Are you living beyond your means?
 

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Nope, 4 kids in a 2 bed 1 bath house. Only debt is mortgage which will be paid off in 5 years. We are going to add on soon though. Going to talk to contractors next month I hope. It is getting a bit crowded.

I think most people that are in fact living beyond their means don't really believe that they are.

First define "living beyond your means," then it will be easier to answer your question.

Is it a simple "rev > expenses" approach?

I use the same definition approach as the apostles.

I had considered posting about my church's sermon yesterday. Keep in mind that I go to a bubblegum church. One of the criticisms of these mega churches is that they're all grace and no works. That they never want to step on anybody's toes or make anybody uncomfortable. This one is in a pretty affluent area where everybody drives luxury cars and the kids all go to private school.

Well yesterday he didn't pull any punches. He said, hey, if you're upset about the economy because your stocks plummeted, or because you can't make your house payments anymore, or because you're upside down in your SUV and can't find anybody to buy it...well, don't come crying to me. If you'd been living by biblical principles you'd never have found yourself in a 4500 s.f. house driving two Escalades on $150k per year.

I was impressed.

Any idea what the pastor's salary is? The late Adrian Rogers who built the Bellevue Baptist megachurch in Memphis (seating 7500) was pulling down over $1 million per year from his sermons and radio show.

I have no idea. They don't live the life, so to speak. They're certainly not up to Archaean standards. They drive corollas and live in a very average neighborhood. But they may be putting away a ton. A lot of the pastors out here pull a very healthy salary.

Probably. It seems to be human nature to spend what you have, plus a little more. I'm not much of a spender in general, but I'm certainly not living all that frugally (compared to what I could be doing).

It's also easy for people to point to their lives and the areas where they sacrifice or that seem more "grounded" and gloss over the areas where they spend. There are so many areas in which we spend and save, so many different sources of credits and debits, it's easy to make yourself believe you're okay when you're gradually sliding into financial difficulty, which is why I would expect the poll to reveal that virtually no one here is in this category.

Wow, we are kindred spirits. I have 4 kids in a 3 bed 2 bath house of about 1400 sq/ft. We like the place. I have 9 years left on my mortgage and I bought it at a rock bottom price of $90K. Other than our home we have no debt.