Digging For The Good Stuff

This little jewel was buried under uninteresting stuff!

Like gold and diamond miners, sometimes you gotta really dig for the valuable bling! Seriously, when was the last time you saw diamonds lining your sidewalks, or those same sidewalks secured by gold? I thought so.

I stopped in at Plato's Closet the other night. A half hour away from my house, when I get to stop there, I really do a dig, as I don't know when the next visit will be. Plato's gets so many things in, their racks and bins are always a mess, no matter how much they straighten.

Instead of doing a quick perusal of the store, I stopped and dug into the bins at the register, where they put loose bracelets and rings. Nothing on top looked good to me, so I started picking things up so I could look allll the way under the top layer. Result? That gorgeous tortoise shell bracelet, plus two others that are fabulous, yet were unseen at first glance.

Bolstered by these finds, I strolled over to check out the handbags. Oh, my goodness. What a MESS!

Looking at (again) that top layer, nothing interested me. The mess was pretty overwhelming. Wait, what was that? A beautiful gold chain? I dug and dug and unearthed a breathtaking gold purse! Who has 2 thumbs and has wanted a large gold tote/handbag for forever? THIS GIRL! The icing on the cake? A $10 price tag! SOLD!

My 3 bracelets and purse cost me a grand total of $20 and tax. I was thrilled, and once again convinced that digging for the good stuff pays off!!

We don't always have time for a dig like that. You may be running into a thrift store on your lunch hour, or on the way to another appointment. That's ok, sometimes the good stuff IS out in the open. If you get the chance though, give your resale shops a good dig every now and then.

You'll be richly rewarded.

Financial Setbacks: The Musical

Checks still get written......because life goes on.

Just like there will be rain on your parade, and ants in your picnic basket, life is full of twists, turns, disappointments and heartaches. The best laid plans can be reduced to gibberish on a piece of paper. You pray, you plan, you execute......and then you go over the first hill of life's roller coaster.

It's inevitable, folks.

This past summer, I posted a blog about how selling our boat resulted in us being able to pay off our debt, and look forward to a fabulous, SOLVENT senior year for Claire. I posted that not to brag, but to provide hope......that it can be done.

We had one blessed month of breathing easier and living like normal folks with liquid assets. Michael bought Claire and I Kindles for our birthdays. He was able to purchase two guns he had wanted for a very long time. We went out to dinner, and didn't have to sweat the total on the bill. It was a heady, brief period in our lives.

Four weeks later, we learned that our monthly income would be reduced by $850. This is a sizeable amount, unless you're a Rockefeller. We had budgeted using that amount, and now we were faced with being tight monetarily again. We had done everything right, but stuff happens that's out of our control.

How many times have you heard that scenario? Things are going great, then someone loses their job. A loved one gets cancer. A divorce, death, move across the country........stressful, but so common place.

How do you react when life hits you with a biggie like that?

I'm a Christian, and so are my husband and daughter. I know we're watched like hawks by our friends and family who are not. How do we respond to the rough stuff? 'Oh sure,' they say. 'It's so easy to act like a Christian when everything's going well. How about when the bottom drops out?' Well, it's a big responsibility. How DO we respond?

Just about everyone knows who Job is, in the Bible. An upright, Godly, rich man, Satan got permission from God to have a field day with him, and as a result, he lost his 10 children and all his earthly goods. Then, Satan struck him with horrible boils. Curse God and die? Probably sounded pretty good after all that. However, Job refused, and in the end, God gave him more than he'd originally had. You better believe everyone in the area was waiting to see how Job would handle such atrocities. He came through with flyling colors.

At this point, I will confess: initially, I didn't feel like responding to our financial setback in a Godly manner. Frankly, I wanted to hire a hitman. I wanted to scream and yell and throw things and inflict pain. Just seeing my poor daughter struggle with the realization that senior year might be a bit more lean than we wanted was enough to send me into the rages all over again.

We still have our moments of feeling hopeless and angry, but it's getting better. Once you work through the initial anger, you start to regroup. Plans gets changed, but life goes on.

And then, a strange thing happened.

