Money

 Money: a dreaded topic to some, and an exciting topic to others.  A topic that cannot be avoided as it affects every part of our lives. One cannot live without it and it will manage you if you don’t manage it. The best advice I received, when just newly married, is to live today like no one else will, so you can live tomorrow like no one else can. Dave Ramsey would call that rice and beans, beans and rice. Live on less than you make and you will always have enough. 

We have tried hard to live within, and even below, our means all our lives and as we are more successful, it is harder to be as tight. But I guess this also follows that when you leave this life, you can’t take it with you.

It is interesting how that money will truly manage you, if you don’t manage it. I remember a time early in our marriage stressing about where the money was coming from for a bill.  I am not a frivolous person, at all. So believe me when I say we were living on pennies. We had decided to venture into the farming industry with my sister-in-law's father. Let just say that was a short venture that lost us our savings. But I remember that feeling was so desperate and all consuming. It affected my quality of life to the point that we both realized we needed to find something that would support us better. I could live carefully but there is a point that we just didn’t want to live below, I guess that would have still been considered poverty level in those days.

As we have become more prosperous, there is a level of comfort, status quo, or even complacency that is evident now. I can see that I don’t watch every penny or worry if we go over the budget a little, or maybe a lot. Money still affects my every decision. As we are in the middle of a remodel, I have to decide if that aspect of the remodel is worth the cost or upgrade. We still have to stay within a budget and sacrifice one upgrade for another item on the list. 

So money rules… live below your means, whatever they are; especially when first entering the workforce, live today (poor) like no one else will, so you can live tomorrow like no one else can; learn to budget and stick to it; and finally, be generous in your donations.