Just as I thought life was getting back to "normal" things were slightly derailed. Once I have a chance to mentally regroup I'll go into more details. In the meantime enjoy this great guest post by Michael D. from Credit Card Forum.

From past blog posts, I know Mr. and Mrs. NtJS aren’t exactly the biggest fans of credit cards to say the least. I actually run a credit card forum/blog myself, and as ironic as this may sound, I actually agree with most of their viewpoints on them! There are definitely quite a few problems that come about with using credit cards. Today I want to talk about one of those problems that most people don’t consider.

First, let’s rewind back to the 80’s and 90’s… do you remember how little credit cards were used? In the small town I lived in Michigan, I remember grocery stores only accepted cash or checks for payment. In fact back then, the only places that always took credit were department stores and the like. Nowadays it seems that almost everyone takes plastic… grocery stores, doctors’ offices, and even charities. That last one is what I want to talk about, let me give you an example…

A while back I read a book called the The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us? It’s written by a man named Richard Stearns, previously a “jet set” CEO who ended up becoming President of the Christian charity World Vision, initially against his own will. In a nutshell, this raw and brutally honest story is a must-read for everyone and the message is so powerful that World Vision is now my favorite charity. But what does this have to do with credit cards? Let me explain…

Since reading the book, I’ve been sponsoring a child through World Vision. I have this amount automatically charged to my credit card every month. In addition, the bulk of my giving is made to their general fund, another amount which is charged to my card. Now this is a very efficient organization (a very important criteria for me when giving) and while reviewing their most recent annual report, here’s how the numbers break down:

For every dollar:

• 89% goes directly to the programs
• 7% for fund raising costs
• 4% for administrative/management/general expenses
  

Now that’s pretty impressive… only 4 percent goes to actually running the organization. But what about that second number, the 7 percent? Make no mistake about it, that is an extremely low amount to pay for fund raising regardless, but what if everyone used checks instead of credit cards for their donations? How much lower would that fund raising number be? Because yes, unfortunately the credit card companies don’t even give charities a break… they still charge them those pesky processing fees.

Now I’m not an expert on credit card (interchange) fees, but according to Wikipedia the average is 1.79% in the United States. That means 1.79% of transactions goes to the credit card company. I’ve been using my Chase Freedom card, which is a rewards card, and those typically carry a fee that's even 0.30% or more higher. So according to those calculations, probably around 2.09% or more my giving to World Vision is being eaten up by Visa and Chase Bank. It may not sound like much, but if you take 2% of all their credit card donations, that ends up being a lot of money!

So what’s the lesson? I definitely need to use the check book from now on. If every one of their donors skipped credit cards, just imagine how many more people could be helped… with the same amount of money given! Of course at the same time, I do realize there is a “convenience factor” of credit card giving that may bring in some money from people who normally wouldn’t give because of the “hassle” of writing a check (and obviously a 98% donation is better than none at all!) but for everyone else, please don’t be lazy… use your checkbook and your money will go even further.

About the Author: Michael is a forum moderator and blogger at CreditCardForum.com, which is a website for credit card reviews and discussions. Although he’s fanatical about raking up his rewards, he does acknowledge that credit cards truly do have a lot of drawbacks, are definitely not suitable for everyone, and can lead to nightmares if a balance is carried.

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Before you read this post please read my disclaimer below:

I'm by no means a biblical scholar or a theology teacher. What I do know is that you have to read the bible, think about how it would apply to today's world, and look at what your specific faith teachings/ interpretations are for that specific bible verse, parable, or allegory. Please discuss this topic with your own Priest or Pastor if you want a clearer outlook from your faith's perspective.

Okay, On to the post.

Last week I posted about my view of Suze Orman's advice to married couples. I knew my stand would be controversial but most of the time following God's will is not the path of least resistance. Because of that I did get some feedback from readers that didn't see things my way and that is just fine. I don't expect everyone to see the world the way I do. If I did then life would be boring and I'd never learn anything new. However, one commenter did ask where in the bible God said that we should have joint accounts. I felt like answering that question in the comments would not give it the full justice that it deserves.

Here are some of the places in the bible that I feel address this topic of having unity in your financial lives as a married couple.


