Frugal Friday

I thought it would be fun for David and me to remember how we lived during seminary on a seminary budget. Maybe one day we'll laugh and wonder how we did it, so this can serve as a reminder :)

I must say, since going from a
1. double full-time income family with no kids, (we both worked 45 hours per week)
2. to a single full-time income family with one kid (david worked 50 hpw, I was in grad school)
3. to a single part-time income family with one kid  (I worked 30 hpw, David's in seminary)
4. to a double VERY part-time income family with two kids (we both work about 5-15 hours a week)

we have learned a very important lesson - we can live on less. I have been surprised (the past four months especially) how little we can live on happily! One important note, we have had committed donors the past four years that have supported David's ministry, first with the navigators and now in Seminary that help provide in such an important way! We couldn't do it with out them at all. It is exciting to have a team of people invested in the Lord's work through David and the lifetime of pastoral ministry ahead of us.

I am hoping on Fridays to list a way we have cut down the spending so that we can live the way we feel called to live right now.

FRUGAL FRIDAY #1:

We try not to pay (much) for entertainment. So, we don't have cable. That used to cost us like 50 dollars a month, now we traded that for Netflix which costs us about $10.25 a month. Netflix has tons of tv shows, kids shows, movies, etc. We haven't felt like we miss out at all - except for during football season. But even then ESPN 3 showed most of the Auburn football games (and friends with cable invited us over), so we were ok!

Also, the library is a regular stop for us. Every Wednesday we get tons of kids books for Caroline to enjoy. We now almost never consider buying a book (except David's textbooks) or paying for a movie rental because the library and Netflix have it all.