Some people think I’m just cheap, and after you read this blog, you might agree with them.

However, I think of it differently.  I’ve learned to be content without constantly buying new things.  I had to learn to do without in my early-married years when Dawn and I both worked part-time jobs while going to school.  We continued it when the children starting coming and I had a job I loved but which didn’t pay very much.  (I was a pastor of a small church with a corresponding small salary.)  It continued, as Dawn and I found ways to raise 9 children and still be generous in giving to God and other ministries.

Somewhere along the line, while counting pennies and doing without, I learned to be content with only a little.  And now that God has blessed us and money is not quite as tight, I’m still content without a lot of new purchases.

Think I’m cheap?  Let me give you some examples:

• Before our first child was born, Dawn and I purchased a nice used crib for $50.  It lasted us for 8 of our 9 children.  We took it apart and repainted it twice.  And we had to replace the mattress.  It fell apart before our last child . . . so we borrowed one.
• My car is 11 years old and has over 250,000 miles on it.  It’s been on family vacations, youth camps, children’s camps, and back and forth to church more times than I can count.  It has the original engine and transmission, and all of the squeaks, rattles, scars, and quirks that you might expect from a car that old, but it still runs and looks . . . decent.
• I’m writing this blog on a desk I purchased with money from my first job over 40 years ago.  This desk got me through High School, College, and Seminary.  I still use it at home on a regular basis.
• On that same desk, there is a phone/alarm clock combo that was purchased sometime in the early 1980′s.  It still takes phone calls and plays an annoying version of “Ode to Joy” to wake me up.
• Our bedroom dresser was given to Dawn and I when we get married.  It was used at the time we received it, and it’s now been used for an additional 35 years.
• I bought a used freezer for $25 about 25 years ago.  It was over 20 years old at the time, but it still works well today.  (Of course, I do have to manually defrost it once per year, but I can live with that.  I empty it and put it in the garage for a summer afternoon and it’s good for another year.)
• I have a nice leather jacket that I wear on the rare occasions inArizonain which I might need one.  My brother gave it to me about 12 years ago.
• At least half of the pots and pans we use today were given to us as wedding gifts in 1978.

Understand that I am not complaining, nor am I seriously considering replacing any of these things.  (Well, to be honest, I do think about replacing my car-to-car from time to time, but I’m going to try for 300,000 miles first.)  The truth is that I have slowly and painstakingly learned a lesson that God tries to teach all of us–to be content.  That contentment saves me a lot of money and keeps me from getting into the financial trouble that plagues those who must have the newest and the latest.  It enables me to give generously to God’s work without worry.  It allows me to pay the grocery, medical, and education bills for a large family, and still have some left over.  And it allows for the occasional splurge without guilt.

Cheap?  Or content.

It’s all in your perspective.