An End to Plastic Purchasing

Like 99.9% of the world right now, money is quite tight in the Levy household. Unlike 99.9% of the world right now, I actually don’t mind. For the last six years, we’ve gone through so many financial ups and downs that now, I almost don’t notice. The more I grow my emuna, the more I know that G-d has all the money in the world, and that as long as I’m not going crazy booking Caribbean holidays or building an extra room or two onto my house, He will make sure we have enough for what we need.
 
But never in advance.
 
Always, but always, our overdraft slowly builds up until it gets to a level where it’s actually starting to be quite uncomfortable – and then, Bam! G-d sends us some sort of financial windfall, and we’re back to just having a ‘zero’ on our bank balance.
 
Still, nothing happens for nothing, so every time we start sliding into debt again, I go and have a chat with G-d about what other lifestyle changes He might want me to make, or what other character traits He might want me to work on.
 
This time round, I wasn’t really sure what else there was to discuss. I mean, we already pay 20% of our income to charity; we’ve already cut as much ‘surplus’ expenditure as possible; I’ve already got over being bothered by not having money and bouncing in and out of debt. What was left to look at?
 
The answer was: “quite a lot!”
 
I picked up a few of Rav Arush’s latest emuna CDs in Hebrew that have been talking about parnasah (income), and one in particular grabbed my attention. The main gist of it was that it’s G-d’s job to provide for a person, and as long as He wants a person to be down here, He will make sure that they are fed, housed and clothed.
 
Rav Arush explained that the main reason this equation breaks down is because people chase after expensive luxuries, instead of just being happy with the simple basics.
 
So far so good, but then Rav Arush started talking about how credit cards and check books cause people to build up ginormous debts that they then struggle very hard to repay.
 
I sat up and started to pay more attention. He basically said that if a person is serious about getting out of debt, they need to throw out all the cards and check books, and just pay for everything with cash.
 
I wondered if Rav Arush’s advice was really practical. I paid for everything with a swipe of the card. How would I buy more groceries, or fill up my car, or get the girls what they needed, if I didn’t have a card to pay for it all?
 
I sat on the fence for a few more days, and then, we got our first bank statement in a year delivered to our new address. I opened it. I gulped. And then I got up, walked over to the garbage, and cut my Israeli debit card into strips.
 
I kind of did it in a trance, but I figured, what’s the big deal? Let me do the experiment for a few days, and if it’s too hard to live without a card, I’ll order another one.
 
In the meantime, I called my husband at work, and told him that he needed to cash me some money – as I’d just cut my credit card up. My husband is used to me doing these sorts of experiments, so he didn’t bat an eyelid, and came back with the princely sum of 150 shekels (about $45) – which was all the bank machine would let him have.
 
Great! An end to plastic purchasing…
 
I put the money in my purse, all excited about how I was going to be a cash-buyer from now on. And then, I remembered my daughter had an eye test scheduled the next day, and now, I had no way to pay for it.
 
In the end, the optician was very nice, and let me bring the outstanding balance the next visit.
 
And in the meantime, I noticed a very strange thing: the 150 shekels that my husband was cashing for me most days managed to stretch to buy everything it needed to. It bought me gas for the car; it bought my daughter new shoes; it bought us Shabbat food, enough even for a load of guests.
 
In short, once I get used to doing things with cash, I barely noticed the difference. Yes, I’m going to the supermarket much less, and when I do go, I stick to buying what I need. Yes, I don’t really buy anything much on a whim anymore – but those ‘impulse’ buys used to cost me a fortune, and I normally really regretted wasting the money.
 
In short, every time I go shopping, I can feel G-d helping me to get what I need, without overspending.
 
Even more amazingly, two days after I cut up my credit card, my husband told me he’d just got another nice bonus from work, which is definitely helpful. Another few of those, and by-bye overdraft…
 
A lot of Rav Arush’s advice doesn’t always seem to make sense, particularly when you’ve had a Western education. A lot of it seems illogical, even naive. But every single time I try to follow his advice – whether it’s about feeling happier, treating people nicer, or getting out of debt – I find it works.
 
Where my own efforts have failed; where other people’s efforts have failed; where I don’t know what to do next – Rav Arush’s advice always works. You don’t have to believe me. Just do the experiment for yourself, and sit back and wait for the miracles to start happening.