My Tag Line
You may have noticed my tag line on here at Simple Family Preparedness: “Empowering Self-Reliance, Prosperity & Charity.” ( I stole it (with permission) from THRIVE Life (formerly Shelf Reliance)’s mission statement.)
Being self-reliant / well prepared is important to a peaceful life. When we aren’t prepared (for tomorrow’s dinner or next week’s soccer game, or next year’s job loss, or a possible natural disaster, etc.), we worry about those unknown things and have much more stress in our lives. We aren’t truly able to PROSPER!
On the other hand, when we do our best to prepare for life and be self-reliant, we are better able to live stress free, improve our situation, and give back to others, helping them to do the same. That is just one simple way in which we can be charitable.
This month, instead of my regular monthly giveaway, I’d like to provide an opportunity for each of YOU to do just that: to give back to others. I like to call it “Paying it forward”
Paying it forward
I am a very firm believer in “paying it forward,” and also believe that self-reliance and prosperity is what makes that possible. There have been times in my life when I was not as self-reliant as I am now and I had to rely on the kindness of others. One such time was when my husband lost his job 3 months out of law school. We’d had three kids during law school and were pregnant with our fourth. We had a lot of school debt and no savings b/c it had all been spent on school. Many, many people who were self-reliant and relatively “prosperous” stepped in and helped us out. I vowed that I would do my best in the future to become self-reliant so that I could do the same for others someday. That is one of my biggest motivations for working so hard at this business.
Since becoming a THRIVE Life Consultant in November of 2010, I’ve earned a lot of free product which has helped our family become more self reliant. In addition, the income I’m earning is helping us pay down debt and build up savings. We’ve even been able to build a house! In other words, I’ve been blessed! And where “much is given, much is required.” So,
this month I’d like to share ALL of the free product I earn with families in need.
That means that in addition to YOU getting a discount when you shop, 10% off all your purchases made through my online store* (which is 100% of the free product I earn) will be donated to a family in need. These families will each also receive one-on-one phone time with me to help answer any questions they may have and build a plan that will best suit their needs and situation.
*Note: You can also contact me directly to make your purchase if you prefer. (-:
Empowering You
A big part of this is me trying to help those who want to prepare, but can’t afford to. However, I’d also like to empower EACH OF YOU to be a part of paying it forward.
Each of us has something good in our lives and we can all share some of that goodness with others.
I invite you to join me….
in one of five ways:
- Nominate a family in need! The families that receive this free product will not be chosen randomly, they will be chosen by nomination. I’m certain that many of you know someone who is trying to prepare, but struggling b/c of lack of funds. Tell me about them! Learn more about how to do this below!
- Spread the word! Each one of you can do this b/c you ALL know other people that I don’t know! The more people who know about this, the better! Use facebook, pinterest, twitter, blogs, email and even good old fashioned phone calls and face to face conversations. Let everyone know what we are trying to do for others.
- Shop through my online store. If you are in the market for THRIVE Life (formerly Shelf Reliance) products this month, then shop through my online store (https://YourOwnHomeStore.THRIVELife.com/Home). 10% of every purchase that comes through my “store” will be given back to a family in need. You will also get great discounts (10%-50%) by shopping there!
- Send in your tips! If you’re not in a position to purchase or donate, you can still help! Like I mentioned above, each of us have something to give! Send me some tips ([email protected]) on what you do to prepare on a budget. How do you keep costs down? Do you do anything that is free? Each family nominated will receive a copy of all these tips.
- Donate for shipping costs. If you aren’t in the market for THRIVE Life (formerly Shelf Reliance) products, but would still like to help, you can donate any amount here (even a dollar will help) which will be used to pay the shipping on the products donated and purchase even more product once shipping costs are met.
How to Nominate a Family
I’m looking for families that meet three criteria:
(1) They are in need financially
(2) They have a strong desire to prepare and be self-reliant. They make efforts to do so even when times are tough.
(3) They regularly give back to others even if that must be in “non-financial” ways.
If you know of someone who you believe deserves a nomination, simply fill out the form below! All nominations will be reviewed by me and a few other family members, but will be kept private otherwise. Details of the family’s situation will NOT be posted on this site without permission.
I (with the help of other family members / a few friends) will choose the family / families that best meet the above 3 criteria to win the free product.
Simple tip I can think of right off the top of my head: save back the liquid from canned foods, then replace it 1:1 with milk used in a quickbread recipe (for that matter, find a good quickbread base recipe and /memorize/ it). You save milk that would’ve been used, and give the bread even more fruit flavor. This was a life-saver when we got crunched over the Christmas season. We ended up eating muffins and quickbreads (since they’re almost the same recipe) for pretty much every breakfast.
Hand-in-hand with that is this: many groceries now have an “uglies” section in their produce dept. Bruised bananas and apples are still great for quickbreads!