Category: Finances

Finances and money affects all aspects of family life, but it doesn’t need to control your family life. The blessing of working and earning is also a responsibility. Learning and disciplining ourselves and family to live within our means can sometimes be a struggle, yet rewarding.

Family, Finances, For the Love of Family

Debt: One Millennial’s View

I am often amazed at the workings of God. He teaches us in the most unordinary and beautiful ways. Each member, created in His image, offers a unique view of our God. From a parent’s perspective, this is holy ground. Holy because I have been taught how He uses each of us to fulfill His will and purpose on earth. Our conversation about being debt-free is only one small piece of the picture. Our next few blogs will be jointly written with our oldest son Keaton. He offers a different perspective on the journey to becoming debt-free. In large sweeping […]

Finances, Food, For the Love of Family

Food Budgeting 101: Convo with Collin #2

When I checked in with Collin this week, he reported that things were going well, he as plenty of food and not going hungry – LOL. He does want to experiment with some new recipes etc. but doesn’t want to take too many chances and have to throw food away. He has decided that he can live on simple foods as described here for six months. By then he will have paid his one and only school loan in full and will have a bit more margin in his budget. This is what it’s about my friends! His goal is […]

Finances, For the Love of Family

Food Budgeting 101: A conversation with Collin

Explanation and Disclaimer: Last week Collin, our middle son and recent college graduate, and I wrote a blog on graduating from college almost debt free. For the next few weeks, we will be having an ongoing dialogue about his food budget. Much can be learned from his journey, and we would love to have your feedback and suggestions. And the disclaimer. Collin is a natural researcher, saver, and able to live very simply. We are convinced he came out of the womb this way! Oh, the stories we will tell! But he does give each of us a perspective that […]

Family, Finances, For the Love of Family

Almost Debt-Free College – is it worth it?

A few weeks ago we celebrated our son Collin’s college graduation  At both the senior dinner and the graduation ceremony, graduates were encouraged to practice generosity – not forgetting the private institution from which they were graduating. Within six months over 70% of American graduates will begin their student loan payments. In 2014, Wall Street Journal reported that the average student debt for that year’s class would be $33,000. And with an upward trend of over 70% of college students choosing to borrow money, coming out of college debt-free is really a minority position. In order to do so, students […]