> Gen 2:24 "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" By one flesh it means that you have one set of hands, eyes, ears and so on. If you are to truly be one you would have to truly say what is mine is yours and yours is mine. We share everything we have, including money.

> Mark 10:9 "what therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder" If you are not let anything get between you that means more then a job or another woman. It means the kids, politics, and money too.

> 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." It's rare that both spouses are financially savvy. It's also rare that they both have enough free time on their hands to do double the work. God gave us each our own set of talents and as a married couple you are to share them as "one flesh" not withhold them from each other. My husband is good at hanging pictures, I'm not. He hangs all the pictures in the house even the ones I want hung. I'm good at sewing, he would probably sew his fingers together. I mend all the clothes in our house. We share our gifts for the common good of our marriage and family.

> Proverbs 15:22 "Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed." Two heads are better then one. If my husband and I both look at all of our money together we can make better decisions together. As a parent I want to make sure to include my husband on issues of raising our kids. If we discuss and agree on a parenting method (like sleeping habits of the baby) then we are much more likely to succeed by working together vs. each trying our own method which would confuse the child. The same goes with our income. We put all of it together and decide together what to do with all of it.

> Proverbs 31:10 "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil All the days of her life." Trust each other. Have faith in the other person. You are on the same team so act like it! If we as a married couple can trust each other we will have no lack of gain. If you spouse should be worth more then jewels and your heart is to trust your spouse, why then would you not trust them with joint accounts?




As a Christian the ultimate marriage to look up to is that of Christ and his bride, the Church. So I ask myself, "What would Jesus do?" Would he not fully share his money with his spouse?

Outside of the bible specifically most if not all Christian teachings do say that you should have shared everything. The most known Christian personal financial teachers all say it too. Including Dave Ramsey, Larry Burkett, and Phil Lenahan.

Another thing those same PF gurus will teach you is about communication in a marriage. Something most marriages need more of. Clearly, in the case of Jon and Kate Goslin, they needed more communication - not less. Separating your finances is simply a brick wall for communication - a place for spouses to hide their spending sins. Joint accounts takes your marriage in the opposite direction to a place called unity. My husband has full knowledge of the amount of money I spend on my garden and on sewing projects. I'm fully aware of how much he spends on his tools and other stuff. It's okay to spend money on things that only one person enjoys without feeling ashamed or the need to hide it from your spouse. It's just apart of having a mature and selfless relationship.

On a personal note, while we never had separate accounts, we were not always on the same page about our finances. I can assure you that this did not do us any favors in maintaining a healthy marriage. He spent and I got upset. I spent and he had no clue. Hurt feelings, confusion, blaming.... maybe you've been through this too? But since we got on the same page, since both of us agree on our spending before we do it, since both of us understand our common goals as well as our personal goals, we now have this incredible unity in our marriage. There's no ambiguity, and we love it. The more open and vulnerable we become to each other the stronger our marriage and finances become.

So how are the accounts arranged in your marriage? How does it correlate with your faith and it's teachings?


Feel free to join us tomorrow for Two Cent Tuesday!

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Why do we celebrate birthdays? How do we celebrate birthdays? I find myself pondering these questions over the past few years. It seems like birthdays (along with most holidays) have been hi-jacked by our commercialized world.

People used to celebrate birthdays because it was a big deal to have made it through another year of life. Children and adults alike were not as blessed as we are to have access to healthy food and medicine. They also did not have huge blow out parties with 30 kids at an expensive location outside their home while expecting their child to be showered by $20-$40 gifts.

I decided that enough is enough. I'm putting the breaks on this train wreck. I'm not letting my children's birthdays be hi-jacked. That is when I started thinking... Now that sometimes gets me into trouble but this time I think I came up with a great way to make their birthdays special while making it into a learning experience. Here is what we did.


Starting at 6 years old we decided that a child has finally developed enough socially and mentally to understand sharing and giving. That the world is bigger then them and not centered around them.

