Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to see Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze speak in Des Moines at a sold-out event called Living a Legacy. (Our buddy Jon Acuff is also traveling on the tour, but, sadly, he had a book signing that night instead.)

The evening was really a blessing to us. We didn’t know we were going until 2:00 pm the day of the event, and Eric somehow lined up free tickets and a babysitter for us and off we went! (Huge thank you to the man who bought tickets and gave them away, our friend who hooked us up with the tickets, and the angel of a friend who agreed to babysit for five hours. THANK YOU!)

We’ve heard Dave speak before, at the Total Money Makeover event two years ago in Kansas City (more on that here). I wasn’t sure if it would be all repetition, but I figured it’s always great motivation no matter what. He uses a lot of the same stories and jokes to illustrate his points, but I was pleased to hear some of his new material about teaching money to children and how we can change our family tree (our legacy) when we are smart with money and pass on those values and lessons.

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There a heck of a lot of ways to save money. One of my least favorite ways to save money is to simply not spend it. Right? If you really want to save money, the easiest way is to withdraw your “need” or “want” for that item and walk away as the money burns a hole in your pocket. But, what’s the fun in that?

I think a lot of people think that since we have a budget that we live a frugal lifestyle. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. We spend a lot of money; therefore, we need a budget to provide guidelines, or we would spend all of our money on clothes, eating out or vacation, and Rooney would be crawling around without any diapers (which aside from the mess would be pretty darn cute most of the time).

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We filed our taxes a couple months ago, and even though getting a return means we temporarily lent money to the government, it’s always a fun little bonus. This year we were pleasantly surprised to receive $1,723!

This is less than we got back last year, which we were a little confused about, considering we had a baby last year. But, my income went down (I work part-time now), and we also paid less interest on our house loan after paying off our second mortgage and refinancing.

Naturally, immediately after we found out we were getting a nice return, we brainstormed ideas on how to use it.

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Giving. We’re asked to do it so often and from so many people. Sometimes it can feel more like a burden than something we do out of the goodness of our hearts. God even commands that we give and sacrifice for others. Isn’t that what true love is? Putting our own needs and wants behind others? Sounds like a tall order, because it is. It goes against everything our culture tells us.

But don’t be discouraged. I’m sure you give more than you realize. That was the case for me on my birthday when Kelsey gave me a pair of TOMS shoes. I realized that this was my fourth pair of TOMS, and that meant that I had also given four pairs away to children who didn’t have shoes before. And I think that’s pretty cool.

It got me thinking about all of the other little ways that we give of ourselves. Not in a “self-righteous” kind of way. But more of a reflection on some good and cool things we’ve been able to do over the years. My hope is that you might reflect on the ways that you give as well. And don’t let that pressure of giving weigh you down. I hope we can all give to whatever causes tug at our hearts and that we give with joy.

One reason we are so diligent with how we spend our money is so we can give more. We hope to do even more in the future.

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