My eye has just caught sight of a verse, it read:-
‘It is not how much
we have but how much we enjoy that makes happiness’
Later watching a TV programme about people in debt I thought
about that. There is no joy in being in debt in fact it is a real kill-joy!
But is debt something we really like to talk about? When I
meet with friends we talk about what we have been up to and people seem happy
to talk about what they have just brought and the holiday they have just had
and we might like to share a problem or two, but from my experience few of us
like to discuss our money matters (unless there is plenty of it of course!)
I remember a few years ago a friend asking me how our
business was going. We are in the business of construction, and back in 2008 as
you may well be aware, there was a crash and it affected us quite badly. It had
taken a while for the backlash of it to emerge, but it had left us struggling,
not a nice place to be in. It certainly was no fun so I just started to reply, ‘well
we were having a bit of a slump’ when she immediately changed the subject.
If I am honest I was glad she did. I couldn’t lie to her and
say we were doing great, but at the same time I didn’t want to admit money was
a problem. For some reason it made me feel like a bit of a failure. We had had
our business about three years, it had all been going swimmingly. But you have
to keep an eye on things. I should have made some cutbacks much sooner, but I
didn’t. I could have kicked myself!
But kicking myself would not solve our problem. It had to be
sorted. I have faith, I knew we could do this, and as I prayed in my mind’s eye
a plan soon unfurled itself.
We needed to cut our cloth by a third. There were obvious
things we could do. Eating out in the
city was replaced by a meal down the local, and I was surprised as it was just
as much fun. We still treated ourselves to a take away once a week too, but it
was with a Chinese from the supermarket rather than the takeaway. Who cares if
you have to heat it at home?
The next step was quite a test. I got out our latest bank
and credit card statements and I went through every item.
The ones that were essential e.g. gas electric mortgage/rent
got a tick.
The ones that were not essential were circled. I felt I
should total up all these non-essentials.
It was quite
staggering!
The next time I went shopping as I picked something off the
rack I felt something prompt me.
‘Do you really need this? Does your life depend upon it?’
It really humbled me.
So if you need to make a few cut backs take the test. You
need to be the master of your money not the slave.
‘We end up buying things we don’t need with money we don’t
have to impress people who don’t care. The freedom to decide your destiny is
determined by what you owe not what you earn.’
(UCB Word For Today)
on face book page Beauty & Belief
(Photograph not my own found on twitter)
