Come for the savings….
This page is dedicated to saving you money, simply because one of the strongest forms of bondage that a good many of us live under, is the heavy chain of financial bondage. Nothing on this page will (by itself) break you out of those chains, but everything here will help you in reaching the goal of financial freedom…especially if they are used along with the other resources you’ll find within this site. Remember that Jesus has already set us free from these chains, but we keep ourselves locked in, through our own actions and decisions, as well as our lack of knowledge. Together we’ll learn the steps we can take to shake off the chains that Jesus has already broken! These resources can be a valuable source of tremendous savings to help us take our first steps toward true freedom in Christ.
Here, in no particular order, are some great ways you can save some really big bucks to help you get started toward financial freedom! (Remember, this is only one area of your life! Please don’t make the mistake of focusing all of your attention on your finances!)
GROCERIES
To begin with, we all have to eat. That’s just the way the Lord made us! With that said, here’s a place that most of us can save a little money on our grocery bill. Before we get that far along, I’d like to be sure you understand that whether you use this particular ministry, or whether you don’t, imonlywood.com is not affected in any way. If you buy from them, this site gets nothing. If you don’t, this site loses nothing. That’s the way it is with pretty much everything you’ll find on this site.
With that said, please take the time to check out Angel Food Ministries. They are a faith-based ministry and they offer discounted prices on your groceries month after month. Quality food at great prices! They even accept food stamps for those on assistance. No minimums, no fees (other than the price of your groceries) and nothing to join. Purchase as much or as little as you need. You can find some really nice savings! They have distribution points all across the US. If you happen to live in an area that does NOT have a nearby distribution point, you or your church can become one and serve the entire communtiy! This example of an AFM food box is from October 2009. While their boxes change monthly (you’re free to order or not order), they all contain something similar to the following:
1.5 lb of New York Strip steak (3- 12oz steaks), 1 lb Steak Fajita Strips, 2 lb Chicken Stir Fry Skillet Meal, 1 lb Lean Ground Beef, 1.5 lb Breaded White Meat Chicken Tenders, 1 lb average Center Cut Ham Steaks,1 lb Bake or Fry Fish Sticks, 1 lb Pasta, 25 oz Marinara Sauce, 1 lb Frozen Baby Lima Beans,1 lb Frozen Mixed Vegetables, 2 lb Fresh Apples, 10 count Flour Tortilla Wraps, 2 % Shelf Stable Milk, 1 Dozen Eggs, 1 Family Dessert Item
Total cost for this box–$30.00
They offer “Senior Convenience Boxes” in which prepared and pre-packaged meals are sold. They’re great for taking your lunch to school or work, not to mention if you happen to be single with little time to cook for yourself (or, of course, if you’re a senior)! There are 10 meals to a box for $28.00. Again, this example is from the October 2009 menu. They offer meat boxes, veggie boxes, fruit boxes and even allergen-free food boxes…all at a great price! The menus change monthly and some distribution centers have deadlines that you must order by. Please check these guys out!
AMAZING HEALTH CARE PROGRAM
Wow! I’m really excited to share with you a FANTASTIC tool the Lord led me to for health care! I know there are millions of people with either, inadequate insurance, or no insurance at all…just because of the costs involved. That is absolutely NO surprise! However, I’d like to share with you a VERY appealing alternative…it’s not insurance, but rather a professional medical savings program! If you don’t have any insurance, OR if you DO have insurance, but you’re paying over $100 a month for it, you owe it to yourself to check out this AWESOME medical savings program! The benefits they offer rival most GOOD insurance companies (if there is such a beast!). This program is one I’m really excited about (coming from a guy that doesn’t get excited) so I’ll be making a couple of blog entries about it, too! PLEASE check it out if you need a great health care alternative!
