single!Young Christian Woman

A PUBLICATION OF ON MY OWN NOW MIN ISTRIES OCT 10

www.onmyownnow.com

extrememoney makeover

A Spa Day

support charity

... by wearing clothes

boost brain power with

H2O

(on spare change)

Boo

k R

evie

w:

Imag

inar

yJe

sus

4.

10.

12.

14.

18.

20.

EDITOR IN CHIEFDonna Lee Schillingerwww.twitter.com/D_L_Schillinger

ART DIRECTIONDaniela Bermúdez

STRAIGHT TALK FROM THE PROVERBS

Respect the Appetite.Resist the Temptation.By Donna Lee Schillinger

CENTER RING A Different Kind of Makeover By Kimberly Schluterman

THE RECAP

Book Review: Imaginary JesusBy Jeffrey Bridgman

REBA RAY’S DOWN HOME HEALTHY COOKIN’ FOR ONE ON A BUDGET

Whistle WettersBy Reba Ray

SPARE CHANGE

A Spa Day on Spare ChangeBy Julie Ann

FASHION DIVINA

Support Charity ... By Wearing ClothesBy Tamara Jane

JUST WHAT YOU NEED

Boost Brain Power with H2OBy Donna Lee Schillinger

OCT 2010

A publication of ON MY OWN NOW MINISTRIESwww.onmyownnow.com

6.

single! young christian woman

Fridge-worthy.

“In this interesting and thought-provoking exploration of the book of Proverbs, Schillinger takes young women along a journey that will help them to make better, saf-er, and more sound decisions.”

Cheryl C. MalandrinosThe Book Connection blog

Now Available at www.onmyownnow.com,at Amazon, B&N and a library and bookstore near you.

Straight talk from the proverbs for young Christian women who want to remain pure, debt-free and regret-free.

We see high drama in the movies all the time, but in real life, big acting does not win awards.

RESIST THE

TEMPTATION.

ST

RA

IGH

T T

AL

K

4

RESPECT THE

APPETITE.

BY

DONNA LEE SCHILLINGER

She who is full loathes honey, but to the hun-gry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

Proverbs 27:7

5

I spent my junior year in Spain. During Christmas break, I decided to travel to Morocco by myself. Call me crazy – a lot of people did. Since my college years were character-ized by poverty, an 11-day African holiday was a stretch, but I ven-tured out, having the wherewithal to buy round trip tickets for each leg of my trip. Come what may, as long as I didn’t lose my tickets, I could make it back. Sure enough, my money ran out before the trip ended. When I arrived in Seville, Spain, back from Morocco, I had just enough money to stay the night in a hotel room no larger than a walk-in closet. I couldn’t afford to eat dinner that night and I would have to go the whole next day with-out eating too.

It’s not a huge ordeal to fast for a day and a half when you’re at home in your element, but at the exhausting end of a hard-traveled road, the body needs good nour-ishment. Unless I wanted to beg though, and I did consider it, I was going to have to wait until I got to Salamanca to eat.

My bus didn’t leave until the after-noon, so I had the morning to see some sights. Seville is a beautiful city with streets lined with orange trees. While strolling along the streets, those oranges were start-ing to look pretty good. Someone had told me they were not edible; they were an ornamental variety of orange and very bitter. In our proverb lived out, I was so hungry I didn’t care what people had told me -- I was going to try it for myself. I was ravenous; I would have eaten the bark off the tree. The reports were true that the oranges were

not edible, but I ate a few bites of it anyway, thinking that I was at least getting some vitamin C.

After a long, hungry day, I made it back home around midnight. And then I ate a huge meal and got so full that I couldn’t even finish my dessert.

This is no story of chronic hunger of the sort we really should have compassion on. This is just an old travel tale about one day that I went from being so desperate I would eat something bitter and be thankful for it, to the other ex-treme, being so full I pushed away dessert.

Human appetites are fickle. We can experience both extremes in one day. When we have a need to be satisfied, we feel desperate enough to try anything. When that need is finally satiated, we disdain the very thing we had been wildly craving only minutes before.

Strong cravings cause us to do ir-rational things – like Esau did when he sold his place as first-born son, and all the privilege that went with it, for a bowl of lentil stew. “What an idiot!” we say. Esau didn’t do anything any of us are not capable of doing when we’re hungry for something – food, sex, affection,

attention. Unsatisfied emotional appetites can wreak the most hav-oc.

