Article January 24, 2005 Issue

coming in on budget

By Lyle Young

During the 14 years we've been married, my wife and I have found that a spiritual approach provides a strong basis for financial decisions. Sometimes our decisions haven't been based on a realistic assessment of our revenue, expenses, and assets, but on what we felt God was guiding us to do.

For example, immediately after we married, we lived for a few years in a small apartment. We were grateful to have it, but it soon began to feel cramped. We both come from large families, and wanted to be able to have relatives and friends visit us. Also, our bedroom doubled as my workspace.

When we went to our building's rental office to see if a larger apartment was available, the manager showed us two, one of which had a layout that we thought would be good for us. Located just below the penthouse level, its two balconies allowed a 210-degree view of the city of Ottawa. But the rent was much more than we were paying—and we were already struggling.