Pay More, Get More?

From the Salvation Army, you're listening to Wonderful Words of Life. Welcome back to Wonderful Words of Life. I'm Cheryl Gillum.

And I'm Bernie Dake. We're glad that you're back. We hope that you are finding this series to be beneficial to you as we have been speaking with Mike Harris.

Today, he and I start with a word of caution. Consumers beware. Cheryl, you've probably seen some ads that are maybe a little misleading, like you can buy a new car and not pay anything on it for six months. Have you seen those?

I have seen those, yes. I mean, that's cool. But what you're doing is really putting yourself in a lot of debt in a very unsure time, perhaps. Right. And for me, I appreciate that people are trying to find ways to market and make money. That's important for those companies that want that almighty dollar. But at the end of the day, I'm even more excited about people, particularly in the banking industry, that are saying, we understand if you're having trouble making your payments, we're okay to extend your mortgage six months so that instead of paying for these six months, let's worry about this on the back end. That's a different kind of a level of responsibility, I think, particularly to the people that are being loaned money.

And I'm grateful for those institutions. Absolutely. But consumers beware. Cheryl, what are some things that you might have seen that are people just clearly trying to get you to spend more money? Well, I mean, on a smaller scale, you know, you have those buy 10 items for $10 gigs and BOGOs, which I mean, BOGOs can be helpful, but not when you're shopping just for BOGOs. The buy one, get one. I have to admit, like early on, I did buy like just from the list of BOGOs and you just quickly realize it's not practical.

It's not what you need. And you're overspending, right? Absolutely. And in this world of social media where we're being fed advertisements nonstop as consumers, we should be a little suspicious when something looks too good to be true. Absolutely. On a popular shopping site that will remain nameless, they have lightning sales that only last a few hours.

I mean, how enticing is that, right? I had a friend that saw a lightning sale for AirPods that were a fraction of what they should cost and he bought them. After waiting a month for delivery, he ended up returning them because they were the worst headphones that he's ever heard.

That actually happened to Laura and I. Really? Yeah. Someone said, these are the best earphones you can buy or AirPods you can buy. They're just something you put in your ear and through the Bluetooth connection of your phone.

I think they were like $29. But the connection was terrible. And they didn't work and they wouldn't charge properly. It's very frustrating. So not everything that glitters is gold. Right. Right. So as always, we'd love to hear from you, our listeners. What lessons have you learned? Find us on social media or send an email to radio at USS.SalvationArmy.org.

Or you could call 1-800-229-9965. Now we're going to let you hear a small portion of a brand new single released by the Salvation Army's band Transmission. This song is called Unfailing God and it features Rachel Wiley, our first full-time female member of the band. I'm so proud of these guys and we hope that you'll enjoy it.

You'll be able to download this at all the normal streaming sites. And if you'd like to see a really cool lyric video, check it out on YouTube. It's called Unfailing God. And we'd love for you to know that there's one thing our God cannot do, and that is fail. You've always been faithful to me, and whatever life brings, I'll trust in you goodness. You've always been faithful to me.

You've always been faithful to me, so faithful. God be the glory and love. God be the glory and love. God be the glory and love. God be the glory and love. To God be the glory and love. To God be the glory and love.

Welcome back everybody. I say it every week, but really it's a privilege to have Mike here. To know Mike is to love him.

He's a cuddly character. He's a fine musician and a father and a husband, but he's a financial secretary for the Salvation Army, which means he oversees all of the finances for the state of Texas, which is one of the largest Salvation Army divisions in the world. I mean, no pressure, Mike, but you have a daunting responsibility. I do, but God is no less or more in Texas than he is anywhere else.

So it's a case of just making sure we rely on him, even on the tough days. Amen. Mike, you have been around the world. You have shopped in some of the finest establishments, I'm sure. But have you ever seen this idea, buy one, get one or buy two, get the third one at a discount? Have I ever seen it? Yes.

Yes, I have. In fact, I always remember this friend of mine. There was a health store going out of business. And if you look at the guy, you'd say he's the least healthy person you've ever seen. But nonetheless, for him, he's a bargain hunter.

So he goes to this sports place and he buys this sort of weight machine and he gets it. I mean, it was actually a very good price. He's like 75% off.

I mean, they're good out of business. So he gets it, brings it home. And I was discussing it with him. I said, that's a great deal, that. And he said, yeah, he said, I almost went back to buy another one. And I said, well, why would you get another one? What would you do with it?

And he stopped and he went, don't know. And I said to him, it's only a bargain if you need it. That's right. Just because it's 75% discounted, you just spent 25, the other 25% when you didn't need to.