I could have avoided my desper-ate situation in Seville with bet-ter planning. And on a daily basis, I can avoid satisfying my hunger with junk food by having some healthy snacks on hand in antici-pation of hunger pangs throughout the day. It’s not so easy to advise how to avoid having an unsatis-fied emotional appetite. Emotional hunger may have developed from years of rejection, neglect or pov-erty. The best advice I can give is to recognize, right now while we’re in a rational state of mind, that ap-petites can make us do some crazy stuff. Respect the appetite. Though we might not be able to avoid hav-ing the yearning appetite, we can avoid the desperate act to satisfy it using one solid piece of advice that James gave us – and it works in any tempting situation: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We must resist temptation to sell ourselves for a “quick meal” to satisfy our cravings – both physi-cal and emotional – because after we get what we so longed for, we’ll find ourselves wondering how we ever could have been so desperate.

Hold this thought:

STRONG CRAVINGS CAUSE US TO DO

IRRATIONAL THINGS.

WHEN I’M FEELING

MY WEAKEST, IT’S THEN I NEED TO

HOLD ON.

6

C E N T E R R I N G

a different kind ofmakeover

by k i m b e r ly s c h l u t e r m a n

So, if I may brag, my husband and I are both really good with money management. So good, in fact, that in our premarital counseling, we had no issues to work through whatsoever. We both practiced good habits as individuals and we have no problems practicing them togeth-er. This is what we said to my friend-mentors as we stood in their dining room one evening. They listened happily, congratulated us on our smart choices, and then did what mentors do best: challenged us to be even better. Dr. Bob asked if we had ever read a book called The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. No, we hadn’t and we didn’t want to read it either, es-pecially not six weeks before our wedding! We hemmed and hawed but finally, they talked us into reading just the first chapter. If we weren’t hooked after the first chapter, we were off the hook for having to read it.

7

So that’s what we did. And the first chapter was all we did for about 12 weeks. It wasn’t so easy to dismiss, however. Some of the concepts lingered in our minds, and after things finally settled down post-wedding, we ended up wanting to read the rest together. And the result was surprising! For two people who consid-er themselves advanced personal money managers, that book totally kicked our butts. Although almost 90 percent of the book was stuff we already knew, the 10 percent that wasn’t has changed our lives.

Below is an overview of the principles in the book, and I would encourage you to consider their wisdom. Ramsey is a Christian, but this book is not about Christian finances, per se. His wisdom is, however, old-fashioned and sensible. The program he lays out is simple and straight-forward, but for the person of average self-discipline, kind of tough to follow.

The Dave Ramsey financial plan is broken down into seven “baby steps.” Steps 4, 5, and 6 include saving for college, quickly paying off your home mortgage, and investing for retirement. Since those are way down the road for both you and me, I’ll let you read the book and learn about those yourself. I want to talk about 1-3 and 7. In general, the book assumes the reader is the average American, meaning you have debt (car, students loans, credit cards). If you’re not in debt, good! You’re ahead of the game and the Dave plan will teach you how to never be a slave to money.

Quickly save $1,000. I was surprised by this because I thought he’d want us to pay down debt before saving

money, but his reasoning is rea-sonable. Essentially, if you don’t have some money stashed away for emergencies – which are as

certain as death and taxes – then you will go into debt again in order to pay for them. The quick $1000 is the first step in breaking the debt cycle. Ramsey gives specific rules about where to keep the money, but to summarize, he wants it on-hand but tucked away. It needs to be something you can put your fingers on today if necessary, but also something that you’re not going to lay your fingers on unless it is absolutely imperative. A Certificate of Deposit that has an early withdrawal fee is not the place for your $1,000, but neither is your purse.

If you are reading this and thinking, “Ha – a thousand dollars might as well be a million!” then I’ll beg you to read just the first chapter like I was “forced” to do. It’ll change your outlook and your life. The key is to get the money quick, like within a month or two. Sell things, cancel your cable and unplug everything that uses electricity if you have to. But save $1,000.

