Steak and Hotdogs (guest post)

Today I have a special guest post from Rachel Snyder over at The Lazy Christian.  She has a fun way of writing blogs about faith including her own struggles.
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When I was 20, my dad helped me buy a car. At the beginning of the process, he told me to look around at cars and see what caught my eye. I hadn’t really looked at cars before, so this sounded like a good idea. After about a week, I decided that the Oldsmobile Alero was the one that had “the look” I liked. I shared this joyous information with my dad in the following fashion:

“Oh, delight! Oh, rapture! Father, I’ve found a car that suits me! The Alero is most pleasing to mine eye!”

I was an English major. I’m sure it sounded exactly like that. My father’s response was as such:

“Rachel, that’s a $30,000 car! You want steak on a hot dog budget!”

Far less eloquent, but I got the point. No Alero. I got a little Saturn, and that thing (Romeo, if you want to know his name) just had its 10th birthday and is still running like new.

Last week while we were on vacation, we had cable. We don’t typically, so I tried to sneak little moments of TLC or HGTV here and there. On some house-hunting show, the host told the couple, “You want champagne on a beer budget.” Same idea! The couple had tastes that were out of their budget, so they were trying to find an inexpensive house they could fix to look expensive.

Then there were other shows where people seemed to have unlimited funds to do whatever crazy things they wanted to their home. A $10,000 chandelier from the 1840s in the bathroom? Sure! Decorative fire pits next to your pool and spa, which are next to your designer outdoor kitchen and living room? Of course! I’ve always wanted to build a house right outside of my existing house.

That’s what happens when you have a steak budget and you actually opt for the steak, I guess.

But all that opulence got me to thinking: What’s my mindset? I don’t want steak on a hot dog budget. I don’t want to live outside my means. But if I had a giant bank account, would I want to spend like crazy? Live in a palatial estate with every convenience possible?

I think I’d feel—greedy.

We’re a one-income family, but we’ve managed to budget so that we feel comfortable. We’re tithing enough, we’re saving enough, we have what we need. But my new goal is to act like I have a steak budget and opt for the hot dog. Be content with just enough. Learn how to be comfortable with less.

Ugh. It’s so counterculture, though. Everyone wants more! Bigger houses that fit more stuff! Bigger cars, too! I need a giant suburban assault vehicle to go to the grocery store! I can’t settle for less! This is the American dream!

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. – 1 John 2:15-17

Then again, if you make it a choice, then you’re not settling. You are actively saying, “This is what I want. This is what I choose. This is how I am called to live, so this is how it’s going to be.”

Easy to say, right? Not quite so easy to do. I think I need to start by never watching HGTV again. And then find ways to choose the hot dogs over the steak.

Any suggestions?



© Rachel Snyder/The Lazy Christian 2011