Friday, January 28, 2011

Money... Money... Money...

The root of all evil right?

Tax time is upon us. Some have already filed and are waiting with, let's be honest... with anxious hands, for their check to come or be deposited.

Are you one of those?

I have to be honest. I'm not. This year I don't even care. My husband on the other hand has seemed to be chomping at the bit for his W2's to come. We already know we are getting money back. We do every year. Yes yes we know that isn't the idea but we like the big check at the end of the year... beginning of the new year... however you'd like to call it. This year... as most every year... we already know what the money is going for.

Tags for the car. 

The birthday that is fast approaching. 

Savings. 

School books for next year. 

Doctor co-pays to cover our deductible for the year. 

And so forth... 

Paying things off is one of those items as well. It's not a big amount, but by paying it all off  we will be nicely ahead for saving in this new year. We are looking forward to that.

However, my husband's chomping at the bit that has taken place this week {that wasn't so much the greed aspect as it was "I just want to get it done."} has hit me how so many people look at this time of year with green eyes. What am I going to buy? What can I get now? Where do you want to go? Big ticket item finally or save?

Some have great intentions while others just look to blow it.

For example my husband and I were talking last night about a co-worker who was complaining about bus fare costs to and from work and how he had originally said he was going to buy a moped with his return. Then yesterday he was said "nah... I'm going to buy a 2nd 360 and Kinect instead."

WHAT!?

Why!?

You already have 1! Why on earth do you need 2!? On top of that he is paying for the membership to connect online through it. His reason????  So if his girlfriend wants to watch Netflix in one room and he would rather play games he can in another room.

I really don't understand.

I really don't.

My husband did say that hearing you have to pay to connect online {"cool" features or not} really just deterred him from ever wanting one. We don't have to pay to connect online with our Wii {ha we hardly ever connect online through it unless it's Netflix}. So I think we are good in that department thank you.

You are probably wondering though what is my whole point with all of this. My point is I was really hit with a verse I read out of Proverbs this month.

"Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." Proverbs 13:11 {NIV}

When we read this verse earlier this month my husband and I both stopped and looked at each other. We were thinking the same thing!! Tax time is not a time for us to go out and spend, spend, spend! We are paying things off and that will give us the ability to do exactly what that verse instructs us to do... gather money little by little and it will grow.

Save... The name of the game.

Not spend.

We are following God's will and it feels great!

Do we have humanly earthly desires to spend, and get all the things that we have really wanted over the last year and couldn't afford? You bet! But if I can be honest with you I am not really longing for those things I thought I just had to have a couple months ago. Honestly knowing that over the course of this year and years to come that we are going to be able to save a lot of money each month is bringing great comfort.

We have never had the opportunity to do that.

We are really excited about this! Sure we will still have our credit cards... with zero balances... but they will be there should we face an emergency and that's it. They are literally being locked away for that rainy day should it ever grace us with its presence {praying it doesn't but still}. We aren't bad with them we just have a weakness of going out to run errands late in the day... and then we're hungry... and yea well you know what I'm going. We aren't wanting to do that anymore. We bought each child a lunch box and will be packing a lunch for them each time we are ready to head out for errands. We are keeping each other accountable, but what is the most important part of all of this????

We are giving God all of our money.

It's his to do whatever he wants us to do. We are not wanting to spend one penny towards something he doesn't want us to. Not just the tax return but each paycheck as well. We know this is what he wants. He doesn't want us gloating our check. He doesn't want us to be dishonest to him about our intentions with it either.

There is a new additional approach to our finances this year and we are really feeling light and joyful about it!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Terrific post. We too always look forward to tax refund time. We always use our money to pay towards our bills. This year, my husband and told our daughter that if we possibly could, we would buy her a bookcase for her bedroom. She has her beloved books stacked high in her closet and would like to have them out for easier access. I'm ok with spending $150 on that bookcase (if we get enough back to afford it) I think this is the only time I can remember that we are planning on using some of that return to just buy something that we could actually live without, even if it is unhandy to dig through a closet for books. LOL

I couldn't agree with you more on this post. Times are really hard these days. I say, save all you can to get out of debt and make your life more enjoyable.