Saturday, July 4, 2009

Financial Freedom

I wrote one year ago today about financial independence. Go read it now, I'll wait.... =)


(Seriously!)


How's it going?
Are you where you want to be?
Have you taken the opportunities God has put in your path to be more secure moneywise?
What about saving money where you can? ...And then some.

Please, if you have found some tips that have helped you to keep and save your money, please comment on this post and pass them along. Pay it forward, so to speak. I'll be reading every one of them and sharing the best ones in a future post.

We are still happy that through all the time of not finding work for my husband that we have remained debt free. I can't say enough that everyone should save up emergency funds and work whenever the opportunity arises to help someone out here and there, whether you get paid or not. It's not always in cash that God provides. He is faithful. So you be faithful.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Buy Secondhand

Summer time brings good opportunity to find some needed things through yard sales. Buying secondhand doesn't mean buying things second rate. Rather I see it as a time to find the things that you've been looking for that aren't sold anymore new. OK, antique...or pretty near. Actually when I need anything that's not food, "new to me" or old, I mentally put it on my "look for" list when I'm out and about.

Recently I found an old high chair at a garage sale just before my sister came to visit with her 18 month old. It's a very sturdy wooden chair painted white with a colorful stuffed animal theme.

The wooden tray is equally cute. It seemed like a good deal at only $10. I bought it, brought it home, washed it up...it's as good as new.


Buying secondhand has been not only "green" but very economical for my family for years. Save the energy it takes for companies to use new virgin materials being used to make new products. We get more use out of something that would otherwise not get used or even thrown away.

I've bought new clothing (still in the packaging), stainless steel food containers, out of print books, a rebounder (mini trampoline), wooden toys, misc. kitchen glassware, and many other things I can't even remember at garage sales. It takes time to find things, but as flea market goers say, "it's all in the hunt."

When buying at rummage sales and yard sales, cash is the currency used, so if you haven't seen some of those greenbacks for a while, use it to save lots more "green".