Expenses Archives - Page 4 of 16

My Testimony to the Tithe

01.25.2012 by Matt Jabs //

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:10

God’s promises

Those are strong promises the Lord gives us if only we are obedient to His commandment to tithe to His church. Please join me today in the sharing of my testimony to the faithfulness of God’s Word regarding these promises made.

In 1999 I bent the knee of my will to the Lord Jesus Christ and was born again!

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 – Jesus to Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the Jews.

Thanks be to God for His mercy, grace, long suffering and especially His death on the cross for my sin. Since 1999 I have been walking this earth as an alien no longer feeling at home in this world, but longing to be home with my Lord in heaven. My purpose on this earth is now solely to yield my body a vessel of honor to the Lord for the work of His church.

Part of my duty as a Christian is to give of my first fruits back to the Lord’s church in the form of a tithe. That is, I am to give 10% of my earnings to the church in obedience to God’s Word. First fruits meaning we are to give 10% of our gross income, not net income. This tithing by God’s people is one of the ways the Lord funds his ministry here on earth. Does the Lord need our money? No, He can do anything He wishes any time He wishes, however the tithing of His people is the system He chose to implement and work through, so as Christians we need to faithfully give in this manner.

Have I tithed faithfully since my salvation in 1999? No, regrettably I have not. At times I have been a faithful giver, and at other times have been disobedient to my Lord and withheld my tithe for one reason or another. Today I want to give my readers a journal entry of my experience of both giving in obedience, and not giving in disobedience.

Looking back over the 9 years of my Christian life I can now see that the times of my greatest financially stability, regardless of how much money I was bringing in, were in direct correlation to when I was giving of my tithe to my local new testament church. Likewise, the times when I seem to have struggled financially were always in the midst of a titheless period in my life. Though I have always known I should tithe, the Lord has just recently revealed the utter and imminent importance of these things to me in all clarity of mind. I began faithfully tithing again at the first of this year (January 2009) and intend to never go another month of my life without giving to the Lord in this respect. Over these last two months I have been witness to Gods direct financial intervention in my life. To me it is both a blessing and a miracle. Before tithing I always seemed to be living paycheck to paycheck (sound familiar?), seemed to be slowly getting into more credit card debt, all while being unable to save much of anything. Why was this happening? My wife & I don’t have any kids. We don’t buy new cars. We don’t buy expensive toys. We don’t blow a lot of our money on frivolous purchases…so why was this happening to us?

In the Old Testament, when God’s people were not obedient in the giving of their tithe, one way or another He always seemed to part them with the money they were withholding from Him. In my life, while disobedient, it always seemed like random things were happening that would consume any extra money I had left over leaving me wanting again until my next paycheck. Now that the Lord has granted me repentance and has again turned me toward Him these things have changed drastically. Before tithing I would pay my bills on the last possible day they were due, sometimes even having to pay late fees, simply because I had to wait for my next check to be deposited before I could pay the bill. Now that I have been tithing, I am able to pay all my bills the day I get them in the mail. To summarize, let me give you some of my financial drawbacks I experienced before tithing, and what I am realizing now that I’m giving faithfully.

Before I was giving my tithe:

I was living paycheck to paycheck
I waited until the due date of my bills before I paid them
Every single month I seemed to incur random expenses that consumed all my extra money and even pushed me more into debt
Always broke even on my tax return or owed money to the government
Bank fees: be they credit card over the limit, over-drawn checking account, late payments fees…you name it I paid it
A guilty conscience
A heavy heart

Now that I’m tithing, though no increase in salary this has been my experience:

I’m able to save at least $200 every month
I pay every bill the day it comes in the mail
Random expenses have not been a part of my life for the last few months
For the first time since we filed taxes Married Filing Jointly, my wife & I are receiving a sizable return of over $1,200
No more bank fees
A clear conscience and a happy countenance
A peace that passes all understanding – Philippians 4:7

Please believe that the things listed above are just the tip of the iceberg. My obedience to God in my tithe opens the door to other areas of obedience and therefore more blessings of a peaceful spirit and fellowship with my God!

If you are a Christian, I strongly urge you to consider my experience and use it to transform your view upon Christ, His Church, and your tithe. Please give joyfully and liberally and experience the blessings of the Lord! He is challenging you today to prove Him now, how will you respond? If you are not born again, please consider Christ and His death on the cross for your sin. Look to Him and live.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Romans 5:6-11

What is your giving testimony?

