Keeping up with the Jones'

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Money Saving #5:
Don't try to keep up with the Jones' and lower your standard of living (if necessary). Biggest way to get and stay out of money problems and debt is to live within your means. In many cases this means lowering your standard of living. Why should you have the best of the best like Mr. Jones down the street? Especially if you can't afford it. Reality is, Mr. Jones likely went into debt to get that "thing" anyways. And if he didn't, good for him and you need to get over it.

Okay, sounds harsh. But seriously, if we "needed" everything our friends have and everything we see on TV, and everything in the magazines..... then that is gonna get us in trouble. The lust for stuff affects everybody. "If only I had ____ then I would be happy." This is what we often say to ourselves, but it is a lie. Things cannot fulfill us. Only God can do that. And I'm pretty sure he could care less if our clothes were from Nordstrom or the Salvation Army. For me, I like organizing projects. For my hubby, he likes video games. For Mateo.... well he doesn't care about stuff yet. He'll play with an empty spool of ribbon and a big cardboard box. Oh, the innocence of a child. Unfortunately, he'll be corrupted by our culture eventually...but we will pray and try hard to teach him wise money management and to be generous.

Basically, be content with what you have. And no, I didn't make that up. It's one of my favorite verses in the bible. All good wisdom comes from the bible...God's word. Something I need to work on still.

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
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