The 60 Minute Money Workout – A Review

I dream of the day that we can proclaim to the world that we are debt free. I have high hopes for my child (and any future children) in the way of higher education, but a part of that hope is that they complete their studies debt free (for us and them). I fantasize about a retirement spent traveling, adventuring, and relaxing on pristine beaches with my hot husband. But we’re not there, in fact we’re kind of far away from all of that, so I like to read about personal finances in hopes that I will find some magical plan that leads us from where we are to where I dream to be.

The 60 Minute Money Workout by Ellie Kay isn’t exactly a magical plan that will pop us into my dream life, but I think it’s a good guide for creating a realistic plan. Since I’ve read a fair amount of books and articles and websites regarding personal finance I pretty much have the basics down, live below your means, save, give, debt is from the devil. My problem is taking my head knowledge and figuring out how to plug it into our life. Our life that already cut out the extras like cable TV, Starbucks visits, work week lunches out, and lovely salon hair cuts and styles (for me at least). I know that all the books say decrease your spending and increase your income, but my spending is pretty low and my income is what it is. So I was excited to get my hands on Ellie Kay’s book to see if she had any new ideas that I haven’t already heard.

This book covers a variety of topics (budgets, debt payoff, savings, retirement, college funds, and starting home-based businesses). I loved the diversity in the book and that it was written for families to work through together. She even talked about allowances and business opportunities for your kids. The concept of the book is to spend one hour each week working through your personal financial situation and goals (either alone or with your spouse/family depending on the topic). Too much time focused on money can lead to fights, burn out, and unnecessary stress. I thought that this was a really great idea. It keeps you and your family focused on money so you keep making forward progress, but the other 167 hours of your week can be used enjoying life (while of course keeping your budget and goals in the back of your mind).

The book designs the workouts similar to a physical workout (warm up, strength training, cardio burn, heart rate, and cool down) and I found this aspect to be more annoying then helpful, but I think that some of the concepts behind this approach are fantastic if you’re working with a spouse in the midst of lots of financial tension. Mark and I don’t really have much tension when discussing our finances, we fortunately, have pretty similar spending personalities, so this part of the book wasn’t really helpful for us. As an aside, the book has an entire chapter focused on determining your spending personality and working through the strengths and weaknesses of each that I think would be a great discussion point for couples who do disagree on financial matters.

Like I said, there is no magic formula that will lead to dreamland, but I liked that the purpose of this book was to guide you into thinking, researching, and brainstorming. A lot of the finance books that I’ve read tell you the general steps (save $1000, pay off all debt in a snowball, get an emergency fund, etc), but don’t explain the detail behind how on earth am I supposed to save $1000 in the next month when I can’t even figure out how to keep the lights on in my house. This book starts with some basic ideas to get you going and then leads you through a “workout” to figure out how to reach your individual goals within your unique situation. It doesn’t have all the answers, it just helps you focus on ways to figure out the answers.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for this review.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess – Review

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, in the last month or so I’ve recently felt this tension in my life that leads me to feel that maybe I’m not quite living life as the Bible instructs. Last week I was sent the e-version of Jen Hatmaker’s new book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess and was blown away. This lady gets it and she wrote a book about it.

Don’t get me wrong, she hasn’t sold her house, all her belongings and given it all to the poor. But she spent almost a year, deeply scrutinizing every part of her life to remove the excess, give to the poor, love on her neighbors, and remember what’s truly important in life. In the first month she ate only 7 whole foods, the second month she wore only 7 articles of clothing, then she spent an entire month giving away well over 7 items per day, she cut out 7 different media items (TV, gaming, the internet, etc) for a month, spent one month focusing on 7 ways to cut waste and help take care of God’s beautiful creation, spent her money in only 7 places for a month, and spent the last month honoring the Sabbath and taking 7 pauses each day for prayer and reflection. And she included her husband and children in most of these months. As she did all of this she wrote the book 7, detailing each day in journal form.

This book goes far beyond a simple experiment on living without, it describes the freedoms that can come without all of the excess of the typical American lifestyle. It explains the joy that can be found in meeting the needs of others with simple items that are cluttering up your home. This book helps the reader see that the fastest way to happy is with much less, not more. When we take away the excess from our lives we have more time, more things to give away, less stress, richer experiences, and we can find beauty again in the simple things.

