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!

• Buy discount. Explore your area for a “bent and dent” grocery store. There are great bargains to be found at such stores if you are fortunate enough to have one in your area.  I buy organic salad dressings for $1, Gain laundry detergent for $5/gallon (concentrated), almond butter for .79, just to name a few.

• Stock pile on great sales. I’m not so good at this, as I’m always thinking “how little can I spend on this grocery trip”, but when you come across a great buy, it’s much better to stock up!

• Eat first.  Never go grocery shopping hungry. It really will increase your spending!

• Shop less often. Stretch your grocery trips out as far as you can. It is better to buy monthly than weekly, because you usually buy more than what’s on the list (impulse purchases) and you spend more gas and time as well.

• Garden. If it is possible, keep a garden. There are lots of things to learn in this area, as some people have managed to grow a garden almost year round. It will greatly reduce your grocery bill and even more importantly, it will benefit your family’s health.  (Note:  there are some produce items that are basically just as cheap to buy at a farmer’s market than to grow.  Consider that when planting.)  Think ahead too.  Freezing and canning for the winter is an important part of resourcefulness.

• Free food. We have an abundance of blackberries around our house.  No, picking isn’t easy.  But it’s free!  (My kids actually love to pick.)  We bake pies, make blackberry jam and syrup, and freeze berries to make jams and butters later for Christmas presents.  Not free but cheap, we also take advantage of the u-pick farms around.  Blueberries are $4/gallon and we love stocking up!

• Coupons. I am not good with coupons. I know there are great savings to be had, but I seem to lack the skills of finding the right coupons. This is the part where I say “HELP” to all you coupon experts out there I will offer this link I found (and there are many on the Internet) that seemed to have some good coupon resources, including free printable coupons.  I know MoneySavingMom is a great resource too.

Menu Planning.

Menu planning is crucial to saving on the grocery budget. Some very organized people (my not being one of them), have all their menus written out for the month and plan their grocery list around those. Amy Dacyczyn of The Tightwad Gazette suggests that you first buy your groceries, based on what’s on sale, and THEN plan your menu around your food. That makes more sense to me.

Regardless of your menu-planning style, it is important to regularly plan frugal, inexpensive meals, that are still fairly nutritious (this definition will vary from family to family), and that your family enjoys. I am going to list a few of our favorite frugal meals, and then I hope to hear some of yours!

Meatless Mexican Casserole

A very flexible, delicious meal…you can add or substitute easily according to your family’s tastes, or the ingredients you have on hand. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Adjust amounts to your family’s size.

Pinto Beans, cooked and drained–season with cumin, garlic and desired spices

Rice

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheddar Cheese–any cheese can be substituted

Diced Tomatoes, fresh or canned

Cumin

Any other desired spices

Taco sauce or salsa (optional)

Chopped onions (optional)

Lettuce (optional)

Directions:

Layer everything in a casserole dish. I layer in this order: Rice, sour cream, beans, taco sauce, onions, cheese–then heat to melt cheese. Add tomatoes and lettuce after heating. Serve with taco chips or corn bread. Fantastic! Of course, ground beef can be added to this dish.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

1/3 diced chicken from whole, boiled chicken (save broth)

1/2 to 1 onion, chopped

chopped tomatoes

1 stick butter

Approx. 4 heaping Tbls. flour

garlic powder

parmesan cheese

milk

Pasta–shells, penne, noodles, etc.

Desired vegetables

Directions:

Put water on to boil and cook pasta.

After chicken is cooked and de-boned, divide into thirds, freeze two portions and set aside the other. White sauce: Place a stick of butter in skillet, melt and then add flour. Stir until bubbly and sticky. Pour chicken broth in while stirring, one cup at a time until sauce is thick. Pour about a cup of milk until creamy. Add garlic powder and parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

In another skillet, on med heat, add 2 Tbls. olive oil or butter. Add chopped onions and chicken. Saute until onions are slightly tender. Add any additional desired vegetables (I use frozen mixed vegetables.)

Drain pasta, and pour all three together, tossing and sprinkling with parsley or desired seasonings. You may also serve creamy sauce on the side.

Note about pasta: The options are endless for pasta recipes and it would take me all day to list the different versions we use. This is where a homemaker needs to learn what spices/combinations go well together and begin experimenting. Different meats, meatless versions, different sauces and spices–pasta dishes are the frugal family’s best friend!

