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Why It’s Okay for Frugal People to Buy New Kitchen Appliances

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Our first home was a lovely little cape cod. The kitchen was tiny and the cupboards weren’t real wood. The deep red color drew me in. Well, actually it was the appliances.
 
Those shiny new stainless steel kitchen appliances. Oh, how a girl who is 24 loves new appliances she thought she could never afford.
 
When we listed the home for sale my heart broke to leave behind my love. I baked more with that oven than any other time in my life. 
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We learned how to make everything from scratch together. She was there for me and introduced me to convection baking. 
 
What a mom would do to decrease her oven time right?
 
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We were convinced our house wouldn’t sell for the amount we needed without those appliances. My mom tried to tell us it would. She said to keep the beautiful appliances. The farmhouse we purchased had appliances old, white ones. Worked okay. We sacrificed those.
 
I mourned that stove for the first year. I stopped baking. I gave up that stove for this one.
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I hated the new oven. 
 
After a time I had a good reason to. It almost took my hand off several times. My assumptions about the oven not working right got confirmed when my brother came to visit. One of our Christmas traditions is to bake cookies. We love pinwheel cookies. They take about five minutes in the oven at 400 degrees. The trick is to stand next to the oven so they don’t overcook. These do NOT taste good even a minute overdone.
 
 
Ol Ms. Whitey at 400 degrees took 25 minutes! 
 
I tried telling my husband this thing sucks. He didn’t care. This went on for two years. When we decided to redo our kitchen painting and such, I thought well do I really need NEW appliances?
 
I guess not. 
 
Until I made another dinner. ( which by the way I love to cook and always had others tell me they enjoyed my food)
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I got so upset because the food was undercooked AGAIN! An angry mother look comes over my face. My oldest daughter Riley didn’t even look up from her food and said: “I know what she’s going to say.” She could feel my mood.
 
My husband smirked and said, “Me too.” 
 
I wanted to stand up and say, “Well it’s the darn oven.” But that is exactly what my daughter said next.
 
“That darn oven.”
 
I could have said worse. It was the oven.
 
I attempted one more time to bake bread in Ms. Whitey. I went to check it and the top fired off again. It almost burnt my hand. I decided enough was enough. I deserved a new oven. 
 
As a frugal very practical person, saying I deserved an oven felt so wrong. 
 
Here’s the thing. We can afford the oven. I spent almost two years working for a $1 a day on a good day. I didn’t give up. I’ve shared my blogging story a little more in depth here, but I stayed faithful.
 
Faithfulness. What a powerful word. 
 
We are faithful, He is faithful. 
 
I wasn’t running out to get the latest and greatest new oven. I cook dinner for my family every night. I’d say an oven that works is a practical item in the kitchen. 
 
I waited and prayed and waited. I let a comment from Facebook bother me. Questioning because I’m frugal I shouldn’t buy something new?
 
That’s not the case. We’ve worked so hard and we did our kitchen for less. I ended up finding a deal at Home Depot on a convection oven. I didn’t think a convection oven would be in the budget again. Every time I shopped around they were over $1,000.  Something I didn’t want to spend. Frugal people don’t like big purchases right?
 
I ended up getting a convection stainless steel oven for $700 brand new delivered to my home.
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As I sit and stare at the beauty I smile and almost cry. I was ready to give up cooking and not even want to talk at dinner because I hated how my oven cooked, because I’m frugal. I let the assumption frugal people don’t buy new stick me in a dark little corner. 
 
It was a proud moment when I found a deal at Home Depot on this oven with my Kenzie’s sweet little hand in mine. I was able to pay for the entire stove with money I earned from chasing my dream. I’ve wanted to give up blogging so many times.
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This was not the case three years ago. If you are in the early days of paying off debt or starting a new career believe that these tough times will not hinder you from following your hearts desires.
Believing God is who he says he is.
Believe he has good in store for you. 
It is important to remember our job is obedience, God’s job is results.
(Thinking about starting your own blog? Check out my Simple Beginners Guide To Start a Blog for FREE here)
 
 
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I felt an overwhelming peace once the oven arrived. Even after purchasing it. My friends assured me it was silly to get so worked up over purchasing an oven.
 
They kept telling me I deserved it. It’s still hard to say ‘Oh I deserve a new oven.” I like to think I worked hard for that money and it was something we needed.
 
I’m also pretty excited to hear my husband look at the old oven and say that something was definitely wrong.
( Now he sees it! I think he just wanted a new oven.)

 

If you are struggling with buying something new I want you to do three things right now.

 
Step away from everyone and have a minute to reflect. 
 
Pray over the situation. Nothing like this is unimportant to God. 
 
Our finances can be one of the greatest stresses in our life. Don’t allow it to be. 
 
Look at your budget and see how much you can afford. Think of it like a house, don’t be convinced to spend the top of your price range. Somewhere in the middle is good.
 
 
It’s hard for frugal-minded people to relish in the moment of a high price tag even when it’s a good deal. If you love it and can afford it, buy it.
 
If you’ve been working towards a financial goal and have been so diligent with your money, allow your self to deserve something. If you are like me, it’s taken years to overcome the feeling of being worthy. I’ve talked about that more in-depth here if interested. 
 
You are worthy. You deserve the desires of your heart. Better yet, God wants to give you those. 
 
It’s okay to spend money on something new when you have it. It’s similar to the mom guilt. I know many of my mom friends will agree, guilt comes over screen time. We will see a new article so and so posted about how screen time is damaging kids. Anything negative about our kids and all the time they spend on a screen causes an emotion of guilt inside.
The same parents who read that are the ones who were outside with their kids playing hide and seek. Or listening to their hundredth rambling of the school day. Tucking them in every night because they don’t have anyone else to.
We are the same parents who feel guilty for letting their child have extra screen time yesterday.
 
 
We let them play for our own very good reasons. But that one time turns our guilt into fear, anger, condemning. We start to think we aren’t a good mom or dad. 
 
The same can go for us frugal people who are so careful with our money. Even over analyzing our purchases. When we go to make that one move, the one we have been dreaming of, we’ll see one comment or read one article that says if you are frugal you should never buy anything new.
 
Let it go. Who cares. The most important thing we can do is keep God number one. Pray and talk about everything with him. Follow his lead. Follow his direction. There is no denying what the Lord blesses you with and continues to bless you with when you are faithful.
 
There will always be an opinion on everything you do. Follow His leading and the rest will fall into place. 

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Joann

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

Thank you

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