Inspirations

As I'm wrapping up my thoughts about finances, I thought I would leave you with some tips I have learned about saving, spending and finding a balance between the two.  Most of it I learned the hard way. Be content.   This one thing will enable yo to strike a balance between saving and spending.   If we are content, we will have no desire to spend what we do not have, and we will avoid the trap of keeping up the Jones'.  Being content means that I can look at others and what they have and be happy for them, without feeling the need to run out and get it for myself.   I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,  whether living in plenty or in want.  Don't worry . This seems to go right along and possibly hand in hand with being content; like salt and pepper.  If we are content with what we have, then we will not be anxious and upset about our finances. By not worrying  we ...

You might a cheapskate if .... You dumpster dive for food so that you don't have to buy food. Dumpster diving is only acceptable if, and only if, your bank account is at or below zero and you have not eaten for a day.   You shower with your clothes on, so they get washed when you shower.  Again, this does not count as washing your clothes and should only be done IF the washer quits working You only buy one meal and ask for two plates when you are on a date.  Ladies, if a guy takes you to a restaurant and only buys one dinner for the two of you it better be humongous.  If it isn't run for the exit door.   You dry out wet paper towels so you can reuse them.  Reusing paper towels is completely unacceptable.  Suck it up buttercup and buy more paper towels.   You coast your car down hills to save gas. Anyone who tries this, they are foolhardy.   I wouldn't ride with them.  Most new cars won't even ...

Tonight, I’m doing something I absolutely hate.  My husband and I are working on a budget.  I imagine that most of you feel the same way. It’ kind of like taxes and doctors, we dislike them and breathe a sigh of relief when they are done. Truth be told; we really don’t enjoy working on a budget at all.  Yet it is one of the necessary components in knowing exactly how much you have and what you can spend. If indeed we are responsible to God for how we handle the resources that God has given us, then we need a clear picture. One piece of the puzzle that can bring the whole puzzle into focus is a budget.  It allows you to see and compare what you spend with what you have.  Sometimes as I’ve done a budget and looked at what I saw, I could see that the problem was little things that add up.  I realized that the problem was that I forgot the advice I had been given long ago, little things add up.  As we do a budget, we often see little things th...

I was in a store ready to check out; there they were candy bars just waiting for me to take them home.  Why do they even put them at the checkout! Well, the store knows that almost everyone has a tendency to "impulse" buy.  In fact,  some stores set a place aside for the things they think you will pick while you are looking for other things.  The problem with this type of buying is that we forget that little things add up.  We may pop it in the cart and think, "it's just $5"; what we forget is that if we add even a couple of things, we could easily spend $25 quickly.  Then we look back and think, "where did that money go."  Who among us has not walked into a store with the idea that we were only going to buy a couple of items only to find that we have actually bought way more than the "couple of things".  In my case,  they are often things that I want, more than things I need.   I get deceived because they don't cost much, so it's oka...

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? Some time ago, we had a van.  We used it for many purposes, and it served us well.  However, at some point it wore out (most things do), and we had to dispose of it.  As we were cleaning out the van, as in cleaning out all the debris; we had four young children. I found out there were some things that the van could do that I never knew.  I was completely amazed. I have thought about it much since then.  It has always served to remind me to pay attention to what you have. I had no idea of some of the things that the van could do, so I never used it to it's fullest.  What I learned is that to make full use of something I have to be aware of what it is capable of.  The same is true of our finances, in order for me to make the best use of and honor God with my finances; I have to know what I have in t...

One of the most common pitfalls, concerning finances, in our society today is living beyond our means; to put it simply spending more than you make. Our society with all its technology and “things” make it easy to spend money we don’t really have, plus we are inundated with commercials making sure we know what we can buy. Most of us, me included, have at one time or another fallen into this trap. We see a new gadget and rather than pay the bills; we want to buy that new “toy”. Most of the time is a problem of pride. We don’t want our neighbors and friends to know that we can’t afford everything that they can, and we don’t want to admit that they may be doing better financially than us. So we purchase a house way more expensive that we can afford, or we buy a “high end” smartphone simply because everyone else has one. I’m not saying that it’s wrong to have any of these things a nice house, a new car, or even a smart phone or computer if you can afford them. The problem...