I noticed that God was providing just what we needed, at just the right time. Like the manna in the desert that God gave every day for the Israelites to eat, every single need was met with just the right amount of money. Human nature being what it was, I wanted to have enough money to sock away, to 'hoard,' to ensure we could provide for ourselves. What often happens when you have a surplus? You begin to believe the lie that YOU are taking care of you, NOT God. He doesn't want our family to fall into this trap, and so, we must rely on Him for every single thing we need. Talk about true Christianity. We can't pay lip service to our faith......'oh yes, we're relying completely on the Lord, and we have $100K in the bank.' Nope. 100% reliance on God. 'If You don't come through for us, Lord, we won't make it.'

Now, I realize that I'm writing to the Christians out there. I'm sure a bunch of you are nodding your heads in agreement. But, I'm also writing to YOU, my non-Christian blog reader. You may not believe in God, or you may be an agnostic.......one who only believes what can be proven. Well, I lay open my life as proof that God exists. He not only exists, He provides.

Relying on The Lord for our finances. Living the Thriftnerd credo. It works for us :)

I Don't Have Time To Cook!

Sometimes we really don't! Having to drive straight from work to school to extracurricular activities and meetings really cuts down on the time you can spend in the kitchen. However, how many times do we use this excuse as a cop-out?

Last night, I put it to the test.

After taking Claire to school for play practice and the football game, I had about 2 hours time before Michael came home from work. I suddenly had the desire to cook him a very good meal. Something healthy but filling, as Michael is diabetic and we're both trying to watch our food intake.

I went to the store and bought Alaskan salmon patties. $8 for a box of 4.......kinda pricey, but have you eaten salmon at a restaurant lately? Yikes! I picked up two good sized sweet potatoes, a sugar free apple pie, and sugar free butter pecan ice cream. $17 and change.

Back home, I had fresh brocoli in the fridge. I steamed it while I cooked the sweet potatoes in the microwave, and baked the salmon patties. Everything was almost ready when Michael walked through the door. 10 minutes later, I served him a delicious dinner he was very grateful to eat!


2 hours from start to finish, and less than $20 total for two complete, two course meals.

I'm glad I decided to pull the dinner together myself, instead of giving into being tired after a long, hard week, and justifying another meal out. Our checkbook and our waistlines agreed!

Exercising: Free and Cheap and No Excuses!!

Except for the early 80's, when my mother and I belonged to a gym called Spa Lady, I have always been an advocate of exercising at home. I prefer it that way, actually. Even at my fittest, working out next to someone who might be more buff or athletic than me is SUCH a buzzkill. I need to protect my delicate psyche any way I can :)

Walking is the best. Next comes running. Obviously you have to work up from walking to running. Skip that first step and I'll see you at the ER.

At home weight sets rock too. Breaking a sweat in the basement by yourself is cool. Don't lift more than humanly possible, especially if you're by yourself. Again, ER visit.

Treadmills, stationary bikes, all good. Of course, there is the initial cost involved for at home gym equipment. If you actually use it and see results, that's money well spent.

My favorite at home workout was always a VCR tape. Denise Austin was my girl! After having Brendan and Claire, I had to work hard to get back into shape, and I loved Denise's tapes. She's not everyone's cup of tea, and I appreciate that. I'm not a Tony Little fan; in fact, he makes me grind my teeth. I've heard Denise has the same effect on some folks.

Anyway, I had quite a collection of Denise Austin videos. My favorite was her 'Sizzler' workout. Talk about a sweatfest! That thing had me seeing Jesus about halfway through, every time I used it. Effective? You bet your cellulite.

I replaced my 'Sizzler' tape several times, as I used it so much I wore it out. After that, my VCR pooped out, and we didn't replace it.

Most videos are now being made as DVDS. Not the 'Sizzler.' Doesn't make sense, and I did the appropriate amount of mourning.

Mourn no more, sweet, out of shape Erin. Just go to YouTube.

No longer just the website of choice for cute kitten videos, or about a million versions of the Miley Cyrus/VMA debacle, YouTube is EXCELLENT for viewing free workout videos! Guess what's there? That's right, my beloved 'Sizzler,' along with almost every other video and DVD Denise Austin ever made.

There are really NO MORE excuses for not exercising, babe. If it's important enough, you'll find the time :P