I have several frugal recipes listed HERE as well, on our website (including a delightful milk shake recipe made without ice cream!)

A Note About Bread

Homemade bread is a wonderful addition to every meal. It is a great filler, it is inexpensive and it is healthy. I personally use a bread machine, but many large families have graduated to a mixer to make multiple batches of bread. Either way, these machines make homemade bread-making a cinch. Just dump the ingredients for your recipe in, and the machine does the rest. (See below for a free e-book on making bread!)

The other great thing is that I usually mix on the “dough” setting, take it out and make rolls, a loaf, cinnamon rolls, stuffed bread, pizza crust, etc. There are so many options!

Some of you may have never baked homemade bread in your life. That’s OK…you can learn! We buy wheat berries, grind them in a grinder, and then use the wheat. It’s a small investment well-worth the nutritional value (in my opinion!)

I have a few more ideas and recipes in our ebook “Back to Scratch:  Saving Money in the Kitchen”, especially a good read for those who are just beginning to cook from scratch.  Since this is a saving-money series, I’d just like to offer it to you, for today, for $1.00!!!


To get the $7.97 discount, just enter the coupon code “save” at checkout.  I love ya.

Buy “Back to Scratch” now for $1.00

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:

• Buy in bulk.  Many women are accustomed to buying food items in bulk, but the Internet now provides all sorts of options for bulk-buying. Today, for example, I purchased 12 t-shirts for my husband who works outside and uses them up quickly.  They were cheaper bought new from jiffyshirts.com ($1.74) than I can even buy them at a thrift store, and you can get them even cheaper if you by irregulars from theadairgroup.com with a minimum $50 purchase.  One year I got jazzy, borrowed my friend’s embroidery machine and put his company name on them.  You might consider bulk items for gifts (one year I bought a lot of chenille throws on E-bay for under $2 each) or even re-sell (more about that later).

• If you wear contact lenses, order them on-line from Lens.com.  Contacts from there cost $15.00 per box, with 6 lenses in a box.

• Check E-bay or Amazon.com before you buy ANYTHING. Computer ink, books, gifts, vitamins–just about anything under the sun can usually be found cheaper there.

• Check the Internet for rebates or coupons on purchases you need to make on-line.  A quick search for “coupons and company name” will turn up available savings.

• Utilities. See how long you can wait before turning on your air conditioner or heating unit in seasons, then work on keeping it turned higher than normal (we keep our central air turned on about 80 degrees in summer.) Consider turning off central units and using a window unit and/or wood stove.
• Call phone company.  I was on the phone recently with my phone company and she casually mentioned she could reduce my phone bill.  Now pardon me for being dense, but I just assumed that the phone company assumed we would prefer the lowest available rate. Apparently, you have to tell them that from time to time.  She knocked $20 off our monthly bill without changing our service one bit.

• Water. Take a shower instead of a bath.  Bathe little ones together and less often (consider a “wet cloth bath” on less dirty days).

• Hot water heater. Your hot water heater is one of the high-energy appliances in your home. Turn it off (or flip the breaker) at night after supper and showers, and leave it off until the following evening.  You will still have hot water to use during the day and will save about $40 a month.

• Save change.  Put out a jar and have everyone deposit their spare change into it–typically you won’t miss it. Deposit it into savings periodically, or use it for a desired purchase.  It’s even more exciting if you write the purchase goal on the jar.

• Yard sale. Have a yard sale, or better yet, list some things on Craigs list.

• Stay home. This one sound silly? Just try it!  You will make far  fewer purchases.

• Reconsider purchasing mentality.  This could go in several directions.  But consider how companies convince us of our need to purchase. You probably own a bottle of shampoo, a bottle of conditioner, soap or body wash for your body and maybe shaving gel, soap for baby, shampoo for baby, and lotion for baby.  Why can’t we use the same soap for body as we use for hair?  Is it really that different?  Why can’t we use conditioner for shaving (the cheapest one)?  Does baby need soap and shampoo too?  I know some things matter (I have to use certain conditioner or I can’t comb my hair out), but we would do well to think outside the marketing frenzy.

