Amy and I parked our car on Saturday for an indefinite period of time. Since Amy quit her FT teaching job with St. Paul Public Schools to get part time work teaching english on the West Bank, and since I am in fundraising limbo, our income has shrivelled. We’ve decided that driving a car and paying for insurance are non-essentials. We’ve also cut back on lots of other things like going out to eat, our blockbuster online subscription, casually going to movies, etc. Since we’ve been pooling our resources as a household to buy groceries and I’ve been making meals for folks on most nights, our grocery budget has gotten smaller too.

We’re not quite living within our means yet, but we’re almost there. Our hope and prayer is that when I’ve raised funds we can still live within the budget we set for ourselves now.

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.