My inspiration for this topic comes straight from my Mom! She is the Master of Money Saving!

I remember going shopping with her as a young child. I hated it! She was like an energy bunny on steroids. And her one goal was to hit every yellow “Clearance” sign in all the stores! We could make it through an entire mall in 25 minutes, because if a store did NOT have clearance signs, we did not stop! It’s really quite impressive!

And Mom, if you’r reading this, it wasn’t YOU that I didn’t enjoy, it was the shopping! That and the long drive just to get to the mall (2 hours one way!) I wasn’t cut out for Speed Shopping anyway – sorry!

On the bright-side, I have learned all my money saving “hacks” from her! So the real thanks for any of these take-aways go to my dear sweet Momma! She can (and does) do it all and never quits! #supermom

To this day after shopping, I will come home. And I do my best to NOT let my husband see all that I have purchased. Especially after hitting up my favorite second -hand store. I do this because, well I like to surprise him! You know, with how good of a deal it really was! Right?

Or…am I defending my purchases? Either way, and it goes a little something like this.

Me: IT WAS ON SALE! (Which, 99% of the time it was!)
Him: (very sarcastically) “Well, we are LOSING money then if we don’t get it!”
Me: (Exaggerated my eye roll)

Winning? I think so! Bad habit? Depends who you’re asking!

But allow me to get real for a minute! Saving money is a wonderful thing, but it’s not about the spending amount we should focus on more so the purpose of spending.

You can save a lot of money and still buy a lot of things!

As some may pride themselves in how much money they have, you could easily gratify yourself in how much money you save! Money can consume us if we aren’t careful! Whether again, it’s a lot or a little that we have.

Without sounding too Dr. Seuss, ‘we have what we have’ and that’s because God has blessed us with exactly that, for a very specific purpose!

“The beset things in life aren’t things.”

-Art Buchwald

*CHALLENGE: You won’t completely change any habits you have or hacks you grew up over night, but think of ONE thing that you’re really wanting to SAVE MONEY on and push yourself to make a plan! Then, put it into action!

“Both riches and honor come from You.”

1 Chronicles 29:12a

Lord, help us to not seek out just to save money but to spend wisely! Give us discerning hearts and generosity with the money you’ve blessed us with. Reveal to us Your goodness and may we honor you with ALL that you have provided! Thank you for always being faithful! In Your Name, Amen.