Our frugality is something of legend at my office. My coworkers laugh about how I agonize over the decision to spend $5 on lunch. Yesterday I ended up spending almost $13 on a very good sushi lunch. It tasted great, but I'm not quite sure if it was worth it. After all, that was over 20% of my monthly allowance in one meal. The good news is that the month is 2/3 over.
Amanda and I were just talking about our heating and cooling bills. Right now is one of the ideal weather times in North Carolina. The past two days the highs got up to around 80, but it's been fairly mild at night. Today it's only supposed to get up to 74 and it might get as low as 41 at night tonight. This is idyllic weather in my book. Therefore, we keep the windows open so that we can enjoy some fresh (albeit mold and fungus ridden) air and not pay for any heating or cooling. Our electric bill was only $75 last month instead of > $100 as it was for most of the intense summer months.
We do this by keeping our thermostat on what many consider ridiculous settings. In the summer I keep it at 78 during the day and 74 at night. In the winter we keep it at 64 during the day and 58 at night. Back in January Amanda and I were blessed to attend the Chris Tomlin concert. It was a particularly cold night for Raleigh where the temperature dipped into the low 20s. We got home around 11:30 and found our babysitters wearing their overcoats in our living room. I asked somewhat sheepishly, "I'm sorry, were you cold?" to which Vince replied, "No, we decided to play dress-up." Kind of funny coming from someone who was 62 at the time.
I think our friends and our guests think that we're nuts for these extremes. But I know that there are payoffs in our heating and cooling bills. As we get ready to pledge financial commitments to K-LOVE Radio and to our church, we see the need to save money wherever we can. It's kind of a step out in faith, but I'm sure that God will provide for us.
Mar 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
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