That's right. That's the trap we fall into, I think. Or as consumers, you know, you're always looking for a great deal. Our producer was telling us a story about a place that he worked that had $1 items. You know, they were all over the store, $1 items. But a manager suggested to him that they do these bins, 10 for 10.

And you could watch the people walk past the bin and load up on the 10 items. At the end of the day, they all still cost a dollar. But because you thought you were seeing a sale, you bought more. And this is a trap that we fall into as consumers. You have money.

It doesn't mean you need to spend the money. Absolutely. Yeah. My parents are retired ministers, retired Salvation Army officers. And I love the way that they do life together in retirement, particularly when they're eating out.

Neither one of them are elite athletes, if you will. They've actually kept their weight off. I think the world sees America as an obese country and rightly so. Yeah, I think there's so much gluttony in our country in particular. But what my parents do, which is both a nutritional decision and a financial decision, is they go to a restaurant and they will order a single entree and split it immediately. Because inevitably the portions are too big. The cost is such that, you know, if you bought two, it really would be too much.

And you're never going to finish it or it's never going to taste as good after you've reheated it in your microwave. So they'll split an entree. They've spent half the money. They've gotten just what they need.

And life still goes on. Yeah, I love that approach. And take away the nutritional side. You've literally halved the price of the meal. And if you get a water, I mean, I used to drink sodas and I used to like the idea of them being refilled.

If you look at that ticket at the end, you've just probably paid about three dollars for that soda. Yeah. So if you eliminate that as well and get water, you can actually eat quite affordably by going out, splitting the meal and getting that water and avoid appetizers and avoid the desserts because they hike those numbers up considerably.

That's right. Now, for our listeners in particular, I want to make sure you understand what we're saying. Life doesn't have to be about keeping yourself from enjoying a sale if it's a bargain or enjoying a meal and even having leftovers. But at the end of the day, if you just sort of take a moment to think about, am I going to eat this if it's leftover?

Am I going to use 10 frisbees for my one dog because they were in the bin at one dollar apiece? I think if we just every once in a while stop and analyze what we're about to do financially, we could probably avoid some pitfalls, particularly in our society, just the way that we're set up. The society is set up for us to spend more, get more, have more. We don't need more. We've got everything we need. And we can find a real peace about that, particularly in living out our faith life. And there's a comfort that comes with the idea that God has provided everything that we might need. Amen. Amen to that.

Well, I mean, obviously we need clothing. My tailor has something of a monopoly, but in most places you've got choices to go to. Bernie, back in the day, and you may remember this, when I lived in England, I worked in the retail world. And the first company I worked for, which is no longer in business, that's probably a good thing.

I was very young when I worked for these guys. When a sale would come, the price would go up. Interesting thought, isn't it?

Not much, but just up a little bit. Because no one's really monitoring, no one's really paying attention to what the prices are. But that word sale just catches people's attention.

Yeah, it draws your eye. Seems to be a bit smarter when you're shopping. Quite honestly, I prefer to go to a store that doesn't really have much in the way of sales. I can be pretty comfortable with the price, but I go into some stores and they're continually having sales.

Don't be fooled by that. Be smart with when you shop and get what you need. Yeah, and we don't want to take anything away from local retail shops or people that are actually making their living by selling product or resources to individuals. But with the internet technology, you can actually compare prices pretty quickly. Most of you probably are listening to this on a smartphone or a computer, which means you have internet access. If there's something you just can't live without, take a day and just look up where you can purchase it and see if there's maybe a more affordable option.

But now don't be shocked. If you're ordering it from online, you might have to pay shipping. You need to weigh all of those things. But at the end of the day, take a moment, take a breath and just consider what you're trying to do. And that way you'll be able to feel a little bit more peaceful about the purchases that you're making.

And again, the idea of sale is to the impulse buyer. Yeah. Whereas we want to be planners. Yeah. And plan on our purchases.

So I think that's the big difference. I want to encourage you to plan on joining us next week to hear even more about living within our financial means with our special guest, Major Mike Harris. God bless you. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

And we would love to hear from you. Email us at radioatuss.salvationarmy.org. Call 1-800-229-9965 or write us at P.O.

Box 29972, Atlanta, Georgia, 30359. When you contact us, we'll send you our gift for this series. It's totally free for listeners like you, one per household while supplies last. You can also subscribe to our show on iTunes or your favorite podcast store and be sure to give us a rating. Just search for Wonderful Words of Life. Follow us on social media for the latest episodes, extended interviews, and more. And if you don't have a church home, we invite you to visit your local Salvation Army worship center. They'll be glad to see you. This is Bernie Dake inviting you to join us next time for the Salvation Army's Wonderful Words of Life.