Hello!

Hello!  My name is Jasmine and I'm a recovering shopaholic.  The sad thing is that most people do not realize that shopping is not only an addiction, but a harmful one.  The first realization came after our tax refund this year. Prior to being a stay-at-home mom I worked at a local Credit Union as a loan officer.  I helped people not only obtain loans and set up accounts, but I worked hard to teach people how to make a budget and live within their means.  At that point, I did live within my means, but after getting laid off and having two children things changed.  I wanted to maintain that "American Dream" mentality, and though I knew some cuts were needed, I figured I was doing well by shopping savvy.  I was subscribed to twenty "money saving" blogs and "deal-of-the-day" sites that helped consumers find good quality products for cheap.  I was loving it, I was able to purchase a designer $100 diaper bag for just $30 new - which is cheaper than most bags at Babies R US!  I felt I was being responsible, but things were rapidly spiraling out of control.  What started off as a few deals, lead to a $1000 per month habit that was hard to break.  For the first time in my life I was charging up a credit card bill that I could not pay off each month.  I justified this by saying I would be getting a nice tax return (as we have two children, one meager income, and both go to school full time), and I'd just pay it off when the time came.  The time did come and we received almost $8,000!  However, we had just that much in credit card debt racked up and I realized that something needed to change.  I realized that I was not being a good steward of my family's finances and ultimately God's money.  At that point I rewrote our budget to make sure that we'd start living within our means.  However, old habits die hard and though I was able to realize the smallest credit card bill since our marriage almost ten years ago, I was still under constant temptation to spend money.  The final "breakthrough" came upon my second week in my Geography class at Regent University.  The professor had us watch multiple movies, among them the youtube video called "The Story of Stuff": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM this along with many other things I have been thinking about recently pushed me forward to change my life and start becoming a "sustainable" Christian.