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You
Needs and Wants – and piling up the debt
Looking for someone special to share your life with?
In Case of Emergency
Yellow and blue next Spring?
Why you should sleep with your car keys
Time for an autumn clean-out!
Needs and Wants – and piling up the debt
One of the main reasons people get into debt is because of our inability
to distinguish between needs and wants. It is so easy to spend on the
whims of today and then not have enough for the essentials of tomorrow.
This is especially true when it comes to long term savings. We focus on
buying things for today – an expensive car, a dream holiday and 'forget'
to save for our old age.
As Christians it is interesting to reflect on the fact that over half of
us will die never having made a will, and a further fifteen per cent
will have made one but it will be totally out of date. We simply do not
plan ahead. Perhaps we are thinking that 'God will provide'. The trouble
is he may have provided already but we have simply squandered it.
Can I ask you what your goals are in life? Do you have any?! They could
range from wanting to volunteer in a charity shop to taking your spouse
on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise to celebrate your silver wedding. Or
maybe you want to give more or be debt free at a certain age. Perhaps
you want to give a gift to your grandchildren. Everyone must have
unfulfilled wishes for later on, but if we don't plan and prepare for
them they are unlikely to happen as life will just drift by.
Why not sit down and thing about your future hopes and fears? If you
have a partner, talk with them about them. Having long term goals is
important because it will help you focus on what is most important to
you. This in turn will help you make better spending decisions in the
short term.
For example, if replacing your car today with a new expensive model just
for show meant it was highly unlikely that you could afford that
lifetime cruise in three years time you might think twice before
splashing out.
Why not take a look at your spending and break it down into needs and
wants. Think especially hard about the future and what you may need in
retirement and old age when you are not getting any earned income.
Careful planning today will ensure that you will have adequate resources
for tomorrow. You will also be demonstrating sound biblical principles
of good stewardship and making sure that you are not wasting God's
resources.
Looking for someone special to share your life with?
Whatever our age or status in life, most of us want close meaningful
relationships with other people. We may miss that special person with
whom to connect in a really deep, meaningful, loving and special way.
Beyond the daily routines of our lives we know that a unique friend or
someone to intimately share life with would make all the difference.
If you could walk into a room of 100 like minded 'single' Christian
people, there'd probably be a high chance of meeting someone with whom
you'd hit it off. But how do you find that 'room'? Friends First (which
was established in 1999) is a modern way of walking into that room and
meeting other 'single' Christians. Hundreds of people (of all ages from
21 to 88), who have joined the organisation to date have found they've
made friendships that have really changed their lives – whether that's
because it's ended in marriage, or because a new friend has greatly
enriched their lives.
If you'd like to meet someone special, then joining Friends First this
year could be the first step to enabling that to happen. Friends First
even offers holidays and events.
For further details ring 0121 427 1286 or write to PO Box 8377,
Birmingham, B17 9TE. Or visit www.friends1st.co.uk
In Case of Emergency
This past summer the East Anglia Ambulance Service launched a national
'In case of Emergency (ICE)' campaign with the support of Falklands war
hero Simon Weston and in association with Vodafone's annual life savers
award.
The idea is that you store the word 'ICE' in your mobile phone address
book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be
contacted 'In Case of Emergency'. In an emergency situation ambulance
and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next
of kin are and be able to contact them. It's so simple - everyone can do
it. It really could save hours at time when you need your loved ones
most.
Yellow and blue next Spring?
Yellow and blue is a wonderful colour combination: think of woodlands
carpeted with bluebells and primroses, and meadows awash with speedwell,
cowslips and buttercups. Vincent Van Gogh's Vase with Irises against a
Yellow Background is one of his best-loved works.
If you like blue and yellow, try planting a selection of springtime
miniatures for next Spring. Choose from crocus, miniature iris and
daffodils, scilla and chionodoxa, muscari, primula, polyanthus and
violas. Or try planting up a blue glazed pot with a host of golden
daffodils, or a yellow pot overflowing with blue grape hyacinths for a
real impact. (Choose a loam-based compost and add water retaining
granules and slow-release fertilizer.)
Why you should sleep with your car keys
Do you take your car keys to bed with you? It might not be a bad idea...
such was the recent advice of a police force in West Yorkshire when a
spate of burglaries in the area led to the disappearance of 720
vehicles.
These days, it seems, frustrated car thieves decide to steal car keys
rather than try to match their wits against the sophistication of modern
security devices on vehicles.
Once a thief has got hold of your car key and fob, he can easily find it
when parked in a street or a car park. He simply clicks the remote door
release, or even momentarily activates the alarm from the fob.
In fact, it seems that some gangs around the country are now staging
house break-ins for the sole purpose of stealing car keys. In the last
three years more than £40 million worth of cars have been stolen in the
Home Counties alone - following house burglaries.
Opportunist thieves sneak into porches, halls, and kitchens in broad
daylight to grab keys handing on hooks near doors. Handbags and jacket
pockets are also searched.
Vehicle crime now accounts for more than a quarter of all reported
crime, and 40 per cent of cars stolen are never returned to their
rightful owners.
The RAC Foundation's advice includes:
1 Treat car keys the same as you would your cash or credit cards.
2 Make sure car keys are in a secure place at home and at work.
3 Keep your house doors locked at all times.
4 Ensure your car keys are not kept close to doors and windows.
5 Never leave car keys in an unattended car.
6 Keep your car in a locked garage, if possible.
7 Never leave any form of identification, like your car registration,
with your keys.
Time for an autumn clean-out!
De-clutter your house this autumn: get rid of some of your belongings,
redefine yourself – and help our church.
The sad truth is that most of us live among mountains of things that we
don't use, and don't even particularly like. Clothes we don't wear, old
magazines, defunct kitchen utensils, unwanted gifts ... the list is
endless.
Here's some tips on how to de-clutter your home:
Concentrate on one room at a time. Work through it methodically. If you
begin in your bedroom, start with your chest of drawers, one drawer at a
time.
Have three bin bags: one for stuff for the tip, one for things for the
church, and one for things to clean/mend. Once your bags are full, deal
with them promptly. Put the rubbish out immediately, visit the charity
shop next day, and give yourself a month to tackle the clean/repair bag.
What about things you don't like, but value because of some memory
attached to them? Put them in a fourth bin bag and keep for a year. Then
make your decision.
Once you have decided what you want to keep, find a sensible place for
each item, based on how often you use it - and make sure it stays there!
Bring your things for the church car boot sale to...
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