This year will be different
- Details
- Created: Friday, 05 January 2007 17:54
- Written by Tom Lipp
After all... it's lucky seven.
Let the weight wait. This year the focus is finances. My New Years’ resolution will be to get my money under control. How do I start?
Start with your spending. When my parents immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe in 1958 there was no government health care and no Canada Pension. I remember those first years how my mom worked in the Sears steno pool during the day and my dad laboured at night by the ovens of Hunts bakery. They arrived with very few assets and an immediate debt load resulting from the voyage across the Atlantic.
In those days there were no ESL (English as a Second Language) courses for immigrants. Money was tight. I remember seeing dad at home carefully record all income and outflow down to the penny.My dad had been a financial executive in the coal industry but now was sweating through night shift as an oven man because it paid better than most hard labour jobs and it allowed him to buy baked goods at a discount.
I remember seeing dad at home carefully record all income and outflow down to the penny. My mom would reuse household items long before recycling became popular. To the amazement of our relatives, within three years we moved from downtown Toronto to a developing area called Don Mills. Mom and I discussed this last month when I visited her in Toronto. It was an example of God’s blessing and direction on our family.
My parents kept tight control of our spending. Unfortunately this was to become an exception rather than the norm for Canadians. During the past forty years it has become easier and easier to spend money. Just swipe a card, wave a key tag, click a mouse or quote numbers over the phone and the purchase is made. Faster and further than ever. Consumerism reigns. The consumer is king. Really? Most consumers feel more like slaves. How do we start feeling like kings again? Getting spending under control is more important than ever simply because there are so many ways to buy in a cashless society. So how do we do it? Brace yourself. The key to controlling our spending is writing it down. It’s simple but not easy.
Never forgetting my father’s example, I’ve always been on the lookout for an easier way to track expenditures. Finally I think I’ve found it. We call it Financial Footprints. The technique uses ideas from an investment company in Toronto, a Christian mission in Calgary, and a consulting firm in the USA. It starts with keeping a skinny pen and a small pre-printed weekly spending card in your purse or wallet. Whenever we buy something we take an extra 14 seconds to record it on the card. Then every week purchases recorded on the card is transcribed onto a spreadsheet which shows daily spending, month at a glance. It takes about 6 weeks to develop this habit. By first recording and then transcribing expenditures we become more aware of where our money is going.Getting spending under control is more important than ever simply because there are so many ways to buy in a cashless society.
Don’t even think about a budget; just identify your spending in all its forms. After watching our spending patterns for a few months, many things come to light. We ask ourselves, do we really need some of these items? Is there a cheaper way to get to the same end?
In early December the Canadian Press reported that Canadians are among the richest two percent of the global population who control more than half of the world’s wealth. The United Nations report went on to say that half of the planet’s population shares just one percent of the global wealth. Despite being rich we are still overspending! Personal savings rates in North America have not been positive since 2005.
Here in Alberta we have the best of the best. We absolutely must get spending under control because the Lord Jesus Christ did not say to whom much is given; by him much can be wasted. No, He said, “to whom much is given from him much will be required” (Luke 12:48).
