Stop Reading Each Other's Mail

It's funny when you get married, and mail comes, you think that things changed and you can now open your husband's mail. I'm sure guys don't mind if you open the bills addressed to them or even their credit card statements, but what about cards or things that are clearly not addressed to you? Do you still feel like you have the right to open them?

I know when we first got married, I loved getting mail. Perhaps now with two people living in the same house, you would get twice as much. Even junk mail seemed to double. But there were things like cards during the holidays that were addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Smith and I would jump at the chance to open those. Hopefully something good came inside. I felt justified because my name, Mrs Smith was on the card so I could reason why opening it was okay. Most of the time it wasn't anything new and over the years that newness has worn off.

Now when cards come, our family knows to make the envelopes out to the person they were meant for, instead of that generic format and no hurt feelings will apply.

In fact, there are times when I don't even want to open mail addressed to my husband and even during Christmas it can be a detriment as well. I remember our Amazon account is set up under my name and we both use it. However sometimes he can forget when placing an order, that unless he changes the name on the address it will default to me instead. Now since I get quite a few packages in the mail, mostly books, I am not certain which are books and which might be something else. It could even be something I ordered as well.

Needless to say, I've ruined some great presents because I opened them without realizing they weren't mine simply because they were addressed to me. Now we know better.

Yet how simple it is to forget we still do it all the time when it comes to reading our Bibles and understanding the roles and responsibilities that God has clearly outlined for both husbands and wives. How many times can you clearly recite the duties your husband is supposed to do? How clearly you can remember those passages from scripture and often times fail to read your own, much less commit them to memory?

I have to tell you that is reading one another's mail from God!!!

God clearly has defined separate roles for husbands and wives in a marriage, and we are meant to pay attention to our own, not point out where significant other's faults lie in not applying their own biblical truths to the marriage. I am 100% guilty of that.

I even am the arm nudger whenever those are brought up in church as if my husband isn't paying attention. Are you the same?

Ladies, it's high time we spent some time simply focusing on our own issues instead of reminding our men of their shortcomings and what they are NOT doing.

It's simple.

If we focus 100% on our responsibilities and our husbands do the same, we'd have some incredible kind of marriage!!!

We need to simply STOP reading one another's mail and get busy reading our own. Not only reading it but applying it, doing it, committing to it every single day. Not when we feel like it, those will come later when we develop good habits.

And don't pray for God to take care of your man following through, ask God to help YOU follow through on your end and see if some significant things don't begin to take place. I'll keep you in prayer and ask that God work on strengthening your marriage and for you to grow more in love with your husband more every single day!

You've Got Mail?

How many of you currently hop on out to your mailboxes each and every day, only to find it filled with junk mail and bills? Wouldn't you just love to see a handwritten card or a letter from a far away friend?

I am not an email fan per say but I love the excitement of seeing cards and packages arriving in the mail. I decided since Christmas is just around the corner, to start a Christmas card exchange. This way between now and Christmas you will have more than bills and junk mail to look forward to. You just never know what you will get and when you will get it.

If you would love to participate, here is what you must do.

1. Email me your mailing information at Stevenkat27@verizon.net.

2. In one week, I will email you a list of all the participants in the Christmas Card Exchange. It is up to you to send whatever you would like to the bloggers on the list. You can start with a simple Christmas card or send something a whole lot more. You can begin mailing them out whenever you want as long as it is before Christmas!

I wanted to provide a way to bring God's love and joy back into the Christmas season and give you all a little something to look forward to in your mailbox. I love and collect Christmas cards each and every year and add them to my home decorations for Christmas!

Looking forward to seeing just how many of you are wanting to participate? I am also working on a Secret Santa and will be sending that out next week if your interested as well!

Organizing Thursdays - Junk Mail

How much junk mail do you think you get on a monthly basis? Do you ever benefit from the junk mail you get? Do you look forward to getting junk mail? How are you dealing with all your junk mail? Do you pile it up and hope you will get around to it later?

Here are some tips on dealing with your mail crisis. First of all you need to deal with it in three ways. First, decide which needs to be dealt with like bills or correspondence. Have a set place for those items that way when you need to deal with it, it's easy to find. I have my bills in my organizer so when pay day comes, I simply pull them out, pay them and then file them for one month. After the next month's bills come in, I toss the ones I had filed previously. Of course you don't want to do this with ones you need to keep for tax purposes, and for those you should keep a separate file labeled Tax papers. Guess what when tax time comes around, those receipts and papers are in one organized place.

Second, you will have magazines or reading material you can't get to right at that moment and perhaps you save it for a later time, like before bed. You need to designate a place for those as well. Mine is a basket I keep in the bathroom or next to my bed. You might find one way to save money is to cancel those magazine subscriptions and just browse those magazines on the Internet. No paper to toss or recycle and one less thing to deal with when the mail comes. I do keep the ones I like for reference like home improvement projects we will complete at a later date or educational ones for the kids for homework projects. Again those all have a specific place in our home so it's easy to find. I do make a habit of tossing them at least a month or two after I have had them and have read them except for the ones I save. Trust me, I don't have much in the way of saved ones.

The third thing you need to deal with is junk mail. When my mail comes, I immediately deal with it right away. I don't put it in a pile to deal with later. Somehow we never get around to it and the pile begins to build. So by dealing with it when it comes, I don't have to deal with piles around my house. So I open everything, put the bills in my organizer, put the magazines and reading material away and as for anything else, I toss it in the recycle bin. There mail is handled, done and no piles of mail waiting for my attention.

You can also opt of of junk mail by emailing or calling the companies that keep on sending you stuff to eliminate more coming into your home. One handy tip is to refrain from all those free car offers at the mail or your local stores to win vacations. This will add your mailing list to not only their companies but some also sell your information to anyone willing to pay for it. So beware.

Hope that helps at least keeping your counter tops free from mail clutter and I look forward to chatting with you on next week Thursday for another handy organizing tip!