The Discipline Series: Life Without Discipline - #4 We Make Financial Mistakes

I grew up in a home where one of my parents was a money manager and the other was not. One parent saved money and operated (as much as possible) on a budget to make the most of what came into our home. The other parent was a free spending, impulse buyer who was concerned only with paying bills. After the bills were paid, the leftover money was for the spending. I saw the struggle that that caused. I heard the arguments. I witnessed the strain. The parent who was disciplined with money taught me the value of money and how to make the most of what I earned. And guess what? We never had one formal lesson; I learned it merely from watching. The other parent who wasn't disciplined with money taught me what NOT to do. Again, there was never a lesson or a talking to or any warning about how I would end up broke, but I knew from what I saw that that way wasn't THE way.

When I observed my disciplined parent, I saw thoughtfulness and careful planning in paying bills and in providing me with the things I needed for school and cheerleading and the millions of other things I had going on. Nothing was handed to me without that parent consulting the overall financial "plan" that was made for the money in our home. I remember, quite vividly, having to wait at least a day for just about everything I asked for if it meant there was gonna be some dipping into the family's money.

I took the lessons I learned from both parents into my own life and became a money manager very early in life. When I started making my own money as a junior in high school, I planned out what I would do with it. I didn't just spend it because I had it. I got paid every week, so each week I would make inventory of my needs and plan my money accordingly. If I had school activities or junior or senior class fees (I paid all of my senior year fees on my own), I would factor that in for the week as priority. If anything was left, I saved some of it and used the rest as spending money. I learned this from watching my disciplined parent. I didn't want to be frustrated with needing or wanting something and having no money to get it. I saw how miserable that was from watching the other parent. I refused to needlessly and carelessly squander away my "livelihood". (Like I was making real money! Them lil' $100 checks! Ha!)

That practice paid off. Later, in college, when I got an on-campus job to have extra money (school was completely paid for with grants and scholarships), my parents passed my car insurance and cell phone bills on to me. Those became my responsibility as soon as I started making my own money. Around that same time, I got wise counsel from another family member to get a small department store card to help build my credit. I was advised to shop there once a month and to pay off my balance within two months, if not the very next month. This would show creditors that I was responsible and set me up for the "big stuff" I'd be purchasing once I was on my own after graduation. So I had 3 bills, and I learned to budget with those 3 bills. I got paid once a month with that on-campus job, and I knew all I had to do in the month. I knew what needed to be paid, so I didn't spend wildly or make unnecessary purchases. And after my 3 little bills were paid, I was careful about what I purchased even then.

When I gave my life to the Lord my freshman year in college and began to study God's word, I learned that I was to be a good steward (manager) of EVERYTHING the Lord blessed me with because everything in my hands was to be used, in some way, either directly or indirectly, for kingdom purposes. My life was no longer my own. I was to be an example for Jesus Christ in EVERYTHING I did and my resources were placed in my hands to help me do that. If I was wasteful or careless with anything--my apartment, my car, my money--I would pretty much be wasting what God blessed me with, and I DEFINITELY didn't want to do that, so I stayed the course. I honestly didn't know any other way to be.

Then I got my first post-grad job and moved into an apartment with new bills, and it took me a few months to get on track. But when I did, naturally, I was on a roll because I was already disciplined in budgeting and planning. After a few months of being on a roll, though, I got comfortable. The money I had left to play with, I just started spending and spending. I was just buying stuff and eating out on a regular, and I wasn't saving a dime! I was gladly living from check to check, spending every penny from one check until I got the next. NO DISCIPLINE! But that was about to change REAL QUICK!  My car, the car I'd had since high school graduation was paid for. One Saturday, out of nowhere, a teenage driver came across a 4-lane highway and slammed into  the driver side of my car. It was totaled. I had to get a new car and that meant a new car note. I'd NEVER had a car note before because my parents had taken care of it since that car was my graduation/college gift. But now, on top of the bills I had, I was adding a car note, and when I tell you I ain't had NO MONEY after I paid bills...I ain't had NONE!

I remember being in quiet time with the Lord one day not long after I got the new car. He told me that that car note was my wake up call. He told me that I was being wasteful. I wasn't planning and budgeting like I had before and that I needed to learn to manage again, especially since there was so much that He'd placed me in my city to do. (I'd just moved to Augusta, GA. Had only been in the city about a year when the accident happened.) I was gonna have to be disciplined in my spending and in managing the affairs of my home because it was a direct mirror of the managing I would have to do with the ministry He was about to place in my hands, Praise Movement School of Dance. My money was so tight with that car note that it whipped me into shape quite nicely. LOL! That was a HAAARD season! I became VERY disciplined in my planning and in my spending. That spiritual whoopin' from the Lord DID NOT feel good!

I shared all of that to say this...
When we are not disciplined in our finances, it will show. We WILL make financial mistakes. We WILL make unnecessary purchases. We WILL buy things we don't need.

Do yourself a favor and begin operating from a monthly budget, if you don't already. Like, how can you NOT? How can you NOT track what's coming in and going out each month? I can't imagine it any other way. It's NECESSARY. Plan wisely. Consult your budget for things outside of your regular bills. If the budget says "NO", don't buy it. I live by the motto (because I learned the hard way): Tell yourself "no" today so you can say "yes" tomorrow. There is so much excitement and pleasurable accomplishment in delayed gratification. You don't HAVE TO have it (whatever
"it" is) RIGHT NOW. If you didn't plan WITHIN YOUR BUDGET to have it, you don't need it. Financial mistakes can HURT, and they can be lasting and follow you for years. Invest in your financial stability by applying a little bit of discipline.

Tomorrow
Poor Performance