Stewardship is something I write a great deal about as a bee keeper, an environmentalist, and a Catholic, because on principle, it is a responsibility and good practice. Living simply (financially) is also very much a part of how we do what we do in a one income home while employed by a non-profit. Interestingly folks seem to have a great deal more enthusiasm around concepts like cloth napkins and recycling–even cloth diapers, but it’s sort of crickets when it comes to finances.

Financial stewardship is not a topic I’ve tackled head-on, but when I was approached by Compass Catholic to participate in a virtual Faith & Money Matters Bible study and write about the experience, I said ‘yes.’ It was a six-week course that we took as a couple, with several other couples from across the country in various stages of life.

You should know that I have no financial training or credentials, unless you count rocking mega sales at the grocery store and on FB marketplace, but money is something all of us have to negotiate, and many of us aren’t doing it well, so what could it hurt? If in turn, it could offer a springboard for you or I to tackle finances in a way that offers ideas to get out of debt, budget, and share what we’ve got, so much the better.

Unexpected Expenses

I’m sure I don’t have to cite much research to prove that Americans are in a tight spot right now, financially. It has been snowballing for a while for a variety of reasons, and job losses, credit cards, college debt, and online shopping are certainly adding to it. In fact, studies show that most Americans (pre-covid) couldn’t handle even a small financial hiccup–they would have to either borrow money or sell something to pay the cost.

That is unsettling at best, a time-bomb at worst because unexpected expenses are lurking everywhere and finances don’t always bring out our best. So, it comes down to one of three options when deciding how to address our financial realities:

1. Ignore the issue and hope it goes away.
2. Draw upon your own knowledge of personal finance to navigate getting out/staying out of debt.
3. Seek assistance from those who know what they are doing and have resources to offer.

Financial Peace

When we got married, it became alarmingly clear that we were in very different places in the way that we thought about money. We dreaded our monthly money chats for different reasons. We had college debt, rent and about five various jobs between us. In an inspired moment, my husband heard a talk show on the radio hosted by Dave Ramsey about finances and getting out of debt. We talked it over and quickly signed up for Financial Peace University.

Dave is a wonderful presenter, charismatic, funny, experienced–he’s been bankrupt and built a business on helping people get out of debt. Although he doesn’t shy away from his Christian perspective and tithing, the lion’s share of his instruction is a crash course in interest rates, savings accounts, income, expenses, Roth IRA’s, taxes, etc. He’s a big advocate of the envelope system, paying with cash, cutting up your credit cards, and monthly budget committee meetings. Even as a trial run, these practices are eye-opening to say the least.

What F.P. did was offer a neutral point of instruction and invitation for us to sit down honestly with our whole financial situation and goals (debt, savings, retirement, giving, investments, wills, etc.) and begin to navigate our way through it, in some cases learning about these concepts for the first time. It was cerebral, it was hard, and it was a game-changer.

Subscription also came with some great budgeting tools we could install on our computer. Participating in a class on money early on was a huge stress-reliever and improved our communication substantially. Many churches–Catholic and protestant alike–advertise these classes in their bulletins and outdoor signage so you’ll likely find one near you if you would prefer a class setting, we took our class in our living room.

Enter Compass Catholic

We’ve been married ten years now, so a lot of our money conversations have grown a bit stale because we have read the books, watched the videos and decided what has worked and what we could commit to. We were looking forward to a Bible study (particularly a Catholic one) on finances as opposed to a strictly financial study.

We were delighted by the opportunity to dig into Scripture, and even the Catechism as a lens for stewarding our finances–spoiler alert–there is SO MUCH Scripture that pertains to our resources and how to steward them well. Inherent in this study were strategies to get out/stay out of debt, to save for things as they come along, but especially to find the joy in sharing what we have, knowing that it is all gift. Whether that means you support your favorite charity for $2/month while we pay down debt, or $200/month down the road, we can’t say it’s not in the budget if we are making the budget–which is empowering!

Personal finance meets community

As an added service, Compass trains volunteers who can meet with individuals who prefer to meet with a trained money coach.

While both programs have given us tools to use as we navigate our finances, Compass’ program offered a great deal more formation from a faith perspective, specific to our Catholic tradition. Being a part of the Faith and Money Matters study bridged a gap for us that had made financial conversations mostly intellectual to one that includes both head and heart.

As a group, we reflected that meeting with people online had some advantages, too. Whereas going to a meeting about money at your own parish may lead to being shy/vague about asking questions to keep appearances up, talking with others that you don’t run into at church or at Target, can make for freer, more honest conversations than most of us had experienced previously. Free, honest conversation is a great way to get questions answered and seek insights from others–particularly when you have no preconceived idea about where they are financially, or where you appear to be. (**Listen to our study group’s conversation on the Money Stories podcast, here).

Gaining Traction

If you are looking for traction in terms of finances, each of these programs have their merits and will help to guide you toward a place of greater awareness pertaining to financial stewardship and getting out of debt. If you are Catholic, or even if you’re not and you’d prefer to delve into faith-based stewardship, Compass offers a really great program. Comparatively speaking, Compass seems to focus more on making financial resources available at a low cost to those who are trying to put their finances in order, which is both a beautiful and practical aspect of an investment in personal finance.

