The Game Of Life

Whenever I would play Monopoly as a child, I insisted on being the banker. I loved power. I loved counting the money, organizing the properties, and keeping track of the little green houses and red hotels. It was exhilarating. Why I didn’t get a degree in accounting, I’ll never know.

As an adult, I loved keeping a checkbook, and managing what little money I had. I prided myself on having never bounced a check. Nearly every Accountant I’ve ever taken my taxes to has offered me a job.

When I married my husband, it seemed logical that I would be the one to handle all of our personal and business accounting, on top of all of my house keeping duties. As he would attest, “it wasn’t his gift”. For the last 10 years, I’ve been the one to handle all of the accounts, and entering every penny we spend into Quicken. And since we’re self-employed, this is no small feat. I’ve even gotten our taxes ready to go to our trusty Accountant.

I’ve carried the financial responsibilities squarely on my feminine shoulders. And that has been a grave mistake in our married life. It has caused untold stress, depression, constant worry, resentment and even anger. On my part. You see, what we’ve discovered is that the way we’ve been conducting our finances isn’t biblical. We were tithing, but we were also missing so much of God’s blessing on our household and our finances.

We hit a wall about a month ago. I broke down, confessing to my husband, that I couldn’t do it alone. And he realized that he hasn’t been the protective head of our household that he needed to be. In short, we weren’t “partnering” the responsibilities.

We’ve done quite a bit of research on the subject of finances within the context of marriage. We’ve looked to Crown Ministries for guidance. And we’ve discovered a wonderful Christian author, Mary Hunt, who wrote, “Debt-Proof Your Marriage.” The biblical concepts that she lays out for her readers have proven life and marriage changing for us. I only wish I had read this book at the beginning of our marriage.

Today, as we’re applying biblical principles to the way our household is run, I feel like I truly have a partner in my husband. We’re praying over our decisions, and I don’t have to shoulder the responsibility alone. It is also fostering the much needed intimacy that we need to grow our marriage.

Happily, we also discovered a book by the same author called “Everyday Cheapskate’s Greatest Tips”. This book has many many money saving tips you can implement when running your household. Both of these books are generally available at your local library. So, you don’t have to buy them. I’ll be writing about these in the weeks to come.

I’m still the banker when we play Monopoly. But in the game of Life, my husband is my partner.

Now if I could only figure out a way to introduce him to the toilet bowl brush.

Written by DeeDee at “It Coulda’ Been Worse” http://www.fiddledeedee.net