The value of a dollar spent.

Josh has blogged abit about spending less money in this life, or more specifically… where we spend it. This, as well as a presentation I saw a while back on the Mercy Homes project in India got me thinking further about money.

It seems to me, that my parent’s generation was very focused on “the value of a dollar.” It’s something of a catchphrase to talk about how kids need to have a balanced view of money, typically in reference to spoiled kids who are given anything they want without having to work for it. Kids learn this time-honored “value of a dollar” when they are made to work for their money and what they want, and when they realize just how valuable a dollar is, it will in turn humble them and make them appreciative for the things they have in this life. This is all well and good. It’s a valuable lesson, it no doubt has it’s place (large, small, or barely acknowledged) for pretty much every up and coming generation of Americans.

But that’s not my focus.

My focus is on what I call the “the value of the spent dollar”, which I would contrast with my parent’s generation focus on “the value of the earned dollar.” The previously-mentioned value of a dollar focused on how much work it was to consistently and honestly make a dollar. Other than caring for your immediate family, it seems to me that generally, that what you did beyond your family was your own damn business, thank you very much.

But I want to move past that. I feel like the value of a spent dollar is something I have only the slightest grasp on, once we move outside the realm of consumer products I use. Yeah, I know roughly how many dollars it takes to eat, or cool my house, or buy a new computer. I know how many dollars it takes to operate and own my car. But do I know anything outside of my own little world? Do I know how much it takes to provide medical care for a family of 5 for a year in a poor region of Africa? Do I know much money a Bible costs printed in the language spoken by the members of the poorest churches in the world? I don’t have the slightest clue.

How freaking selfish and reckless is that? My only way to compare relative values on things I buy for myself is based off of other things I would buy for myself! I want you to think about that for a moment. My only point of reference for money is on things I buy for myself. If you let that train of thought go for very long, it’s pretty easy to understand why lavish spending on the self is way out of hand.

It’s easy to justify the $2,000 computer I want, because it’s totally worth the price of two nice refridgerators ($1000 each). And one of those fridges is totally worth the price of 20 nice shirts ($50 each). And man, if I did happen to want one of those shirts, I’d totally pay the 50$, as that’s only twice as much as a perfectly-seasoned, large steak ($25). And that steak, sheesh, that’s a no-brainer, because it’s without-a-doubt worth the price of 5 Wendy’s combo meals ($5 a pop). And a Wendy’s meal? Dude. Don’t have to think twice about that, it’s so good and it’s sooo worth the 5 songs I could pick up on iTunes ($0.99 a pop).

So there you have it. It’s pretty easy to justify anything you’d ever want to buy, as long as you do some sort of price comparison in your head to other stuff you don’t need.

But let’s look at it another way. As I mentioned before, I saw a presentation about Mercy Homes. Their mission is to create loving family environments, comprised of two loving parents, who raise 10 orphaned children in India. They don’t create orphanages, but the focus is on the 2 parents and 10 children becoming a family.

The cool thing about this is that this is all supported by donations, and the cost will blow your mind. For $200/month, you pay the following things:

Food for all 10 kids, for a month.
Rent for the home they live in, for a month.
Pastor’s allowance, per month.

That absolutely blows my mind. I can spend 200 dollars in one week just for myself and my wife without batting an eye, even just on stuff I could easily do without. That amount of money would completely support a Mercy Home for a month.

So let’s go back to our consumer product example.

That 2000$ computer? Well, that would pay for… the day-to-day needs of a family of 12 in India, 10 of which would be orphans on the street… FOR 10 MONTHS. I’m not saying there’s not a place for fancypants computers, but it certainly makes the decision alittle more involved than “well, its worth the price of two nice fridges.”

That 1000$ fridge? All the basic needs of those kids, 5 months. That’s still a long time, dudes.

A 50$ shirt? The needs of one kid, 2 and a half months. Amazing.

25$ steak? This is the one that really gets me. You’re saying I could either feed myself for one meal… or I could feed a kid for a whole month? That rips my heart apart. Could I be more selfish?

5$ combo meal at Wendy’s? This has to be reasonable, right? Still would pay for the food and support of a kid for just over a week.

$.99 song on iTunes? Still pays for a kid’s needs for a day and a half. 4 meals, and a warm, loving place to live for just as long a time.

Now don’t get me wrong. Please don’t miss the point, if you read all the way down here. God wants us to have good things, see my Luxury posts for a long exposition on such a topic. But when the world is so off balance that I can buy one song and that same money spent would support a kid who has NOTHING for a day and a half, there is a tremendous responsibility to pay an incredible amount of attention to what I do with my cash money.

FL: Message Bean Plant - crazy.