Category: Economy

Thoughts on Health and Wealth

valuesdr

This post isn’t about the modern “health and wealth” gospel–though I certainly have thoughts on that. No,  it’s about the link between health and material prosperity–does one lend itself to the other?

Most people are generally aware that statistically, Americans are among the most obese in the world, and suffer a plethora of health problems as a result. We’re also a very wealthy nation. It would seem, then, wealth doesn’t equal health. Can you be poor and healthy? I would say that in America, we’re trained to believe not. Many of us conjure up media images of malnutritioned, third-world babies and children, and while I agree that this does happen, it may not be the default. Certainly in war-torn areas or places with challenging climates or geography–but not, from what I have seen, in this particular locale.

Many of the people we meet here drink tea every day for breakfast (made with milk rather than water, which we have yet to get used to); a typical lunch would include corn or rice and beans. Supper–almost always ugali, along with some vegetables. A snack might include a banana, other fruit, or even sugar cane picked up at the local market while out and about. Truthfully, this seems to me a pretty balanced diet. Compare that to the average American, who consumes far more calories than they expend and often indulges in high-fat fast food, overly processed “convenience” foods, and many of the like that are, frankly, devoid of much of the nutrition that the body craves. One, the diet of the “poor” and the other a result of opulence. Which results in better health? Looking at the folks here, I would venture to guess the former. Granted, I’ve seen some overweight Africans–but they honestly tend to be those who are wealthier by comparison.

Paradoxically, there is a movement in America toward better health, which involves getting back to “healthy fats” like coconut oil and real butter and eating non-GMO and organic foods. It may also include high-priced supplements. All of these are actually more expensive than going to McDonald’s and buying a dollar menu burger. So, in that respect, better health may be a result of greater wealth. Or better said, better health requires wealth.

One thing we’ve found interesting as we’ve purchased seeds for our upcoming garden is that heirloom seeds are almost impossible to come by here. Most everything is GMO and hybrid. Why? Because with these types of seeds, the locals can get a higher yield and less disease–in other words, a more profitable crop. And not only are they becoming slaves of the seed companies, I also believe they’re selling out their health…for wealth.

This post isn’t really about drawing conclusions; honestly, I’m not sure I have any. Just a handful of observations, for what it’s worth.

Non-frugal purchase, worth it!

valuesdr

Today we left at about 9:00 AM to run errands at 5 different places. I figured we’d be gone a while, but didn’t expect not to arrive home until 2:30!

The grocery store was one of our stops. Since by then I knew we’d be missing lunch at home, we grabbed a few pre-made sandwiches, some cold drinks and…a few individual bags of chips for each of us (it was just me and the three older children).

I wanted to be frugal and get one big bag of chips for 99 cents instead of four small bags of chips for 75 cents each…do the math; I would have saved a couple of dollars. BUT, if we had gotten a big bag of chips we’d have had a half a bag (at least) left over. And then what? I’d probably eat it. (I like chips, LOL). And guess what? I still have quite a few pounds of “baby fat” hanging around. So being not-so-frugal was probably wise.

What about you? Do you have any not-so-frugal expenditures that seem well worth the trade-off?

Practical and Spiritual Preparedness

valuesdr

As a new month rolls in, we were going to send out a topical newsletter with an informational article (we had yet to choose from a number of possible topics). We also wanted to let you know that we are preparing for winter cold season and have some discount immune products available from Beeyoutiful: Bee Strong, Bee Immune, and Berry Well—all at 15% off of Beeyoutiful prices.

Also, we are excited to have our first “Values-Driven Kids” product available—a 54-page character training coloring book called, Growing to be Like Jesus. This will be regularly priced at $4.95 but is available for a limited time for only $2.95!

However, these things pale in comparison to what we feel we must share with you this month, after all. While not our intended agenda, there are matters far more important.

You may have noticed that there haven’t been any posts to our blog for several weeks. At first, we were regrouping from our vacation and settling in right away to a new homeschooling year. Now, this week, we have made a somewhat monumental decision for the Carrier household—Lord willing, we’re going to sell our homesteading parcel here in Indiana and look for something smaller that we can purchase debt-free. As well, we would like to purchase a travel trailer and take our family, and our ministry, on the road.

We are excited about the potential changes, but also busy getting our house in order. These plans, however, are made with Proverbs 16:9 in mind: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” It is important to seek God’s wisdom and make plans for the future, but equally important to be led by the Spirit and remember that God is in control of the future—not us.

We have been constantly reminding ourselves of this lesson as we see economic events unfolding here in the US, which have global implications. Whether we are in the “last days” or whether we are just going through the ups and downs that every empire has historically experienced, we cannot say. However, we do know that either way, there may be hard days ahead for many of us.

There’s a lot of information available out there on making preparations for your family in the event of an emergency, and preparedness is wise for any eventuality (recent economic events notwithstanding). For more on that, we’ve put together a brief outline of some of the practical things you can be thinking about as you plan for your own families. You can view it online. While we don’t want to be alarmist, we feel we would be remiss if we did not encourage you to put some thought into these important matters.

Practical preparations aside, it is of utmost importance that your family is emotionally and spiritually ready for whatever may unfold—whether temporary sacrifices due to job loss, emotional and financial upheaval because of home repossession, or even the spiritual battles of persecution because of our faith in Christ. How prepared are you in this area? Even if nothing “major” happens in the future, think about where your children are spiritually, and where you want them to be. Are you doing the things that you need to in order to help them mature with a strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ?