Pay down what Ramsey calls the “debt snowball.” Whereas I would have thought that if you have multiple creditors, the

smart thing to do would be to start with the high-est interest rate, pay it aggressively, and then move to the next highest interest rate, Ramsey suggests otherwise. He says to start with the lowest balance,

baby step1

baby step2

8

pay it aggressively while paying minimum balances on all other debt, and then move to the next lowest. Similar to the $1,000 quick cash, the goal is to change your behavior. It’s a baby step. If you aggressively pay off your lowest-balance debt, then it should pay off quickly. Then you’re motivated and encouraged to keep going! Take everything that you were paying on your lowest balance, which is now paid in full, and ap-ply it to the second lowest balance. It snowballs from there until your debt is paid off quicker than you ever thought.

Depending on your debt, it might take a couple years to make it through Baby Step 2. But once you have, you’ve accomplished something major. Yes, it is dif-ficult to sacrifice for so long, but Ramsey’s motto is, “If today you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”

Finish building your emergency fund. Right now, you have $1,000 stashed away and no debt. That same amount that you were pay-

ing toward your debt each month will now be added to your Emergency Fund. If you had been paying a car payment, credit cards and maybe a student loan, all of those payments you no longer have to make can now be applied toward building your emergency fund quickly. Most financial advisors recommend having 3-6 months of life expenses in the bank. Personally, in this economy, I feel more comfortable with 9-12, but it’s your decision.

When you are finally finished with Baby Step 3, you step back and think, holy cow. Can you believe you just did that?! I’m going to skip Steps 4-6, not be-cause they aren’t important, but because you have enough to keep you busy for a while. I have to leave you a reason to read the book, right?

But I’m going to be a plot spoiler and let you in on Baby Step 7: Build wealth and give! One of the best parts of wealth, besides

peace of mind and security, is being able to give it away. Have you noticed that poor people can’t help poor people much? Although the Lord loves a sacrifi-cial giver, he has no problem with wealth. Remember: the love of money is the root of evil – not money itself.

The Total Money Makeover spends a lot of time teaching you about myths and not-so-secret secrets about money management. He rants about bad mon-ey habits – and he should know, he had a bunch – and why they will leave you a slave to debt forever. By the way, Ramsey has been bankrupt and come back again, so he learned many of his lessons the hard way! Ramsey informs on where to invest, how much to invest and strategies for success. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but rather a get-rich-slowly plan.

As you become financially independent and rely less on your parents for financial support, you will prob-ably run across all kinds of “financial advice.” A lot of what you hear may be really, really bad advice – and certainly not grounded in God’s word. And yet,

C E N T E R R I N G

baby step3

baby step7

9

I wouldn’t say that the Dave Ramsey plan is the only smart plan out there either. I would encourage you to read the book and decide for yourself. If nothing else, it’s hard to argue with his motto that if today you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else! The concept of sacrificing today for a bigger payout later will be present in any successful financial plan… and you can take that one to the bank.

Yo u w i l l p ro b a bly r u n a c ro s s a l l k i n d s o f “ f i n a n c i a l a dv i c e .” A l o t o f wh at yo u h e a r m ay b e re a l ly, re a l ly

b a d a dv i c e – a n d c e r t a i n ly n o t g ro u n d e d i n G o d ’s wo rd .

by Jeffrey Bridgman

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos is an excellent book with both serious and funny material. As a depiction of the author’s journey to discover the real Jesus, it con-fronts some of the darkest questions of the Christian faith. At the same time it is a comedy of bizarre char-acters, such as a talking donkey, and strange events, such as an inner tube race down a ski slope with a phil-osophical intent – reminiscent of Calvin and Hobbes. It also contains some exaggerated, fast-paced action, like getting smashed in the face by a metal bar in a fight between two imaginary saviors. The reader can’t help but laugh when the two are subsequently healed by a televangelist also named Jesus – Mikalatos must have drawn on his years of clerking in a comic book store for that one. In any case, this book is never bor-ing and it leaves the reader wanting more at the end of each chapter.

