June is a very expensive month for our family, there are 3 birthdays, Father’s day, and all 3 children’s church summer camp fees are due.
June got even more expensive when a some what large dental bill arrived in the mail that was due the end of June.
(Links in this post are affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase by clicking those links. See my disclosure page for more information)
By June 1st I realized that even though I had been saving my husband’s overtime for months to pay for June’s expenses, our family was going to come up short of the large June budget goal especially with the added dental bill. I could have diverted money from our emergency fund but I really didn’t want to as I find once we dip into it, it is hard to build back up and soon a large true emergency will follow (like a car break down).
Instead, I began to pray to God, with one goal in mind selling enough books and educational materials at a homeschooling second hand curriculum sale to cover the cost of the camp fees for at least my two boys in full and perhaps even my daughter’s although I thought for sure covering 3 children’s camp fees with one sale was asking a bit much.
I spent most of Sunday and Monday preparing for the sale, gathering things from all over the house until I had enough to fill 6 banana boxes. To make that happen I put anything with educational value in those boxes, including 1/3 of our home library.
Tuesday morning my daughter and I set out our 6 banana boxes worth of homeschooling curriculum, books, DVD’s, games, CD’s, maps and more on our 3 card tables. Basically if it had any educational value at all and we were not using it on a weekly basis it was on those three tables and for sale.
I whispered to my daughter my goal for the sale, and seconds later the doors were open and the sale began. Three hours later we looked at our total and realized that every penny of the boys camp fees was raised and we still had 3 banana boxes of stuff leftover.
His provisions got even more amazing when later in the week, I realized I owed less than I thought for the boys camp and that there was one more job available for them through the church’s camp fundraiser plan to earn money for their camp on their own. These two things meant that my daughter’s camp fees were also taken care of by the sale. God had taken care of not just of the minimum I asked Him to do but the maximum.
Do you have a financial goal you want to see met? Perhaps the funds for it are sitting in your own home like mine were. Make sure to visit my reselling page to find ways to create cash from your items.
If you have second hand homeschooling curriculum you want to sell at a local homeschooling sale check out my “Tips For A Successfully Selling At Second Hand Curriculum Sales.
Available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon–get your copy here!
Become A Snail Pacer
Receive a monthly newsletter full of tips for making life changes at a realistic pace.
The nice thing about how you were blessed is that I’m sure it blessed others as well to have access to things you didn’t need. I attended the annual used curriculum sale in our area with a friend just over a week ago and was thrilled to find so many things for such good prices. As a homeschooler I know that it is hard to part with things that you love, but God blesses generosity!
I never thought about it that way but it is true. Although this year I didn’t shop the sale while I sold ( I looked but did not see anything on our list of needs), in past years I have bought many things on my list for prices that made my homeschooling budget stretch further. Plus there were 3 boxes of stuff left over and 1/2 of those are going to the local mission thrift store where proceeds buy food for the soup kitchen so those boxes are still giving. Pretty cool when you think of it that way.
I’m glad you were bold and asked God for what you wanted for your children. You were also ready to work to get there! Well done.
Loved this post! Thanks for sharing this story! 🙂