When I worked for Disney Cruise Line, we were paid every week since dozens of crew members would rotate off and dozens more would rotate on every Sunday.   

For my particular role as the ship DJ, I worked 7 days a week for 5 months straight.

In fact, nobody on board the ship had any days off during their entire contract. After my 5-month contract was over, I was then required to come back to NM to take 2 months off. Bartenders and servers had 9 months on and 3 months off. The captain had the sweetest contract of all with 2 months on, 2 months off, yet was paid 6 figures for the 6 months of the year he actually worked. Not a bad gig.

Every week on payday, the crew bar went nuts. To be honest, the crew bar went nuts every night, but it was especially crazy on payday.

The crew bar closed at 2:00a each morning, and considering I didn’t get off until 2:00a, the crew bar experience was something I hardly ever witnessed during my 3 contracts aboard the ships.

The few times my shift ended early enough to venture past the crazy drunken dance party in the crew bar on my way to my stateroom, I was shocked at what I discovered each time.

What I witnessed was that the crew bar was waaaay crazier than any of the public bars or clubs aboard the ship. Furthermore, on payday, it just became a free-for-all with crew members buying drinks for other crew members.

It wasn’t uncommon at all for one crew member to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the crew bar.

In other words, it wasn’t uncommon at all for a crew member to blow their entire paycheck in just one night! In fact, it wasn’t uncommon at all for a crew member to blow their entire paycheck in just a few seconds!

To make matters worse, many of those same crew members had spouses and kids back in their home country who relied on the income from the crew member. Those family members were waiting for funds to be transferred to their accounts once the crew member got paid on payday.

Tragically, because of reckless impulse spending, the money transfers so many families were patiently awaiting never showed up. Due to the irresponsible crew member who blew their entire paycheck on something so meaningless and trivial, the families back home suffered. For many, this was the routine every… single… week.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a rare occurrence in the crew bar. This happened all the time! It was just part of the crew life.

People would get money they needed, and spend it on things they didn’t.

With the stimulus checks getting depositing into millions of bank accounts today, I’m reminded of my days aboard the cruise ships.

I’m sure many people are excited to see money in their account that wasn’t there yesterday. And with that excitement, many people are likely tempted to buy that thing they’ve been wanting for a while.

Friends, don’t be reckless with your stimulus!

Just because you have money in your account today doesn’t mean you should blow it on something so trivial and meaningless tomorrow!

The intent of the stimulus check is to help provide for basic necessities, such as food, rent, mortgage and utilities.

Look at the words of the Apostle Paul to his young protege, Timothy:

“[I]f we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” –Paul (1 Timothy 6:8-9)

Don’t allow foolish and harmful desires to plunge you into ruin and destruction. Be smart. Be frugal. Be wise.

Don’t squander away in 60 seconds what could help sustain you for 60 days.