About a year and a half ago we were given the opportunity to take a Financial Peace course through our church, by Dave Ramsey. Until this point I had never really heard of Dave Ramsey, or financial peace for that matter. It ended up being a great course and I recommend it to anyone that wants to get their finances in order. I could talk for a bit about all of the good that has come from us taking this course but one of the best things is the idea of budgeting. Up until then, we had never made a budget... and I don't know how we didn't fall way into the red- ouch! We were just paying bills as they came in and spending willy-nilly. Yikes!
Through the financial peace course we used a budget worksheet designed for the program (which you can find if you just google search it). There are 3 pages. We don't fill in everything but it helps us to have a mental checklist for the month when determining things for which we need to set aside some dough. Budgeting is a way to be intentional with your money, making it work for you. You have to be disciplined and do what you can to stick to your budget once you make it. You have to give yourself an incubation period to get your budget settled on amounts of money for things like groceries and gasoline that don't leave you starving or walking. Budgeting has changed our lives and our financial futures.
With all that in mind... we have not been following the Financial Peace plan as closely as we could be. For example, the program calls for spending more cash and less card-swiping. Do you know that you tend to spend 12-18% more when you swipe than when you pay cash? Did you also know that you tend to spend the same amount more and on top of that when you just "tap" a card instead of swipe one, if you have a card with those capabilities? Very interesting. Anyway, we have been bad about going to the bank and getting cash out on paydays. Because of this I had to work out what we had already spent for the month to determine how much money I had left for groceries. $62. That's not much. I went to the store.
At the store I purchased enough to get us through the week. Enough for three dinners and lunch for me and the girls. I also purchased food to make a friend of mine a meal. I got a garment bag to house the dress I am currently working on. And on the way to the checkout I had the urge to pick-up one of those pre-packaged bags of food for the local food bank. I had no idea how much I spent but I was hoping it was under $62. The cashier rang everything up- $61.10. Praise God! Budget saved. Disaster diverted.
The point is that no one is perfect but financial peace is possible and budgeting is ESSENTIAL. If you don't currently budget, give it an honest try and see how you feel knowing exactly what your money is being spent on. It is liberating. It takes discipline but do you really need another pair of shoes? Always consider your circumstance compared to others who have less and not those who have more. All we really need to live is food, water and love. The rest is just a bunch of stuff someone is going to go through after you leave. I'm not trying to be grim- I'm being for real.
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