Last week, I finished up Living Well on One Income in a Two-Income World, by Cynthia Yates. I already told you about the first half of the book, which was excellent, but the second half was even better. Here's a chapter breakdown:
6. Roll Up Your Sleeves
7. Use Things Up!
8. Waste Not
9. Discover Your Creative Genius
10. Presentation is Everything...or Is It?
11. To God Be the Glory
After reading chapter 6, I decided that Yates must be a kindred spirit for me, because she's "a do-it-yourself"er too. There aren't too many things that we hire out to be done at our house. I'm also blessed to have a husband who knows how to do it himself when it comes to cars, and he does everything from changing the oil and rotating tires to changing the timing belt. We're still learning how to do things ourselves around the house, so we ask for help and for information when we don't know how to do something. People are always more than happy to share their knowledge and experience.
My husband takes care of the house, cars, and yard with a do-it-yourself attitude, and this is my approach around the home as well, especially when it comes to meals.
Yates talks about making food from scratch, which is not only cheaper, but so much healthier. At one point, she gives a great explanation about how a run through the McDonald's drive thru really does not save time, and of course it doesn't save money. By having freezer meals or staples on hand, we should be able to avoid eating fast food on days when we think we don't have time to cook.
Yates' chapter on using things up is fabulous. She gives great suggestions and little assignments for the reader to complete. This was one of my favorite chapters because it was incredibly practical.
I also loved chapter 8, Waste Not, but I also found it convicting. I'm so bad about letting produce expire! Yates again gives practical advice about how to make sure we don't waste food and how to plan meals based on what we already have. She explains that it's a stewardship issue, and I couldn't agree more. We are not using God's money wisely when we throw produce away! Yates also gives great information about how to care for produce and food, clothing, shoes, and our homes so that we get more life out of all of these things.
Chapter 9 is a goldmine for creative ideas. She talks about how to find "the path of least expenditure" in several different areas, including creative gift giving, holidays, and fun for kids.
I loved chapter 10, Presentation is Everything...or Is It? Yates brings up a couple of good points. 1) A meal, gift, or home that is visually pleasing makes for a better experience. But 2) Presentation is NOT necessarily everything in life. She writes "If someone's intent is to act better, to look better, or to live better than others--and to flaunt that haughty attitude in behavior or thought, then no, presentation is not everything" (p. 198). She says it all goes back to attitude.
Yates says that presentation is an expression of our thankfulness, our joy, regardless of our circumstances. I remember having sandwiches for dinner sometimes as a kid. This didn't happen frequently, because our dinners were usually homecooked, hot meals. The club sandwiches my mom made were double deckers. She would cut them into triangles, put toothpicks through them, and turn them upward on our plates, restaurant-style. She did this with each and every one of our sandwiches. If she cooked pudding for dessert, then it would always be served to us in her special pink Lennox crystal glasses. This, my friends, is presentation.
Yates finishes her book with a reminder of why we live frugally. Everything we have is God's including our money, and it should be used wisely to honor Him. But that doesn't mean we're to be cheap, and in fact, at times we're called to be generous. It's a balance that we should approach prayerfully, with the goal of glorifying God kept in mind.
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