Save Today, Play Tomorrow

An interesting conversation happened this week while on vacation at my 80 year old grand-parent's house. G-ma decided to tell us all about how she bought her first house "when she was poor" by taking a part time job to save for the down payment.

Born in 1928, G-ma is not ignorant to difficult times. Consider the Great Depression of the 1930's, WWII and all the food rations, the Korean War, Vietnam, etc. She was 46 years old when she went back to school to become a beautician (never too old to start again). She finished her career by selling her beauty salon after 13 years of ownership (a late life entreprenuer).

Yes, she had some lesson's for us.

What about our generation? We live in a time when credit companies successfully taught our next generations the power of play today, pay later. Today we are facing one of, what history will call, the worst economic meltdowns in American history. It all revolves around the use and abuse of credit to buy homes, cars, college educations, and all kinds of credit card abuses...

Grandma suggested on several occassions to open a seperate savings account to save money for the different important goals we have. If we want new tires, set aside $5-10, or 20 every time we get a chance. Before we know it, we'll have the money we need for the new tires.

What about a vacation? Will it cost $1200? Find a way to save $100 per month until you have enough for the trip.

The point is simple, savings will never hurt you, but credit has a way of destroying lives. Too many of us believe we can't survive without good credit. I don't believe it. God blesses us from his overflowing abundance. We bless ourselves from a lack of abundance, i.e. use of credit. Our impatience pushes us to use credit to falsely create a world of "blessings" which are not really our own, but are borrowed. The use of credit slowly enslaves us. It is time to set yourself free to live the abundant life God intended for you.

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender." - Pr 22:7

Simply exercise some self control, a little discipline and make a rule to stop the abuse and use of credit for frivolous items. Stop living a life of consumption. It's your choice.