I was working from home one day and I ran across an article on Yahoo that just stood out to me. It was called, 10 Reasons Why You’re Not Rich and was written by a man named Jeffrey Strain. It was less than 700 words but impacting.

I am going to bring you the points from his article, add some bible and opinion to it, and let you take an assessment to see if you are where you need to be. When I took an assessment I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, so I’m hoping it helps you. As women, we tend not to be as savvy about money mainly because we don’t understand it. For the local TLC group, we live in the poorest county of California. So we need good solid application.

1. No more excuses!

The first reason people give for not saving or being able to prosper is because they don’t make enough money, yet each time we are given the opportunity to prosper we spend more money. We are finally able to afford that “thing” that we think we’ve been missing. We lived fine before the “thing” and we need to determine why we want the “thing”. This question is about our heart issue with money.

Ecc 2:10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

When we read that passage, we see that the things we buy with our money aren’t prosperity. It only feels like it. Often times, we become slaves to the stuff. I have heard many of you say, “Now that I’m not getting any overtime, we are really hurting financially.” Well, overtime is just temporary. There isn’t a company in the world that runs prosperously on overtime. Instead of counting on the overtime, see it as an opportunity to save, or pay off debt. Begin to save your money. There will be times when a savings account will be necessary. You need to have at least 3 months worth of savings in the bank for emergencies. So the next time you see that beautiful pair of shoes, if you don’t have three months in savings then please don’t buy them.

Becoming a millionaire has more to do with how you treat money than what you earn. I know millionaires who did not make a lot of money. They saved a lot of money. Period. Treat your money with respect. There is a principle to money that needs to be respected. How many of you have found money in the washer or the dryer? It means you do not respect money. I know someone who found $200.00 in the garbage before. So if we are going to prosper we need to respect money and we need to stop making excuses for its misuse.