Fighting To Stay On Course

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. – Proverbs 10:4
Along with most of the country, my husband and I recently renewed our commitment to battle debt. We seem to have a bad habit of working hard to follow a budget and save money for a few months, then we get lazy and succumb to credit card convenience. Eventually something catches our attention enough to get us back on track, at least for a while.

This financial teeter totter is exhausting, primarily because the hardest part of sticking to a budget is the first few months when you have to work out the kinks and figure out how to handle unexpected expenses. By repeatedly giving up and starting over, we redo the hard part over and over again. Our laziness and the ease with which we fall back into familiar patterns not only keep us from making any real headway, but in the long run they add stress and hardship to the process.

I find this happens in other areas of life as well. I develop a good habit of going to the gym on a regular basis, but as soon as I catch a cold and skip a few days, I return to my old ways and fill that time with something easier. I figure out a system for keeping my house clean, but as soon as a writing deadline or school field trip breaks my pattern, the dust starts collecting.

Thankfully, the Bible gives us instructions for battling this problem. 1 Timothy 6:11 tells us to “flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” In other words, when we find ourselves wondering off track, we are to purposefully strive for living in ways that please God. The term “endurance” used in this passage means that we regroup, we shake off “the lazies” and get back to doing what we know is right. Of course, this has to be done with plenty of prayer. I have never been successful at overcoming a struggle without God’s help.

This is a great thing to talk about with our kids. Let them know when you set a new budget so they understand why you are going home for lunch instead of stopping at McDonald’s. You may even find your kids helping you stay on track. You can also help them set a budget for their allowance money. My kids divide their earnings into separate piggy banks for saving, spending and offering. When we started this system, I suggested a formula for spreading the money between the three banks, but they decide for themselves how to actually divide the money. They get 10 quarters every week, so I recommended putting one in offering (ten percent), four in savings (forty percent) and five in spending (fifty percent). I am amazed every week when they put the bulk of their money in offering, the next biggest chunk in savings, and only a quarter or two in spending. Sometimes kids can really teach us a thing or two about Godly living (or maybe I have been too quick to buy things for them so they assume they don’t need spending money!). Encourage your kids to help the whole family stay on a budget.

Do you have any suggestions for staying the course when things get tough? Share your ideas!

Book Fair Economics

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? - Luke 16:11

Are you glad the election is over? I sure am. I am thrilled to answer the phone and have a friend at the end of the line, rather than an automated drone telling me how to vote. Who ever thought toilet paper commercials would be a refreshing break from all of the political ads?

Interestingly, election season intersected with the annual book fair at my kids’ school. I think the constant chatter about the economy had me at a heightened state of alert when my kids asked for book fair money. Talk of recessions and bankruptcy rates had me looking for opportunities to teach my little spenders about money management. I told them I would supply five dollars for each of them, and if they wanted more, it would need to come from their own piggy banks.

Since they are kids, they immediately opened their banks, then began digging around for any spare change they could find. The first day of the fair, my oldest daughter came home reporting that she borrowed three dollars from a friend, therefore she had to do a little more searching in order to scrounge up the needed cash for a timely repayment.

I always enjoy the book fair because it offers such a great opportunity for kids to figure out the details of purchasing all on their own. The people working the fair are moms from the school, and they wait patiently while kids count out 100 pennies, or ask for the fifteenth time how much money to set aside for sales tax. I send my kids in with money, but don’t go with them to make their purchases. I figure these opportunities to explore their financial independence are few and far between for five and seven year olds, so I’d better make the most of them.

I also enjoy watching my kids contemplate over their decisions, wondering if they should have purchased something else instead, then reveling in enjoyment and pride over their choices. This year, five-year-old Alyssa painstakingly debated between a book called Pinkalicious and a stuffed lion. Limey the limeade-loving lion won out. Seven-year-old Lauren put a puppy-shaped pencil sharpener on hold, but forgot to ask when she needed to be back with the money. By the time she remembered to bring in the cash, the holding period had ended and the puppy had gone to another buyer. She bought two animal-shaped erasers instead.

Watching my kids learn lessons about borrowing, lay-away and making good choices is a delightful process.

My hope is that these early experiences with money management will lay a foundational understanding of how to be responsible consumers. Then, prayerfully, they may successfully weather life’s financial storms in a way that keeps them strong in times such as these.

What experiences have you found to help teach kids about money management?