Living Intentionally (At Least Trying)

I have thought a lot over the past months about living intentionally.  There are goals to this life--the Kingdom of God.  Salvation.  Eternal Life.  I want to rejoice in heaven with the rest of you someday.  One of the ways that my salvation is being worked out--every day, every minute, every second--is through serving my family.  I want to be the best wife and mom that I can.  I want to do this because I love my husband and my children, and also because this is the task God has given me.  I intend to do it to the best of my abilities.  There are millions of ways to go about this, but my heart has been inspired to focus on a couple in particular.

I'm kicking off with money.  My contribution to the family finances lies solely in spending.  So, I'm going to spend less.  Easy enough, right?  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for me, this started with me having to swallow my pride (big time) and ask my husband for help.  Primarily, a budget.  I have had budgets before, but I never was very good at sticking to them for long.  Plus, the needs of our family have changed since our last budget check.  So, I had The Conversation.  It took me days to work up the courage/pride-swallowing-ability to bring it up.  I think I shocked Fr. John, but in the good way (I hope).

Number two step was to figure out ways to spend less.  My spending is strictly household/fun related.  Fr. John pays the bills, I do all the shopping.  I read a gazillion articles (thanks Pinterest!) and came up with my plan of attack.

Step one is meal planning. Every article I read praised making a plan and a corresponding grocery list as the number one way to spend less.  Fr. John encouraged me to go for a two week meal plan, instead of a full month, in hopes that I won't get in over my head.

Step two is to grocery shop tactically.  Go armed with your list (and coupons if you've got them), and stick to it.

Step three is to do as much of the prep work as you can.  This is less of a money saving thing, and more of a "don't waste what you just bought" thing.  So, I guess it is a saving thing.   Who knew?

There are other fringe benefits to this plan, that have nothing to do with money.  If I shop for what I want to make, and actually make it, we will eat healthier.  I've wanted for ages to pare down on our processed food consumption, but pregnancy and a newborn have made that a low priority.  I'm working now on slowly, SLOWLY weeding out the junk and making more from scratch.  Again attempting not to become overwhelmed.

So far, so good.  I made a menu, shopped, and have completed about 2/3 of my prep.  My major problem has been time.  I forgot what it's like to attempt to do any kind of major project with a newborn around.  My initial plan was one afternoon of meal prep.  So far, I'm on day three of trying to get it all done.  Slowly but surely it's coming together.

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