At six years old they can handle not getting gifts from friends for their birthday. Instead, we let our daughter pick out a charity to request gifts for. This gives us an opportunity to talk about all the need there is in our own community. People need food (local food pantry), animals need food and treats (local animal shelter), people need items for their home (local emergency shelter), parks can always use trees and plants, and some parents can't afford to buy their babies anything at all (local Birthright center). After talking about all the different needs in the community she got to pick who SHE can help by having her friends bring items (wrapped like presents) to the birthday party.

You might think that our daughter would have been crying and devastated by this blow of no presents from her friends but she was not. She understood that her parents and grandparents would still buy her gifts and that she could help someone else. She decided to help the babies in need. I was amazed at how excited she became about it. Weeks before the party and before invitation where sent out she started to talk to all of her friends and their moms about not buying her a present but to instead bring a newborn item for a baby.

She was so excited to see all the gifts come in and kept asking to peak inside to see what baby item they brought. You would have thought that they were for her baby! The excitement was still there during the present opening time but the focus was not of the greedy green eyed monster wanting the next fad toy, but instead the excitement of a baby having something they would like and look cute in.

After the party was over she could not wait to deliver all the presents to the local Birthright office. She wanted to make sure they got them fast! It was hard to keep her at bay until Tuesday but what a wonderful way for her to see that she could make a difference and help someone. Walking in there with a huge bag of items to donate make her proud and gave her an even deeper giving spirit. Now the question she keeps asking is not what type of party she wants next year, but instead "Who should I get presents for when I turn 7?"

It's amazing to see the giving spirit in her growing. When you give your child a chance to give you help them to grow spiritually in ways we will never fully understand. I'm proud to say that my favorite tradition is the gift of giving to others.

Find more great ideas on:
Works for me Wednesday

image from supercoolbaby.com

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Microfinance is rather broadly defined as

"financial services for the poor or low-income"

This definition includes say... a community-based savings bank in Cambodia. The intent of such banks was to serve those that traditional banks could not or would not reach. Not going to find B of A there any time soon, and thank God. In more recent years though, this theory has taken to the web and spawned several microcredit services. Kiva, MicroPlace, and Prosper have all popped up and attempt to take advantage of the poor fill a niche.

Previously, I've payed almost no attention to any of these. As you may have gathered by now, we're rather debt-averse. I know that Kiva and Prosper were all the rage three or four years ago. People helping people. What's wrong with that? Well, it depends upon your definition of help.

What got my attention, was when a group at church discussed doing microfinance as a part of social justice. hmmmm....


The group, just finished with their 30 week Bible study course, was looking for ways to put what they had studied and discussed into action. That's great - prayer and Bible study should lead to more action. Then she hits us with this:

"We're also looking into microfinanace - where we can lend as little as $25 to help people in third world countries"

There is so much wrong with that short statement that I nearly fell out of my chair.

First - as a Christian, I'd direct you to Proverbs 22:7 which states that the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. I love it when God just tells it like it is. Are we looking to enslave, or empower?

Second - The Bible never uses debt to solve a problem. So why do we assume that lending = help? No one would disagree with helping those less fortunate, but how is this the solution?

Third - If we are really interested in helping these folks, why - as Christians - would you not just give them the money? If the money is truely the help they need (debatable), then why demand repayment and charge interest?

Now, the person presenting the idea is a sweet lady, and I was not about to overturn her table over this. Nor was it really the time to critique this or the other ideas being presented. So I chose to focus this on my inside voice.

Am I over-reacting? Or is it really as crazy as I think it is?

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We don't watch much TV here at the NtJS ranch. We have a few indulgences - The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser - and in the summer, America's Got Talent. There's plenty to love about this show. The eclectic group of judges - interestingly enough that 2 of the 3 are not from America. The incredibly talented contestants, and even those less so. And then there's that unexpected element.

Some would argue that's the best part.


Now some folks get jazzed up about the million dollar prize, and yes, this is a post about tithing. While some of the contestants are trying to make a name for themselves and get national exposure, undoubtedly most have their eyes on the $1M prize. Likely few of them are unaware of $100M contact that last year's winner secured.

