Monday Message

(LDS Church Handbook 2, Section 6.1.1)
“Church members are responsible for their own spiritual and temporal well-being.....To help care for themselves and their families, members should build a three-month supply of food that is part of their normal diet. Where local laws and circumstances permit, they should gradually build a longer-term supply of basic foods that will sustain life. They should also store drinking water in case the water supply becomes polluted or disrupted."

Let's talk about this quote… we are responsible for our own spiritual and temporal well being.

We are responsible. I know we go to church and read scriptures as a family, daily and personal scriptures, keep journals, have family home evening, family prayers and personal prayers and we work on our callings and do visiting and home teaching.… these are what we all strive for and more, but we all do the best we can.

If you were visiting us during family scripture reading you would get a hoot. I have Fibromyalgia so when I read sometimes I can make up new words or even say backwards in a second. It would keep you in stitches. It would mean you really need to be following closely, but seriously we are responsible for our own spiritual well being. We too are responsible to help our children as well.

Also, our temporal well being means taking care of our families, we need to feed and clothe and shelter our families.

I will be the first to say things happen. Loss of job, health and all manner of unexpected things. Sometimes we need help from others and by no means does that make us less.

But while you may not be in that case, now you need to prepare for things as well. As much as is in your power to do so you need to be anxiously engaged in this. You may have funds to be putting in storage, you may have lots of funds or low in funds like we are. 

Plan wisely… how can you? 

Let us think - you have ten dollars, how can you use this amount to the best that you can? Eating out, while it's tempting, think to yourself... two hamburgers, well you could have bought hamburger and buns and still more. You could still have two hamburgers but you would still have hamburger leftover that you could make into a soup or spaghetti or another casserole.

Basically, you pay others to fix your meal. So if you look at it like this you would maybe think differently about spending your money that way. So think before you spend. I know you might think, how could that little bit make a difference? How could you spend that money to build storage? Hmmm, you could get 25 lbs flour or two cans shortening, how many cans of veggies or canned fruit, four jars of peanut butter, you see what I mean? So while you have more or less funds, be working on this. Your family is counting on you. I will throw in to this that prayer can help you to be able to stock your storage.

I say store what you like. Just be sure you rotate and watch for sales. Ask someone you know who has a good storage for them, plan any questions you have.

I knew someone who loved a blueberry bakery type muffin mixes they would buy them by cases for their storage nothing wrong with that so long as you rotate but I would say most people might not be able to do that but instead have learned to make muffins from scratch and have favorite recipes. This would be skill building. If the mix purchaser loses income they may think, well that is a needed item what will they do as it is now unsustainable? If they know how to make from scratch muffins and stored ingredients in their storage, they can make the muffins.

Just to get you thinking… If you lost your job then ran out of the mixes would you wish you had collected favorite muffin recipes and stored the ingredients??? Would you?

This is why I stress skill building, staying in budget, and building storage.

If you had no income and your clothes that need mending, how would you do this? Do you mend them now? Do you know how? Do you have the tools to do so?

http://www.gracefullittlehoneybee.com/30-simple-ways-save-money-kitchen/ I know I have used her stuff a lot but she has it figured out and if you think only old people do these things, look at her picture she is wise but not old. While we already don’t spend on coffee you are already one step ahead.

I know many will say, but I am way too busy to learn or cook from scratch then I would say busy with what? Write it down, look the list over and see what you can cut. If busy tending your wee ones all day, get them to help you fix food. To them it will be a game. Take time to teach them, it is harder to slow up to have them measure but it will help them when they leave home, like a basic skill account you are building.

Same if you go to the thrift store, you might find a fun bauble and there might be sewing tools. You have to train yourself to think before you spend, play the what if game ….what if we had no money and your church dress loses a button?

Do the spending freeze put that money aside that you don’t spend and when the month is over use that to build storage. It really is about thinking before you blow the funds, like the mother at Aldi’s that saw my list and she said she just gets whatever and gets hollered at later… really, does that promote harmony??

Plan plan plan your grocery list, your menus, your time and prepare.

At the time of writing this for you I am sick with cold flu. While I could use a bucket of chicken and a dump truck of chocolate, our budget doesn’t allow for this. I knew I was getting sick so each day in the morning I feel slightly better than in the afternoon knowing I will only get worse before better. I would mix our easier meals, doubled and put half in freezer and the other half for supper so each day I have done this to give myself the gift of a meal. When I feel worse boo, I hate being sick. What is your sick plan? When I am well I plan to continue to do this for awhile. So if I catch something else I will be ready. Do I feel up to it?  No, I am pushing through it, doing the best I can.

Besides doing this, while too sick for other things, I am taking this time I am to be resting and learn things I am wanting to do better at or just plain learn. I like to learn what I can.

I know I have been way wordy on this but I had lots I wanted to say. Take what I have had to learn the hard way, learn to do and you might not have to learn the hard way. It may be a blessing to you, as life is always full of challenges.

Do the best you can and always look around you to be of help to others as we can make another’s burden lighter.