I think it’s time I share my heart with all of you. This is not an easy post to write, but at
some point I was going to have to let you all know what’s been going on in my
head…..so here it is…..
For about a year now I have been feeling convicted of
spending so much time on the blog. As
you can imagine, finding online deals, doing weekly store matchups, posting
coupons, etc. is very time consuming. I
have three young children whom I have caught myself telling to “wait a minute,”
or “let me post this coupon first,” or “no, I can’t do that right now; I have
to do matchups,” WAY too many times. I
have found myself too busy staying up late to do matchups and then I’m too
tired to read my Bible. I have found
myself not wanting to do something with my family because I feel like I need to
get back home quickly and post some deals so that my blog doesn’t suffer.
This conviction—I kept trying to ignore. I would justify it by telling myself I was
doing good things for my family. Saving
money with coupons was helping us, right?
Making a little extra money monthly for the family was contributing wasn’t
it? It doesn’t really matter if I
sacrifice that precious time that I can never get back with my children because
I’m doing something that will help our family, right? No.
The answer is a resounding no. I
am not helping my family with this blog.
Sure, I’m making a little (and I mean very little) money each month to
add to our savings account. But, in the
overall picture a couple hundred dollars each month is definitely not worth all
of the sacrifices!
My personal relationship with Jesus Christ has suffered
because of the blog. As I said above, I
have been too busy with it to the point of distracting myself from having consistent
daily quiet times. This is not
acceptable and I cannot continue to pretend that it is.
My personal relationships with family members have suffered
because of the blog. I cannot continue
to rush through homeschooling and daily activities with my kiddos to get to the
blog. I don’t want to rush through life
with them. I want to slow down and play
with them. I want to have fun and watch
them grow. I do not want to look back 10
or 20 years from now and regret being on the computer too much. Life only happens once and I need to make it
count.
My family’s health has suffered because of the blog. I’m sure you’ve all noticed, but the food we
buy with coupons is not the healthiest.
For the past several months I haven’t even been purchasing the deals I
was posting because it’s not *real* food.
We are trying to make healthier choices and the processed, boxed food
that we have coupons for just doesn’t fit into that picture. I need to teach my children a healthy eating
lifestyle. I also have not had the time
or energy to exercise because I was just too spent with everything else I have
going in my life.
My personal responsibilities of being a homemaker have
suffered because of the blog. I am
constantly behind on laundry, cleaning, menu planning, etc. Now, I’m not saying that the house will be
completely spotless all the time without the blog because I still have a lot of
other responsibilities too, but I am saying that without the blog I can devote
some of that time spent writing posts and matchups to folding laundry and
cooking dinner!
Let me tell you, it’s not an easy thing to admit that I just
can’t do it all anymore. I would like to
say that I could continue doing everything I’ve been doing….and I guess I could,
but not without sacrificing things way too precious to me. Things that God has called me to be. A Jesus follower. A wife.
A mother. A homeschooler. A homemaker.
A person who relies fully and completely on Him to control my life—NOT a
blog. And that’s what it had become. A blog that controlled my life. I do not want that at all.
Now some of you are probably thinking I’m being
dramatic. A blog couldn’t really take up
so much of someone’s time could it? Yes,
blogging is hard. If I only had the blog
I could probably have made it great. But
the truth is, I have so much in my life that is more important, by far, than a
coupon blog. Not only the things God has
called me to be as I mentioned above, but also teaching piano lessons,
directing the music and choir at our church, being a Pastor’s wife, and serving
Him in other various areas. All of these
things take up time and when you add them all together there’s just not enough
time for me to do it all. I wish I
could, but I just can’t---not and feel good about it.
My relationship with Christ, my husband and my children are
my priority.
This blog will be changing.
There will be no more weekly matchups.
I’m sorry. I just cannot continue
to ignore my faith, family, health and homemaking convictions in order to run a
blog. Nor can I continue to encourage
that same obsession that I have had in other’s lives either. I won’t be deleting the blog. It will continue to be right where it is, but
it’s changing. Instead of being a
coupon/store matchups blog, I’m going to use it as more of a personal,
homeschooling, faith-based blog. I may
update it 1-2 times a week, or I may get busy and update it less often. I’m not going to let it control me any
longer. If there is a really, really
good deal that I don’t want you to miss, I may still post it, but for the most
part I won’t be posting deals. I started
this blog praying that it would be a blessing to others and I hope that it has
been. However, it has turned into the
opposite for my own family. So now, my
prayer is that the new, transformed blog will continue to bless others by me
putting Christ first.
Feel free to “unlike” me on facebook or no longer follow my
blog if you’d like. I understand,
really. But, if you don’t mind hanging
around with me, I’d love for you to stay connected on facebook. Say a prayer for my family as I make this
adjustment, because my prayer is still for all of my readers to know that a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ is the BEST FREE gift you could ever receive!
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