This book instantly drew my attention and I could have read it in one (somewhat long) sitting, but I forced myself to spread it out over a few days to give myself time to reflect and absorb all of the details. This book definitely opened up my eyes to some things in my life that I would like to change. I love that Jen specifically wrote the book in a way that is not condescending, you can walk away from this book completely guilt-free. There aren’t how-to lists for decreasing your own personal excess, it’s simply an explanation of her experience during this year of her life. I will say though that the book may convict (read: convince) you to run through your house with a big box aimed for your local homeless shelter or Goodwill, it might also make you crave a break from some of the modern technologies we love that steal loads of our free time. The book will also make you laugh and you might even cry. It’s completely relatable and I would recommend that everyone go read it. Right now.

Tags: 7, excess, jen hatmaker

Saying Good-bye to 2011

Hello 2012! I am so excited for the new year! When I look back at all that’s happened this year, I’m simply amazed. We had some ups and downs, but mostly it was filled with lots of fun, love, smiles, and joy. I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!

January – Jordynn got her first chance to play in a whole bunch of snow.

February – I got a new job that I was very excited about…but it ended up stealing my life away. Jordynn protested by eating my work laptop bag.

March – We bought a new bed, went to Winter Zoo Days, and had a blast at cousin Kevin’s gymnastics birthday party!

April – Beautiful weather for another trip to the zoo, new sink and counter top in the kitchen (just so we could have filtered water), celebrated Easter morning, said goodbye to Grandpa Grepke, and a good dose of much needed family time.

May – I gave my 5 week notice at my crazy job and we started some serious praying and finger crossing that God had a new plan for us (he did). And we celebrate Memorial day with a fun parade and wonderful family time.

June – Lots of time on Grandma and JaJa’s boat and swimming in their lake. Our first family vacation!! We went to Branson, MO with a whole crowd of my extended family. It was sooo much fun and a much needed time of relaxation and rejuvenation as I officially became a (temporary) stay at home mom.

July – Lots of mommy and baby time! This was one of my favorite months ever. We finger painted, hung out at the zoo, took lots of walks, went “swimming” in our backyard wading pool, went to the park, went to the beach with friends, played at the library, and worked on our vegetable garden. And Mark and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary (with a family trip to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago)!

August – Mark and Jordynn got some daddy-daughter time as I started my wonderful new job on the same week that we always spend on vacation. Mark turned 30 and I turned 28 so we had a party to celebrate. We spent lots of time doing some of  Jordynn’s favorite activities: coloring and swimming.

September – Our big girl turns 2!! And she started going to school (daycare) for the first time ever.

October – A couple more trips on JaJa’s boat, lots of birthday parties for friends, a fight with a bookshelf, and Halloween with the beautiful (though slightly bruised) Snow White!

November – Relaxing days making applesauce and sick days with Pink Eye.

December – Christmas tree, new car, 1st school Christmas program, and lots of Christmas fun!

Whew! What a fun year. From our family to yours, Happy New Year!!

The Greatest of These is Love

Several weeks ago I started having these thoughts…of unrest. And these thoughts just continued to dwell in my mind. Then I started seeing posts on Facebook and Twitter that hinted that other people might be having these same kinds of thoughts…this same unrest. And then on Monday an author sent me a free link to her new book and this unrest is all I can think about. This struggle in my mind that I’ve completely missed the point. This tension that leads me to realize that it’s not about me, it’s not about how good of a mom or wife I can be, it’s not about how many nutritious meals my family can eat at our dinner table, it’s not about being a good employee, or going to church every Sunday, or belonging to a church that puts on exciting services that I’m thankful to experience, it’s not about keeping a clean house, or getting out of debt, or reading my Bible, or memorizing 80 million Bible verses. It’s not about praying before each meal, it’s not about posting the right verses on Facebook. It’s not about not drinking, it’s not about watching my tongue, it’s not about only listening to Christian music.

It’s about Jesus. It’s about loving my neighbor. It’s about caring for the orphans and the widows. It’s about comforting the sick and raising up the broken-hearted. It’s about giving so much that it hurts and then giving some more.

A few months ago I posted my goals for becoming a Proverbs 31 woman. I still agree 100% that I should strive to attain these goals. But in that post is this little nugget: “Most of the goals on my list are pretty focused on my family and aren’t going to hugely impact the rest of the world. I think that an outward focus to change the world is important, but for me, that starts in my own home. My first priority in this life is God, my second priority is my husband, my third priority is Jordynn. I think my list highlights that these are my priorities. At some point, my hope is to expand these goals to include more of the rest of the world, but right now I think I have enough to focus on in my own home.”