Now just to make sure each contestant has the cash prize front of mind, host Nick Cannon periodically asks contestants what they would do with the million dollar prize. On Tuesday, he asked that question of Michael from Voices of Glory. Now the AGT website doesn't state their ages, but I'm going to guess that Michael is in middle school. When Nick asked his question, Michael hesitated. It was clear that he didn't have it spent 40 times over in his mind. Despite the groups religious overtones, his evetual response was definately unexpected.

"Well, first I would tithe"

Wow. Mature beyond his years. His answer definitely threw Cannon for a loop, who also surprised me in knowing that a tithe is 10%. Cannon pressed him further and Michael finally came up with that he would seek his father's help with the money. The phrase "seek wise council" comes to mind.

Also coming to mind, are a few questions....

1. Do you tithe?
2. If faced with a $1M windfall, would you first think to give a cut to the Lord?
3. Would your teenager?

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When you start to manage money the way God wants you to, you will be blessed. The blessings you receive can come in a variety of forms. We have seen it over and over again in different peoples lives as they start down the path of financial stewardship.

Like most things in life it is sometimes easier to see God working in other's lives instead of your own. However, when you take a step back you can see God at work in your own life. Here is how God has been working over time in our financial lives.

We have been working hard to save up enough money to put a new metal roof on our house. Our current shingled roof is very old and is in need of replacement. With the amount we set aside every month we would have the funds by June to replace it ourselves (not contracting it out).

Along with way several things happened. The first was that the Mr.'s annual bonus was cut to almost nothing. It would not be enough to cover the cost of our daughter's school tuition for next year. Our boiler also broke and the cost of repair made us think twice about fixing our 50 yr old boiler vs. replacing it.

The funds we needed were adding up fast. We were not sure what to do. But we prayed for God to give us direction. Then we waited and watched his plan unfold. First thing he did was make us remember that the Mr. had an all but forgotten savings account from his childhood. He never wanted to close it and we thought that there was only about $50 in it since it earned almost nothing in interest. We decided while working on taxes that it was time to close that account. That was when we found out how much was in it. There was $1,564 in the account! Which happened to be the amount we were short on for next year's tuition. We knew right away that God wanted our daughter to continue to go to the Catholic school and He provided the way this year. This would give us another 12 months to work the cost of tuition into our monthly budget but we were not sure how, yet.

After completing our taxes we were shocked to find out that we would be getting back over $4k! We had not expected to receive that large of a refund. We had never received more then $1,500 before so this made it even more unexpected. Since we didn't have plans for this money we went back and forth about what to do. We had already talked about putting off the roof one more year and using those funds to replace the boiler since they would cost about the same. We thought that the best use of the tax refund funds would be to save up for a new car since ours are getting up in age and miles. We also adjusted his withholdings so that we would not have such a large refund. This adjustment gave him a "pay raise" of $260 a month. Which happens to be the amount we needed to come up with a month for tuition! Once again we took the time to pray. We asked God for some more guidance and thanked Him for the tuition funds.

This time he was very clear about what he wanted done. That Sunday while we were getting ready for Church I heard a weird noise in the kitchen. When I turned the hallway corner and looked into the kitchen I was horrified. The roof was leaking and the hard rain we were receiving was pouring into our kitchen. After Church I started to smell something musty smelling in the living room. Two days later I realized that the roof was leaking around the living room fireplace. The ceiling around it was soft and musty. God made it very clear to us that we needed a new roof and we needed it now! Not in another year.

After God clarified our needs a little more I sat down with all our numbers. Our savings funds, our projected repair/replacement costs. We kept God's plan and signs in our minds as we discerned his will for us and his money (that we manage for him).

Here is the breakdown of our decisions.

• 2009/2010 tuition would be covered by bonus and closed savings account funds.
• Future tuition would be covered by the monthly savings added to the budget by the increased take home pay.
• Roof would be replaced by us but we are going to use higher end shingles to fit in our budget and make it easier for us to install w/ the help of friends.
• Boiler would be replaced w/ a high efficiency boiler using the tax refund along w/ a little from the roof fund.
  
• Car replacement fund would not see a dime. We will just make do for now and save up when we get some extra money.
  

It's amazing to see God working in our life when we just give him a chance. Have you seen God working with you on solving your money problems? Do you take the time to pray before making large financial decisions? Tell us your story!

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