10

THE RECAP

The story begins with Matt and a foot-bouncin’, iPod listenin’ Jesus hanging out at a cafe in Portland. Matt’s life takes a turn for the bizarre when a stranger, who we find out is actually the Apostle Peter, walks in and punches Jesus in the face. This helps Matt to realize that the man he was hanging out with was an imagi-nary, powerless Jesus, who is not capable of saving him from getting a parking ticket. (Although, I think mine may have totally saved me from getting a park-ing ticket last week.) The story continues with Matt embarking on a wild chase to hunt down and “deal with” this impostor, hoping to uncover the real Jesus. But, you still may be wondering, what in the world is an “imaginary Jesus”?

The book does a good job articulating this, so below are some quotes that should help explain what the author means by this term.

“They’re constructs that tell you what Jesus will say or do, how he feels, what he thinks, without ever having to get to know him.”

“People invent a Jesus for one specific reason and then discard him when they don’t need him anymore.... The real Je-sus is inconvenient. He doesn’t show up when you call. He asks for unreasonable things. He frightens people. He can be immensely frustrating.”

At one point Matt’s own Imaginary Jesus explains: “You say you want to get rid of me, but every time you send me away you call me back. The first prob-lem you face, the first time you pray and don’t get an immediate answer, you call me back, and extrapolate answers to your own questions. You’re praying to yourself Matt.... But time after time you keep return-ing to me because deep down you prefer me to the real thing.”

Essentially, the author is describing lies we tell our-selves, and others have told us, about who Jesus is – lies that lead us away from Christ.

One of the goals of this book is to point out the con-cept of error realization. We can’t correct something until we know it’s wrong. If we don’t know that our concept of Jesus is false, we won’t know to “punch

him in the face,” and search for the real thing.

Matt recounts a time when his wife’s wrists were hurting. He prayed for her and within minutes the pain went away. Then he questioned, “What had just happened? As strange as this may sound, this obvi-ous answer to our prayer frightened me. This was an unexpected and slightly terrifying Jesus.... How do you deal with a God who breaks all the rules such as the one which says, ‘God doesn’t do miracles today,’ that your confident, well-meaning friends have told you he will follow?”

Matt eventually concludes he can’t control Jesus, and is frightened by this fact. But this seemingly good, albeit scary, event later becomes the root of Matt’s doubt and causes him to invent yet another imagi-nary Jesus. It happens during another situation when they need a miracle, and this time God doesn’t act. Matt explains: “Sometimes seeing miracles makes the later lack of them that much harder.”

Anyone who reads this book is likely to discover they have created their own false concept of Jesus. I certainly did. In the course of my walk with Jesus, I have to admit I’ve turned my back on Him at times because, “I didn’t want to serve a God like that.” Now I understand that these times of turning away often stemmed from an imaginary Jesus who I created, but was tired of serving.

I’ve definitely met Legalist Jesus. He’s the one that speaks lies like, “I don’t know why you expect God to show up. You haven’t been good enough,”or “God doesn’t love you when you disobey Him.” I’ve also met Bargain Jesus – the one that will answer our prayers only if we keep our side of the deal. Both of these gods were so unattractive they almost made me turn away from Christ entirely. But in reality, I was missing the real Jesus, which is why it’s so important to realize we often have these false images hanging around. There are probably more of these false con-cepts of Jesus in my life that I’ve yet to uncover, but this book helped open my eyes to this critical issue. Following the sound advice of this book, we should seek out these false ideas of Jesus, and send them packing with “a swift punch to their faces and a good kick in their shins.” Don’t worry, the real Jesus will approve.

11

12

This may well be the easiest set of recipettes I’ve ever concocted – variations on the theme of wa-

ter! Any maybe yur wonderin’ why I would even both-er. Well, can I tell you a little secret about yurself? You’re probably mildly dehydrated. I can say this with confidence, though it dudn’t give me any joy to do so, because medical and nutrition experts estimate that up to 80 percent of the population is walking around in a constant state of mild dehydration. Feelin’ a lit-tle thirsty? Maybe, maybe not. Yur body may be so used to bein’ drained that it doesn’t even send a de-cent thirst signal for mild dehydration. So, if yur thirst mechanism isn’t kickin’ in, you need a back-up plan: Drink 10 cups of water or water-based food and drink every day. Just make it a habit.