One look at what a small change can do over a period of time:

Let’s say you have looked at your budget and just can’t find any “extra” money to save or invest. One of the areas we changed was haircuts for hubby and the boys. Aaron was spending approx. $12/month on a haircut. If he took the two boys, that was an additional $9 or so. All together, $30/month. We bought some clippers and a good pair of scissors, and Aaron showed me how the hairdresser cut his hair. In a few practices , I had it. Now if we put back that $30 a month (that doesn’t count gas money saved), that’s a $360 savings a year–not too bad. BUT, if I open a mutual fund, and have them automatically debit our account for $30 a month, we’ll say on a presumed interest rate of 9%, in a year, we will have earned $658.87. We almost doubled our money just by making one small change! Imagine multiplying that over several more “a dollar-here, dollar-there” savings! (BTW, if the interest is compounded daily, as opposed to monthly, the amount is even more.)

We’ll talk more later on how to EARN extra income. But for now, I just want you to begin to think about saving. Once you have more time on your hands to think about it, and study the art, you’ll find all sorts of ways to save!

Recommended reading: “The Tightwad Gazette” by Amy Dacyzn (Look for it on e-bay first, of course. The AMAZING book by a woman who decided she could “have it all”!

Tomorrow, we will address one of the easiest places to cut the budget–the grocery bill…including some great frugal family recipes. (Get your favorite frugal recipes ready to share!)

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.

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.

When we felt the conviction for me to come home from my teaching career, my husband made 23,000 a year. We had two children and one on the way. Shortly after I quit my job, pro-ration caused Aaron to be laid off. Perfect timing, huh? So, he was forced, prematurely, into starting his own landscaping business. It proved quite profitable in the summer, but lagged greatly in the winter. Struggling to keep up, he worked tirelessly to solicit business, hoping “the next job” would get us through the drought.

Long story short, in two years we found ourselves over $32,000 in credit card debt! We had used them to live, thinking we’d pay off the balance after the “next big job”, which never came. (I talk about the amazing nature of compound interest later in the post…if you don’t believe it, get yourself a credit card!)

Needless to say, creditors plagued our lives, with the added pressure of people wondering A. why I didn’t go back to work, and B. why on earth we were allowing God to give us as many children as He wanted!

Life was hard. I cried–a lot. I wondered what we had done, and why God was not honoring my decision to come home.

“Then, go through your budget considering any expenses that could be reduced or eliminated. Cable, cell phones, insurance plans, groceries, utilities, etc.”

Fast forward…today we still live very frugally. But we have paid off almost all our credit card debt (only about $700 to go!  We’ve been paying on them for 5 years. During that time we have also paid for braces, a used truck, and out-of-pocket for one of our babies’ prenatal and delivery costs.) Creditors do not call us anymore. Our bills are manageable even though our family continues to grow.

A family can survive on one income…not as easily as before, due to dual incomes raising the cost of living and the ridiculous taxation policies, but it can still be done. And we are going to discuss the many facets of making that possible.

It all begins with the way we think about money. Our finances and all our assets belong to God. We are simply stewards of what He gives us. One of my many jobs of being a keeper at home, is to study resourcefulness, as a profession, and make it an integral part of my work to use my husband’s income as wisely as possible. I think a lot of women who work outside the home view a SAHM as someone who “does basically nothing”. How untrue! This area is just one of many that requires diligence, work and wisdom.  And it can be fun!

For some women, this may involve a serious look at how you yourself spend money. It may involve getting over your “deprived syndrome”, and learning to be content with less. If you have always felt you deserved to buy the latest brands at the hippest department stores, you may need to deal with issues of pride and materialism. Needs and wants are very different. And while there are creative ways to enjoy material things, splurging is not usually an option for the virtuous woman

Another important element of our thinking involves understanding the value of a dollar, and even a penny. Most people never grasp the simplest of concepts about money: a little saved here and there adds up to a lot. I can’t tell you how important this concept has proven to be over the years.  Using a tad less shampoo, laundry detergent, water, electricity–every consumable product, really adds up.  Begin to think about the importance of saving a penny here and a penny there…it compounds in an extraordinary way.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a closer look at cutting expenses and finding some simple ways to save on necessary purchases!

(I know it’s a bit long…read it anyway.)

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.)  

From America’s Stay-at-Home Feminists, Linda Hirshman

 

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.

“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.”

“She also learned something from her brief experience being laid off: Financial pressures aside, she prefers working.” (emphasis mine)

“Don’t be afraid to say, “This is my starting point…this truth is a good thing.”

