My friend Stacy @ Your Sacred Calling, has done a superb job of handling this issue of Titus 2. Well worth the read.
“I’ve received questions as to what is meant in Titus 2 where Paul talks about God’s Word being blasphemed. They wondered if working women blaspheme God’s name. First, let me say no; from what I’ve studied in the word of God, a woman who works outside of the home does not blaspheme God’s Word by doing so….
Ladies, this is the Word of God! We may be able to debate the definition of a keeper at home, but we really can’t argue about the fact that being a “homemaker” is in fact included in the list of things young women should be taught to practice. And it seems pretty clear that Paul is saying God’s Word is blasphemed in society when the church rejects or ignores the teachings of Titus 2.”
The kitchen is one of the most flexible areas of finance to a stay at home mom. As we consider our many duties at home, we need to understand the importance of balancing resourcefulness with variety and nutrition–a task that calls for serious study and practice!
In this post I have two lists of money-saving tips and then two cost-efficient menus.
Please add any advice you may have in this area as it will benefit us to learn from each other!
For women already working who would like to come home, it’s always recommended that they do a financial analysis of what they are currently spending.
Calculate:
gas money
daycare expense
lunch money
snacks
eating out money (which you always do more of because you have less time to prepare meals)
the amount spent on convenience foods (again, due to lack of time)
clothes you buy more of, etc.
Then add to that the money you are NOT saving by being unable to plan, prepare and bargain shop due to limited time. You may be really surprised at what working is costing you. Also consider that the income you earn is taxed; but anything you save is not. So, a penny saved is actually more than a penny earned.
Dave Ramsey suggests that you keep a detailed record of every penny spent in a month’s time. You will be shocked at how much of it “leaks” out. You can see where in your budget changes need to be made.
Then, go through your budget considering any expenses that could be reduced or eliminated. Cable, cell phones, insurance plans, groceries, utilities, etc.
I am going to be suggesting different ideas throughout these posts for saving money. Here are a few for today:
(From the archives, and updated to reflect changes…)
Aren’t we spiritually schizophrenic, just like the psalmist, David? One minute we’re shaking our fist at God, the next, we’re repenting and praising Him for his sovereignty.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
He so often echoes the cry of my heart. If you will look at the chapter just before this well-known 23rd Psalm, David is pleading, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As we step into this exciting series about living on one income, we will often need to hold close to our hearts, the truth that the Lord is indeed sufficient.
As I was sleeping/thinking (I do the two simultaneously!) last night, I felt like I should share with you, briefly “our story”…humbling as it is, I think it might prove encouraging. Read more »
Oh boy…after repeated accusations that I get my anti-feminist ideas from “pre-50’s” literature and Google searches for “feminism is bad”, I decided to do an open-minded search for these new claims of modern feminism. The claims that “old feminism was hostile to men and family, but NEW feminism is all about choice and respect of that choice…that motherhood is a perfectly honorable “choice”, as long as it’s not the only one”. That should soften my ideas a bit, huh?
WRONG!!! My blood was boiling after just a few news stories…and I only had room to post a smidgen of the stuff I found. It’s hard for me to fathom that these conclusions were made by someone who claims to be educated. Now I know what the Bible means about the “wisdom of the world being foolishness”.
Feminism does one thing REALLY well…LIE. And they continue to. Yes, some feminists thought their previous agenda too judgmental, so they have opted to use softer terms like “choice” to make all women feel included. Well in truth, that is not the feminist agenda–never was, never can be. They are still about belittling the family, the role of marriage and motherhood–they hate “choice”, and on the destruction goes. Read carefully and stay tuned to the bottom of the page for the “solution”:
Linda Hirshman asks: “More and more women are leaving the workforce to stay home and raise kids. Has feminism failed?” (If you listen, the question itself reveals the heart of feminism.)
“In interviews, women with enough money to quit work say they are “choosing” to opt out. Their words conceal a crucial reality: the belief that women are responsible for child-rearing and homemaking was largely untouched by decades of workplace feminism.
The family — with its repetitious, socially invisible, physical tasks — is a necessary part of life, but it allows fewer opportunities for full human flourishing than public spheres like the market or the government.
Women who want to have sex and children with men as well as good work in interesting jobs where they may occasionally wield real social power need guidance, and they need it early.
Step one is simply to begin talking about flourishing. In so doing, feminism will be returning to its early, judgmental roots. This may anger some, but it should sound the alarm before the next generation winds up in the same situation. Next, feminists will have to start offering young women not choices and not utopian dreams but solutions they can enact on their own. Prying women out of their traditional roles is not going to be easy. It will require rules — rules like those in the widely derided book The Rules, which was never about dating but about behavior modification.
So the first rule is to use your college education with an eye to career goals.
If you are good at work you are in a position to address the third undertaking: the reproductive household. The rule here is to avoid taking on more than a fair share of the second shift…When couples marry, the amount of time that a woman spends doing housework increases by approximately 17 percent..to avoid this kind of rut, you can either find a spouse with less social power than you or find one with an ideological commitment to gender equality. Taking the easier path first, marry down. (emphasis mine)..Rhona Mahoney recommended finding a sharing spouse by marrying younger or poorer, or someone in a dependent status, like a starving artist.