Why? Because even mild dehydration can zap a per-son of intellect! Ever feel sleepy in class or meetings? Ever have trouble concentratin’ when it’s time to work on an assignment? Excuse yurself and go getcha a big glass of water. I know what yur thinkin: “Then I’ll have to excuse myself again in 20 minutes to go to the bathroom.” It’s true that when you start to drink what you oughta be drinkin’, you have to run to the potty a lot more than usual. But if you’ll just make 10 cups a day a habit, pretty soon – like within a couple of weeks – yur body will get used to it and you won’t be running to the potty every 20 minutes. And you’ll be operatin’ at yur prime, all the time.

You probably knew that severe dehydration can be life-threatening. Ever heard of cholera? It can kill a person in a day simply by dehydratin’ em. Mild de-hydration is serious stuff too! Because a thirsty body trickles down to thirsty cells, chronic mild dehydra-

tion can mess with yur body systems and organs. Here’s a quick list of some of the damage lackin’ a little water every day can cause: headaches, impaired sleep (except in classes and meetings!), dry skin, joint problems, sore eyes and digestive disorders, as well as lack of concentration. Furthermore, you may have no clue that lack of water is causing or making worse these conditions: asthma, heart disease, hy-pertension, infections and more.

Simple enough to fix, though: drink water, right? Ac-tually, that might not solve the problem. Dehydration can be caused by just a whole lot of things, so check out this list of 25 causes of dehydration, only one of which is that you need to drink more. Disclaimer: The link above is not a medical reference; it’s a list compiled by someone wantin’ to sell you fancy wa-

Up to 80 percent of the population is walking around in a constant state of mild dehydration.

Feelin’ a little thirsty?

reba ray’s down home healthy cookin’ for one on a budget

13

ter purification rituals. However, it’s a really good list! Most of the medical sites, like Mayo Clinic, just list a few causes of dehydration that you might be lookin’ for in a person needing medical attention. I don’t endorse fancy water purification rituals, but read Just What You Need in this issue of Single! for some whistle-wetting gear I do recommend.

Now, whatcha gonna wet yur whistle with?

I don’t fully understand it, but I hear people sayin’ all the time, “I don’t like water.” Well, OK, but ya still need to drink it, so we better figure out a way to get past that. But first let’s look at some ways that don’t work: Sodas. You read me right! Those tiny bubbles are keepin’ yur body from processing that water the way it needs to. Caffeinated drinks, including sweet tea, and alcohol (but you already knew that, right?) contribute to dehydration as well. What does count toward yur 10 cups is any-thing with water, like fruits and veggies, soup, milk, juice and decaf coffee or tea. Trouble with gettin’ all yur daily hydration through sources other than water is that all the rest of those sources have calories. For weight management, you gotta drink some water! If you get a decent supply of fruits and veggies, and maybe eat a yogurt or drink a glass of milk a day, you probably only need to down 8 cups of liquid a day. But if yur diet in a day is dry – breads, pastas, nuts, etc., make it 10 cups of libation. Now for some ways to dress up water without too much effort, from least to greatest taste impact.

10. Add ice

9. Tear in half and toss in mint leaves

8. Gently squeeze and toss in a lemon or lime wedge

7. Flavored ice cubes (made out of yur favorite juice).

6. Bite and crush a piece of hard candy with the wrapper still on and then open it into yur water. Butterscotch, peppermint and cinnamon all work well.

5. More candy! Add red hots to the bottom of the glass.

4. Toss in a few maraschino cherries and a few squirts of lime juice from concentrate.

3. Try herbal teas. Every grocery store has ‘em.

2. Go half and half: juice and water. (All juice is a high calorie way to hydrate.)

1. Kool-aid or lemonade singles are an easy way to convert yur liter water bottle into a highly tolerable sugary beverage.

spar

e ch

ang

e

14

a s p a - day -

on spare change

Could you use a day at the spa?

Just one problem, right – who’s paying? Your’re on your own now, and you know what that means: If you’re going to the spa, you’re paying. Well, so much for the spa. But wait! You can have the same relaxing and fun day at home, pampering yourself or sharing the pampering among friends, on less than $10 for a full body treatment.

15

It was a tough assignment, but I made the sacrifice and became the guinea pig to test at-home spa treatments, so I can fully endorse these practice to you. They are easy, low-cost recipes to cover you from head to toe, while costing mere pennies. And they’re made with natural products you probably already have in your kitchen.

