So. This happened.
(Sweet neighbor girl came by with boxes in her hands)
SNG: We’re selling candy to go on a trip with our church.
Me: Oh no! We’re doing a spending fast.
God: Ummm….Jamie? Kinda missing the point.
Yes. I realized my blunder and just donated to the trip without getting candy.
But seriously. What is the point of saving money or creating new spending habits? Just to stash it away? Give it away? Invest it?
I am not a banker, investor, or math guru. People way smarter than I’ll ever be have the skinny on all that. But I’ll share some things He’s taught me and some stuff from 7.
Okay, first, what Jen did for 7 was total up how many different vendors at which they spent money during the previous year. Then she averaged how many vendors they shopped at per month.
It was 66.
She goes, “[In our early years of marriage] I remember Brandon handing me a 20-dollar bill to feed us for a week. The refrigerator and pantry were empty; I had a preschooler at the table, a toddler on my leg, and a baby on my hip. I sat in the middle of our kitchen and bawled my eyes out…
A few years go by – yada yada yada – and I’m spending in 66 places a month.
Heaven help.”
For 7 she chose 7 vendors at which to shop for a whole month.
Only 7.
Whoa baby.
She chose:
Farmer’s Market HEB gas station (flex fuel)
Online bill pay Kids’ school Limited travel fund
Emergency Medical Target
She says, “Target was the all-purpose back on my roster, because it was August and there was a (slight) chance the weather would turn, and my kids’ jeans neither buttoned nor covered their shins. And for other glitches (like toilet paper and detergent). However, we attempted to meet our needs any other way before traipsing off to Target (as I could sustain our entire life there without missing a step). I’m happy to tell you I only went once and spent less than $50, which is the single time in history that has ever happened.”
They also continued to give to their church, usual ministries and any service projects that came up, as that had to do with meeting needs versus just their family’s wants.
I’m a good Midwesterner raised by a banker father and conservative-spending mother. They taught my sister and me so many wonderful financial habits. Dan and I have worked hard at our own family’s budget – due to limited income at different times, moves, and paying off school debt.
All that to say: we’ve been working at this thing for a while. I mostly want to chill on some of the little extras that we’ve been splurging on. So here are the parameters I’ve chosen.
No Money Spent On:
Eating out Extra treats at any store Home Accessories Beauty products
Hot School lunches (we WILL pack lunch daily!) Clothing
I would like to say for the official record that this includes no Garage Sales.
Jesus give me strength.
And I’m going to do this until school is out (I started this week, making it about a 3 week venture). And remember, I have no interest in being my man’s boss. So if he wants us to rent a movie, buy clothes, eat out…awww yeah. I mean, that is his prerogative.
On with Jen:
“Spending is the precursor to possessions, and Jesus said possessions will steer our hearts, so let’s lay the ax at the root of the tree.”
Have you ever totaled your bank statements? Or done one of those financial software things that produce a report with a pie chart showing you to which categories your money is going?
{sorry to be so random, but I cannot talk about a pie chart without including this little visual:}
Anyway…
On with it. And you may have seen stats like these before, but please don’t blow them off.
“Let’s consider some of our spending tendencies:
Annual US spending on cosmetics: $8 billion
Annual US and European spending on pet food: $17 billion
Annual US and European spending on perfume: $12 billion
Now let’s look at some other global totals:
Clean water for all global citizens: $9 billion
Basic Education for all global children: $6 billion
Basic health and nutrition for all: $13 billion
‘The real…issue is not consumption itself but its patterns and effects. Inequalities in consumption are stark. Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures – the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%’ (report from United Nations)
That’s us: That 20 percent at the top buying 86 percent of the stuff.
So, no, maybe one person pulling out wouldn’t matter. But if hundreds and thousands then millions of us challenged the paradigm, saying no for every two times we say yes, acknowledging the power of our consumer dollar – to either battle inequality or reinforce it – then our generation could turn the ship around.”
(The 7 Experiment, pgs 129, 131, 132, 133)
What are you thinking?
Is there fear or guilt? Are you in some sort of stage of life where all this just overwhelms you?
We’ve been there at different points…just trying to put everything extra to debt; saving every bit we can for a house down payment; working hard to get a little emergency savings cushion.
We understand. I know people in all sorts of different stressful financial situations. If that’s you, you probably already know what you need to do. My only encouragement would be to not rob God of the minimum tithe. If you are faithful to Him I promise based on the authority of His Word and His beautiful character that He will be faithful to you.
Even if that faithfulness doesn’t look they way you thought it would.
We can continue to chat about saving, spending, giving.
But this is enough for today, yes?
Rest in Him, friends. He loves us so much.