Your Money God's Way - Booksneeze Review

I was excited to get this book in the mail last month and due to crazy moving and oddball schedule - it took me awhile to finish it...and then...even longer to get back here and post a review!  Sorry guys!!

Your Money God's Way: Overcoming the 7 Money Myths That Keep Christians Broke by Amie Streater

I was very impressed with the authors honesty throughout this book.  She took the bull by the horns and laid things out on the table for you to identify what your spending habits are - and where they originate from.  I love her term "counterfeit convictions" and find that I can use that in so many other areas of my life - not just when it comes to money.  

Piece by piece she lays out 7 areas that we as Christians have the biggest struggle with "counterfeit convictions" when it comes to our spending habits.  She discusses at length people who are in debt because they live beyond their means, those who are in debt because they enable friends and loved ones and one of the more brutal and sad reasons - people who get roped into giving to "religious" orginizations because they are told they will be blessed financially if they do - even if giving is beyond what they can truly afford.  

Toward the end of the book, once you have hopefully figured out which of the 7 myths causes you personally the biggest problem/problems - she also lays out realistic budget goals on various levels.  Taking into account that so many of us in debt are so far gone that just paying our mortgages and putting food on the table takes every dime we receive.  She gives options and ideas of how to cut back - how to track spending and how to ultimately reach a goal of being able to save 10% and give back 10%.  Yet with understanding that not all of us can or will be able to do that within a month, year or even 5 years.  

I was very impressed with her forthright way of writing and how she was very blunt in her "teachings" regarding money and what she felt was the cause behind so much of the debt we have as Christians.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with debt or just wanting to see a better budget plan once they get back out from under huge debt.  

All thoughts and opinions are mine.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  I did however receive the book Your Money God's Way to keep as my own in exchange for my review. 

Letting Go

The last several weeks have been filled with cleaning and packing and purging.  But I have found - the closer I get to moving day - I see a lot of "letting go" happening.  Not just in material possessions I won't be taking with me - but emotionally as well. 

My home - it's the first home I had - I remember being so proud of myself for managing to buy it when I did nearly 6 years ago.  I remember painting and putting up pictures and making it my own.  I remember my oldest son having his first real bedroom all his own - and not once in 18 months of living there actually sleeping in it!  ::snort::  

So many memories from the early years of being in this home...and so many memories of the last 4 years that I cherish as well.  Bringing my youngest baby home from the hospital to this house...the month before he was born painting his bedroom with his father.  Him sleeping in the bassinet next to me the first couple of months and then moving in to his crib in his own room.  I remember the day he went from a crib to a toddler bed...the nights of laying on the floor beside his bed helping him go to sleep without a bottle or me rocking him.  I remember many nights when he was just a little baby - holding him in the big chair and feeding him his night time bottle. 

Those times with my boys I cherish and I somehow feel the need to linger - as I hate to lose this little part of their lives.  

And yet, with all the good memories - there are a whole lot of bad memories here too.  Memories of the year and month prior to my divorce.  Arguments, fights, things being thrown even.  Those things I want to let go of - I am glad to leave behind. 

It's been very hard.  Very emotional today.  Sorting through the last few items to see what goes - what gets sold or given away.  Picking up coffee mugs or opening drawers and seeing things I haven't seen in years...it's just been sad..yet freeing.  

I'm learning to let some things go.  Things I loved and held so dear for so long - yet I see now - are so trivial...so unimportant in my life.  

It's time to break free and move forward....it's time to be happy in my new life. 

Purging & Packing

So - I know - I know - Much apologies - I have been greatly absent the last 2 weeks.  :-/  

Hopefully - this week - my routine will be back to normal and I will be back posting - blogging and driving all my readers crazy with my deals/freebies and fabulous finds - as well as little snippets of my life with my Beau and my kiddos. 

But - the last 2 weeks have been spent doing a lot of back and forth - interviews - errands and then finally closing on my home.  Yep - I sold my house - and now I am packing an purging all the stuff I have acquired through the years and choosing what goes - what gets sold and what gets thrown away. 

It's been a roller coaster of emotions.  So many memories here.  Good memories - the first days I lived here - the day I brought my son home from the hospital as a baby - painting his bedroom while I was pregnant - Christmas morning with my kids - wonderful memories.  A few bad memories too thrown in - things I'd rather forget - arguments - hard times - days when nothing seemed to go right and it almost felt cursed to keep living here.  I've laughed, I've cried, I've struggled through letting a lot of things go (from pictures - to clothes - to pieces of furniture).  It has been a hard transition for me...but I am so glad I've been able to make it. 

God has certainly blessed me with a wonderful Beau who has provided for me and my son.  God has blessed me with wonderful stepchildren from my first marriage that I've had the privilege of being able to continue to spend time with.  God has blessed me with these weeks of being home each day caring for my son, learning his little personality - loving him - growing alongside him.  

I have missed blogging.  I have missed talking to my "friends" here and missed reading about others lives.

But the last few weeks of purging the old and bad from my life - packing the good and useful - and soon to be - moving to new and better things - are definitely worth the time away. 

I'll be back full time soon - blogging away - but in the meantime - know you are all in my thoughts and prayers and I miss and am thankful that I have "met" you all!