Money Matters

If you are struggling financially, you must consider budgeting your money. You need to know where your money is going for a number of reasons.

1.Your money is on loan from the Lord and He expects you to be a careful steward of it.
2. You can't fix the leak if you don't know where the hole is!
3. It takes discipline to stay on track financially and this is the best place to start.
4. It is very important for a couple to be like-minded financially. Starting a budget will allow you to sit down and talk about it while you face the reality of your income on paper.
5. Budgeting allows you to plan ahead for things like Christmas, medical bills, car repairs, etc. You save monthly for the bigger bills that hit you at once.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Here are some great resources to get you started. Don't forget to check your local library as well!

Budgeting Ideas:

• Dave Ramsey Envelope System
• If you use envelopes, you’ll like this idea of “prettifying” them.
• Larry Burkett’s financial books from Amazon
• Google his name and you can find many more
• My favorite Budget Template (in Excel)
• This is the budget system that we use. My dear friends, the Tracys, let me use their template and adjust it to make it user friendly for you. I've included a lot of notes in various cells in order to help you understand how I use it myself. Have fun tweaking this template to fit your income and personal preferences!
• This Completed Budget has four months of spending recorded for you, in order to guide you through some of the questions that might arise as you use it yourself.
• Other free Microsoft Excel Budgets
• Free Excel Training
• Spending Plan Online Calculator
• Budget Planning--free demo and ideas (less than $10 purchase fee)
• Mvelopes--an internet budget that ties into your bank account for a small fee