MINIMIZING EXPENSES

Wisdom is not something that you can earn a diploma in. Wisdom is on the application side of the equation. It is better to be wise than to be foolish and yet, most people apply foolishness rather than wisdom to their financial situations. Wisdom is a spiritual quality that cannot be purchased with money. Wisdom gives insight into every facet of life. Wisdom understands that actions have consequences and it is wise to plan ahead.

Saving money is easy to understand. To save money, you must spend less than you earn. This is the only way that saving money is possible. It is a true and tried method that works wherever and whenever it is put into practice. This is the only sure way of building up a savings and yet most people do not understand it. This is because most people have no idea what they spend their money on. They do not keep detail records. They do not keep their receipts. They do not prepare monthly income statements. In other words, they do not have a clue on how to manage money. Money manages them.

A recent example of how to minimize expenses was shown to me. I was impressed by the preplanning. My wife’s nephew was getting married. As we all know, weddings can be very expensive affairs. However, with preplanning expenses can be minimized thereby reducing the wedding’s expense. Receptions can be a time where alcoholic beverages are served. I noticed some unopened gin and vodka bottles in my brother in law's garage.

I made mention of where the wet gin was since the gin said it was dry to my brother in law. He then explained to me the arrangement that he made to minimize the alcohol expenses for the reception. His son (the groom) and he had made up a contract with a spreadsheet that was signed by his son and the bartender. They would be responsible for providing so much of the alcohol and any unopened bottles would be returned to the package store for a refund.

This was a way of minimizing expenses by preplanning. It is easy in these situations to

overestimate how much you need and therefore to overspend. Some people would just keep the unopened bottles and not hassle with taking them back for a refund. This increases the amount that they end up spending for the wedding. My brother in law is frugal. He does not spend more than he has too. It is important to minimize expenses no matter the occasion.

PANIC SETS IN

It is easy to see the way that people think by their actions. The Lord Jesus made this abundantly clear in Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." He was referring to false prophets. He said the distinguishing factor in false prophet identification is their fruits. This same example can be used for every instance, whether good or bad. Thayer’s Greek English Lexicon renders fruits, "metaphorically that which originates or comes from something; an effect, result. Work, act, deed." Actions are therefore a result of prior thinking or mindlessness.

When people have no future and no hope, they will panic. Panic is the result of no hope. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines panic as, "A sudden fright; particularly, a sudden fright without real cause, or terror inspired by a trifling cause or misapprehension of danger." Panic can take place in the financial realm, as well as in other areas. When someone lacks foresight, panic will be the end result.

A good example of this situation occurred recently with the hurricane named Ike that hit the coast of Texas. There are a lot of refineries in that area. These refineries had to be shut down because of the hurricane. This will of course cause a disruption of the supply of gasoline in the short run. What was interesting was to watch people’s reaction to this situation. It was wholesale panic.

Rumors began to spread with stations supposedly running out of gas and the price of gas was going to exceed $5 a gallon. People were all buzzing about the gas situation. The result was predictable, long lines at the gas stations. These people panicked as if there was no tomorrow coming. Instead of doing any verifying of these reports, they just accepted someone’s word as truth and acted on these misapprehensions.

The next morning, gas had risen in my area about $.35 a gallon and you could get as much as you wanted. In this situation, having to pay more for gas is not the issue. The price will shortly come down to its previous level. The important thing is the ability to get it. Some people thought that the oil companies were gouging them. It is obvious that they do not understand the law of supply and demand. They can only think in the immediate moment. They lack the capability of seeing the final result of this hurricane. Eventually, things will get back to normal. This is a short run phenomenon.

This panic made those who waited in the long lines look foolish. The lower the price of gas was at a station, the longer the line was. Walmart was selling their gas $.20 below others and the lines were extremely long. What were these people thinking? So they saved $.20 a gallon. The frustration of having to sit in a car for a long period of time made them look ridiculous. The next time that rumors begin to fly, those possessing foresight will think through the situation before acting. The others will predictably panic.

NOT PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

The knowledge of this world has been atomized. All that exists for the vast majority of the population is the visible world. They have denied the spiritual and therefore they are left with acting in the immediate moment. This is the thinking of an animal. Denying the spiritual leads to denying foresight. Foresight is the ability of planning ahead. The world has become atheist in denying God’s existence.

Romans 8:29 reads, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." God is Spirit. God’s Spirit is not merely His being but also encompasses His thinking and acting aspects. God, being the Creator of all things, has built into everything His definitions. He knows all things beforehand because He has built into everything their limitations. He has preordained all things to work within predictable i.e., defined limits. God’s preordination gives us a predictable world.

God’s law predestinates all things. His law limits all things in advance. All things have been preordained in advance because they all follow patterns that have been previously established by God. Demonstrating wisdom then becomes applying God’s law to all situations. Because God is omniscient, we can rest assured that by following His law that we will make the right decision in all instances. Foreknowing is the equivalent of foresight. We can foresee because we can foreknow.

We are living in a world where God’s law has been rejected by man. This means that God’s predestination has also been rejected and now man’s most visibly powerful institution, the civil government, has become the determiner of all things. The civil government uses its power of taxation to provide welfare programs for certain citizens. In other words, the government discriminates based upon being in poverty (government defined), reaching a certain age (Social Security and Medicare) etc.

In an editorial piece the Detroit Free Press was discussing heat costs for the upcoming winter. The government has a program called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. This program is designed to aid government defined poor working families. This editorial made the following statement, "This is not a welfare program, and in fact, welfare generally provides more utility assistance. The long-term goal of trying to prevent welfare dependency means some aid is essential for low income families to meet their basic needs, such as for food and heat. Otherwise, workers may have no choice but to fall back on welfare simply to keep their children warm."

Of course, this is a welfare program that will make these government defined poor working families dependent upon government assistance. If the government provides assistance, then those seeking this aid will do so every year. They will apply for it every year because it is available to them. They will not learn how to budget their money so that they can pay for any heating bill increases. Everyone should know that utility bills are higher in winter and should make adjustments to their budgets to reflect this fact.

Welfare programs essentially destroy the ability of those who receive it to learn to plan ahead. In fact, it is senseless to plan ahead if you know that the government is going to provide for you. One can live in the immediate moment without any foresight knowing that the government will come through for them and why try and improve your position because if you do then you will not qualify for the assistance. Once a person accepts government welfare, he will not prepare for the future.