Cheers to financial empowerment and confidence for greater generosity!

“Giving is not God’s way of raising money; it is God’s way of raising people into the likeness of his Son.”

//

Also, July 31st was the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola and I shared a reflection on the practice of the Examen during this unusual time:

‘Some of these lessons have been simple enough: learning to be creative with the canned goods in my cabinets, logging in to my (now) virtual meetings, or the ability to pivot, scrapping long-anticipated plans. Others lessons have highlighted my tremendous gratitude for teachers, grocers, healthcare workers, social service providers, delivery truck drivers, and postal workers that have maintained a semblance of normalcy in times that were anything but…’ continue reading.

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I don’t mean to brag, but we eat a lot of leftovers in this house. Don’t get me wrong, none of them are Pinterest-worthy. I blame it on my work-study job in the school cafeteria, and my days of ‘gleaning’ groceries at their pull date to feed a large volunteer group. I can work with just about anything in our refrigerator that will nourish us for another day.

This is not always popular, but it is economic, and I do rest in the relief of having saved something from being needlessly thrown away.

Actually, I thrive on it.

Compost. Seeds. Leftovers. (Lent)

Just Wednesday, we stood in  line once again, reminded of our finiteness. Somber for sure, especially as I watch my children’s ash-smudged faces before me, over our soup supper. Such a striking contrast: Life & death. And yet, I have come to rely on these images of resurrection that remind me that even when all appears futile, lost, broken, and bruised, God is not in the business of letting our fragments go to waste. (John 6: 1-12). 

Word and sacrament–Scripture and Eucharist–transform my midweek leftovers. They transform me from a mindless consumer into someone capable of Eucharistic interdependence and gratitude. They teach me to receive these leftovers–and all of life–as a gift.

And yet they also serve as a judgement on my meal, a call to repentance for the systems of scarcity and injustice that I perpetuate in my average day. They call me to work toward a new way of being–and eating–that allows me to better know, love and serve my neighbors. They challenge me to empty myself for others, knowing that I will be filled to the brim over and over again in the abundant economy of worship. In Christ there will always be,enough for us, with so much left over.

We are endlessness in need of nourishment, and nourishment comes, usually, like taco soup. Abundant and overlooked. -Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary

Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary

In this spirit, we imitate Love itself. This paradoxical living invites us to add chairs to the table, a little more broth to the pot. We are reminded in a thousand little ways, like the Gospel reading for today when St. Matthew tells his disciples, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food,I was thirsty and you gave me drink,a stranger and you welcomed me,naked and you clothed me,ill and you cared for me,in prison and you visited me.’ 

Seen in this way, the sacrifices we offer this season feel more like opportunities to glimpse once again, the ways in which our meager offerings are anything but wasted. How important it is to be reminded of this! Bring all that you can offer, and it will be more than enough.

Our call to share faith is not limited to our physical address.

Speaking of Lenten practices, I’m sharing on the Blessed Is She blog today, on opportunities to share our faith with our own children, and all children of God.

“Whether you read this as a brand new God-mama to your infant nephew, as a mother of a lapsed Catholic, child caretaker of an agnostic parent, spouse of a non-believer, grandmother to a child(ren) growing up in a home that is no longer practicing their Faith, or the lone holdout of your “cradle Catholic” family…it is important.I’ve been giving this a lot of thought because there is so much to know about our Faith and Tradition. It is simultaneously simple and mind-bendingly complex…” keep reading.

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Buying in bulk offers obvious savings by cutting out the cost of advertisements and fancy packaging. A great article put out by Whole Foods Magazine, stated that purchasing in bulk can save 89% compared to their packaged equivalents. [Don’t believe this? Price out the cost of replacing spices in bulk vs. pre-packaged spices].

Additionally, the companies who manufacture bulk products can reduce expenses by 54% on material delivery costs.

Most importantly, when people purchase a desired quantity of a product, they tend to use it. This equates into less overall food waste, which is an issue we struggle with as a nation (40% of food in the U.S. goes uneaten).

Here are a handful of incredibly gifted folks who help navigate eating conscientiously and creatively: Poor Girl Eats Well, Good and Cheap,The Dinner Daily, Trash is for Tossers.

#bulkgroceries #mealplanning #theuglytruth #careforcreation #greenandthrifty #green31 #write31days

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The Christmas tree light people might have been the first to popularize the LED light on a consumer level–highlighting the low energy usage and low heat output by the thousands of little twinkle lights with which we decorate each December. And they’re on to something for the rest of the year, too. There are a lot of good reasons to ditch the incandescent bulb throughout the home.

-Incandescent bulbs are projected to last for about 1,200 hours while LED bulbs can last up to 50,000 hours – that’s 42 incandescent bulbs that can do what one LED bulb can.

It used to be that the cost of LEDs (and CFLs) was prohibitive compared to their neighboring $0.99 incandescent bulbs, but demand is driving down the price of these bulbs making efficiency and safety more affordable than ever!

#brightideas #littlethings #energyefficient #themoreyouknow #careforcreation #green31 #write31days #christmaslights

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