What Do You Treasure?
“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” – Matthew 6:21
This bible verse has come to mind as I have been going through my budget these past few days. I’ve been trying to understand why I am in my current situation and why I even have debt in the first place. Building and reviewing my budget has opened my eyes to who I’ve been and what I have treasured. There are things about myself I’ve had to face and admit.
Some are very simple and obvious, while others are deep and almost hidden like:
- I really like spending money without any accountability.
- Between late 2011 and early 2012, the wife and I had managed to save nearly, 10,000 dollars. It’s almost all, but gone today.
- My wife and I used to be against having credit cards and at one point had only 1 and for emergency purposes. Today, between the two of us we have 10 and only 3 have a zero balance.
- I said I wouldn’t move into a place that cost 15% more than what I make a month. Now, our apt is 23% of what I make.
- In about the 3rd quarter 2011 I said I was tired of buying things I didn’t truly need and wanted to save more of that money. Today I own an iPod, iPhone, 4 Gaming systems, a laptop, and on and on.
I’m not listing these things to say it’s bad to spend X on anything or to live somewhere that is more than X percent of your take home monthly pay. I am saying as for me and my house it wasn’t the right things to do or have. This is my personal opinion and should be judged as such. We can all go through life wanting to be something, but no one gets what they want on wants alone. You have to do something. For me that’s not just wanting to be different, that’s being different.
Having electronics, purses, toys, and other things isn’t bad intrinsically. It’s only bad when you spend money on “fun” stuff, but have no idea how much you owe every month in responsibilities (i.e. bills, car note, groceries) and etc. There is a verse that I am reminded of “for which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? – Luke 14:28
The question then becomes what are you trying to build? And have you really counted the cost?
I believe a budget is just the beginning to counting the cost. Only then can you be sure of what you are trying to build. Whether that is an Internet business, retirement plan or a savings account.
Do yourself a favor and create a budget and stay BudgetStrong.
www.Budgetstrong.com