Hair Hot Oil Treatment:On average, a store bought hot oil treatment costs $1 to $3.50 and you could expect to pay from $5 to $20 at a salon. Instead, head to your cupboard and grab your cano-la oil and you’ll only be spending about 17 to 50 cents per treatment.

Instructions: Pour two to four table-spoons (depending on length and thickness of hair) of canola oil into a coffee mug and microwave until warm – about 15 seconds. Then use a large paint brush to apply to hair. Leave on for five to 15 minutes and then rinse. This can get messy, so make sure you wear old clothes.

I expected it to be hard to rinse out, but it came out nicely and I followed up with my regular con-ditioner. Afterwards I noticed my hair was much softer and felt “lighter” than normal. If you have damaged hair, you might want to do this once or twice a week until you see improvement.

Honey Yogurt Oatmeal Facial: Paying $50 to $250 for a salon fa-cial would probably do more harm than good to my face, considering the distress I would suffer when they hand me the bill! Even store brought products for home use are a shock with price tags of $15 to $25. However, once you see the glow on your face after a Honey Yogurt Oatmeal Facial – with a cool price tag of about a dollar per treatment – salon facials won’t even tempt you anymore!

Instructions: Mix two tablespoons plain yogurt, one tablespoon hon-ey and two tablespoons of cooked oatmeal, cooled, into a paste and apply to a clean face. Leave on 10 to 15 minutes and then wash off with a warm wash cloth.

The yogurt contains lactic acid which is great for refining pours, aids in exfoliation and stimulates collagen production. The honey will help keep skin soft and mois-turized.

I’m not a big fan of having gooey gunk on my face, so I was a little nervous about this treatment. However, I was pleased with the experience. Although the oatmeal chunks sticking to my face made me look a little like Nanny McPhee, once I washed it off, my face felt cool and refreshed.

Even purchased in the smallest in-crements, you should have enough ingredients for several treatments and even a few breakfasts!

Hands and Feet: The manicure and pedicure is the personal treat of choice for a lot of women. But again, why spend your time and money at a salon when you can achieve similar results at home?

Instructions: For an at-home mani-pedi you will need nail polish re-mover, basic manicure tools (nail trimmer and file), a basin for wa-ter, Epson salt and/or bubble bath, a pumice stone or foot file, a mois-turizer and your favorite color of nail polish.

First, remove any old polish and then trim and file the nails. Next, soak feet/hands in a basin of warm water (Epson salt for feet, bubble bath for hands.) For feet, use a pumice stone or foot file to soften rough spots. Once hands/feet are dry, moisturize, run over nails on hands and feet with a quick swab of nail polish remover once more to remove any lotion on the nails. Ap-ply polish to nails and relax while they dry.

I’m always doing at home mani-pedis, so this wasn’t a new ex-perience for me. I do a hand and foot treatment about once a week. About twice a week I change my fingernail color.

If you have problems painting your own nails, throw a mani-pedi party and get your friends to help. Also, check YouTube and search at-home manicure or pedicure to find videos or more in-depth text tuto-rials.

$.5

$1by julie ann $3

16

Body Scrub: Don’t put that oatmeal away just yet because you will need it for our final treatment: a total body sugar oatmeal scrub. Store bought sugar-based body scrubs cost from $16 to $30 and at a day spa the price will start around $50. How-ever, this treatment will be just as sweet with a price tag of less than $5 per treatment.

Instructions: Mix ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup raw oatmeal and ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil. While standing in the shower, apply on dry skin with your hands and rub in a circular motion. Turn on shower and rinse off. If you want a more aggressive exfoliation, apply wear-ing a loopha mit.

I was glad that I was standing in the shower, because this turned out to be really messy upon application. It was a little irritating while I was rubbing it in, but once I showered it felt amazing. It left my skin fabu-lously soft and glowing for several days.

My skin was a little oily for about 30 minutes after application, so be sure to avoid good clothes right af-ter the shower. Because olive oil is a bit more expensive (that is what makes the price on this treatment a little higher) you can experiment with canola or other types of oil. Coconut oil is also great, but costs even more than olive oil.

$5

These treatments are just a spring board to all kinds of fun,

at-home treatments you can concoct with natural ingredi-ents. Find hundreds of options

on the Internet by searching: at home _____ (facial, body scrub, etc.). Have fun experimenting

and don’t forget to count up the money you are saving!