Why do I talk about women’s roles? Education? Submission? Children? It has nothing to do with wanting to interfere in others’ lives. It has everything to do with wanting to help make your lives better.

I blog for one reason…to present what I believe God has given Christians as a guideline for living–truth that will make us free and shine as lights around us. But we have to recognize that truth as our starting point.

Could I compare myself to Dave Ramsey? He speaks emphatically (with no apologies) about debt and money. He’s even willing to hurt people’s feelings out of his concern for their freedom. He has “been there and got the t-shirt”, and he wants to help others avoid the same pitfalls.

And people have generally accepted a universal truth that it is *good* to use money wisely, and that debt carries problems, even if they are not living according to that principle.

These principles are addressed in Scripture, though they are not hard and fast “thou shalt nots“. Still, regardless of the personal choices we make with our finances, we still all pretty much agree that there is an “ideal” involving finances, and that ideal is always a good starting point, no matter where we are. I can be (and have been) up to my eyeballs in debt and still acknowledge that being debt free is the ideal. Believing that may not change where I am at that moment, but it moves me toward that ideal goal.

This is how I view marriage, children, the role of women, education, etc. I think the Bible has laid forth principles–some straightforward, others less so. But I believe we can find direction for every area of life there. And I think these principles form ideals that we need to recognize as “a good thing”, a starting point for our thinking.

So often we try to formulate “truth” around what we want it to be, or what makes us feel better about where we are. Is there absolute truth? If so, where does it come from? Who determines it? How much is left up to my own determination? These are questions we must seriously ask.

Think of exercise and healthy eating. I can either recognize that it is better to exercise and eat healthy as my starting point for life choices–regardless of whether or not I choose it, or I can ignore evidence of that truth to feel better about my lack of discipline and poor eating choices.

I’d much rather hear someone say, “I am too lazy to walk and too apathetic to cut back on the french fries; I’ll probably die early”...than “I don’t believe that garbage about exercise being good for you, and french fries being bad…if that works for you, fine. But it doesn’t apply to me.” Obviously, we all differ somewhat on methods of health, but we still agree that health should be pursued for the most optimal life.

Do you get my point? I don’t have any desire to make people feel condemned or angry; I am walking through this life, or limping, rather, in daily need of repentance. I haven’t “arrived” any more than you; I’m not better, more godly or more spiritual. (Just ask my family and closest friends if you have any doubts

I speak ONLY because I believe there is truth that brings healing and freedom to families. And I want that healing and freedom for my family and yours! I have an intense concern for women and their families. That’s all. Whether you are “there” or not, matters less than where your starting point is. Our thinking determines our direction.

In His sovereignty He gives us freedom, but with boundaries. He gives us choices and yet tells us what is best for us. Let’s be careful, as Christians, not to buy into the humanism of our culture (truth is what I say it is). We do have a guide. We were given the blueprint for joyful lives and peaceful families. Don’t be afraid to say, “This is my starting point…this truth is a good thing.”

Hope you don’t mind a slight deviation from our topic…thought some of you could use a rest I’ll continue our series, don’t worry.

A newspaper article jumped out at me today. I wasn’t even past the title: “Mayor’s chief of staff COPES, despite expecting triplets”…oh boy.

The illogical conclusions were screaming all through the article. Let me quote a few (names have been changed):

“Since Smith became pregnant with triplets, she has not slowed down in one of the most fast-paced jobs there is–working for Billy Johnson, the city’s mayor. The 38-year old has emerged as a powerful figure in the new administration as the mayor’s right-hand woman. He calls her his “alter ego” at work and the only woman besides his wife who seems to know what he is thinking.”

Didn’t God already give him a right-hand woman? Why is she so inadequate as a help meet? And I bet the “powerful figure” would shudder to be called a help meet…but that is exactly what she is. A help meet to her husband would be “foolish”; a help meet to the mayor makes her a “powerful figure”.

“Smith, who says she never saw herself as someone who stays home, plans to return to City Hall. Why wouldn’t she?” (!!!)

(Um…because there are helpless, newborn babies who need the constant care of the one from whose womb they emerged? From the only one, who, once upon a time, could even give them life-sustaining nourishment?)

‘Not one person has asked my husband if he’s going back to work after the babies are born,’ Smith said.

Could someone pass the blood pressure meds? I wonder if anyone asked her husband if he was going to go natural or have an epidural? If he was going to breast feed or bottle feed? C’mon people! She’s mad because someone had the AUDACITY to suggest she might be the one who takes care of these little gifts! We’ve “educated” ourselves right out of a brain!

