iQuit living from paycheque to paycheque

Christmas is around the corner and it seems the entire nation is preparing for it. Gifts are being bought. Decorations are being hung. Parties are being planned. We are being carried along on the winds of carols and Christmas breeze. This is a season where many of us get so caught up in the celebrations that we overspend and throw our budgets out the window. Then, when January comes around, we are in big trouble! That one month feels as long as a year as we wait for payday.

This situation is often worse in December, but really it is a yearlong plague, where many of us are living with too much month left at the end of our money. This is the vicious cycle that we experience when we live from paycheque to paycheque. And, this is the cycle that we can and will cut off in 2019.

Sometimes freedom from paycheque to paycheque living looks impossible and we think it’s because we live in a country where we get paid too little and everything costs too much. However, this is not only a Jamaican problem, it’s an international challenge.

A survey of the United States reported that 78 per cent of workers live this way. What’s interesting is that 70 per cent of those living paycheque to paycheque are not classified as poor or lower class, but are middle class and above. This proves that our problem is often not that there is need for more money, but better strategy with the money we make.

How many of us have declared that the minute we get that promotion or pay increase/bonus, we will be okay? Yet, when we get that very thing, we purchase a new car, take an impulsive trip or immediately start increasing our grocery bills. We fall into a cycle where more money simply means more debt rather than more efforts to get debt-free.

We can quit living this way, but it is going to require making different decisions and adopting God’s principle towards money. We will need to adopt the principle in Proverbs 9:6 NLT which says: “Leave your foolish ways behind, and begin to live; learn how to be wise.” So, the question we should be asking is:

HOW DO IQUIT LIVING FROM PAYCHEQUE TO PAYCHEQUE?

1. GET THE FACTS

“I just don’t know where it all goes.” Have you ever said that about your money? That’s a warning light that your finances are out of control. Proverbs 27:23 24 (TLB) states: “Riches can disappear fast ... so watch your business interests closely.”

We need to figure out how much we own, how much we owe, how much we make and how much we spend. Tracking how much money is coming in, how much is going out and where exactly that money is going is the only way we’ll really be able to understand our finances.

Some of us have done this step and know we are in trouble. Instead of liberating us, this knowledge fills us with anxiety, and so, we just ignore the problem. This only makes matters worse. We need to face it constructively and ...

2. GET A SPENDING PLAN

In other words, we tell our money where it’s going instead of wondering where it went. To do this,we have to outline some financial goals:

a. Spending goals

b. Saving goals

c. Giving goals

Proverbs 21:5 (GNT) says, “Plan carefully and you will have plenty; if you act too quickly, you will never have enough.”

With these goals, we prevent impulse buying. We can still buy the nice things that God wants us to enjoy, but now we will do it based on a budget and not unthinkingly.

Remember this: Our financial freedom is not based on how much we earn, but how much we spend. With that knowledge, we will tackle three more steps next week.