On a Scale of 1-10: How Important is Money to You?

I recently started reading "Smart Couples Finish Rich" by David Bach. One of the questions he asks early in the book is "On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being "money is the root of all evil," and 10 being "money is more important to be than anything else"), ask yourself, how important is money to me?

I really had to stop and think about this one, I think money really is a bit of both.  I thought about it, and I came up with 6 at this point in my life.

I have to emphasis that I say at this point in my life for several reasons.  One of my top three priorities right now is getting out of debt and getting on the right track with money.  Obviously money being in my top three priorities shows that is it important to me.

Another one of my top three priorities is my family. Right now, our family consists of just my husband and I, but we are hoping to be able to add another soon.  One of my dreams is to be a stay at home Mom.  I would have to rely on my husbands income in order to stay at home, so his income is important.  We need money for him to take school courses, the more education he has, the more opportunities he will have in his field.  I am lucky to work at a wonderful non profit organization, but reality is, I don't make a lot of money there.  I also don't have a university degree and so I most likely don't have as high of earning potential. (There's always those exceptions out there though).

Money is important to me, but it's important in a way that I can use it to take care of my family and have a little fun too. It's not important to me to have a big house, or a brand new Mercedes.  That might be important to some people which is fine but I have chosen different goals.

David Bach continues by asking "What do you think your partner's answer is?" and "What is your partner's answer?".  I had a bit of trouble thinking what my husband might answer.  I thought he might answer a 3 or 4.  He has the same goal of me being a stay at home Mom and he wants our finances under control.

Before my husband and I started dating, he was really good with money.  Sure, he was a boy and bought his  "toys", his video games and dvd's, but he also saved a lot and paid his own education with no help and no loans!  It was very impressive to me!  I have to admit, I was the one who got him to spend a little more freely, but I think I taught him it's ok to have a little fun.  We still differ slightly on what we like to spend our "fun" money on.  He still likes games but I really enjoy food.

My Husband's answer was 5.  So a 5 and a 6, we aren't that far off.  I think that will help us work together in the long run. Now off to read more of the book!