show and tell Tuesday

Happy Tuesday to you!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals for this new year of "show and tell" blog posts.

I feel like that this is not going to be a helpful post at all, because saving money on groceries and such with four teenaged boys is a funny concept.  I will say that once the boys stopped eating the kid sized portions in restaurants and even fast food chains, we stopped eating out.  Even going to Chick Fil A as a family of six costs us almost sixty dollars.  And honestly, if I'm going to spend that much money, I'd much prefer a REAL meal, not fast food, even Chick Fil A.

I cook.  All the time.  Some weeks it's more, some weeks it's less.  Last week I cooked almost every night.  I made dinner five nights out of seven last week...this week it'll be more like four.  Here's how: on Wednesday nights, we eat a light meal.  Graham and Drew always go out with friends after church, and sometimes Jonah and Noah do as well.  Thursday nights are nights we try to spend with Todd's parentals.  It's on the calendar every week, but some weeks we miss.  (Not so far this year, though!)  Saturday nights we go to my mom's house.  Not every week, but most weeks.  Sunday nights are at church and food is always provided.  The Southern Baptist folks like to eat, I have found out.

I also make lunch a lot, since we homeschool.  My kids have never liked sandwiches and easy stuff, always preferring a hot lunch.

That is the food portion of the post.

The other way we save money is by not shopping and buying a lot of things we don't need.  When we were first married, we went through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace university, adapting what he taught as our new lifestyle.  We haven't had credit cards since our first year of marriage.  We only have cards that can be used as credit or debit through our bank account.  I don't buy a lot of things (well, books, sometimes) and we don't buy a lot of things frivolously for our boys.  We wear clothes that we've had forever, and we don't have a lot of extras.

Not having credit card debt has been amazing.  The boys now understand the way we live, but when they were little, we had to teach this to them, because they didn't understand why we couldn't just put it on a credit card, if they wanted something extra.

Of course we buy their clothes and their shoes and all the necessities, we just don't go shopping for new things that often, unless your name is Drew and you can't stop growing.

The things we have always splurged on are shoes.  We do not buy cheap shoes.  We buy them in pairs, from the Rack Room, because it's always buy one, get one half off.  We have lots of rewards through them.  We splurge on groceries, because we eat at home all the time.  If I'm going to make food, I'm going to make good food.  (Meaning, I do things from scratch...no boxed meals for us, and I even make a lot of my own spice mixes.)  We splurged on our televisions, because we only have two, and we want them to last.  That being said, Todd still found a deal on them and we didn't pay near what some people do.  Also, we do this because we don't go to movies.  We prefer watching at home.   And yes, our surround sound is as good as a movie theater.

We drive my car forever.  His is a company car.  We haven't had a car note in years.

I always pray and ask God to help us be good stewards of what He has given us.  Meaning, I don't work, so we live on one income.  I cannot be frivolous with what we have if that is the case, and my husband has always said he would work three jobs if it meant I could stay home to raise the boys.  I also will say that the Lord has made me content in our life.  I don't try to keep up with the way people look or how their homes are decorated.  We do not have the newest of all the gadgets, but we don't need that.  God has given me contentment.  I cannot write this post without saying that, and it's not just a way to tag this blog post.  I really mean that, and I ask that the Lord would always be honored in our lives, including our finances.

God has always been gracious to provide us with everything that we need (NEED, not want), and He is faithful.

Love to all!