Sweat the small stuff...

It's all about the small stuff, really. The momentum of the start of our fast is helping me stay focused. Perhaps when we get to day 44 I will feel differently, but right now I am really learning a lot, even if it has just been a day.

I was first hit by the spend bug in the afternoon. Over the last several weeks we have taken a ton of pictues of our son. All I could think about was getting home, sending the photos to a print center and having them. Well, you have to pay for printed photos so I had to rethink this.

- I did not NEED the prints RIGHT NOW. Photos are great things to have but how many times do you print off a photo and it sits in the photo pack and never gets displayed or shown? This is my first lesson in spontaneous spending, it is better to have a plan instead of purchase, then plan. Plan first.

- I wanted to SHARE the prints, except one of the people I wanted to share the prints with is someone who stores photos online. Seems silly to print something that will just collect dust at someone else's house.

The Save

-Instead of printing photos I decided to go through and see what photos we already had. Sure enough. I have several empty albums and photo frames and several printed photos collecting dust. They are all in one place now ready to be sorted, put in frames and displayed.

-I put some photo albums together online (for free!) and sent them off to friends. I am sure they will be happy to see the photos and if they want a print can let me know.

The Lesson

-Plan before you purchase, you will end up with less stuff cluttering your house and more time to do other things.

-Simple living is easy when you are a good steward of the things you already have.

-Instead of selfishly spending money on more stuff (which would have included uploading pictures, sending them to a store and making a trip to pick them up) Keller and I spent 45 minutes chasing each other around the dining room table! I'm sure he had more fun, I will never forget it and we both got some exercise!

-I am thankful. God has really blessed us with a lot and I need to be aware of what I have, be a better steward of it and remember to say more prayers of thanksgiving.