Published: Sunday, January 3, 2010
21-day challenge: Buy only what is necessary
I'm inviting you to take a 21-day financial fast in which you will buy only necessities.
The fast is really about curbing the need to consume. It doesn't matter if you're a good steward or a spendthrift; we all consume more than we need. This fast is for you if you're at your financial wit's end. This fast is for you if the stress of money is causing pain in relationships with your spouse, friends or family. It's for you if you're worried about retirement or saving enough to send your children to college.
It's for you if you're not sure whether you'll have enough money to carry you through a long, prosperous retirement. If you have more month than money, this fast is designed just for you.
Whatever your financial situation, I challenge you to spend the next 21 days fasting. The path to prosperity begins by breaking the yoke to buy and buy, and then buy some more.
This isn't some gimmick. The 21-day financial fast has been field-tested for several years in my place of worship, the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Prince George's County, Md.
I introduced the fast several years ago as part of a volunteer program called Prosperity Partners Ministry. In this ministry, men and women who are good stewards over their personal finances become accountability partners for members who are struggling.
During this fast you will not shop or use your credit cards. For three weeks you must refrain from buying anything that is not absolutely necessary. I mean the bare essentials such as food and medicine.
You will refrain from going to the mall or retail stores. Even window-shopping is off-limits.
No restaurant meals — fast food or otherwise. This includes buying breakfast or lunch at work. You can't stop for coffee. Make it at home instead.
You are not permitted to buy gifts or gift cards. I often get a lot of objections on this last rule. People are hesitant to show up empty-handed at a birthday party or wedding. So they ask if they can tell the birthday person or bride and groom that they'll get a gift for them later. No.
Instead, use this opportunity to share with the honored person why you are fasting. Then find a way to bless them without purchasing something.
(Offer your personal services. You could cook a meal, do chores or baby-sit.)
I want you to internalize that you can celebrate life's greatest occasions without having to bring or receive a gift. I know this will be tough, but what in the world do most of us need anyway?
Curtailing your consumption is just one part of the fast. The second part is eliminating the use of plastic, both credit and debit. There's a real danger in relying on credit even if you pay off your credit card bill every month. Paying with plastic just makes buying too easy. Swipe, and within seconds you can be mired in debt.
Let's consider the example of purchasing a flat-panel television. If you had to stand at a cash register and count out bill after bill after bill after bill to pay the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for a television, you certainly would contemplate whether the purchase made financial sense. You might even do some mental accounting to calculate what debts you could pay down or pay off instead. Plastic doesn't allow for that deliberation.
I've found that even debit card users, especially those without credit card debt — still whip out the plastic far too easily and spend more than they would if they were limited to using only cash.
A debit card is a cousin to the credit card, and it poses a similar problem -- it allows people to buy stuff with cash they really don't have.
People are quick to swipe their debit card, only to learn later after getting an overdraft notice that they didn't have the cash in their bank account to back up the purchase in the first place.
This fast was designed in part to help those who have mismanaged their money to become good stewards, and to strengthen the financial skills of those who are managing well what they have. If you're already a good steward, think of the fast as a checkup, much like when you get the required maintenance on your car.
There is one thing I can say for sure about the many people who complete this fast. Those who stick with it become better stewards over their money.
Taken from “The Power to Prosper” by Michelle Singletary.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Michelle Singletary. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com.
Washington Post Writers Group
The fast is really about curbing the need to consume. It doesn't matter if you're a good steward or a spendthrift; we all consume more than we need. This fast is for you if you're at your financial wit's end. This fast is for you if the stress of money is causing pain in relationships with your spouse, friends or family. It's for you if you're worried about retirement or saving enough to send your children to college.
It's for you if you're not sure whether you'll have enough money to carry you through a long, prosperous retirement. If you have more month than money, this fast is designed just for you.
Whatever your financial situation, I challenge you to spend the next 21 days fasting. The path to prosperity begins by breaking the yoke to buy and buy, and then buy some more.
This isn't some gimmick. The 21-day financial fast has been field-tested for several years in my place of worship, the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Prince George's County, Md.
I introduced the fast several years ago as part of a volunteer program called Prosperity Partners Ministry. In this ministry, men and women who are good stewards over their personal finances become accountability partners for members who are struggling.
During this fast you will not shop or use your credit cards. For three weeks you must refrain from buying anything that is not absolutely necessary. I mean the bare essentials such as food and medicine.
You will refrain from going to the mall or retail stores. Even window-shopping is off-limits.
No restaurant meals — fast food or otherwise. This includes buying breakfast or lunch at work. You can't stop for coffee. Make it at home instead.
You are not permitted to buy gifts or gift cards. I often get a lot of objections on this last rule. People are hesitant to show up empty-handed at a birthday party or wedding. So they ask if they can tell the birthday person or bride and groom that they'll get a gift for them later. No.
Instead, use this opportunity to share with the honored person why you are fasting. Then find a way to bless them without purchasing something.
(Offer your personal services. You could cook a meal, do chores or baby-sit.)
I want you to internalize that you can celebrate life's greatest occasions without having to bring or receive a gift. I know this will be tough, but what in the world do most of us need anyway?
Curtailing your consumption is just one part of the fast. The second part is eliminating the use of plastic, both credit and debit. There's a real danger in relying on credit even if you pay off your credit card bill every month. Paying with plastic just makes buying too easy. Swipe, and within seconds you can be mired in debt.
Let's consider the example of purchasing a flat-panel television. If you had to stand at a cash register and count out bill after bill after bill after bill to pay the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for a television, you certainly would contemplate whether the purchase made financial sense. You might even do some mental accounting to calculate what debts you could pay down or pay off instead. Plastic doesn't allow for that deliberation.
I've found that even debit card users, especially those without credit card debt — still whip out the plastic far too easily and spend more than they would if they were limited to using only cash.
A debit card is a cousin to the credit card, and it poses a similar problem -- it allows people to buy stuff with cash they really don't have.
People are quick to swipe their debit card, only to learn later after getting an overdraft notice that they didn't have the cash in their bank account to back up the purchase in the first place.
This fast was designed in part to help those who have mismanaged their money to become good stewards, and to strengthen the financial skills of those who are managing well what they have. If you're already a good steward, think of the fast as a checkup, much like when you get the required maintenance on your car.
There is one thing I can say for sure about the many people who complete this fast. Those who stick with it become better stewards over their money.
Taken from “The Power to Prosper” by Michelle Singletary.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Michelle Singletary. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com.
Washington Post Writers Group
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