Sacrificing to win...

Our fridge went out last Monday.

If' you're a regular reader, you know that we've been working on remodeling the kitchen, so replacing the fridge was something we had on the radar anyway. The problem is, we need to do the remodel on our time, not in crisis mode. When paying cash for a remodel, it's best to have the cash before you need the appliance. ;-)

So, we went to the jars. We have two. One is the savings from my Craigslist sales, and other junking ventures, and the other is a purposeful jar, where we save for something the whole family wants, like a programmable thermostat, or a new mini-series DVD set, or whatever we choose. We pooled the money, and came up with enough for almost half of the fridge. But who wants half a fridge?

Since I knew I wanted the stainless steel, I did ALOT of shopping around, but in the end it was more expensive than I had hoped. $1400 including the installation. Nice. That's like half a cruise payment. Fortunately Brenda, I have skills...

Believe me...
are you listening?...
drop the chocolate bar and look into the screen...
voluntary frugality and simplicity of life is a whole lot easier than if you come into a season of forced frugality without the skills.

Six months ago, I would have thought it was impossible to have most of my kitchen remodeled by August 1.

You know it is impossible for a bumble bee to fly, but he does. It's God's design that does it.

It's that way with us, too. He's not caught by surprise with any "crisis" in our lives; He never sleeps or slumbers. Good thing!

So, I ordered my fridge from the local appliance store, paid cash for it with the help of part of my grocery budget for the next two weeks, plus some from the Emergency Fund, (***thank you, again, Dave Ramsey***), and the rest from the jars.

I'll have to be very diligent with my grocery shopping with only $70 for two weeks, but since we have a stocked pantry and freezer, plus our garden, we'll eat well and probably won't even notice much that the grocery budget was cut. There won't be any stockpiling or garage sale-ing, but that's okay.

And this little beauty will come to live at my house...

(all pictures are mine, taken in the backyard. Thank you again, Clarissa, for the seeds!)