DO YOU EVER BUY GIFTS? YOU CAN FIND TREMENDOUS SAVINGS HERE…
One of the absolute BEST places anywhere on the web to buy great gifts for yourself or someone else is right here at your fingertips! These guys have great prices, great service and great products! To give you a quick example, for years I’ve purchased Christmas gifts from them for around 50 employees (in my offline job). Each employee has received a Bible, dvd, VHS or cd (many in Spanish) each year for the past several years. I’ve probably never spent over $50-75 (plus shipping) to accomplish this. I’ve gotten a lot of family gifts from these guys, as well. They have a tremendous selection of products…books, dvds, cds, games…the list goes on! They have some great clearance specials, and of course, they offer new releases, too. Whether you buy from them or not, they’re definitely worth checking out! You can sometimes get some great music for as little as .50 – $1!
Like Angel Food Ministries and the prescription program, there is nothing to join, no fees to pay, etc. Just stop by and order whatever you’d like to order and be done. They also have some great unadvertised specials they run from time to time! Got some GREAT witnessing material and super low prices! This one is probably my top pick for purchasing gifts! I’ve included several different links to different areas of the site, but you should really take your time and browse around…I can promise you, you won’t be disappointed! On top of the products and prices, they have reasonable shipping costs and absolutely fantastic customer service!
Web Specials
Bestsellers
For free daily devotions:
Daily Devotions
Finally, here’s another place with great prices! Before I say anything else about these guys, let me say that I’ve never purchased anything from them. I’ve included them because they do have great prices, but the shipping is a little higher than the others. And, again, since I’ve always done most of my buying at CBD, I’ve just never had the need to shop here. Still, they’ve got a pretty good selection and some good prices (if you join as a merchant, which is free to do). As you’ll see if you visit the website, they offer a way for you to make extra money by selling the products and promoting their website. While I did sign up as a free merchant, which allows me to buy their products wholesale, I haven’t attempted to make any money with them at this point. They do have an excellent rating (A) with the Better Business Bureau, so while I haven’t ordered from them, I would be comfy doing so.
Finally, for my Emmaus brothers and sisters that love sending out some great agape, there’s this one! Got some great stuff, tacky stuff and inexpensive stuff! If you’re looking for gifts for a group (your Sunday school class, for instance) this is a great place to check out! Good site if you’re a flea marketer, online marketer, etc., too!
MORTGAGES
Ah, a true beast! Most of us that don’t rent have a mortgage! There are ways that you can save tens of thousands of dollars and cut YEARS off of your mortgage! The first two I’ll share with you will “cost” you a little extra money, in a sense. It’s actually saving you huge amounts, but it requires you to spend a little more than you normally would if you were paying off your mortgage the “normal” way. And, it’s common sense!
First of all, of course, you can pay extra each month on your mortgage. Just be sure to specify that the extra goes toward the principle. If you make just one extra house payment a year (applied toward the principle) you can knock several years and thousands of dollars off of your mortgage in interest. The second method is very similar…instead of making monthly payments, set it up with your bank to make bi-weekly payments. In effect, you’re doing the same thing…paying a little more than just the monthly payment. While a good many months only have four weeks, there are those that have five, so that by the end of the year, by paying bi-weekly rather than monthly, you’ve actually paid a little “extra” toward your mortgage.
The third way costs nothing “extra” at all. It does take a little work and organization, though. Before I share it with you, I’d like to give you a little background on this plan. Apparently, it’s been a system used for quite sometime in countries other than our own. In those countries, it’s considered the normal, standard mortgage set-up. However, the greed of corporate America has apparently been somewhat reluctant for you and I to “discover” this “new” system, because it costs THEM tens of thousands of dollars (per mortgage) in interest!
Secondly, there are the folks that would like to sell you this “system” or the software to manage this system…often for several thousand dollars. I, personally, ALMOST purchased one of these software programs (for $3000) because it would have saved me tens of thousands of dollars in the long run! Thankfully, the Lord allowed me to see that you don’t need a software program (or anything else) to use this system! So, with that said, here it is, totally free of charge!
