Saving Money!!!

I have no problem running around to get the best price. I’ve been known to make 5-6 stops for what I need. I also have a lot of prices in my head. I just got the book ‘Family Feasts for $75’. I love it! I already ‘get’ most of it, but I started making a real comparison for grocery shopping, wondering ‘am I getting the best deal?’ We have so many options in our area, Walmart, Target, Meijer, Aldi, Savealot, Kroger, local fruit/meat markets. I love to save money so I can spend it somewhere else/save it/or bless someone! She suggested you do 10 items, then keep adding. I went to Walmart and Meijer this weekend so I added them.

It’s a start! Imagine, if you can save an extra $20-30 per trip and I go anywhere from 2-4 times a month (for example, the difference for my morningstar patties if I buy them from Walmart instead of Kroger is $1.51!!!) I buy those once a week almost $79/year!!), that’s quite a savings. Even on the low end… $20 X 3 = $60/month X 12 months = $720/year. And for me, I don’t mind shopping, actually I love grocery shopping, so its fun! (the photo is my actual beginning of my list)

With $720/year you could (these are close to my heart):

Give 720 Africans clean water (Bloodwatermission.org)

Sponsor 1.5 children (Compassion International or World Vision)

Send 9 Alive/Fuel students on the Detroit Mission Trip

Pay 72% of an Alive/Unite Colombia Mission Trip

Feed 240 people at a Soup Kitchen (based on $3/person/meal)

Give 144 people shoes who need them (http://www.soles4souls.org/donate)

Luke 16:1-14

1Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'

3"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg— 4I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
5"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
6" 'Eight hundred gallons[a] of olive oil,' he replied.
"The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
7"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?'
" 'A thousand bushels[b] of wheat,' he replied.
"He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'
8"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?
13"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.