Spending money, spending time

When I pay $2.50 for my favorite Dunkin Donuts treat, what does it cost?

Simply $2.50? No.

My husband works for an hourly wage. Let's pretend (for the sake of easy math) that he makes $10.00/hour. He works hard to earn for his family, and when I spend $2.50 for a coffee I must remember this:

he had to work 15 minutes to make enough to pay for that coffee.

And that's before taxes, tithe, etc.

So realistically, it's probably more like 25 minutes.

Image: ksoo.com

....is my coffee worth it, when I think about it that way? Or is my husband's time worth more to me than that?

God has been pressing this into my heart every time I think "Hey, I could use a ______ [coffee, meal out, other frivolous things]!" {Which happens a lot.}We are not in a season where money is abundant. It's super tight, each month. So I am not really at liberty to be essentially wasting my husband's time by spending his hard-earned money on things we don't need.

Does that mean we shouldn't try to budget for a 'date night', or fun family activities, or fun treats once in a while? ...well, no. But it does mean that I can strive as the manager of this home and as the overseer of the household budget to honor my husband by being prudent & creative with how we choose to spend the money he works hard to bring home.

I think know that my spending habits early on in our marriage would have been dramatically different if I'd thought of purchases in terms of how long Will had to work in order for me to be able to buy them. A $5.00 candle seems inexpensive until I realize that it means Will had to spend half an hour working to earn it. For $40 in clothing, or decorations, or fun fabrics - that's half a day's work for Will {assuming the $10/hr model}! I need to make sure those are real needs (and make sure Will & I agree) before spending that money.

I do contribute to the household budget in various ways - tutoring, child care, sewing projects for others, etc - and I realize that thinking of it in terms of "Will's money" or "my money" is not entirely accurate. Ultimately, our income totally belongs to the Lord (every penny!), and because we're married that means our finances are a team effort. But in our situation, my husband is the one earning most of the income, and one way I can show him respect is by doing my best to manage the income well. It communicates to him that not only am I thankful for the money coming in, but I respect the time he puts in each week that makes that income possible.

I share this because it's been so much on the forefront of my thoughts over the past few weeks! There is obviously so much more to budgeting and money matters that I don't touch on here, but I hope this will be helpful. Truly the heart of this matter is 'Am I content?' ...for me, it's too often 'no'. Wasting my time thinking about '...but that would be so nice to have!' means I'm not truly content in the Lord Jesus and where He's got me right now. It has become an exercise in choosing gratefulness & contentment.

Spending our resources,
for His glory!
~Lisha

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