Few people go into the ministry thinking they are going to become wealthy. If anyone does think this it often doesn't take long before that foolishness is over. There are some TV ministers and some who serve megachurches or write best selling books who become wealthy, but the vast majority of us will learn to be satisfied with having an average income throughout our ministerial careers. Many of us will be bivocational to even get to that level.
One of the things I am often concerned about is the financial well-being of ministers. During my years as a judicatory minister working with numerous pastors I found many who struggled with finances. Some carried large amounts of student debt. Some had large medical bills either for themselves or members of their family. Of course, some just didn't manage their money very well. When a person carries large amounts of consumer debt it's obvious they are living beyond their means. They need to learn better ways of managing their money.
When a pastor's family struggles with finances it creates a huge burden on the family and impacts the pastor's ability to minister well. It may also cause the minister to leave the ministry seeking better income to escape from the financial hardship he or she feels.
Obviously, in a post like this I can't go into detail about how to manage one's finances. However, I want to talk about one thing because of something I've experienced the past year. Occasionally, I buy storage units to sell the contents online or in my auctions. These sales are very similar to what you might see on TV if you ever watch Storage Wars except in recent months most of the ones sold in my area are sold online. I don't buy many, but there is one thing common in most of them I purchase. People are spending a lot of money to store trash.
In 2016 the storage unit business brought in about $32 billion in revenues which means a lot of people are renting these units. For editorial honesty I will admit I rent a storage unit to store things I use in my auction business, and many other business owners do as well. However, the majority of storage units are used by individuals and families whose "stuff" has outgrown their garage, attics, and basements.
I recently bought a storage unit that had gone into default. It was a large 10X20 unit filled almost to the ceiling. Much of what was in that unit was broken, cheap furniture, dozens and dozens of pairs of shoes, bags of moldy clothes, a mattress (every unit has to have at least one dirty mattress), bags of cheap toys, and personal items. I am not judging what they had; I am making a point that they were paying approximately $200.00 a month to store items they could have replaced for much less money. Most of the items were covered in dust and cobwebs so I know the items had been in the unit for an extended time.
This is not an exception. This is what is found in many units. I once paid $110 for two units and spent another $160 taking things to the dump. I have literally found bags of trash that people were paying storage fees on rather than setting it out for the trash men to haul away.
Perhaps this individual did need to store his or her items for a period of time, but by selling off or even throwing away the broken furniture, the electrical items that did not work and other items of no value he or she could have rented a much smaller unit saving themselves a lot of money.
Most of us have too much in the way of material items, but if you need to rent a storage unit you really need to think about what you are storing. Is it really worth spending that money each month just to hold on to it? Is this something you will realistically use again, or are you just keeping it "just in case" you might need it? If finances are tight, chances are you do not need to rent a storage unit regardless of how much you want to keep your "stuff." There are surely better places for your money.
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