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This picture was taken on the day we achieved the Step #1 to our Finacial Success
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“The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.” – Proverbs 21:20
In my everyday life, from talking to people, watching tv and reading news feed in social media, I usually come across people who are begging for HELP because they want to save, but after each payday, they are left with nothing. I know that this topic is feared upon by many of us. But I felt the dire need of writing this blog to let you, especially you, mommies know that it is indeed doable. Whatever the household income is, if we just live below our means, we can always save.
I practiced steps and series of strategies on how to save during the past few months since, I and my loving spouse are currently on our pursuit to a debt-free life. Of course, I want us to be free, who doesn’t? Proverbs 22: 7 says “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” I firmly believe that this is not the plan that God has for me. He said in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God has a good plan for me. God wants me to live a happy and worry-free life. He also said in Deuteronomy 28:12, “The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.” Indeed, God has an outstanding plan for me and my family. Knowing all of these, in my heart , I know I have to do something about our current conditions, our debts and our saving status which is almost equal to zero . I came to a realization that in order for us to achieve our financial goal, we need a plan. So, three (3) months ago (June 2015), I religiously did the most dreaded word by many, the plan called “ THE BUDGET” . And I tell you the truth that during those first three months, it was never that easy and I have to adjust our expenses to fit our budget. Of course, the whole household needed to adjust as well since I have been cutting in our expenses in order for us to reach our financial goal that is to save and be debt-free. I knew that it was very important for me to inform my whole household that we are going to live on a budget from that time on so that we can save to have our dream house, build wealth and live a debt-free life. In that way, they were able to understand the sudden change of things that they will soon to experience because of the goal. In order for them to cooperate, they need to understand that for a short period of time, we will live like no one else so that for the rest of our lives, we can live like no one else also. This is one of Ramsey’s principles. I can say, based on my own experience, budgeting is never that easy. I was not able to hit the nail on the head for the first two months, so I keep adjusting our budget every month. But after three (3) months I was able to understand how it works and I made a budget that works for us. You can, too, mommies. Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or a working mom just like me, you need to do your budget if you are aiming for a great result in your finances. Remember, we , wives are our husband’s help in finances. In Ephesians 5: 22 it says , “Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ.“ The important thing that we need to remember here is, we need to be patient, we need to be consistent and we should not give up. The most important thing is to stick with our budget. Considering the sacrifices we have done three (3) months ago, result is far so rewarding. I love the feeling of having control over our money instead of money having control over us. So that is why I would also tell you, especially the wives and moms out there, that if you feel in your heart that you have a need for change in your finances, pray for it. Ask God to help you in your goal. Proverbs 16: 3 says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed”. Pray for wisdom and self control. (Well, I bet we all need a truckload of self-control when following our budget). I tell you, the outcome is worth all the sacrifices. Of course you don’t really get this idea unless you experience it. So now, it is all up to you. Are you sick and tired of worrying about your debts and your bills? Are you sick and tired of living from payday to payday? Are you sick and tired of working but still end up being BROKE? If you say yes, then you need to change. It starts with your attitude towards money. You need to plan your finances. You need to create a BUDGET.
So many of you will ask, so how do I get started with my budget? We now get to the heart of this. The first thing that you need to do is to get a paper and a pen and lay out your budget in writing because what you don’t put in writing is easily gone and forgotten. It is like in an instant, “GONE WITH THE WIND”. Thus, if you have a goal , whatever it is , you need to put it in writing so that you can see it everyday and make actions towards achieving that goal. If you want to receive my FREE Monthly Budget Form, just leave me a comment with your email add.
Okay, so if you already have pens and paper, say “I have! “ , the next thing you would do is to write down the following :
1. Net Income- This is the total salary minus the taxes and tithes, also called the “TAKEHOME PAY”. There are homes with single income and there are those with combined or with multiple streams of income.
2. Tithes - This is 10% of your gross income. This is not ours, this is God's. We give this to our local church, the church that nourishes us spiritually.
3. Desired Savings – This is the amount of money that you intend to save each month . In achieving this, maybe you need to decrease your expenses amount or increase your cash flow. I’ll discuss on how to increase our cash flow in my next future blogs.
3. Expenses- This can be categorized into fix expenses and variable expenses. When we say Fix Expenses, these are the expenses that are fix and do not fluctuate each month like our home mortgage, car loan , yaya salary, etc.. If we say Variable Expenses, we are talking about our expenses that are fluctuating or they can either increase or decrease each month like our daily expenses, cell phone load, dining out, grocery, electricity bill, water bill, gas etc.
Our Formula here is Net Income – (Desired Savings+Expenses)= 0
We need to zero in our budget. We need to name every peso that we have. This way we tell our money where to go and not our money telling us where to go. This is taking control of our own money. Remember, there is no such thing as saving remorse only spending remorse. So save now and let us change the life of our family especially our children's. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.”
If you want to share your thoughts on how to do the budget or how to save money, just leave us a comment so that others may also learn from you. We can always learn from each other's wisdom and experience, mommies. God bless us all.
