The Cost of Living

 

To start an article with the words “the cost of living” is like opening a can of worms because the subject is so large and depends on what your viewpoint is. Having said that, I will have to give some context so that whatever I say will be clearer to the reader.

I have been self-employed since 1991, which means that it has been 32 years since I last worked for a company. In the beginning, it was a disaster because I had no experience of how to run my own business. You would have thought being a former department manager that would have given me enough expertise in running a business, but it did not, and I was completely lost not knowing what to do.

For 13 years I struggled to make a living going from one idea to the next and many of them failed. Testimony to my determination, I continued doing all sorts of things just to make ends meet.

One day, out of shear desperation, I called out to the Lord for help. I said, “Just give me something that will work, please. I am tired of struggling all the time.” Thinking about it now why did I have to wait 13 years before asking for the Lord’s help?

Anyway, when the idea came it looked so insignificant and incomplete that I almost missed the opportunity altogether. Fortunately, I was prepared to listen and take one small step at a time all the while believing in that one idea. After deciding that the idea was the answer to my prayer, I focused all my attention and resources on building the idea into a business presentation/model.

After that, all I had to do was work my plan after planning my work.

Now that you know that I have been working for myself for a long time I want to say that I am just as vulnerable to sudden changes in the world economy as well as locally. You are also aware of the COVID-19 disaster and now my country is suffering from load shedding. That means that we have power cuts daily and at night where we have no electricity for extended periods of time. Things like that have made things difficult for us.

What helps us to cope with the cost of living is to keep a record of our income and expenses. With our book of records, we can see exactly when certain expenses need to be paid and ensure that the funds are there. It also helps us to budget and to live within our means. That is not always easy with food prices going up all the time. And now the petrol price has just skyrocketed.

Unfortunately, huge changes in circumstances become a much greater challenge, and we must make new plans to meet them. That is something I am going to be writing about as soon as I can.