“Dave Hammond, the mayor’s chief of operations, said he knew Smith would return to work. ‘She is passionate about what she does and passionate about bettering the city’, he said.

The mayor said, ‘the triplets will have more love than they will know what to do with if Smith is even half the mother to them that she is to her older daughter.’

Smith said, “We complain as women that we want to see other women in positions of leadership or authority, and as soon as that happens, we either insult their competence or suggest that because they might be in the position that I’m in and pregnant, that I shouldn’t return to work.”

So let me get this straight: man hires another man’s wife as helpmeet; now husband has to hire someone as his helpmeet; Mom gives birth to babies, but since she loves her career so much, husband must hire MORE people to do wife’s job of taking care of babies. Now that would make a great news story!

Sorry if I sound agitated; I think it was the blatant “Don’t even suggest that I should be a Mom” attitude running throughout the article that riled me up. She wanted us to stand up and applaud her for “not missing a beat, despite being pregnant with triplets”, applaud her for being a powerhouse, for going back to work, and for “being a mom”. You just can’t have the whole cake.

This is the feminists’ gospel; Mrs. Smith is just a victim of faulty education. This is what our daughters (and sons) are being taught on every side.

Bottom line: God has a good plan; this is not it.

And it makes me sad. For one, they always have this picture–very different from what I’ve tried to communicate about women’s roles. And if it weren’t so sad, it’d be funny. It’s complete irony, from my point of view.

This comment for example:

“I need to be my own person before I can become part of a union with another,and at no point will I become a submissive wife. I might be a stay-at-home mom,I might have a wonderful career and no family, or if I marry, whomever I marry could stay at home. Instead of telling your daughters that they need to get married and have many children, tell them to follow their own calling, whether
it is to the home or not- and be open to whatever it is falls into place in
their life.”

I understand what the commenter is trying to say here…but it’s saturated in deception….take a step back. “At no point will I become a submissive wife”, she protests. Yet, she is fully willing to become a submissive employee, to a man that probably doesn’t care a fraction as much for her as her husband does. To be enslaved to his schedule, his demands, his time. Does anyone else recognize this faulty logic? This “protest” and fighting for “rights” to be who I want to be.

I can understand lamenting that you feel “stuck” working outside the home to make ends meet. But to say that being at home is being “stuck”? This anger at those who would raise daughters who believe that home is more than a house…but that it’s a beginning point, a place where, if we plant ourselves, we take root and grow, and flourish, and are met with more opportunities, more freedom and more avenues of production than we will ever be able to fulfill!

That’s oppressive? How?

It’s like standing inside a prison cell and wagging a finger at those on the outside saying, “You shouldn’t tell people they can’t choose this life…nor should you brainwash your daughters to think so.” ????

I really don’t get it. I really do desire to cast off this deceptive facade that stands in the way of women and home.

Hey, I’m a women’s-libber

Olivia, the daughter of one of my great friends, wrote a most poignant post today, with such great points, and I thought it very fitting and articulate. You will LOVE it!

“I have a question….

You said in a comment you left someone, that you don’t believe that the Scriptures say it’s a sin to not be a homemaker. Reading this left me with some concern, and with a question that I hope you will answer when you find the time.

Before I ask the question, I would like to point out some things from the 2 above mentioned passages (I Timothy 5:14, Titus 2:2-4). These passages teach that if these women are not homemakers, then the Word of God will be blasphemed. As Christians, it is clearly a sin to do anything that would cause God or His Word to be blasphemed, reviled, put down, etc. Therefore, this passage is teaching clearly that it is a sin to not be a homemaker. Secondly, in these passages, women are admonished or commanded to be homemakers. They are not given this possibility, or told that this would be the wisest plan for them. Rather, they are commanded. If we disobey the Lord’s commands, then we are in sin.

We have to keep our hermenuetic(method of interpreting Scripture) the same, no matter what passage we come to. I think it’s pretty clear in these passages that not being a homemaker is a sin(because it’s directly disobeying a command, and not being a homemaker would bring dishonor to God’s Word, His name, etc.).

Therefore, my question is this: how can you rectify what you said about not thinking the Scriptures say that it’s a sin to work outside the home, with the fact of what the above passages are teaching?”