Good morning everyone! Happy Saturday!
I am excited about today because I get to go see my cousin Anissa. We had lunch a few weeks ago and I am thrilled for the reason we are getting together today. While we were visiting, she had mentioned that one of the regrets she had was saying no when her mom asked her if she wanted her grandmother's rain lamp. You remember the rain lamps? It was normally a bronze hanging lamp that had a statue in the middle and what looked like rain running down little lines around it? Well, she made that statement and then said, I don't know what happened to it. I was able to say immediately, "it is sitting in my attic, and it is yours if you want it." She said no, but on our way home, she texted me and said if I meant it she wanted it. It does need a new motor, and that and the fact that I just didn't have a good place for it anymore had sent it to my attic. I am so excited that it is going to be used again and I am so excited that I was able to reunite her with the lamp. So, I am delivering the lamp and getting another great visit in.
But of course, even though I have plans for today, I am up early, writing my blog, getting ready to do a good rebounder workout because it is raining, drinking my protein/ kale/ spinach/ blueberry and fiber shake and getting a healthy start to my day.
Ever since my surgery and my weight loss, I have worked extremely hard at staying physically healthy. For the last year or so, I have worked just as hard staying financially healthy and today we are going to talk about that.
My morning routine consist of getting up, taking care of my teeth, doing my morning face and skin routine, fixing my shake, and then coming into the office, running through my plans for the day and checking on my bank accounts. On my way to the gym or to work, I listen to my daily devotional and listen to at least 2 chapters in the Bible. That is my morning routine in a very quick nutshell.
As I say this, I think about the old childhood song Sing a Song of Sixpence where the King is in his counting house, counting out his money. As I have pointed out over the last couple of weeks, there is a big difference between worshiping, and worse yet, having to be a slave to money and being a good steward to what God gives us.
I make sure everything is the way I expect it to be and that there are no charges anywhere that I wasn't expecting. This also makes it easier to say no to things during the day, and to know when to say yes. Today, I know, I am going to Clinton, I have only had 1 Scooters coffee since vacation, but there is a Scooters in Clinton, I am taking my loaded teas for most of my day, but I have already decided, I am going to have a Scooters coffee on my way home. I also know where we are going for lunch, there is a little boutique and the last time I was there, I saw really cute stuff, so I am giving myself a little budget to spend there.
Just like my planned workout and food intake for the day, I have a plan, so I know I am staying financially healthy.
The main thing about staying financially healthy is to not stress spend. I have done this many times in my life, in fact, when I was young and single, before cellphones, I was managing Richard's Farm's kitchen. When I needed away from everyone, I would take a day off and seriously go to Champaign for "retail therapy". And, this is where I was talking about not realizing yet that money on credit cards didn't belong to me. ( I seriously used to say, "Of course money can't buy happiness, that's what those little plastic cards are for!) It belonged to people that were banking (literally) on me not being able to pay it off so they charged me another ton of money to cover me. I still use credit cards, but they get paid off every month. I use them now mainly for the flyer miles, and hotel points, and Menards, for the extra rebate, but I know the money is in the bank before I use the card.
So, the lesson that we need to learn from this is from Philippians 4:11-13
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. 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. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
This verse reminds me of my mom, she was the queen of this. That woman could live on less than anybody I had ever seen and yet just go through life happy as a lark 99% of the time. She truly lived these verses and inspired me to try to live them too. She truly was living each day to be the best steward for God she could be and knowing that when she got to Heaven, there would be nothing she would ever want for again. And now, I get to take comfort in knowing that is exactly what her every day is like. What a reward!
So, if you are already in debt, stop the bleeding and start making small changes to get out. This means, one time of not stopping and getting a cup of coffee and putting that $5 ( or $6-7, as mine tends to be) towards that debt. I am going to make a confession, For the longest time, I rewarded myself for going to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with Starbucks afterwards. 1 cup of the Venti decaf Vanilla latte with almond milk is $5.64 before tax, so after tax, that was over $18 a week, BUT wait, there is more. I got to ordering myself one for the drive to work and one for when I got to work, and THEN I got to ordering a cold one to put in the fridge for the afternoon. Which brought the total more to about $25 each day, $75 a week, $300 a month and a whopping $3600 a year! Now, I let myself have an OCCASIONAL Starbucks but I have a coffeemaker in my office and take the flavorings, stevia and almond milk and get the same experience for several weeks for less than 1 week of giving Starbucks my money.
It adds up, fast.
Bottom line: We need to do these things:
Learn Contentment
Contentment isn't settling, it is trusting God will provide, and He always does. He knows what we NEED, and He knows our wants are far from NEEDS.
Let's look at another verse from Philippians 4, verse 19
19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Sometimes, I just repeat to myself, I know the Lord will provide. Last year at Harvest Home, Cherilea and I sang a song about this and in the last few months, I have heard that song in my head when things have been going wrong, especially with Mom's stuff.
Another things we need to do is Save for the Future.
If I had my whole adult life to do over again, I would do this, and if you have kids, I would encourage them to do this from that very first part time job, live on 80% of your paycheck, tithe 10% and save 10% and then just continue doing that. I am going to slip in a real quick caveat. A lot of my tithing goes to my church, but when I see someone that God has put directly in my path, I consider when I give to others part of my tithing too. It is still giving to God, and I know it is what I am supposed to do. Anyway, I have finally gotten to the point where I can do the 80%/ 20% but it would have been so much easier and better to have done this from the start.
Proverbs 21:20 tells us:
20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.
Are you in a place where God is calling you foolish? This goes with all those little tips I have left on Thrifty Thursdays about putting stuff in the ole Amazon cart and letting it sit for a couple days. If you go to put something else in the cart and forgot the first thing was there, delete it.
We also want to Avoid Lifestyle Inflation.
Just because we get a raise doesn't mean you have to increase spending. In your 30's and even your 40's, I see this happen a lot. I got a 5% raise, so now I am going to spend 10% of my income and go buy a new car. Then you get to being in your late 50's and start thinking, am I going to be able to afford to retire?
And then, there is the one I think I struggled with for years- keeping up with the Jones, and nowadays, we also call it FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out. Do not buy things, or do things just because someone else does. I went through that phase of thinking we had to have brand new cars and I will admit, those stupid car payments were hefty just to say I was driving a brand new car. I have found that I would much rather drive an older car that makes me happy- like my convertibles, than making sure it is the latest model. I think that is also why I kinda love thrift stores, somebody spent a lot of money on clothes, and then gave them away for pennies on the dollar. I am absolutely fine with wearing that dollar dress if I feel good and it looks nice. I wore a dress to work this week that 4 different people made a comment about, I literally paid $1 for it. Yes, it was a J.Jill dress. The cheapest J.Jill dresses on their website are usually still $60, with most over $100. Mine was a dollar and I am good with it. I stopped competing against others a long time ago. The only person I want to be better than is yesterday's me.
So, last week I challenged you to make a spending plan, this week, I am going to challenge you to look at every purchase you make, is it a want or a need? And if it is a want, why do I want it?
Praying you have a great day, a great weekend and a great next week!
~M
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