I figure a lot of folks are doing their taxes these days, so it might be a good time to ask a budget and spending question. I’m curious as to how your annual spending compares to the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Here are the 2008 stats,

So, the economy stuff has been on my mind lately. Both the big picture of the effect on our nation, and the local picture as it affects our community, neighbors, family, friends, and us. Often though, what I think about is the church.
I realize I often cast pretty radical and extreme visions for what I think the church and/or ‘Christians’ lives should look like. I’ll be the first to claim hypocrisy in my inability to carry it out at times as well. But, I can’t help but look at the …

While most of our country spends the last month or so of the year merrily spending…

Since joining Kiva, a website allowing users to provide micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, my family and I have made over 20 loans ranging from $25 to $75. Though we considered it a donation, the idea of it being a loan, and the fact that I can pull out my money after the loan has been repaid has definitely shaped my perspective on it to being considered more of an “investment” in doing good.
You can imagine my disappointment then when I found out that one of the loans had …

This is terribly disappointing and shocking information, but it points to the need for us to be critical shoppers and not passive consumers when it comes to all things, even those that claim to be “Fair” or “Green.”
I’ve written about No Sweat before and found them to be an impressive company overall. They made a switch a few years back to start offering products made overseas, but they put in some stringent measures to ensure fair labor practices including outside independent auditors. And they even put the reports on their …

One of the things reading The Paradox of Choice made me aware of is how much of our conversation is about buying stuff. We talk about what we are thinking of buying, be it house, car, electronics, friends share their opinions of their own house, car, product or the other ones they tried when shopping themselves. Or, we talk about things we already purchased, whether we are happy with it or not, the deal we got, the money we saved. I don’t know how much of our actual conversations as …

We talk about a lot of topics here, focusing on what we can do as stewards of the resources around us and our time and life to love our neighbor. No topic is taboo, so we are going to talk, just briefly about what you wipe with. That’s write we are talking about T.P.
We needed some new toilet paper the other day so I made a quick run into the grocery story, recognized the Seventh Generation brand, and grabbed a 12 pack. Toilet Paper isn’t something I had given much …

Seems like everywhere I turn people are lamenting the impact of the plastic bags available at the grocery store. The trend seems to have caught on and everyone and their mother are purchasing nice pretty and new canvas totes to pick up their groceries with. What has amazed me is that I haven’t heard anyone acknowledge the irony in this. We critique the rampant consumerism and environmental degradation of plastic grocery bags that fill landfills, waste energy, and acknowledge our disposable society, and our answer to that problem: Buy something. …