Money Matters!

I have been thinking a lot lately. About two things. One's no big and deal and the other - I think - is a very big deal.

First of all, I am appalled by Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. However, I am not surprised. Former winners include Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. Seriously? As far as I'm concerned, it's a terrible insult to win such an award since it seems to favor misinformed individuals. And also socialism. That's all I'm saying on the matter.

Secondly and more importantly, why is everyone treating the phrase "Everyone's on a budget now" like that is a bad thing? Budgeting is good. Money management is good. Why does America have to act like this is such a terrible thing that Americans are budgeting and saving and paying down debt?!

My parents put a lot of effort into teaching me about money. We had these cool little banks from Money Matters (Crown Financial Ministries) that were divided into three sections. The first was a church for us to deposit our tithes. The second was a bank for us to deposit our savings. The third was a store for us to deposit our savings. When we got our allowance or babysitting money or birthday money, my parents would show us how to count it, how to figure out 10%, and then would make change for us if necessary so that we could deposit the appropriate amounts. When we were going shopping, our parents would get the money in the "store" section out for us to take with us. Sometimes, we spent it. Sometimes we didn't. When we didn't spend it, we'd get the option when we got home of putting it back into the store or putting some - or all - of it into the bank. It was a lot of fun.

Once we started to get older, mom would take us into the credit union with her so we could deposit money into our accounts. When I turned 16, mom took me to the credit union to help me open a checking account. For the first few months, until I got the hang of it, she would sit down with me once a week to make sure I was balancing correctly and then we'd go over the entire month when my statement came in the mail.

At 18, she made me an authorized user on her credit card. A few months after that, I got my own credit card and started fully taking responsibility for my finances.

Before gas prices skyrocketed to $3 and $4 a gallon, Aharon and I were making pretty good money. We didn't have car payments or car insurance to pay. Just cell phones, gas in our cars, savings, tithes, and spending.

I wouldn't say I had a shopping problem at that point in my life, but I definitely spent more than I needed to. Never too much, though.

And then, I had to buy a car. And with that came a car payment and car insurance. Shortly after that, Aharon had to buy a car, too. So we sat down and did up nice individual budgets. Aharon always stuck with his much better than I did. Mainly, though, because he was 99% cash and I was only about 5% cash. I prefered keeping my cash in the bank and a credit card in my purse. Aharon hated that idea, so he did the opposite.

When we got engaged, Aharon was unemployed. We sat down and worked out a budget that we could get by on with him on unemployment. That budget is the one we use now with just a few modifications. (Our rent is less than we planned; we set up a health savings account and contribute to that weekly) We are also making more money than we planned on. The extra money at the end of the month is certainly a welcome blessing.

Combining two people who were raised very differently in regards to money makes for some interesting opinions. I've definitely enjoyed it.

I guess the point I'm driving at here is that Aharon and I have been incredibally blessed lately. And I think part of that reason is because we're being careful and responsible. We have a budget. We use it.

So why does most of the world see that as unfortunate?