I never realized that going on a spending freeze would send me on a spiritual journey, but with cutting shopping for clothes out of my life, I had more time to think about life.

I started asking myself: What’s the purpose of my life? Why am I here?

As I asked myself those questions, I gazed at the old buffet table that my grandma used to own. After she passed away, I brought the buffet table home, repainted it, added new knobs to it, and now it’s mine.

It made me realize that eventually all that I have in my home 🏡 will be someone else’s too, so how can I keep what I have in good shape that way my family doesn’t one day have to re-do all that I own.

It also made me realize how funny fear is.

Humans fear not having enough money. This fear leads to anxiety.

It causes us to hold on to all we own with a tight grip while we are alive, until one day, someone else or the IRS gets all that we owned while alive.

After my grandma passed away, she owed estate taxes. A lot of what she held so tightly onto went to the IRS, to the tune of millions.

In the end, I as her grandchild, inherited one small buffet table after she passed away, and a whole lot of tears.

She gave nothing to her grandchildren, but sent plenty away in taxes. I guess that’s why they say, one thing is for sure in life, death and taxes.

She could have given away some of her estate to her children or grandchildren before passing, but in the end, she chose not to give anything away. She chose to pay a large amount of estate taxes instead of giving anything to her children and their children before the end of her life.

It made me realize, although, I can’t time my own death, I would rather give now.

I would rather be remembered as the person who gave than the person who hung on so tightly to all that I owned for myself.

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It got me thinking more, how can I bless others?

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How can I buy things that will bless the people I love most, so they will remember my kindness when I am gone?

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In the past I might have dreaded parties, baby showers, or celebrations knowing I would have to buy a gift, and that would cost me money.

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That mindset was rooted in the mid-belief that there was only a set amount of money in the world and if I gave what I had away, then there wouldn’t be enough left for me.

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However, that’s simply not true. Heaven’s economy is limitless.

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God will provide all you need and you’ll have plenty left over to share with others.

2 Corinthians v 9:8

“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”

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Now, I think I don’t need so much for myself, and I am ok if I give something away now because I know more good gifts will always be in my future.

I don’t need to buy more stuff. I am on a spending freeze, and with what I do have, I can use it to bless others and be a blessing to someone else in need.

Now, before I buy something, I start to ask myself, is this something I really need now or can it wait a week?

I know there are some things I need now, but there are also some things I don’t need at all, and in the moment, I think I need this now.

In hindsight looking at the amount of excess I have in my home and closet, I realize that if I had only waited one week before I purchased the item, I probably would have come to the conclusion that I didn’t need it at all.

So that’s what I encourage you to do this week, before you spend, wait a week and ask yourself whether or not you really need it.

Think about how your funds could otherwise bless others if you had any left over from not spending it on yourself.

I know that there are real needs and things we have dreamed about owning too. Usually, those things we still want after a week. Usually, those are also things that are valuable and could be passed down to others and not a simple impulse buy. That’s how to tell the difference, is it something that can be used later by someone else, or is it something that likely should just remain on the store shelf?