Does Doing Your Bills Bring You Anxiety or Relief?

1 Timothy 6:10 – For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

There’s always talk abounding about the “haves” and “have nots.” This is especially a cause for stress and anxiety when you’re one of the “have nots.” One kind brings anxiety when doing their bills and the other finds relief that they can pay their bills.
 
Some people haven’t had any time when they were worried if there would be enough food for their family or if their bills would be paid. They grew up in a family where both parents had good jobs and they never knew what it was like to go without. For them, doing bills doesn’t cause them anxiety.
 
Then there are the fathers and mothers who feel guilty because even though they work hard, their paychecks are not enough to make ends meet.
 

1. Perhaps the “have nots” make do by living off their credit cards.
2. Others ask for help from their family and sometimes get turned down.
3. Still others work two jobs and are never home to watch their children grow up.
4. This leads to another kind of anxiety, the loss of family time.
5. And doing bills leads to much anxiety and no relief.

 

• The “haves” though they seem to have it all together, really don’t.
• There’s a cost of spending most of their time continuing to accrue wealth and buying more expensive homes and hanging around with “just the right movers and shakers.”
• They may not become anxious while doing bills but there is still a deep hole they can’t seem to fill.
• There is loss for this second group too, it’s loss of precious family time.

 
What’s a parent to do? There doesn’t seem to be a way for either the “haves” or the “have nots” to find balance. It’s okay to want to give your family your best or at least provide shelter, food to feed their families and be able to pay their bills.
 
How do successful people balance family time and the ability to pay their bills? Do they feel relief when they sit down to do their monthly bills?
 
Industryweek.com posts the article, “12 Key Strategies to Achieving a Work-Life Balance,” which provides for us some ideas on balancing life. A few of their ideas are track your time. Make a list of all the things you do each day and how much time you spend using it. This will show your priorities and give you a bird’s eye view on how you’re spending your time. Another way is determining your priorities. As you review your list of what you do each day, it may reveal how your priorities are off. One way is making time for you. Perhaps spend thirty minutes off your computer to take a walk or write a note to a friend. Find more ideas in the article.
 
It can be difficult to balance work-life and finances. But if you follow some of the advice in the article above you may find areas where you’re wasting time that could’ve been spent earning income. This will help you feel like you are more in the category of “haves” instead of “have nots.” It will also help you relax your anxiety when doing your bills.
 
Look at the Bible verse above. Loving money can indeed pierce you with many griefs. Be careful to check your motives and actions.

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