We spent the first half of today partaking in garage sales. We had a few items we were looking for for us (some of which we found, including a $11 tool chest marked for $37) but primarily we went looking for good quality, reasonably priced (i.e. prices just like limbo ... "how low can you go") toys, clothes and books for the children in the Philippines. A couple of weeks back we were able to send two good sized boxes filled to the brim to Manila (they should be getting there in about a week!) and we had enough fun with the project that we are filling up another box, perhaps this will be an ongoing endeavor? We spent approximately 25 dollars on clothing, which purchased approximately 100 pieces of clothing (maybe 98 more pieces than we'd get if we purchased new clothes), or about a quarter per item. More encouragingly we were able to briefly discuss our project with some of the people hosting the sales, some of which provided extra goods. Amanda has a boatload of fun just going through the tiny outfits, more fun than she would have if we went to a movie, which would have cost ... you guessed it... approximately 25 dollars!
Second half of today was spent, almost in complete opposition to the first half, at the "Taste of Lexus", which is an event that Lexus puts on to convince people of the necessity of a luxury car (come on, you deserve it). We were invited by some friends and figured that it'd be fun to hang out, besides, the event was complete with food. I have to admit that the cars were fancy and catered to my senses. I was encouraged though that Amanda and I had the same overall reaction, namely that there is no need to spend this much for a car. We'd get more total enjoyment (in economic speak "more/greater utility") from driving "just" the Hyundai that we have and giving the rest away, than to purchase a Lexus (or any of these fancy cars) at double the price (than the Hyundai). So long as the car keeps us safe, is efficient, and has a CD player (which I need) we're set.
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2 comments:
Your Lexus comments made me think of Jay response a biy ago, when I asked him what he would do with any of these huge sums of money being talked about lately.
He said, "Tithe, taxes. pay off house, probably replace your car and give the rest away."
"What?" I asked, teasing, "No kit plane? No house next to an airstrip?"
His answer:
"Just paying off the house will give us more money a month than I know what to do with."
We've frequently thought that if we were to come across a large sum of money we'd invest [a portion of] it such that it would provide an income stream large enough to support our own missions work.
For example: If you have $1 million in the bank, even at a conservative 5% return that's $50,000 a year you could siphon off and use to self-support your ministry. This would provide an opportunity to do a lot of good around the world.
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