Living with Margin

Last spring my wife got really sick unexpectedly. She couldn't get over the bug and eventually I caught the same thing. We had House Fever.

My wife caught it first and began searching for her dream home online. Eventually we found ourselves driving all over Nashville. We drove around after work, weekends and any spare time we could find in our schedules.

We found the house of our dreams - a 3,000-square-foot, brand-new home in southern Davidson County. We put the house under contract in the spring. It felt as though we visited the house nearly every day.

When construction started, we were emotionally connected with the house. This was our home. We shared the good news with friends and family. Our 1,100-square-foot condo in Bellevue found itself on the market and being toured by strangers nearly every Sunday while we left it behind and visited our new home.

By the time fall came the house was nearly finished and the economy had begun to unravel.

My wife's job security and income stability were in doubt and money in my accounts receiveables was evaperating along with the credit market my clients depended on for projects.

Three weeks before we were to buy our dream home, we had to take a long, hard look at the big picture and be honest.

Our condo had not sold. Bottom feeders and people without credit were the only ones making offers. Cobbling together the loan for the new house meant lines of credit, advances on income, etc. It was so tempting.

We prayed a lot. We opted to cancel the contract three weeks before the closing. It was the most difficult decision of our marriage. We felt sick, crest fallen. Our condo was happy, however.

We nestled back into our condo reluctantly. It's small, but perfectly sized for us. For now, it'll do.

And now to the point.

My wife was laid off three weeks ago. We thank God for not answering our prayers for a new house.

In the new home, our savings would be depleted. Stress levels would be significantly higher and pushed to the brink. In the condo, we are comfortable and not stressed out. My wife is looking for a job, but not worried about paying our mortgage.

In short, we have financial margin. We are blessed by God for this.

I think there is a lot we can learn, or be reminded of, from the "Greatest Generation." Live below your means. Pay yourself first. Don't live on credit. Don't succumb to immediate gratification.

There is peace when people live within the margin. It's part of God's plan to keep us sane and stress free.

Don't tuck your head underneath the bed covers in fear or stick your head in the sand to ignore this recession. Let's all lick our wounds and learn the lessons of this economy. Let's do more window shopping and less leveraging of our future income with credit - even long after the recession ends.