{"id":6376,"date":"2012-11-08T15:29:40","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T21:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ldswomenofgod.com\/?p=6376"},"modified":"2016-02-06T20:19:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T02:19:00","slug":"relief-society-adding-value-to-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliefsocietywomen.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/08\/relief-society-adding-value-to-our-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Relief Society–Adding Value To Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

When my husband and I were first married we belonged to a ward that was affectionately referred to as \u201cNewly wed and Nearly dead\u201d. It\u2019s funny, now years later, we are in a similar ward where we are closer to the nearly dead members. Oh well, what goes around comes around, right?<\/p>\n

There are a lot of things I wish I had known about living a gospel-rich life when I was newly married. I didn\u2019t know how to cook, budget, make-from-scratch, clean, compromise, sacrifice,<\/strong> let alone start or raise a family. And yes, I have learned how essential it is to make each of those categories \u201cgospel-rich\u201d. For years Relief Societies have struggled with how to entertain the sisters during Homemaking <\/em>meeting and it is my opinion it will never work, because the gospel cannot ever compete with the world\u2019s idea of entertainment. The gospel is on a different platform and the Relief Society needs to support that platform, not the world\u2019s. Where Relief Society could have supplied me with many valuable How-to classes I remember only one significant skill that I have used for years. I learned how to cut hair.<\/p>\n

Granted, we learned the very basics that night, and with gumption that proves that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, I began cutting my husband\u2019s hair. As my sons came along, I cut their hair too. Some cuts were better than others, but that simple skill has saved us thousands of dollars over the years. Think what money I could have saved if I had learned other skills early on at Homemaking Night.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few simple ideas for each of the categories mentioned above. The gospel (and the Relief Society) should always be about adding value to our lives. It very well could change your life, or the life of someone in your ward.<\/p>\n

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Cooking:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Always create a menu as a guide, for a week, a couple of weeks, or even one month, at a time. This one small tool will help you:<\/p>\n