Unconventionally conventional

wisdom.

On My Own Now: Straight talk from the

proverbs for young Christian women who want to remain pure,

debt-free and regret-free.

Now available at www.onmyownnow.com,

at Amazon, B&N and a library near you.

⎟Fashion DIVinA⎟

Think you can’t afford to give to charities? Well, can I ask a personal question? How much did you pay for your shoes? And how about your favorite T-shirt? If you bought them retail, chances are you can afford to give to charity and it will cost no more than you’re already paying for clothes and shoes.

Next time you have a need (or desire, as is usually the case) for new clothes or shoes, how about mak-ing a purchase from one of the growing number of social entrepreneurs who have committed to doing good deeds with their profits. Below are five such organizations, and if you don’t find what you need

with these companies, searching the Internet will likely till up other options. I’ve supported some of these myself and they’re a great witnessing tool. I’ve been stopped several times, and questioned about what I’m wearing and what it means.

But before you ask, here’s the answer to the question that will eventually oc-cur to you: Why don’t I skip the cloth-ing purchase and donate directly to a charity? The answer comes from the Web site of Groobs, a shoe company that donates $6 to $9 (which is 50% of its profits) to charity for each pair of shoes sold. Groob Founder Jason Fry says, “Do it. Make a difference in someone’s life. Volunteer, give mon-ey but why not get your GROOB ON and make an impact in a person’s life too?”

Tom’s shoes are no Payless variety, costing considerably more than bar-gain shoes, and Tom’s shoes cost considerably more than Groobs (see below). But consider this: If you buy bargain shoes, you get what you pay for and you probably do not go out and make a donation to charity in the same amount as you spent on shoes. But if you buy Toms or Groobs, you get a pre-mium pair of shoes and a com-parable premium pair of shoes is

Why don’t I skip the clothing purchase and

donate directly to a charity?

by Tamara Jane

18

19

donated to a person who may actually be in desper-ate need of a pair of shoes. I’m not talking need like we talk need, like my-sneakers-have-a-hole-in-them need. I’m talking need like has-no-shoes-at-all need.

If you’re already giving a tithe and offerings and liv-ing on a tight budget, best stick to bargain shoes and clothes. However, if you’ve been skimping on char-ity or you regularly pay $50 for a pair of shoes and $20 for t-shirts, best try to redeem those purchases by making them part of the global poverty “solution,” because at present, they are part of the global pover-ty problem. “Solution” is in quotes because I’m not so naïve as to think that we can rid the world of poverty. In fact, it’s not scriptural. Jesus said the poor will al-ways be with us. Yet we are commanded and advised over and over in scripture to be kind to the poor and give to the poor. So if you’ve ever wondered how to go about doing that, you’ll be ecstatic to know that it’s as easy as going shopping through some of the companies listed below.

TWLOHA (to write love on her arms)

With a motto, “Rescue is possible,” TWLOHA raises awareness about people who are hurting and in need of love and support, and have expressed this need through depression, suicide, eating disorders, cut-ting, burning, other self-mutilation or just by being in-secure. From their online store, buy hoodies, T-shirts, tanktops, wristbands and more that sport a message to let hurting people know you care. Proceeds sup-port TWLOHA’s mission.

WE ARE OVERLOOKEDTwenty-five percent of the proceeds from the pur-chase of clothes and jewelry sold on this site support ThinkHumanity.org, whose mission is to provide re-lief, support and hope for a promising future to refu-gees in Africa. I have bought one of their t-shirts that says, “This shirt feeds starving children,” on the front, and on the back it explains, “Each shirt sold provides one child with a meal a day for a month.” This shirt is the traffic stopper. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been stopped and asked what my shirt is about.

It’s a great opportunity to raise awareness of a good cause.

