6 Ways to Make and Keep A Successful Budget!
By: Life Institute
Rev. Drew Gysi & Tyler Rutherford
Christian education is one of the most important investments we can make into our children’s future. With all the financial stressors of life, we need a plan for how to keep investing in their future. Budgeting is a way to achieve your goals while also feeling financially free.
"Budgeting is telling your money where to go
rather than wondering where it went"
Author, speaker and Pastor, John Maxwell
Budgeting can feel restrictive and limiting. But really, it leads to financial freedom and greater generosity today and tomorrow!
Here are 6 budgeting tips to help you make and keep a successful budget.
MAKING YOUR BUDGET
1. Set your goals
You can’t achieve a goal if you don’t have one! Take some time, brainstorm what you want to save for, and prioritize. It could be paying for your kids to go to a Christian school, buying a new house, a car, or even a college education! Setting realistic budgeting goals will help you want to save.
2. Prioritize your spending
A Christian’s budget should have sequential priorities!
1. Give to your church. We give to the local church because God spared no expense for us. Therefore, giving is not optional for the believer, it is an act of worship. Tithing should be built into your budget so that you can always be giving to your local church (2 Corinthians 9:6-7).
2. Save to protect your family. Proverbs 22:3 says that, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, the simple go on and suffer for it.” Building savings can help us limit or avoid future debt and free us from stress.
3. Spend. Our testimony and reputation matters to God. Therefore, focus on paying your bills so that you can keep your Christian testimony intact. This budgeting category is for necessary living expenses, so as you build your budget, look for any unnecessary expenses that can be eliminated so that you can save more to meet your pre-defined goals.
4. Offerings. As Christians, we have a special obligation to help those in need within our church and in our communities. You can give extra to your church (beyond your tithe), directly to someone you know, or even to a God-honoring ministry or organization like West-Mont Christian Academy. Whatever it may be, it is important to intentionally budget an amount to be a blessing to those in need.
5. Luxuries. After the four points above have been budgeted for, then you can budget for your personal luxuries. Personal luxuries include, but are not limited to, cable TV, eating out, a brand-new car and vacations. Luxuries are not bad (Eccl. 5:19), but they must be enjoyed after we have given to our church, saved for our family, paid our bills, and looked out for the needs of others.
3. Automate!
Out of sight, out of mind! Most online checking accounts allow you to automatically transfer a certain amount of your paycheck into a savings account. This way, you don’t even have to think about it, and saving becomes automatic!
KEEPING YOUR BUDGET
4. Keep track of your spending
See where the money comes and goes! Your $3 coffee might not seem like much, but after a year of buying coffee every day before work, that $3 turns into a $783 annual expense! It is always good to keep track of where you spend money so that you can decide where to cut certain expenses. Keeping receipts and recording them in your budget is essential to stay on track.
5. Avoid credit card debt
Prioritizing savings will help you reduce the need of future borrowing. If you are not earning interest in a savings account, you might be paying interest on your credit card bill every month. If you do use credit cards, make sure you pay them in full each month and log all expenses in the proper budget category.
If you are struggling with current credit card debt, you can still budget! In fact, budgeting is the next step in helping you reduce and eliminate your credit card debt. (We will address how to eliminate current debt in a future blog post.)
6. Don’t give up
It is easy to get frustrated when setting up and starting to use a budget for the first time. Don’t give up! Press on! Persistence is a key factor in keeping a healthy and successful budget. If you are struggling through the process, consider asking someone to hold you accountable in your budgeting journey. If you are married, consider asking your spouse to help keep you accountable. If you are single, consider talking to a leader at your church because creating and sticking to a budget sometimes takes a lot of help. But don’t give up, there is hope.
By making and keeping a budget, we joyfully get to honor God with what He has blessed us with as we provide for our family and bless others.
Still have questions or need help? Feel free to contact Drew or Tyler at Life Institute by phone 610-385-4500 or by email Contact@LifeInstitute.org
You can also join us for a Budgeting 101 course on the campus of West-Mont Christian Academy. This will take place on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:00 PM at 873 South Hanover Street, Pottstown, PA 19465.
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