what can you afford?

I had a shocking conversation with the nurses the other day. Do you know they have no idea how to decide if they can afford something or not. As in how much of their income should go towards their home.(37%) Well, maybe not so shocking after all. I think I found it shocking coming from a bunch of smart women. Truth be told, I never knew how to portion it out either. When I bought the house I have now, it was probably, more like definitely, more than I could afford. Now with double the income I used to have, it's about right. Deciding whether or not you can afford something does not include looking in your bank account to see if you have any money. Keeping a percentage of money for each category of your life is a far better way to figure it out. That way when life's little emergencies come up you have it in the bank instead of your emergency going on a credit card costing far more than it already is. The wise man saves for the future, but the foolish man spends whatever he gets” (Proverbs 21:20).
We should never depend on the bank to tell you what you can afford. They are not privy to every expense in your life, and truly have no way of knowing what you can afford. Not to mention it is not in their best interest for you to have a savings plan. In order to keep this economy going at the rate it was going, it includes for you to spend, spend, spend. I'm praying that we all learn this lesson and we never again see such a economic downturn in our country and in particular our private lives. God has left us a perfect blueprint for our money that I think is far more trustworthy than any bank out there.