Share your experience with giving in the comments below. God bless.

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Grocery Hacks – How We Save Money on Groceries

01.20.2012 by Matt Jabs //

How we save money on groceries

This is the story of how we reduced our grocery budget from $400/month down to less than $250/month!

My wife and I have very different personality types… and what a blessing that is!

I am the eternal optimist – the visionary – the idea guy – the spontaneous one – the encourager – the free spirit.
My wife is the responsible one – the realist – the finisher – always keeping things on track – always grounded.

Our different personality types definitely combine to make us into a better whole, and we have learned that each of us is particularly strong in certain aspects of every project.

For example, when we need to go grocery shopping we sit down together and combine our gifts to come up with our best grocery shopping plan. If it wasn’t for my wife, there would be no plan! If it were not for me, we would not be eating nearly as healthy. If it were not for her, we would spend more money due to not planning a menu. If it were not for me, we would not have a specific budgeted amount of money for groceries to stick to each month.

As you can see, both of us have different gifts and we work to combine our gifts to yield the most beneficial result for our family (which is currently just her & I.)

The other night we sat down — together — and compiled a list of ways we have successfully reduced our grocery bill over the last 7 months.

Jabs Grocery Hacks

I am including this awesome list of Jabs Grocery Hacks in a printable .pdf format that you can print and keep in your purse and/or stick on your fridge. Enjoy and happy hacking!

Plan a menu – 2-3 dinners for the week and eat leftovers the other nights. Base meals on what needs to be used up in the refrigerator.
Make a list – only purchase items you will need to add to the recipes you’re making from #1 Plan a Menu.
Stick to the list – once at the store, DO NOT deviate from the list.
Use coupons – when available use coupons… but ONLY for the items on your list! Do not buy things just because you have a coupon. In fact, here’s a resource to teach you how to coupon properly.
Stock up – on your favorite/frequently used items when they are on sale. Clear out space in your cupboards, pantry, basement to store overflow.
Grow a garden – use your own produce in all of your recipes and if it is harvest season – plan your recipes around what you are harvesting.
Pick your own – when it comes to fruit and veggies, pick your own and preserve them by freezing, canning, etc. Use these frozen goodies to make your own jam, add to muffins, ice cream, breakfasts, etc. We picked strawberries and we picked blueberries, we saved a boat load on both.
Make your own – use fruits and veggies you grew/picked to make homemade jam, tomato sauce, salsa, etc. You can also make your own bread, crackers, cleaners, etc. We decided to use up a lot of what we already have in our pantry, then when we run out of something we decide if it is something we can make ourselves instead of purchasing new.
Preserve food – Even if it is not something you grew, buy large amounts of in-season produce then go home and preserve it. I have already made mention of this in a few of the other tips, that’s how important it is… this tip permeates so many of the other tips. You can freeze, can, dry, smoke, cure, etc. The predominate methods are freezing and canning.
Use more beans – this has been a HUGE change and a HUGE benefit for us. You should definitely increase the amount you use. Beans are cheap, healthy and delicious. They are much healthier and less expensive than meat.
Frequent local farmer’s markets – my wife and I have switched to a predominately fresh, healthy, and organic diet. We have found a farmer at our local market who sells organic produce, honey, maple syrup, butter, cheese, meats, etc. for cheaper than the grocery stores!
Check “price per unit” – despite popular belief, when at grocery stores sometimes it’s actually cheaper per unit to buy 2 smaller items than it is to buy one larger portion.
Pack breakfasts and lunches – do this everyday so you are not tempted to buy these meals “on the run”. Make this part of your nightly routine every night so it becomes habit. My wife & I pack our healthy delicious breakfast idea every week day.
Pack healthy snacks – place these in small containers early in the week. Keep some in your car, purse, office, man bag, etc. This will keep you from purchasing unhealthy and expensive snacks form vending machines, gas stations, or other places.
Do more baking – this kind of fits in with #8, but deserves it’s own description. Set aside a little time each month to bake bread and healthy cookies then freeze them for the consumption throughout the month. The ingredient to bake cost much less and will go much further than purchasing pre-packaged cookies and breads.
Make fruit salad – using some of your pick-your-own fruits from number #7, combine delicious, fresh, snackable fruits into a Tupperware as a “salad”. This is a great way to keep family members from purchasing and eating unhealthy/expensive snack foods.
Eat more nuts – another great snack food. We get an organic trail mix blend from our health food store for $3.79/pound. This is another healthy and cheap alternative to expensive snack foods.
Test generic brands – persistent and clever advertising has tricked us into thinking we need certain brand name foods. Make sure you try generic brands at least once — with an open mind — before you decide how much you dislike them! My wife and I eat predominately generic/store brand foods. Also, generic health and beauty items, along with medicines, are often made up of the exact same ingredients as name-brand items.
Organize your pantry – this is VERY important. Most people waste a lot of food and money because it simply gets lost in the black hole that is their pantry! I’m lucky because my wife and I are both pretty organized when it comes to our food stuffs, so we excel in this area and it is a blessing.
Work together – like my wife always says… “Teamwork makes the dream work!” Just like any other good thing in marriage/family life — saving money on groceries is much easier if both spouses are working together to reach the common goals of physical and financial health!

