The Frugal Mom's Blog

Tales from the life of the frugal!

Saturday, August 27, 2005

The Mixed-Up Frugal Mom

This describe me to a tee! I love being THRIFTY. I love being a STAY AT HOME MOM. I love getting a great deal at a YARD SALE! Yet, if I have $10 in my pocket, it's like a magnet pulling me to a drive-thru, or some other alluring money-sucking place. It drives me crazy until it's gone!

This reminds me of what Paul the apostle says in Romans 7:15 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." He goes on to say in verse 18 and 19 "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do: no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing." What powerful words from Paul, a great preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even he identifies with the continuous struggle of sin within us.

Now, I'm not saying that spending $10 at the golden arches is necessarily a sin! BUT, the point here, is practicing self-control. The Bible speaks strongly of self control in terms of evidence that we are in Christ. To quote Paul again, Galations 5:22 says "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and SELF-CONTROL." Here we're taught that the fruit of the spirit is characteristic of TRUE believers...it is evidence that we are saved. Don't misunderstand me now, I didn't say it's how we EARN our salvation, but rather how we EVIDENCE it. Big difference! We are clearly told in Scripture that our salvation - our right standing with God - is by grace, not by any of our works (Roman 3:20, 24-26; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-6).

Wow! That was a mouthful! I said all that to say this. Being frugal takes a lot of self-control for me. And spending too much money is sinful if it is controlling you, rather than you controlling it. I often fail terribly at this! So, I wanted to start this blog to encourage you if you are stuggling with taming your spending habits; and also, as a practical tool to give you tips, and ideas to help you live a frugal and self-controlled life. For some of you, this may come very easily, so I am counting on you to help me! E-mail me any and all frugal tips, ideas, and comments that you may have! I really look forward to hearing from you soon!

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