Comments on: Luxury, part three

By: josh

josh — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:51:28 +0000

well . . . well. what a nice intro into the “serious posting world”. even your funny links can’t get rid of the deep thinking that i’m seeing.

really good thoughts eric. sorry i never gave you feedback on it when you asked for it. the idea of luxuries is a really good way of framing the conversation.

when thought of like that, it forces me to run all of my things through that grid, which i think is and will be quite helpful.

also, i think the idea of changing the way we live should play some sort of role into the idea of money. its true we can barely be getting by but may be doing so at a very high level. i’m not saying we need to live like 3rd world countries, but i think their situation at least causes us to consider ours.

By: welcome to the story

welcome to the story — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 02:28:44 +0000

[...] Eric on luxuries (part one, part two, part three) [...]

By: mrsd10

mrsd10 — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:50:08 +0000

That is an interesting approach for sure. I don’t know that I have ever heard of that. The only thing I would worry about, for me, is that I would just end up buying nothing and not giving anything to avoid having to think about it. Or, I would buy my “luxuries” and forget to give the other amount away. But I guess no way is perfect for everyone. I definitely don’t claim to have the perfect way, either. And I will readily admit that we need to do a better job at giving.
abschicken.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:28:00 +0000

@wife: Yay for the wife.

I think the whole point of this, at the root, is to re-align how we value $1.00, one dollar. By doubling the perceived price of some items [luxuries], it makes an attempt at showing us where our excess money, or “disposable income” (whatever that means) could go to if we saw the value of it rightly.

While a $200 monitor can wreck any chance at having a chance to give sacrificially, the 69 cent candy bar, the 1.49 gatorade, the 1.19 mini-cookies can do far more financial damage over a lifetime. The real battle isn’t “do I get the 39,000$ accord or the 49,000 lexus”, it’s, do I drink tap water or buy a bottle of coke?

@emmuh: You got it right, emmuh, unless I’m not reading your comment right. Basically, after you pay all your bills for necessities: car, shelter, reasonable food needs, no doubt there’s some left over. It may not be alot, but it’s some.

From this some would come your split between luxuries and giving, by doubling prices of luxury items. I know alot of financial commitments aren’t easily changed, with loans, cell phone 2 year plans, etc, etc. But for most of all of us, I’m sure there’s plenty of wiggle room in all the things that aren’t fixed each month. I know there’s a huge amount for Heather and I.

In this way, the more financial blessed among us are called to give more, as a financial blessing is the gift God has given them/called them to. Others of us have less demanding jobs, and therefore less salaries, but this also opens up more of our time and talents to serve as a gift.

The struggle is in balancing what your luxuries are, and what to give your money/time toward.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:01:11 +0000

very interesting and well thought out. I haven’t really heard anything like, it and its a very proactive and generous approach to giving

By: Emmuh

Emmuh — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:32:33 +0000

I agree with your philosophy, Eric, but I’m not sure it can be practically lived out. I still have multiple bills to pay, so shouldn’t I pay those first, and then with my excess, use your 50/50 system? I can’t realistically pay rent, car pmts, plus give that amount away. Did I miss that in your blog posts?

By: the wife

the wife — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 14:33:10 +0000

as an addition to the giving/luxury struggle, I believe that we also need to consider our debt. in fact, at this point in almost everyone’s life, we have some sort of debt (mortgage, car loan, student loan, credit card). this is not something we can, or should, ignore. I actually proposed, just the other day, that we triple the price of any luxury that we buy, so that we are also paying off our debt equally. I don’t know about you, but most of the things I want are not worth triple the retail cost. Most of them are already overpriced enough that I question buying them. My trouble comes in with the really little things… buying some Reese’s in the checkout line at the grocery store… buying oreo’s… I think I just realized that most of my justifications/struggles come with food, because food is a necessity… hmmm… this becomes a problem because it’s only a couple of dollars at a time, not a 17″ monitor, or a $20 book. It makes it really easy to forget, since they are all little and insignificant in the long run. but we all know those little things add up.

well, I guess those are my thoughts for the time being.