Guessing vs. Knowing
In Proverbs 23 it is written "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations."
We have covered these verses before, mostly in the context of knowing the state of your finances... your holdings. But if the Lord desires for us to know the condition of what we have, it must be also important to know regarding what we spend.
The image above is from the long-time popular game show The Price Is Right. If you know anything about this show, the object is for contestants to guess the prices of merchandise to win cash and prizes.
In that photo the contestant is playing the Range Finder Game, where an item to win is shown and described. The large Range Finder board is then started from the bottom of the scale, inching slowly upward. The audience gets louder as the range moves higher... and finally she will push the bottom stopping the range - guessing it will be covering the actual price of the item to win.
I want to challenge you to a similar "game", though not to guess the price of one item. We have just concluded the month of May. Try and come up with a guess of how much you spent in a particular category, like groceries, dining out or entertainment last month. If specific categories may be too difficult because of multiple categories being at a store, then narrow it down to given stores. Now, check your receipts or credit card statement and see how close you came to your guesses.
This game should be easier than being the contestant on the Price Is Right, because you recently made these purchases, correct? What were your findings? Did the receipts tell a story that more was being spent than your guesses were? Even if your guess was way off the mark, you are still the winner. Why? Because taking this time you now know what you spent.
If you also spend a few minutes looking at some detail at what was bought and how much for certain items, you can then see which purchases pushed you over your "range finder" of where you thought the total would be. Taking some thought, you can identify if some of those items were unnecessary, frivolous or extravagant.
Now you can play part two of this "game". For the upcoming month, set a range finder of where you want the spending of those categories or stores to land within at the end of the month. Here is the secret to winning... monitor where you are at every week in those categories or stores from your receipts or online. What you are now doing is knowing the condition of where you are at, instead of guessing and then being handed the report card at the end of the month with the statement.
As you gain the knowledge of where your spending actually is, identifying areas where you can pull in the reins some to remove the excess, it will feel empowering to know there are things you can do to see a result, and will put you on the path towards spending less than you make.
At the end of each Price Is Right came the Showcase Showdown, where they bid on a huge collection of items, even including cars. Let's try our hand at that type of game. On one side, write down what you make in a month. On the other, first guess what you spend in total in a month. Then write down each known bill of insurance, housing, cars, subscriptions, etc. It also must include what you actually charge on the credit card(s) each month - not the monthly payment required.
How does that sheet look? If it shows spending more than you are making, the areas to target first are the credit cards and subscriptions. Because credit cards contain discretionary, non-essential purchases and there is room to reduce from them every month. Subscriptions should be judged if they are actually providing the value that you are paying... if they are not, they need to be terminated because they are costing you each and every month.
Taking this action follows in the same line of sensibility that Christ spoke of in Luke 14, asking those "which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?"
I encourage you to decide to not spend more than you make. If you feel you have squeezed the excess from your spending and still fall short, then find a way to bring more money in through some part-time work... or in this season, have a garage sale to get rid of things you are not using anyway and make those items pay off what you have. My wife Karen and I took both of those actions to get free of debt, and it was totally worth it.
Be encouraged to follow Wisdom with these words from Proverbs 4:6:
Forsake not Wisdom, and she will keep, defend, and protect you; love her, and she will guard you.
God Bless you and may He show Himself greatly to you,
Paul
