I've figured out the secret to saving money: waiting. Lately we've been trying to teach Eleora a little bit of patience as she waits for her food by having her say, "Lord..." "LORD!" "...give..." "Give." "Me..." "ME!!!" "Patience."

"Payshen," she says finally, with a firm nod downward. Why is she waiting for her meal? Probably because Mommy is cooking it from scratch, which saves money over foods that are quick and easy (and unhealthy). A lot of times I have to have patience when I enter the kitchen and see a complete wreck, filled with my dishes from the last several days, because a) we don't have a working dishwasher (before we didn't even have one) and b) a lot of those pots and pans I use to cook with aren't dishwasher safe anyways and c) we rent our home instead of buying to save our future money and keep within our budget, which usually means renting a place that doesn't have a dishwasher, or, as is the case now, has one that is 15 years old and just doesn't do the job.

I have to wait for that house I want someday, when I can get all the decent appliances I want (at least, that's how it goes in my fantasies of home ownership). But even this week I've experienced more waiting for the sake of saving money, when I THOUGHT spending money was going to get me what I wanted right away. We bought a brand new washer and dryer for a great deal, after--yes, waiting--until we had shopped around several times and talked to several salespeople. We had to wait for the dryer at the place we actually purchased it, because they were the ones who originally offered the amazing price although their dryer was on back-order (unlike Best Buy and Home Depot, who had the full set right there, ready and waiting, but wouldn't match the price unless we had it in writing from said first dealer).

Upon moving here we opened up a local bank account, but in order to save money we opened up an e-checking account instead of a regular account, which would have required that we keep at least $500 minimum balance at all times--something we could possibly do but have not tried yet. And so we took the e-checking, but we're still waiting for those debit cards to come in. We had to wait to transfer money from our old account so that we could have money to buy the washer and dryer, even after we'd decided which ones we wanted and had the deal we wanted. We don't buy things on credit, and so we have to wait for the bank to open to even get money to get food or other things--and we have to wait for the right time since we don't buy everything, all at once, at Wal-Mart, but try to shop at local stores, or at least stores that we believe execute business in a less monopolizing fashion and which are cheaper, like Aldi. (Yes, there are places you can buy cheaper food than Wal-Mart, believe it or not). This means, "Oh, I want a tomato. I guess I'll wait until the farmer's market, which is local and has better tasting and cheaper tomatoes oftentimes than I'll get right here at the grocery store." Or perhaps waiting until that particular fruit or vegetable I want is in season and therefore cheaper. Or even, "Man, I'd really kill for a smoothie right now," but instead I wait until I get home and have juice and frozen fruit and yogurt in the fridge on hand and then I make one myself for like 2% of the price (well, close enough). More waiting comes when you don't get the super-speedy internet or regular cell phones. We have to wait to get home to call our friend instead of dialing them right then and there in the grocery store, or texting so I don't have to talk to them while in line. I had to wait to get the phone and internet...oh, and that brings me to more waiting, because setting up a regular phone line would be quicker than waiting for internet to be set up so that we can have a super-cheap phone line with Vonage, which requires internet connection first.

How about this? Waiting for that best-seller or popular book at the library to make it down the hold list so I can read it instead of buying it right now at the bookstore? It means waiting until the movie comes out at a cheaper theater or on DVD to watch it, or waiting until I can get to a computer with a higher speed so I can watch my friend's latest video because my computer is a hand-me-down, lovingly rebuilt by friends for free to save me some money. Or waiting for my tax return several weeks later because I don't have a printer and I didn't want to fork out the money required to do it online. A lot of times it means waiting and waiting so long that I eventually forget I ever even wanted it, whatever 'it' is, in the first place.

All that said, a lot of these things, when looked at from a higher perspective, are silly and not really necessary. But it's easy for me to forget that when everyone around me seems to be able to have access to or get everything they want or need at lightning speed. And don't get me wrong: Ross and I are very much a part of the typical American way and get plenty of things we want much, much faster than the rest of the world. I'm just gonna say it out loud: I don't like the waiting game. I am totally a spender, and completely impatient. I want what I want right now, thank you very much. And I know full well it costs me sometimes over 100% to be impatient and actually get what I want right this instant. And sometimes I go for it anyways, and suffer the buyer's remorse to a degree of intensity that a lot of people would collapse from.

So today I'm going to go all prairie-girl and hunker down and hand wash Eleora's clothes, because she' s completely run out of them since we haven't done laundry in over two weeks. And, while I do it, I'm going to try, really hard, to say, "Lord, give me patience."