Recently someone asked me how I dealt with economic pressures through the years of raising a large family on not a large income. I consulted Money Horse, and we came up with twelve tips to help one cope with financial challenges:
- Learn how to be satisfied with less or you will never be satisfied with more.
- Money means everything to us mortals but nothing to God. It’s simply a tool He uses to help us learn faith, humility, obedience, patience, generosity, and many other qualities we must acquire to become more like Him.
- If you need more money, then give more away. What you bestow in love and gratitude returns to you multiplied. Try it, it works!
- Spending less is often easier, more fun, challenging, clever and creative than earning more.
- Find joy in the present and be grateful for every blessing that comes your way.
- Avoid comparing your situation to others and especially avoid self-pity for what you don’t have.
- It is most often the wealthy who are the frugal penny-pinchers, not the poor. It is the poor who go into debt for what they can’t afford, the wealthy who wait for the best deal and then pay cash.
- Live beneath your means and enjoy it.
- Think positive thoughts of abundance and love, and what you need will flow to you. It’s not always about the money.
- Look for ways to meet your needs beyond walking into a store and buying stuff. Try bartering, creating, growing, discovering, sharing.
- Our wants and our spending will quickly expand to match our income, but when the income shrinks the spending generally does not. And that’s when we get in trouble.
- Realize this– no one gets everything they want.
What is funny to me as I look over this list, is how each of these twelve points has a whole lot of personal and family history behind it. I could write a book. In fact, I did. Uncut Diamonds is a book about money issues and economic challenges. So is Farm Girl. Hmm, interesting.
karenjonesgowen 
Amen! Those are all very true.
Great list, I need to write this down and concentrate remember these once in a while, I am great at some, not so much at others! 🙂
There’s a lot of wisdom in this advice. I’ve never had all that much, but I’ve had all that I’ve needed.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
Awesome tips for happy living. Learning to be happy with less. When we are so worried about what to buy next, we never enjoy all that we have.
Hi Karen .. such a lot of sense here – and so when I read Uncut Diamonds I’ll take that into account … and certainly Farm Girl – we just go with what we’ve got … it was a lovely tale of your grandparents and parents life .. I loved reading about those times. We were lucky … but by no manner of means were we wealthy … but we were taught to respect what we had, to look after what we had … stand us in good stead today.
Cheers Hilary
This “salesman” was trying to talk JC into becoming an insurance salesman and he started his pitch with the question, “Would you like to earn more or spend less?” We replied, in stereo, “Spend less.” That stopped him in his tracks and ended his carefully prepared statement. I really think we were the first to answer that way.
Thank you, Karen, such tried and true advice!!
Have found that all I need to be absolutely content is a book ( Kindle ) on my lap and the view of the pine trees around here! Doesn’t take much to find one’s passion once everything else is allowed to evaporate!
I like number one. It’s a good reminder that it’s not all about the toys one can acquire.
I especially like #6, because contentment with what we have is a lovely gift, enabling us to enjoy the present.
There is such a difference between what we need and what we think we want. I’ve encountered such poverty when I’ve been travelling it’s humbling. All we really need is enough to eat, covers to keep us warm enough, shelter from the worst of the weather, and friends and family who love us. There are millions who don’t even have that – so who cares about a new pair of shoes or glitzy frock?
These are good tips, not just for money, but for quite a few aspects of life.
Thank you everyone for all of your responses. I’ve enjoyed seeing your take on this topic. Financial management is such a huge problem in nearly everyone’s life. Even the wealthy worry about it, because they don’t want to see their vast fortunes disappear!
Excellent tips Karen, thank you!
You got my attention with #1 already…very wise words – thanks for sharing, Karen, and for stopping by my blog today. -Belinda.
Great post – and a reassuring list. 🙂 Thanks!
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