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This has been burning in my mind for months… perhaps even longer… but for fear that it might hurt some of my real-life friends, I have hesitated to post it. I don’t want anyone to think this is directed solely at them because it is not. This is a habit that I see working all around me and I think that all of us, including me, could use this reminder.
Every day, I make choices. Many of those will affect me financially. Even if I become blessed enough to have unlimited monetary resources, those decisions can still make an impression on the financial status of my family. Sometimes, the impact is small and sometimes, it is significant.
Let’s think about some of those choices ~
I can choose to go out to eat and pay $50 for a meal, or I can take that $50 and pay for the rotation that will lengthen the life of my tires.
I can drop $30 a month on a data plan for my smart phone, or I can fix that leaky faucet and repair the running toilet that will eliminate excess water use.
I can purchase a $600 electronic for myself or my child because it is the newest and the best or I can buy groceries for a month (or longer) because my family needs to eat.
I am not the master of good stewardship. Far from it on many occasions. But, I am tired of hearing people rattle off lists of legitimate needs that they have chosen not to pay for because they are so busy marking items off their list of wants. We have choices to make. We can be wise and invest our money into what we should, or we can be foolish and spend our money on whatever makes us feel good at that moment.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.~Proverbs 3 (NKJV)
But, it is hard to keep focused and to be a good steward… especially when you live on the brink financially day after day.
I will be honest. I grow tired of staying home and cooking and not having what everyone else has. This voice rises up in the back of my head that says, “But you work hard. Don’t you deserve it? You could always pay that later and do this now. Wouldn’t that make you happy?”
YES. I mean NO. I mean… Any happiness would be momentary. I have to keep focused on that and quote this to myself:
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
~ Matthew 6 (NKJV)
Ultimately, that electronic will be outdated, the smart phone will be broken, and the meal will be digested and turned to… you know. What will I have gained by spending my money there? A couple of useless gizmos and a pile of poop. That’s not something I think about when I am “in the moment” but it is the truth.
How do you silence the voice in your head? How do you make wise financial choices?
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This is so true! I am always hearing “We needed a new tv/phone/etc”. Uh, no you didn’t, you WANTED that. If you WANT it, have the CASH to pay for it right now, and all others bills are paid, then go for it. As long as you know the difference between a need and a want. Thank-you for a very well written article.
I think our fast food society has mixed up need versus want. We have become accustomed to getting what we want immediately. Don’t want to wait for food to cook? Just pick something up! Don’t want to save to buy that? Just use a credit card! It’s sad that our minds have been very warped.
Thanks for your comment, Kate.
One thing I’ve found that works well is to ask myself a couple of things: Do I really need this? Is there another way I can meet my current “need” with things I hsve at home, and avoid having to make a purchase? That helps me quite a bit.
I do have Netflix DVD…and I’m watching Road to Avonlea on DVD. once I finish the series, then I’m going to cancel my subscription completely….and that will free up about $12 a month
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather
Thanks for those great tips, Heather! We have Netflix for streaming. It’s a great alternative for us to going out to movies. Plus, all those documentaries help with homeschool.
Never a truer word spoken. It frustrates me to no end to hear people saying that they need a holiday, they need cable TV or they need a new car. Yes, holidays are nice if one can afford them, but to go into debt to go on holiday defeats the object, because you will be stressing and worrying about how you will pay for it instead of being able to enjoy it. As for cable TV, no one needs it. Hubby and I refuse to have a TV in the house, and as a result, we are far more productive than other couples our age (31 and 32). Also..no one ever needs a new car. A good, pre-owned one saves a lot of money and is often cheaper to maintain than a new one.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading
Thanks, Shona. We had one television for eight years and inherited the second one in December when Bill’s grandmother passed away. No cable. Why pay for all those channels when nothing is ever on? Bill’s car is literally falling apart (cosmetically) but it runs really well. 90,000 miles. Bet we can get another 60,000 or more.
Perhaps contentment is a state of mind.
Needs vs. Wants – It’s simple.
Absolutely.
I hate hearing people beg for money for food and gas, then see them and their kids out in expensive cloths. I worked with a girl like this. She could barely afford her bills with her paycheck but refused to buy anything less than name brand for her and her kids. Sorry lady, I don’t feel bad for you and I am not dishing out my hard earned money.
Even when I was working and we had the extra money my kids did not get name brand clothing. I must admit, we are an electronic house and family (although we don’t rush out and buy each new thing as it becomes available). We do not have cable, only Netflix. and we do only buy new cars. We have had some terrible luck with used cars. With that said we do KEEP our vehicles and don’t trade them in every year. My husband and I have spent the past several years paying off bad credit decisions make when we were younger. We are finally getting to a good place where we are more financially stable. Next year we are planning to take a family trip to Disney World, it will be our first vacation since 2007, and we already have a savings started for the vacation.
No I don’t have everything I want…but I do have everything I need (and then some). Do we splurge…yes…but not all the time. We are very aware of what is in our accounts and have quit living on the credit card.
That is awesome, Nicole. Living life without credit cards is certainly possible. Thanks for being an encouragement to the rest of us.