About a month ago, we scheduled an appointment with our CPA to get our taxes filed. As part of the process, I – like all of us, I suspect – systematically go through our checkbooks and credit card statements to find any tax-deductible expenses.
When I was an active pastor and the church was having its annual pledge campaign, I would often make the claim that if you really want to know what you value, look at your check register. We spend money on what we value. My point then was to raise consciousness around how much people valued the presence and support of their spiritual community. I continue to stand by the claim that we spend our money on what we value.
This year, I was struck that most of the checks I wrote fell into three categories: medical expenses, charitable giving and gym membership.
In addition to looking at my check register, I looked at my credit card statements. They reflected a much greater variety. I use my credit cards more for convenience and record keeping, charging almost exclusively only those things that I can pay off at the end of the month, but even there, I noticed a lot of charges for entertainment and food.
Sure, there were also the “necessities” … supermarket, utilities, gas for the car, auto repairs, home improvements … but even that is evidence of values.
The truth is that we spend money on what we value and ,what we value, we spend money on. Looking at our spending can be an eye-opener! For example, did you ever add up how much you spend at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks in a year? … or how about alcohol? … your Cox or Verizon cable bill … or your hobby, like in my instance, Obstacle Course Racing? When I include the races themselves, the travel, the meals, the lodging, the gym membership, the equipment, the clothing … it adds up! How about charity … how much do you spend supporting causes like Habitat for Humanity or Doctors without Borders or Alzheimer’s’ Research or the Wounded Warrior Project? That potential list is is almost endless.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m not passing judgment! I’m simply inviting a level of consciousness. Sometimes it feels like a few dollars here and a few dollars there … and then we can’t figure out why we tell ourselves that we can’t afford other things.
As April 17th approaches (we get a two day reprieve this year because the 15th is on a Sunday), my invitation is to use this as a reality check in terms of what we SAY we value, and how consistent that is with all the ways we actually spend our money.
We have an Inner Magnificence that expresses itself when there is consistency between what we say and what we do … when we “put our money where our mouth is.”
So, here’s my invitation for today: Take a look back over the past twelve months and be honest with yourself about how you have spent your financial resources. Then ask yourself how closely that matches up with what you tell yourself you value. To the extent that it does …. Good for you! To the extent that it doesn’t, today is a good day to begin to bring your life into alignment.
The extent to which you do this is the extent to which you’ll be able to say, “I feel good about being me!”… and that’s a promise!