Just as a little side note, it’s important to keep in mind WHY I’m sharing this with you. My intention is not to make corporate America (or people trying to sell you things at exaggerated prices) look bad. But it IS necessary for you to keep in mind why these things are the way they are. As you’ll see when we begin our study on finances, there are Biblical and spiritual reasons behind all this. Just keep in mind, for now, that while it appears on the outside that we’re dealing with people here, we’re not. We’re dealing with “systems”. And we’re dealing with powers and principalities. While it may not make sense right at this very moment, just store it away in the corners of your mind and focus on taking the first steps to saving yourself some money. We’ll drag it out and dust it off a little later.
With that said, the basic jist of this thing has to do with simple interest loans and compound interest loans. Now, I’m not smart enough to figure all this out, but I’m smart enough to follow along with it! I’m not going to try to explain the differences in the two types of loans, other than to say the simple interest loans charge you far less interest than the compound interest loans. Naturally, you can guess which one your mortgage is based on! This information was gathered from all the other stuff I’ve read on the “system” (a great deal of it on sales pages trying to get my $3000!). Anyway, it’s fairly simple and makes a lot of sense!
First of all, you basically need only two things. You already have your mortgage. Now you need a home equity line (charging simple interest) or a savings account…and you need a credit card. Just one. The plan is simple. You live off of the HEL (home equity line) and the credit card, while you pay off your mortgage in HUGE chunks! I’m going to give you a brief example of how it works. Now, I’m just using numbers I chose for the sheer simplicity of doing the math! If you’ll allow me…
Your mortgage is $100,000
Your HEL (home equity line/savings account) is $10,000
Your monthly income is $5000
Your monthly expenses are $4000
From this point on, all you need to do is simply change the way you manage your finances. Most of us pay our bills, maybe save a little, invest a little or spend a little and move on to next month. You can still do that. But to use the system, you need to change HOW you do it! Normally, if your mortgage is $600 a month, the biggest part of that is paid toward interest. If $100 is applied toward the principle loan, you’re doing good. This system turns it back around the way it should be!
JANUARY
$100,000 (mortgage)
- $5,000 (paid from equity line)
$ 95,000 (balance)
Now you’ve just knocked five grand off of your mortgage! Your income for January ($5000) will be deposited back into the HEL as it is received. You pay your monthly expenses on your credit card. EVERYTHING! On your credit card…just keep it under your budget. In fact, it should be much easier to keep up with because your credit card statement itemizes everything. You can see exactly where you’re spending and how much!
FEBRUARY
$95,000 (mortgage)
- 5,000 (paid from HEL)
$90,000 (balance)
Another five grand off the mortgage. You income for Februaruy is deposited back into your HEL as it is received. Your monthly expenses are paid by credit card. Now your credit card charges from January are due. Your expenses are $4000 a month. From your HEL account, and this is very important…pay off the entire amount owed on the card. Your HEL account balance is now $6000.
MARCH
$ 90,000 (mortgage)
- 5,000 (from HEL)
$ 85,000 (balance)
Another five G’s. Your income is deposited into your HEL as it is received. Your monthly expenses put on the card. Now the charges for February are due. Pay it off…the whole thing…with your HEL. Your HEL balance is now $2000. That’s the $6000 carried over from Feb., plus your income from March ($11,000 total), minus the $5000 paid on the mortgage ($6000 total), minus the credit card charges for Feb. ($4,000).
APRIL
$85,000 (mortgage)
- 1,000 (from HEL)
$84,000 (balance)
Your income goes into your HEL, bringing your balance back up to $7,000. You’re paying $1,000 on the mortgage, dropping it back to $6,000. Your credit card expenses for March ($4000) will reduce it to $2000. And so it goes…your mortgage is paid of years early, saving tens of thousands of dollars!
There are a lot of variables you can throw in, and this is just an example, but the basic operation of the “system” is still the same. It’s much more cost effective for you to pay tens of dollars in interest a month to your home equity line, than it is to pay hundreds of dollars in interest a month to your mortgage. There is no interest calculated in the above example because the above example assumes you’ll be making your regular mortgage payment as part of your monthly expenses, paying down your debt even faster! The above is simply a guide as to how it can be done without spending any “extra” money. You may adjust it any way you need to meet your particular needs.
As time goes by (and as time allows!) we’ll hopefully be adding many more savings opportunities for you!
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