Beating the economy what’s in your house

By Donna Every | Tue, July 13, 2010 - 12:00 AM

A FEW MONTHS AGO I was at our local television station filming a discussion on the effect of the recession on consumers’ finances.

As I was leaving the studio, two of the technicians said to me: “We’re in a recession? We didn’t even realise that there was a recession because we’ve been living from paycheque to paycheque for so long!”

That made me laugh but it’s really not funny because the sobering truth is, that has been the reality of many people for a long time, even before the recession.

Whether it seems that you’ve been living from paycheque to paycheque forever or the recession has totally turned your finances upside down, be encouraged, I have good news for you – you don’t have to sit back and accept your “lot in life”.

You already have everything you need to overcome your financial problems, whether they are at crisis proportion or not. The strategy is to use a double-pronged attack and you already have the weapons in your arsenal.

There’s a story in The Bible called The Widow’s Oil, which is the story of a poor widow who was in a financial crisis. In fact, things were so serious that creditors were coming to take her children away as slaves to work off the debt, so she went to the prophet Elisha for help.

Now, he didn’t give her a handout or a bailout or a stimulus package; he asked her, “What do you have in your house?” He put the onus back on her to deal with her financial situation.

Many times we are looking for a handout or a bailout when we already have what we need to help ourselves. The widow said that she only had a little oil, so he told her what to do to turn it into a successful business venture and as a result she was able to pay all her debts and live on the rest.

That’s what inspired me to write my first book. I used my “oil”, which was my knowledge of business and finances, and my love of writing and teaching to create a book and products that could help me to earn extra income.

So what do you have in your house? What is your “oil”? We all have some gift or ability or some resource that we can use to earn some additional income. All we need is the faith and determination to make it happen. Others have done it and so can you.

I have a friend who is a full-time teacher but she studied art to university level as she always loved painting. She has now started painting after she comes home from school and has been able to sell her work in galleries and to friends and has used her “oil” to earn additional income to help pay her debts.

So you can’t paint? Can you cook? There’s a lady who lives in a village near my house who is a maid at a Government office, but she’s also a really good cook.

A few years ago she built a little shop next to her house and started cooking meals on Friday and Saturday nights which she sells to her neighbours and now even to people who drive to get to her house.

As a result, she has been able to buy a car, get a loan to build a house, and travel! How is that for a maid? So what is your “oil”? Take inventory of the skills and abilities that you have and brainstorm how you can use them to earn some income. Everyone has something!

Apart from the things that we have in our “house”, there’s the clutter we literally have sitting in our homes that we don’t use. Those things we bought at the day-after-Thanksgiving sale that are still in the box or the décor items we just couldn’t live without, or perhaps the coffee machine that grinds the beans as well as brews the coffee that we don’t use, you know the ones I mean. The things that are gathering dust and causing clutter in our houses.

Earning more money is one part of the approach – the other part is spending less money. This will take a lot of discipline because we have become rather free spenders.

Recently I was in a city in the [American] southeast and I was convinced that the recession in the United States was over. The mall was full and there were long lines in some of the more popular stores. People were shopping as if there was no tomorrow or at least as if there was no recession.

Have we not learnt anything?

As we look back in years to come, I’m hoping that this recession will be seen as a blessing in disguise, something that has helped us to look at the way we’ve been living. We really need to distinguish between our wants and our needs. This is a time for our needs.

Maybe we will soon get to the place where we will once again be able to satisfy some of our wants, and even then we should ask ourselves questions like, “Do I really need this?” and “Why am I buying this again?” or the even harder questions like, “Can we really afford this house?” and “Why are we buying an SUV when we can only afford a car?”

We need to do some soul-searching and find out what will give us peace and contentment because when our souls are at peace, when we’re content with what we have, we won’t be driven to live beyond our means.

So we really already have all that we need to get through this recession and to face life afterwards but it will take discipline and commitment to make it happen. Here are a few ways to help you win your financial battles.

• Look at what you have in your house. Liquidate things that you’re not using or you don’t need by holding a garage sale. De-clutter and earn some cash.

• Take an inventory of your skills. What can you do well that people need now? Focus on the “low-hanging fruit” – things that are easy to start right away, such as baking, repairing computers, babysitting, doing accounts, tutoring or cooking.

• Repair rather than throw away unless the cost doesn’t make sense.

• Buy used books, clothes and furniture instead of new ones.

• Set financial goals and let them restrain you from impulse shopping. Ask yourself: “Is this taking me towards my goals or away from them?”

• Cut down on fast-food purchases.

• Delay gratification – put off major purchases until your finances improve.

• Don’t stop helping others even in these tough times. It will always come back to you.

l Donna Every is a Barbadian consultant and motivational speaker.