Financial wisdom buys you freedom to give

By Melissa Dearing
St. John’s parishioner

Last year, a woman approached me in the grocery store and asked if I would buy her some chicken so that she could cook a meal for her family. I paused nervously, and then forced myself to make what I knew to the correct Christian decision, and so said “OK.” (I mean, what’s a chicken, anyway?)

Together we walked to the meat section and we found buy-one-get-one-free chicken. She selected the biggest two packages she could find. She then wished out loud that it would sure be nice to have some potatoes to go with the chicken. So we crossed back to the produce section and go figure – they, too were buy-one-get-one-free! Two 5-lb bags of spuds followed the chicken into my cart. But then before I knew it, and prompted by a few more spoken wishes by the woman, we soon had gravy, vegetables, fruit juice, and even seasoning, in my – I mean our – cart.

When all was said and done, I had spent four times the amount I originally committed to, and I wasn’t quite sure that I hadn’t just been bamboozled. I struggled with this experience for many months afterward, as a part of me felt that I had allowed the woman to take advantage of me, despite the appearance of a legitimate need.

But of what, exactly, was she taking advantage? My gullibility? My pride? My money? It’s not like I didn’t have the money to spend. (I mean, what’s a chicken with potatoes/gravy/vegetables/seasoning, anyway?)

Ultimately, I made peace with the experience by concluding that:

A) It is my family that is fortunate to have extra resources,

B) The decision to give had been the right action for me, and

C) It was God’s job to understand the woman’s intentions.

Our financial house was in better order than this woman’s. I don’t point this out in order to boast of great wealth. In fact, prior to the shopping incident, my husband Jason and I were in need of a financial overhaul. After some research, we chose to begin incorporating Dave Ramsey’s principles of personal financial management (www.daveramsey.com) into our lives. He’s the guy with the radio show who tells everyone who will listen to get out of and stay out of debt, pay cash for everything, live below your means, and save save save. The goal of all of this is to build long-term wealth and peace for your family – and to do it God’s way. His principles are working very well for us, and we are making great headway towards our financial goals. Mostly, we have much more PEACE in the way we administer our household and about our ability to give.

I strongly urge you to assess the status of your financial health, and how this affects your ability to support your family and your community. If you are like most folks, and aren’t feeling as secure as you would like, there are things that you can start doing right away to improve your situation.

A couple examples and recommendations:

Work from a budget.
Don’t make this a complicated process. A quick inventory of your bills versus your paychecks and some simple math should give you an idea of where you stand. As you get more confident and experience the benefits of this one simple control, you can start building out your budget to plan for future events and expenses – and dare I say it – for unexpected events!

Start living below your means.
In the immediate short-term, there are many areas of your budget that you can tackle, in order to free-up cash. For example, in my family, the difference between dining out every evening (yes, we’ve done it!) and cooking at home is easily $150 – $200 PER WEEK. Add it up.

More radical tactics – but which are more effective in the long term and which help us develop better underlying habits – simply include making due with less. We quickly realized that my very inexpensive used car (paid for up front with cash) was WAY less stressful to own than one that obligates us to (makes us a slave to) car payments.

I promise that once you start cutting back, and as the stress of ownership excess falls away, this process begins to feel great – and it absolutely snowballs!

Redirect your new excess.
What to do now with the extra money? Let the snowball gather momentum.

Put a portion of it towards eliminating any debt you have. Once a new debt is paid off, whatever minimum payment was required for it now becomes part of the snowball that will tackle the next debt!

SAVE. I repeat, SAVE. I repeat, SAVE. Being prepared for unexpected events is key at the beginning of a personal financial overhaul. So is saving for your future (think 401K and college tuition). The sooner you start, the more you will have. Don’t allow yourself to underestimate this statement.

And finally, don’t forget that personal financial responsibility gives us the freedom to be generous to our church and community. Figure out what “slice of the apple” you’ve been given, and GIVE IT BACK.

So the difference between me and the woman in the grocery store was that I had the resources to support ‘my community’ at a time when she did not. Had it been two years earlier, I don’t think I would so easily have been afforded the luxury of providing her family with a meal. In retrospect, having gotten our financial house in order – and realizing what I was able to do for that woman because of it – was the true lesson of the experience.

(Think about it: What’s an apple, anyway?)

Melissa Dearing is teaching Dave’s Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” at St. John’s Cathedral this fall.