I am including this awesome list of Jabs Grocery Hacks in a printable .pdf format that you can print and keep in your purse and/or stick on your fridge. Enjoy and happy hacking!

Using these tips and principles me and my wife have been able to cut our grocery budget from $400/month down to less than $250/month on average! We have also lost a combined 60+ pounds and have never felt better.

How Student Loan Interest is Calculated and Why it Varies from Month to Month

12.21.2011 by Matt Jabs //

How much debt costs

As you may know I keep track of how much our debt costs each month – which is basically how much monthly interest we pay toward debt. Shortly after I began tracking these numbers I noticed the interest charged on our student loans varies quite a bit from month to month… so I set off to find out why.

How is student loan interest calculated?

Most student loans (including all federally guaranteed loans) use a method of interest accrual known as the Simplified Daily Interest Formula. The difference between simple interest and compound interest (the type of interest that accrues on most major credit cards) is that simple interest is only calculated on the principal balance, not on the previously accrued interest – this is a good thing. 🙂

Simplified Daily Interest Formula

This is the formula used to calculate all federally guaranteed student loans:

Daily interest amount = (Current Principal Balance x Interest Rate) ÷ 365.25
Monthly interest amount = (Daily Interest Amount x number of days in the month)

Here is an example of daily interest calculated out on a student loan of $10,000 at a 6% interest rate:

Daily interest amount: (10,000 x .06) / 365.25 = $1.6427
Monthly interest amount: $1.64 x 30 (typical month) = $49.28

The above example shows us that a student loan with a balance of $10,000 and an interest rate of 6% would cost $49.28 in interest in a typical 30 day month.

Interest Rate Factor

Some student loan issuing agencies will make mention of something called the Interest Rate Factor. IRF is simply your interest rate divided by 365.25. If IRF is used in their calculation, rest assured that they are calculating interest the same… they just use a different equation to reach the same number. Here is the equation using the Interest Rate Factor:

Monthly interest amount = (Number of days since last payment) x (Principal Balance Outstanding) x (Interest Rate Factor)

Let’s plug our example numbers into this equation (our example interest rate factor is .000164271047:)

30 x 10,000 x .000164271047 = $49.28

Notice that we received the same monthly interest amount regardless of whether we used the Interest Rate Factor or not… that is because the math is exactly the same, the equation is just structured differently.

Why does the amount fluctuate each month?

Between my student loan and my wife’s student loan we paid $277 in interest for January 2010. In December of 2009 we paid only $261 in interest and in November of 2009 it was $288. Our principal decreases every month, so what’s up with the large fluctuations and how could we have paid more in November of 2009 than in January of 2010 if the principal is less? Great question.

The answer lies in 2 conditional variables that effect the “number of days since last payment” from month to month:

How many days are in the current month
Did the last day of the calculation period fall on a weekend or holiday

The number of days since the last payment will obviously differ from month to month based on these two variables.

If the month has 28 days the interest calculated will be less than in a month that has 31 days because 3 extra days were figured into that months calculation. Also, if the last day of the month falls on a weekend or holiday, the calculation will not be performed until the next business day thus increasing that months number of days since last payment.

Thus… regardless of the fluctuation in monthly amounts we will never be charged anymore than 365.25 days worth of interest on our student loans in a given year.