Too Much Month at the end of the Money....

I watched my dad go from riches to rags literally. I know how it is to have, and how it is to lack. We came from having a wonderful childhood to barely making it through college. My parents ensured that we didn't lack anything during my early childhood going to good schools and all that. My mum's illness was the beginning of my dad's downfall. He came as low as selling his vast land and house, and became an alcoholic. Her death was just the last straw. A man who was once well respected down to being an alcoholic.His downfall got me wondering for so many years how did that happen? And  so I sought to find answers.

This post is a SIMPLE maybe even cliché guide through personal experience on how to manage your resources, (read money).  It's so easy to hit the sky and equally easy to fall.

First Rule: Reality Check. How about starting by knowing your worth! Your salary cant be 20,000 and you live on a 40,000 budget, simply impossible. Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it. Proverbs 21:20. Start by swallowing that hard pill of knowing what you can afford and what is out of your reach. If at the end of the money you are on negative meaning you have debts here and there, do a rain check and be very afraid because that's a sign of living without your means. The bible says that “The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is the slave to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7) Living within your means, means that you are not doing the hand to mouth thing. Save, save, save! Save something for the rainy season! Proverbs 6: 6-8 Go to the ant, O sluggard consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer  and gathers her food in harvest.


 Don't be afraid to say no.  We should learn to be content with what we have. Phil 4:11-12.
¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 

For many years I struggled to fit in and was too afraid to say I don't have and that I am content, I went from party to party to party with full knowledge that my wallet would suffer! I was afraid to say no to that lunch date, to that coffee date and was simply available for every hook up. After I gave my life to Jesus I re-examined my life and knew that I was on the edge of my finances! I started to say no and say I don't have. Most of my friends still get shocked when I say I haven't returned your call/text because I have exhausted my airtime-budget for the month thus have no airtime money, they be like 'honey airtime is only 20bob' famously called bamba20 here in Kenya, yes its that little but its outta my budget its that simple. I choose places I know fit into my budget, I say no when people mention outrageous amounts to be contributed in those many committees. I am not afraid of being branded the cheap skate or getting that look...I live within MY means and no longer try to conform! If you don't like it sorry hit the road.

Tell the difference between what is urgent and what is important.  Walking down the streets especially at night when the hawkers have unleashed the shoes on the streets is a night mare. I get so tempted to try all the pretty shoes and even when I try to walk away the shoes call me by name....you know they even cat-call lol. That's a big down fall for me because when I have money I yield to the 'shoe-voices.' Most of the time they are ridiculously high heels that cant be worn for a mile! But I learnt to have self-control because the word of God says; 'Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control' (Proverbs 25:28)  Everyone has their own addiction. You begin to count down to when you will get your salary to satisfy that addiction. As soon as it hits the account you go for every sale, and every hawker is your friend, you go for terrific Tuesdays and happy hour. Baby girl is crazy about a certain chewing gum called Zing. When I give her her Sunday allowance, she puts aside money for Jesus (offering) and the rest goes to Zing before day ends she has no money to buy anything else and goes back to borrowing from me again so I say no because I am Trying to teach her early to spend wisely.

Have financial goals. Lack of a goal makes people waste money. If you have a goal you work towards that goal. Even for the simple things that you need for example shirts, write down a list of how many you need and begin to check off the list as you buy one by one. Lets just say one day your prayer is answered, amen? and God's grace falls on you and you get a huge amount of money right now, if you don't have a goal you will definitely go on a spending spree, but if you had a preset goal for example buying a house that will be your priority.  (Proverbs 24:27 Prepare your work outside get everything ready for yourself in the field and after that build your house.)


Finally don't be lazy! - You cant be sleeping all day and bumming and hope for manna from heaven. Someone once said that the portion of the sleeper is  the same as that who drinks alcohol. Find a side hustle to boost your main income. It could be selling stuff around or even writing like mine is. Just get busy. Especially the single women don't just sit and pray for a man to come help you balance your books, let him find you financially stable and on your feet with set goals and looking like you are headed somewhere!. (2 Thessalonians 3:10 - For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.)

Some people believe that money is evil, no honey money is not evil. The love of money is evil. (1 Timothy 6: 10). Whoever has the money also matters,if you meet a man with lots of money and minds his family and is generous, society will say oo money is good bla bla bla but wait until money falls into the hands of a womanizer! what he does with the money will get people hating money and say 'see he died because of money'. It is important to note that what you hate cannot come to you. So if you hate money, it will never come to you. If you are in a bad marriage and hate people in successful marriages you will tie yourself down in that marriage, if you are poor and hate/curse rich people, you also bind yourself!.