Faith in Finances: Obligations vs. Needs vs. Wants
Pr. 10:4, Pr. 11:11, Pr. 11:24, Pr. 11:27, Pr. 13:4, Pr. 13:25, Pr. 15:19, Pr. 18:9, Pr. 19:15, Pr. 19:24, Pr. 20:4
We read through those scriptures as a table and then discussed them and prayed for one another.
One of the keys that we use when looking at how we actually use our available finances is to look at our expences and classifying them as Obligations, Needs and Wants. Below is the definition of those terms:
Obligations:
- These are things that you are in a contract for or are legally required to do.
ex: rent/mortgage, electricity bill, taxes, food for kids, tithe
Needs:
- These are things that you are not legally required to do but that you still need.
ex: food, clothes, healthcare, toiletries, vehicle
Wants:
- This should be pretty obvious, but they are simply things that you want.
ex. trip to Canada, new computer, date night
After categorizing the items then it makes it easier to know what to do with money when we have it. The first thing we do when we get some money shouldn't be celebrate and go out for dinner, but rather we should look at putting that money towards our obligations, then if there is money left over we look at the needs and then the last thing that we put our money towards are the wants.
Tamara and I do not claim to be experts at this at all, but we have found that by doing this it makes it much easier to be faithful with the finances that we have.
Random thought: One thing that I do struggle to classify is Coffee. Most mornings it feels like it's a need, and some mornings (the ones that Caleb wakes up at 5:00) it feels more like an obligation...
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I am a full time volunteer with Reef to Outback - Youth With A Mission (YWAM) where I work in Communications and Information Technology. I am married to a wonderful wife, we have a five year old son and a one year old daughter.