We recently got an email from a lovely soon-to-be Grandma, which was so heartfelt and so on-target with what we felt compelled to share with you, that we wanted to let you read it, too. Don’t let this woman’s regrets be yours!:

The more I read about your ministry and your family, the more I realize we missed the boat with our family. Although our 3 children have grown into great people who love God, we settled for “good” and not God’s best. It amazes me to think we never really sat down and discussed what and how we wanted to teach our children about the Lord. Even more amazing is how He blessed our misguided efforts to create such terrific people in spite of us. Now as I await the birth of our first grandie, I want to grab the child’s parents and plead with them not to make the mistakes we made. Unfortunately, the parents are only nominal believers–they go to church occasionally but we never really talk about God. Please pray with me that God will open up an opportunity to share with my son and his wife how desperately important it is to have Christ the center of their marriage and parenting. I would love to have them read your Values Driven Family book.
Thank you for your daily walk and faithfulness to meet each challenge head-on and your willingness to share your learning with all of us “out here” on the net. May God continue to use and bless you all.

Please pray with me for the next generation in this family, and now let’s take a realistic look at our own families, and talk about some things we can do to strengthen our families spiritually. We want to be ready for the future and ensure that our faith is strong enough to withstand potentially tough times ahead. Click here to read more online about spiritual readiness.


Some (perhaps unusual) Time- and Money-Saving Tips

valuesdr

With the economy being what it is right now, we’re hearing from lots of folks who are having a harder and harder time making ends meet. Money-saving is a big deal, and every little bit helps. And since we’re all about making the most of every opportunity, time-saving is important, too. When we get to do both, it’s a bonus. I thought I would share a few of the more unusual ways that we save both time and money in our home:

  • Shower every other day, and wash up on alternate days. Some people may already be in this habit, so it’s nothing new–but we were always big on showering every day. It’s a great idea, to be sure, but maybe not absolutely necessary. Of course, if you’re going in to work every day, interact with lots of people, and feel like they might know that you haven’t showered, or if you work hard physically and sweat a lot, you can ignore this one. 🙂 However, showering (or bathing) every other day saves on hot water. When you have as many as we do in our family, that can be a significant savings. Saves time, too–getting all those kids in and out of the bathtub!
  • Do laundry on an as-needed basis. This is a habit of many that I know in large families. If you wash and wear something new every day, you’ll do inordinate amounts of laundry! Save money on detergent & water use, and save time by re-wearing clothes if they’re not visibly dirty or smelly (this works a little better in winter than in summer). For the record, we do change our underclothes everyday–I hope that’s a given. 🙂 Pants, shorts, etc. tend to stay cleaner for longer than shirts, so don’t wash both if only one is dirty. However, you don’t have to wear the same thing multiple days in a row–just re-fold or hang to freshen them up (maybe even squirt with water from a spray bottle & pull out the minor wrinkles), then take them out again in a few days. Again, this may not work if you are out “in public” every day, but it’s good for Mom and kids at home!
  • Clean on an as-needed basis. I have to admit, it was almost shocking for me, several years ago, to read Teri Maxwell’s suggestion in Managers of their Homes about only changing sheets when they “needed” to be changed (like when they are visibly dirty, wet or smelly) instead of automatically changing them every week just because your mother always did it that way. However, this simple advice has helped me save on cleaning solutions and time, because not only do I only wash sheets “as needed,” but we generally clean “as needed” as well. Granted, we “need” to clean pretty consistently, but instead of doing a whole-floor mop, sometimes we just sweep and then spot clean with a spray bottle and cloth. Rather than vacuum the floor, if it’s not too bad, I might just carpet sweep some of the obvious “junk” or even sweep it with a broom and dustpan. And, yes, the sheet-changing thing goes without saying at this point. This tip is probably more a time-saver than a money-saver, but time certainly has a great deal of value on its own.
  • Shop simple. I have to be honest, I don’ t have the time or patience to coupon shop or go to multiple stores. I find that coupons are mainly for convenience or “luxury” items that we rarely purchase, anyway. Plus, I’ve got six kids in tow and we live about 20 miles from the nearest town–so once-a-month shopping (and to a limited number of stores) is my best advice for those of you in a similar situation. We don’t have to buy eggs because we have chickens, but if there’s no reason they won’t last for the whole month. We have goats, too, so fresh dairy is a non-issue as well. Before that, though, we either used powdered milk after the fresh gallons were gone, or I froze milk for use later in the month. We stock up on “staple” fresh fruits and vegetables and try to get things that won’t spoil quickly (like apples, oranges and melons in season. We do love bananas but have to eat those more quickly or mash & freeze for banana bread.) Greens will usually last 3 weeks if they are as fresh as possible from the store and I pick through them every few days to remove any wilting leaves that will spoil the rest. Think staple foods! Shopping simply can save both time and money.
  • Cut down on those convenience foods by home-cooking. If you have limited time, you can always cook and freeze in advance. Or, when you do have time, make or pre-assemble some of the components of your upcoming days’ meals and leave them in the fridge to save time during daily meal preparation. For example, make and store a big batch of rice. You can spice it up with some butter, parmesan cheese, and parsley for a side dish at dinner, then put some in your soup for lunch the next day. You can even make a rice pudding for dessert on day three! Fry up a large batch of hamburger, using some for enchiladas on evening one (just add some refried beans and salsa for the filling), and then make an “easy beef stroganoff” on evening three, filling in evening two with something non-beef for a little variety. Hopefully you get the idea with these simple examples. We try to eat healthy, but simple.

These are just a few of my ideas. Do you have any (perhaps unusual) tips to share? Please leave a comment–we love comments. 🙂 And, I decided to post a “Sample Simple menu” on our main Web site; click here to go there and check it out!