Moving from Debt to Assets Graduation at Boston Missionary Baptist Church
December 13, 2008

My attitude towards money used to be:  “I make it, I spend it!”  In only six Saturdays, I have learned and come to know the value of money.  Though I have been using money every day, the meaning was somewhat vague to me.  “No matter how or when, it will be spent,” says my husband.  However, with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, I’ve learned otherwise.

During the first class, Mr. Jonel posed the question, “What is money?”  Some answered: Money is Comfort…a Key…Security…American Passport...Power…and Opportunity, just to call a few.  But in order for money to serve these entire good purposes, one must learn how to properly use it.  I have learned to budget my income versus my expenses and properly balance the two.  When I put my family budget on paper, I saw clearly that we were in trouble, because our expenses outweighed our income.  We have a negative balance every month, which means every month we have to take some money out of our emergency fund to cover our expenses.  This is an urgent situation that required immediate action. 

The plan of action was to first start cutting down on eating out.  We would go from once a week to once a month, a savings of about $80.00.  By not driving to Chestnut Hill or South Shore Mall, we avoided the temptation to buy (at least $50.00 worth) that comes with window shopping, and we saved about $10.00 on gas.  We also can save money by paying close attention to our bills and what we are charged for.  I actually saved $150 just by making a phone call - I spent two hours discussing a bill that I was unjustly charged for. 

Thank you, GBIO, for opening my eyes.  Now I am headed in another direction.  I am sure in two years my life shall be different because my spending habits will have changed and so will my saving habits.  Whatever we have to do to change our method of spending and saving, it has to be done now or never, because we are getting older and there is no more time to recuperate or make unwise mistakes.

Therefore, I’ve decided to open an account with the money that GBIO is giving me, in which I will contribute 20% of everything I make.  Two years from now, God willing, I will be back to a GBIO class to testify about what I have saved from this date on.  May God help us.