What, you may ask, does a big empty jar have to do with Thanksgiving? It is an important prop in the new thanksgiving series that starts today. Last Thanksgiving, the posts centered around the thanks part of Thanksgiving. This year, the posts will be centered on the giving part of Thanksgiving. I've been writing about stewardship, our extravagant lifestyles, and the better uses to which we could put our financial resources recently. Do not suppose that I am just on a tirade. I'm writing about it because the topics deeply concern me and, with all the emphasis recently on being prepared for survival in times of difficulty, it seems a little more frugality is in order. Even more important, when I look at the ease of our lives in comparison to that of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, I am ashamed that I do not do more to help them.
With all that said, the posts this Thanksgiving Season will involve my attempts to cut corners, save money, and hang on to that money in order to invest it in the Kingdom of God in some way. If my history is any indication, not all my attempts will be as successful as I would have hoped, some will be unexpected, and some will yield a tremendous savings. Get ready. I might just surprise you. There might also be a few of my efforts that you'd like to try yourself.
The jar you see is the thanksGiving Jar and will be where I keep the dollars and cents that are saved. I'll post photos so you can follow along.
Tonight, I'm making popcorn to go along with movie night. I won't bore you with the details again, but I recently realized that using bulk popcorn instead of the prepackaged microwave bags is considerably cheaper, and have calculated that the price of a single serving of popcorn can be decreased by 39 cents if you avoid the prepackaged bags. You can read about the Lunch Bag Popcorn and get all the details. Just so you know, I'm cooking that popcorn in a heavy pot on the stove rather than a bag in the microwave. Yum! The popcorn of my childhood! That's 39 cents for the giving splurge.
That 39 cents looks awfully small right now, doesn't it? Just wait. Those few coins won't be lonely long, so stay tuned!
The idea is not to be "cheap". The idea is to live well but frugally in order to make a habit of generosity and the ability to splurge on giving. Being intentionally frugal is the best way I know to finance that kind of spending. Since Lines from Leanna is about Faith Lived Out Loud, I've decided to "live out loud" as I do it in an attempt to show the way. Why not do more than follow along? Why not join me as I begin this journey? It's going to be life-changing. You don't want to miss it.
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