TOMS SHOESToms makes comfortable, cute yet simple shoes and for every pair that is purchased one pair goes to a child who needs a pair of shoes. “One for one.” Re-cently, Toms reached a milestone in that they have given away one million pairs of shoes. Toms sponsors “one day without shoes” each year on April 5th – another great conversation starter. (Especially with the boss!) If you can’t go barefoot in your school or workplace, buy a pair of Toms and wear them on that day! Toms is also a great choice if you don’t shop on-line. They are carried by shoe stores all over. Find one near you.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN (IC) You can purchase T-shirts, tanktops, messenger bags... and why? To help raise awareness of and end the longest running war in Africa. Invisible Children uses films, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in rebel warfare and restore North-ern Uganda to peace and prosperity. And this selling clothes thing is working for them as well. On May 24, 2010, Jason Russell, Laren Poole and Ben Keesey of IC joined President Obama in the Oval Office as he signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act – proof your contributions make a dif-ference.

Even if you’re a strict thrift store shopper (and good for you and the world if you are), you can still get in-volved with these charities if in no other way than by browsing their sites, becoming familiar with the causes, telling others (in conversation, as well as through social media), making a direct donation, par-ticipating in one of their awareness efforts and best of all, praying for their causes.

J U S TW H A T

you

N E E D

20

Man, Reba Ray hit that drinkin’ thang hard, didn’t she? But it’s not so easy to keep up with 8 to 10 cups of liquid a day. After all, we have enough to keep track of without measuring water – which is just one good reason why just what you need is a stainless steel water bottle. They come in sizes ranging from 12 to 40 ounces, so you can just do the math and fig-ure, “I need to drink 3 of these to get enough water each day.”

Simplicity is one, but by no means the only, nor the most important reason to invest in stainless steel. Probably most importantly, reus-ing a stainless steel container cuts down on the plastic water bottle waste which is now at epic propor-tions! Save the planet – use stain-less steel. Of next greatest impor-tance is our health. Plastic emits a harmful chemical, BPA, the impact of which we’re still trying to get a handle on. Even if we purchase our water and take it right home and stick it in the fridge, chances are that somewhere along the supply chain that plastic heated enough to give off some BPA. So the very essence that’s supposed to be nourishing our bodies is poisoning us!

Another great advantage to stain-less steel is that we can fill it up from our tap and drink water at a fraction of the cost we would pay for plastic bottled water. A review of four popular brands of water

bottle is at GoGreenTravelGreen.com. It also helps that stainless steel bottles are trendy now (you won’t look like a geek carrying it) and they don’t change the flavor of water.

But what about that? Maybe you’ve been driven to the (dispos-able) bottle by bad tap water. Ugh! First, check to see if your city’s drinking water just tastes bad or really is bad. If you pay your own water bill, the water company will mail you a Consumer Confidence Report annually by July 1. Public health and safety company, NSF, offers a guide to interpreting wa-ter quality reports. Or, get a quick online report from the Environ-mental Working Group’s drinking water database – the largest in the world! Enter your zip code, then select your water company, read the report and weep!

If your water actually has a good quality rating and just tastes fun-ny, I highly recommend immers-ing yourself in it, that is, drink it anyway, all the time, for about two weeks and soon you won’t notice how nasty it truly is. Your taste and smell receptors will become satiated for those particular nasty particles and soon you’ll be able to actually enjoy your water. But be warned that after a vacation of a week or more, you might have to desensitize yourself again.

If your water is actually bad, in-

vest in a good, but low-cost water filtration system, like a Brita pitcher. No installation, initial investment is reasonable and you can take it with you when you move. Purchase filters in mul-tipacks to make them more af-fordable. PUR, another filtration system you pour tap water into and then store in the fridge, of-fers a 2-pack of flavored filters for cheaper than their 2-pack of regu-lar filters. If your water needs a lot of help, try one of their five flavors. For a full and cost-conscious anal-ysis of water filtration, with links to purchase the different systems, visit Cheapism.com’s cheap water filter page.

What ever happened to drinking from the hose? Days gone by. Wa-ter is serious business now, and that means that we, the consum-ers, need to get smart about water. As carelessly as we brush our teeth with the tap running and take long showers, it would seem we think water is free. Consider, however, if we pay $.99 for a 12-ounce bottle, that we’re actually paying more for a gallon of water than for a gal-lon of milk. Would you pay $10.56 for a gallon of milk? Do the math, baby, that’s what you’re paying for water at $.99 for 12 ounces. Don’t drink your paycheck away! Invest in good, cheap water today.

Agood DRINKOF WATER

by Donna Lee Schillinger