with as many specials and freebies as they do. :)  So I highly recommend paying their blogs a visit if you have questions about couponing because they will do a much better job at explaining all of this than me.