Again, dismayed....

We have so much excess....it is ridiculous.  It isn't helping that I'm reading the book "7". 


I read the "food" section, first and I must say, in that respect, we aren't too bad (aside from eating out too much).  I make inventory of EVERYTHING in my pantry, cabinets, fridge and freezers.  From there, I center my meals.  I try and use everything that we have.  I do make mistakes and buy too much of something because I had forgotten that I already had a bottle (or 2).  I also freezer cook and when we have excess of a dinner, I freeze it for another dinner (rarely that happens).  Generally, I sit down, with my calendar and make a detailed menu of the entire month, then I shop.  It makes my life easier and I'm all about easy.


The next section is clothing.....I have 6 children.  3 girls and 3 boys.  I'm blessed, beyond measure that I can "hand down" many clothes.  The struggle that I'm having, now, is that #5 and #6 are the same size.  On one hand, that is good, they can swamp clothes, on the other hand, when one grows out of something, the other does too.  My older son, of the 3, we have to buy him clothes.  We were, again, blessed, because I did work at a dept. store for 9 mths and I got clothes for as little as $2.00, so hopefully, that will last until next summer and then be handed down to the little boys.  Downfall, socks and shoes.  There is no way to save money on that because they go through them like wildfire.  I did "weed" out things that I knew they wouldn't wear, so hopefully, they will benefit other boys.


My girls are a whole different ball of wax.  My oldest, her clothes have to be bought (I bought them when I worked for $2.00 or so and we go to the thrift shop), then my #2 daughter sprouted up and is now the same size of my oldest....sharing clothes...doesn't happen.  #3 daughter is short, but her pant size is bigger than #2.  She has a different body type.  She is PICKY when it comes to clothes and I will not buy the expensive stuff to satisfy her desire to "look" like the other kids.  I weed their clothes out frequently, trying to hand down as much as possible.


Big Daddy and I (well, me) went through our (my) clothes.  I am not a clothes hoard, at all.  I have several "nicer" clothes that I had to have for work, but I live in t shirts and jogging pants.  I was able to get rid of a lot of clothes that I would like to fit into, yet don't and that I like, but haven't worn, in years.  I also weeded through jewelry, belts and shoes.  So much.  We have so much.  When are we simply going to be satisfied with what we NEED instead of what we WANT.


Then....there are books........I love books.  I'm a homeschooler and I love books.  I have SO many bookcases filled with all different kinds of books.  As we were weeding out paperwork and closets, upstairs, I tackled one of the bookcases.  It was filled with Christian books that dealt with the following issues:


How to read the bible
How to understand the bible
How to mark the bible
Read the bible in 90 days 
How to love your husband
How to praise your husband
How to be a Godly wife
How to be a Godly parent
How to change your child
How to have a new child in a week
How to deal with difficult children
How to eat healthy
How to eat and lose weight fast


The list goes on and on and on......I'm embarrassed at all the "How To" books that I've BOUGHT with MONEY that could've gone to those less fortunate than me.  Waste waste waste.  Embarrassing.  There are children living, alone. There are children starving.  There are parents starving so they can feed their children and I have the audacity to buy another book on How to Fix My Life.


Wanna know how to fix your life?  PRAY.  Wanna know how to be different, Godly, better?  READ THE WORD.  Wanna know how to live right?  PRAY AND READ THE WORD.  You don't need another "how to" book.  You need to dig down deep into your life and ask the Holy Spirit to help you.  That's it.  It does take a book, it takes the Bible and prayer.  That's it and it doesn't cost money.  If you don't have a Bible, feel free to email me and I'd be happy to send you one of the 15 Bibles I have or buy you one.  


Utilize; organize; pray


Take inventory of your food....work your meals around it.
Need a book...go to the library
Need clothes...utilize the thrift/consignment stores
Need to change your life....pray, read the Word, find a church and get plugged in.


Have excess money?  Go to http://www.hopearisingorg and donate to help the people of Dhera. If you want to keep your gifts local?  There are people ALL AROUND you.....pray for God to reveal who He'd like for you to help and then DO IT.


I have a lot more to read and then I will pass on the book to someone else.  We donated all our books to our churches library and the excess clothes to a wonderful organization "Angel's Attic". Oddly, that is also where we buy our clothes because they as cheap as a quarter for a shirt.  All the proceeds go towards "Angel's Clinic" which provides free health care to those without insurance.


I'm on a soapbox, I know....I'm okay....hopefully I've at least got you paying attention and I pray that whomever reads this post will take inventory of their life and their belongings and use their excess to help someone who has less then you.


Blessings.