Living Providently

My friend, Maggie, gave a talk in sacrament meeting today that was really good. It was based on Elder Hales conference talk Being a Provident and Spiritual Provider. It was one of those talks that makes you re-evaluate how things are in your own life. One of the main points of the talk is living within your means, and doing it happily!! I think that we do really well in this. We do not have any consumer debt. We were lucky to make it through school without any student loans so the only debt we have is our house and our van. We pay off our credit cards every month so we are doing really well...or so it seems. After listening to Maggie talk about her own struggles and experiences with being a provident provider I think I am only doing about half of what I should be. We spend way more than we need to spend. I really think I am going to have to crack down on my own habits and try to break Jeff of some of his habits. The biggest area we can improve is eating out. Most people know that Jeff is addicted to Wendy's and eats there multiple times a week. We don't need to do that. It is just laziness on our part that drives us to go to Wendy's. I get really worn down some days and am too tired to cook so our solution is just to go get something. Jeff goes there for lunch during the week when he could be bringing a sandwich from home. I have been trying to figure out what our budget will be for everything so that we can become more financially independent. I am going to have to talk to Jeff tonight and see what he is willing to give up. Thanks for the nice kick in the pants Maggie! I will have to write later what we come up with but I am determined to cut our spending WAY back. This will only be more beneficial to us in the long run so it will be good.