Tightening Our Belts

We are used to getting a nice tax return every spring. A very nice tax return.

And our calculated tax return on our tax forms was even much higher this year - due to changes in the tax code, the Adoption Tax Credits for Noah, Daniel and Lily Kay all come due this year. So we have a very nice tax return this year (and it's got the name "Gabriel" stamped all over it already - what could earn us a higher eternal return on our investment???).

BUT, we haven't seen hide nor hair of that return yet. (as I've lamented over...and over)

We're used to that annual tax return paying for things. Little things like, oh...our school curriculum.

If we'd known we would still not have our return by now, we might not have taken our trip to Colorado. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad we did take that trip...but had we known how tight things would be, and for how long, we might have decided differently...

Anyway, as things have rocked on and still no return in sight - we've been making some changes. As you might imagine, after transitioning from a dual income family to one income, and going through 4 international adoptions - all in the past 8 years - we've already cut much of the fat out of our budget. A few months ago I would have told anyone who asked that we had our budget squeezed as tight as could be...but, what do you know? We have found some more ways to tighten our belts...

One example:

Lo and behold, when Jas called a few weeks ago to see what other options we might have for an internet plan...he learned of a new plan just rolling out: same speed, but it will cost us $23 per month less! Woohoo - sign. us. up!

We cut out cable during a previous round of budget-cutting measures 4 years ago when we were adopting Daniel. Darn - I wish we could cut a cable bill out every month now!

(BTW, a couple of my favorite books that have helped us along this journey: Women Leaving the Workplace by Larry Burkett and Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy. We've also heard wonderful things about all things Dave Ramsey.)

But even as lean as I thought we have been operating, I have recently found a few other ways to save some extra money around here. Little things. Just little things...

BUT we've found that when the Lord finds us faithful with the little things, He takes care of the bigger things. Even when we can never get the Excel spreadsheet out of the red, it somehow...all works out. Now I'm good with math...but He is really good with math. And His math doesn't compute the same way mine does - and for that I'm very thankful!