Look at what you do have, not what you don't:
* Throw away those catalogs before you ever open them
* Especially avoid the mall after a bad day, or when depressed and fatigued
* Don't just browse-shop with a specific plan of what you'll buy, but allow for some flexibility and forgiveness when you veer way off course
* Flip off the TV - "Television is the primary force in the material world," says James Twitchell, author of Lead Us into Temptation; the Triumph of American Materialism
* Discover healthier pleasures to satisfy your needs-warm bath, vigorous workout
* Start a journal, writing down the simplest pleasures
* Travel to a third world country, take your family on a missions trip
* Count your blessings every day as you awake
* Write out your own definition of wealth; list what you most value: (health, friends, family, books, skills, reputation, intellect, ideas, creativity)
* Read biographies of people who have not pursued wealth, or who have given up wealth for greater ends
* Read about the poor, or a biography of someone growing up poor
* Volunteer for an evening at a shelter for the homeless

Eva: How can women separate their emotions from their spending?

Sharon: We can't, and we don't need to. We're women; therefore, we emote. We can, however, inject some reason and intellect into our spending decisions to hopefully dissuade or outwit our powerful feelings. We need to get to know our weaknesses-our propensities to overspending. Then we can go into battle-er, the mall or the Kate Spade boutique-prepared with tactics for not just survival, but happy victory.

Eva: What's the ideal relationship between a woman and her money?

Sharon: Aretha Franklin can answer that one for us. The relationship between a woman and her money must be established on the same basis as the ideal relationship between a woman and a man: that is, one of deep R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Don't take money for granted; be completely honest about what it can and cannot do for you; don't be swayed into thinking you can use it to fulfill your every need or desire. No man can "complete" you-that is, fulfill all your needs. Neither can money satisfy. True, lasting satisfaction and happiness come from within, not from externals such as other people, money, and possessions. The paradox is: the sooner we recognize this truth, the healthier, happier, and more fulfilling will be our relationships with other people, money, and possessions. By changing our perspective and expectations, we are free to have deeper, mutually respectful, and satisfying relationships.

Eva: Sharon, would you close us out with a prayer for those women who have been used and abused by the money issues of life?

Sharon: Father God, who created all and owns all, who knows our daily needs, and our deepest desires: Thank you for everything you have given us, including money and possessions. We also thank you, painful as it sometimes is, for what you have kept from us. Help us when we think we don't have enough-when our bank account goes nowhere but down, and our expenses nowhere but up. We trust you with our needs, fears, anxieties, desires, and hopes. We give you our needs, fears, anxieties, desires, and hopes. Teach us to trust you with the money we do have, and the money we don't. Forgive us for our money mistakes, and help us to forgive ourselves for those mistakes. May our earning, spending, saving, investing, borrowing, loaning, and giving, honor you. Amen.