A Little Toothpaste & A Concert In The Park

‘Comfort Items’ includes a range of things. Personal hygiene, entertainment, and recreation are ‘predominant’.

When it comes to personal hygiene, we all want to look and smell our best. We should be interested in taking care of ourselves, like with dental care. (Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”) That does not mean we have to pay top dollar or buy the worldly view on consumption.

How much toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, or shaving cream is used? If one looks at the advertisements (toothpaste for example) one ‘must’ use a huge amount. How much is used and how much gets washed down the drain? Try using 1/3, 1/2, or even 1/4 the amount on the box. Is the job done? Using the toothpaste example, if one uses 1/2 the toothpaste on the box picture, one buys toothpaste half as often, and one saves money. The same is true of shampoo, deodorant, and shaving cream. Start reducing the use of these in small quantities until one finds the balance between ‘enough’ and ‘not-enough’. Again, this will surprise one, and can save money.

[Laundry is here because the principle is the same. Wash clothes in cold/cold water. Use less detergent than is recommended in the instructions. Here we have extremely hard water (hard water rinses soap out faster than soft water). Using half the detergent on the instructions still results in seeing soap suds in the final rinse water. The clothes are supposed to be clean already. At the final rinse, why is there still soap in the water? There is too much soap used. Hot water and soft water are worse. Using half the soap recommended, the clothes still get clean - less is wasted.] We did not say “switch brands”, we said “use less”. Most people become ‘comfortable’ with a specific brand name especially with personal hygiene, so do not mess with the brand name, address the quantity. (There are less expensive ‘store’ brands of items that might bear experimenting with - mouthwash for example. Compare the active ingredients between the name brand and the store brand. Try it out…if it is not liked, finish using it, and then switch back. It does not cost anything extra, and may result in savings.)

Entertainment is an area that may bear attention. Often one is too busy to ‘be entertained’ and it is a treat more than a part of everyday activities. Consider movies, and theaters. How many movies could one rent for the price of admission to a theater? One has to wait until the movie is released to the video market. So what, patience is a virtue. Besides, how many movies are there out there that one really wants to see anyway? How many edify Christ? Really, besides the ‘classics’ like ‘The Ten Commandments’ (already on video) how many movies in the last year, last five years, or even last ten years have truly edified Christ. One, maybe two come to mind. All right, so one has seen some that are not edifying, ask this question, “Would I watch this movie if Jesus was sitting in the theater with me?” He is.
Just about every town has an insert in the local paper or free newspaper advertising free or minimal cost local entertainment. Concerts in the park, school plays, and arts and crafts shows happen year round in most places. Try it, one might have fun. Sports fanatics might actually enjoy watching the local little league soccer, baseball, and football teams, even if they do not have their own children in the game.
Recreation follows the same lines as entertainment. A friend has a ‘turbo-super-fantastic-all the bells and whistles’ ski boat. It looks awesome with that big V-8 engine, and chrome exhaust sticking out the rear. The only place one views it is in his garage. He is so busy paying for it he never uses it. (I admit, I have a couple of ‘toys’ myself that though paid for, have never been used, or at best, I have not gotten my money’s worth out of their use.) Paying to play to be part of the ‘in-crowd’ is never worth it. If others do not accept a person for who they are, then no toys, sports, and stuff in world will change that. Their toys might be accepted, but the person is just used. Do not try to justify or rationalize entertainment and recreation (like golf) as a method of gaining ‘approval’ and ‘promotion’ from peers, bosses or subordinates. Psalm 75:6 says, “For exaltation comes neither from the east Nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.” Luke 2:52 says, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” There is nothing wrong with, and everything right with praying Luke 2:52 for one’s self. “Lord, I pray you increase my wisdom and stature, in favor with You and men.” James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Increase your favor with God by obeying Him. Get out of debt. He will continue to take care of the rest.