Finances

 I was born a cheapskate. Seriously.  Or frugal, if you prefer that word.  I truly believe people are born with money personalities and mine is, save save save.

Of course, if you look at my pictures, you will see that we spend plenty.  We have a lot of stuff and we take exotic vacations once a year to St. Croix.  And then there are the nine kids, who of course require a lot of money so we can care for them well.

 

 But Kevin and I both are fairly cautious with spending.

These last years have been easier financially for a variety of reason. Kevin keeps getting raises. Hooray!  We paid off our house, which was so fun.  Interestingly, as soon as we paid off our house, we found ourselves saving rapidly to replace three cars. We had been running them into the ground and it was time to replace them.

Now I am making real money writing.  No idea how long this will last or even whether it will, but we do have extra money right now.  

Oh, I actually got paid by Amazon for the first time. There is a 2 month delay in sending royalties, so it wasn't until the end of August that I got paid for June.

I have worked a little for many years, but very little. So I am making more right now.  I do feel more mellow about spending money.

I have been recently analyzing my new spending habits.

I am spending more on the children.  I am buying them throw away toys more often to encourage them to do various tasks.  I am tired, what can I say?

I am buying more books that the kids want.

I am buying more clothing from Amazon. A responsible mother who wanted to save money would go to Once Upon a Child (which is an awesome place) BUT 6 of the kids are too big for Once Upon a Child. Also, if I can stay home, I want to. So yes, I have been buying a bunch of clothes for the children on Amazon.  It is nice.

And I am buying clothes for ME from Amazon too. Also nice.  I don't buy many clothes for myself, not really because I am cheap (though that is a factor) but because I hate, with a deep and abiding loathing, going to clothing stores and trying things on. It is so boring.  So so so so boring.

Yes, I am whining.  I am such a turkey, really.  All these nice stores with all these nice clothes and I am whiny about trying things on.

But yeah for Amazon. Just a few clicks from the comfort of my home and I can order things!

I am definitely relaxing in my purchasing.  It feels freeing to not be as concerned about mortgage payments and food and clothing and all those vital needs.  We have never been poor at all, but we have been aware of the great responsibility of caring for the offspring, of planning for the future.  

Here is a funny and/or pathetic thing. When I was younger, I had a pretty arrogant view about retirement.  My thought was that as Christians, we should be willing to work as long as is necessary and therefore retirement shouldn't really be a priority.  (Thankfully for both of us, Kevin never had that view.)

So I will say that a Christian should never retire from being a Christian. Clearly we all need to serve the Lord as He directs us until the end of our days.

BUT, one does not need to work a paying job in order to work for God, clearly.  In fact, once a Christian has retired, he/she will probably have more time for ministry.

Also, and this is really really really important, our bodies wear out with time!

Obviously some incredible people with good health and/or incredible wills work very very long.  Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who just passed away, was 87 years old and still serving as a Supreme Court Justice. And not a healthy one!!  She was battling cancer for YEARS.  

But normal people just get worn out.  Some jobs require a great deal of physical strength and with time, the body just isn't having it. Even a white collar job requires energy to come and go, to attend meetings and type lots of reports and emails.  Eventually, if a man or woman lives long enough, he or she will not be able to work.

So yes, saving for retirement is a wise thing, definitely.  

Hmmm, I got off track.

So yes, more money is rolling in because at the moment, my books are selling.  We don't know how long this will last.  I would need to keep writing new books to keep making a lot of money.  Book sales go down with time based on three months of data from my own books.

So I am more relaxed about money, but still not a spender.  Our house is full of stuff and I find it a little obnoxious so I only want to buy things that I really want, not add things that are not of much interest.

I have never been huge into experiences and quail with horror at paying, say, $100 to go to a fancy dinner with Kevin.  (We have done it once in our lifetime, on our honeymoon, but only once.)

So I am still cheap. But I'm spending more than I was.  I hope it is a reasonable and healthy shift toward enjoying money but not being wasteful.