If these prescriptions sound less than family-friendly, here’s the last rule: Have a baby. Just don’t have two (can you hear me going “AGHHHHHH!”)….women who opt out for child-care reasons act only after the second child arrives. A second kid pressures the mother’s organizational skills, doubles the demands for appointments, wildly raises the cost of education and housing, and drives the family to the suburbs. It is true that if you follow this rule, your society will not reproduce itself. (!!! She’s educated, people!)
“Why do we care? We care because what they do is bad for them, and is certainly bad for society.”
“At feminism’s dawning, two theorists compared gender ideology to a caste system. To borrow their insight, these daughters of the upper classes will be bearing most of the burden of the work always associated with the lowest caste: sweeping and cleaning bodily waste.” (My note: There you have it: the feminists summation of raising the next generation–forget life-changing impacts, shaping characters and destinies, building strong minds and lives–just cleaning up bodily waste.)
This article even spewed the stupidity that if a mother’s income is only enough to pay for child care, it is “incorrect to say she would be better staying home”. The author said the fair assessment is to combine the total household income, and subtract childcare, leaving the total household profit. There…that should make us all feel better, shouldn’t it? (ditzy voice: ”I went to Harvard and I’m very good at math.”) Because the MAIN thing is to stay away from home and the children.
In a nutshell, feminism is nothing more than a ME religion. It dismisses what is best for any person, now or later, besides ME. It even dismisses the reality of a total, societal-self-destruction…as long as I can do what I want to do right now; after all, I’ll be dead when it all hits the fan.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go put my hair out. It may cause me to go into labor.
I had to add this clip of Hirshman for a little comic relief…I think you’ll enjoy it.
Jess in Peru sent me this interesting article peppered with sadness as well as pleasant reflections. And as always, blessings often come in disguise:
“Lucas and other laid-off women like her are involuntarily experiencing the life of a stay-at-home mom, and they are getting to know a lot more about the details of their children’s daily existence. They are also discovering some of the things they have been missing.”
“…when she (Lucas) went to the pediatrician’s office, the nurses were so used to seeing the nanny that they didn’t recognize Lucas.”
“After years in which her husband was the main caregiver, she is finding the time off with her children to be an unexpected blessing.”
But unfortunately, the blessing of being home isn’t enough to most…
“I can’t say I’ve seen any mothers who see being laid off as a positive thing,” says Jessica Polsky, a career counselor at New York’s Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. “Even if it’s $10 an hour that they made, it’s something, and they really needed it. They need to get out and get new jobs.”
“She also learned something from her brief experience being laid off: Financial pressures aside, she prefers working.” (emphasis mine)
This commentary–and I hear it all the time–is sad to me because it encapsulates a common mentality…”What I WANT to do is really all that matters.” There is often no real thought about what is best for my children and family…about sacrificing my desires for the good of someone else. (Disclaimer: A general mentality, not the one of every mother.) And it’s so easy to camouflage our wants behind the facade of necessity.
In an effort to be sensitive to real financial pressures (of which I know much), there are still almost ALWAYS alternatives to the financial crunch. (The first of which is living on less.)
The real issue, I think, is that at the core, we think it doesn’t really matter either way. That if a woman wants to be home with her family, great. If she doesn’t, no harm done. (This is our hard-fought freedom, right?) In the name of choice we have come to see motherhood as a peripheral activity, children as options to raise, despite so much evidence that families thrive when Mom is home. Motherhood ceases to even be considered a profession, much less a preferred one.
Despite all the criticism I get for my stance on this issue, it’s not about my trying to exert “an old-fashioned ideal” over women; it’s about urging us to think about what is best for the family, for our children, for society. It’s about caring for women. Urging them to understand that home is not a prison, but a haven through which the world is changed. If it ever sinks in how important raising our children is, we would sacrifice almost anything to do it.
Yes, I know, there are rare instances when a mom has to work outside the home. But I’m addressing the attitude of “optional child-rearing” here.
I think of an analogy…suppose you were hired as an ICU nurse. But, you felt stifled in those tiny rooms, despite the fact your patients needed your constant care. So, after a strike, the nurses in your unit gained the freedom to take a second job in addition to their ICU position. They still had to come check in a couple times a day, but they were now free to go find a more exciting job.
Goody. The nurses have been freed. But what about their patients?
The truth hasn’t changed…when the family suffers, we all suffer. The voice of feminism says, in essence, “we don’t care about the consequences…we only care about ourselves–our rights–our freedoms.” It is cloaked in good intentions–”Fighting for the rights of women”–when all the while, the children are the ones who have suffered from our “freedom”. And that’s no small thing. Those same children are becoming who we are as a nation.
May the Lord use this difficult economic time to remind us of the most important things.
feminism, working moms | Word Warrior | 
August 15, 2010 10:33 am | 
Comments (60) 
The kitchen is one of the most flexible areas of finance to a stay at home mom. As we consider our many duties at home, we need to understand the importance of balancing resourcefulness with variety and nutrition–a task that calls for serious study and practice!
For women already working who would like to come home, it’s always recommended that they do a financial analysis of what they are currently spending.
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