If my first priority in life is God, then maybe living for him (like him) should really be my first goal. God’s says the most important things are to love God and love your neighbor. God doesn’t say that our priorities should be to read his Word, attend lots of Bible studies and church services, memorize lots of verses, and teach your children to pray. He says feed the hungry, clothe the poor, take care of the fatherless, meet the needs of the widows. I’d like to inform the girl that wrote the above quote “Hey, did you know that 25,000 people died of starvation today? Did you know that the family down the street has worn the same clothes for the last week because that’s all they have? Do you realize that people are dying on the streets of your own city of hypothermia while you complain about how cold your 73 degree house feels today? Maybe keeping your house spotless isn’t all that important after all.”

God had a little talk with me the other day. The paraphrased version went something like this, “I think it’s wonderful that you’re teaching Jordynn her numbers and letters. The prayers and songs you teach her are music to my ears. When you speak to her with peace in the midst of your frustration she is learning to control her own emotions. The stories she learns at school and church are things she’ll remember all her life, just like you do. But none of this teaches her how to BE Jesus to the world. Please continue to teach her these things, but remember the most important thing she needs to know is how to love Me and to love others, to love this world that is hurting, to love the least of these. She learns by example. I use my people, you, your family, your friends, your daughter to show my love. You are my hands and feet, through my Holy Spirit I can lead you to love others just like I would. But you have to be willing. You have to listen. You have to know that this is my purpose for you, and for Jordynn. To love all of My creation by your actions, not just your words.”

You see I’m one of the richest people in the world, and my guess is that you are too. We tithe, we pray for others, I serve in the Children’s ministry, we volunteer during “work days” at church, we donate during the various drives that our church holds throughout the year to benefit the less fortunate, and I like to tell myself that this is enough. These things allow me to feel like I’m doing what Jesus would do. I have no doubt that these things matter, but when I’m honest with myself I realize that as one of the richest people in the world, I could probably do a heck of a lot more. I realize that if Jesus lived my life, He would do a lot more. He would give more, he would serve more, he would care more. He wouldn’t wait for the next event to come up at church that fit nicely into His busy schedule, he’d meet the needs of those He saw each and every day. He wouldn’t just give his 10%, he’d give the clothes off his back, the shoes off his feet.

So I have no idea where I go from here. The unrest is still there. The tension is strong. You won’t see me sell our house and cars and all our possessions next week and give it all away, my child still needs a roof over her head, I’ve still gotta go to work. I’m not going to hand wads of money to every person holding a sign on the street corners in my city, there are tons of them and I don’t have that much money. I honestly don’t know where to start. So I’ll pray and I’ll listen and I’m pretty sure that God will lead me to love on exactly the right person (people) at just the right time.

All of this started earlier this month as I read the book of James during my devotions. I’ve read this book many times, but suddenly new things started jumping out at me. I suddenly understood what the actions that should accompany our faith really are. I realized that continuing to be fed (through church, Bible reading, etc) just makes you fat unless you work it off by sharing it with others. The author that sent me the book earlier this week is Jen Hatmaker, the book is titled 7. I’ll be posting my review of it soon, but if these thoughts of unrest are something that’s been causing you tension as well, go read James and go read 7 and then walk with me, talk with me so we can discover together how to BE Jesus to those who so desperately need Him.

Tags: 7, love

Review: Angel in My Room, By Betty Collier

Angel in My Room is a story of love, compassion, and forgiveness. Lillie Hopkins had a miraculous encounter that changed her life forever on the day she gave birth to her one and only child. The joy and excitement she had anticipated was replaced with the unbearable realization that something dreadful had occurred and things had gone horribly wrong. Excruciating sadness, agonizing sorrow, and total brokenness threatened her very desire to live, but then she had an angelic encounter which left her with indescribable peace. Discover how Lillie caught a glimpse of heaven and was touched by an angel on April 21, 1980, the day her beloved son, Derrich, was born. Angel in My Room is written by Betty Collier, a wife, mother, nurse, author, and child of the King. In her Living Inside The Testimony book series, she inspires others to discover that they too live inside testimonies meant to be shared.

In all honesty, I finished this book only because I agreed to review it. There were parts of this book that held my interest, but overall it felt like the author was trying too hard to make her point. I think her point was that no matter what you’ve done, you have a purpose in life, you can make a difference, God has placed you on this Earth for a reason. I expected more of a story, the story of Lillie’s pregnancy and loss and her experience with the “angel in her room”. But the story part was pretty short and mixed in the middle of the story was just a lot of religious explanation, often with so much “Christian-ese” that I’m not even sure a non-Christian reader would even understand what the author was trying to say. It felt like there were so many details of the story that were left out that I really don’t understand what happened. I think that the story itself (fully developed) would have gotten the point across, but all the extra explanation was just a distraction and truthfully, annoying.

I received this book free from the publisher through the Booksneeze.com book review bloggers program in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

 

Tags: book review