In Case of Emergency

We have an emergency fund.  It serves exactly that purpose.  We turn to our emergency fund whenever we have a financial burden we have not planned.  Sometimes there isn't enough in the car maintenance budget for a big repair. We turn to our emergency fund. Our rental may need more work than we have expected.  We turn to our emergency fund. Unplanned medical bills may creep in to our lives. The emergency fund is there for us.

It doesn't just provide cash if needed.  It provides peace.  It provides security.  We always know that we have that extra little bit to fall back on.  When we do, our number one priority changes to building it back up. Since creating the emergency fund we have never needed to borrow more money.  We have never regretted cutting up those credit cards.  We have never had to ask for financial help.  Now that we have paid off much of our debt, many emergencies can even be cash flowed. 

An emergency can feel like a mountain that was thrown in your path. You don't have to turn to mom and dad.  You don't need to use a credit card. Going into more debt causes an emergency within an emergency. Create your emergency fund as quickly as possible so that your next emergency is merely a bump in the road.

Grow Your Giving

The desire to give can be a blessing.  The desire to give can also be a challenge.  Many people purchase gifts using a credit card.  Many people do random acts of kindness on someone else's dollar.  Some people are even going into debt when giving their weekly contribution.  I would never want to tell someone to put a reign on giving!  There are many ways to give.  Why is monetary giving the main way we give?  Most have struggled with money at one time or another.  We know how valuable it is in many situations.  We know it will be appreciated.   

Giving keeps us grounded.  It keeps our heart open.  Albert and I keep giving at the top of our budget.  Before we pay for anything else we allot a certain amount to give.  It is so important to include giving in your budget.  We need to plan for giving.  That does not mean we need to plan who and where we are giving.  We need to plan how much we are giving.    When we began our budgeting process we kept this number very small.  We had to.  We didn't have the money to pay our bills and make a dent in our debt.  We have rewarded ourselves with each debt payoff by increasing the amount that we give.  It has been an amazing incentive.  If you have the heart of a giver, use this tactic for motivation!

As you reign in your monetary giving, dream.  Dream bigger than you ever have.  Dream about the day you have no debt.  Dream about the day you have no mortgage payment.  Dream about what you can do when you don't have those extra bills.  Dream about the lives you can change.  Dream about the $1,000 tip you can give to a waitress.  Dream about the new tires you can purchase for the single mom at church.  Dream about the groceries you can have delivered to your elderly neighbor.

If you don't have giving in your budget, start now.  Start small.

I Heart Budgeting

I love to budget.  That makes me weird.  I like being weird. Weird means not pretending to be like everyone else. Weird means no debt.  I partly love it because the nerd in me loves a good puzzle. Budgets are basically huge puzzles. I mostly love it because after I pay the bills I pay down the debt. Excess money from each paycheck goes straight to debt.  As the debt decreases, our peace increases. 

Is budgeting always easy?  Of course not!  It takes a few months to work out the kinks. When we began our budget we forgot a few small things that felt big!  We forgot to budget for the yearly truck registration. We forgot to budget for our contribution on the sneaky fifth Sunday. Before long, we stopped forgetting things. After a full year of budgeting our budget chugged along like a well oiled machine. We now do very little before each month begins to fine tune our budget. 

I always look forward to payday!  I know, everyone loves payday.  But I love payday because that means I get to pay bills. Yes, get to. Everything has a cost and I am certainly not entitled to live for free. Getting to pay bills means I get to see my plan in action!  I get to watch my machine work through all those numbers.  

Many people are afraid of the word budget. They see it as restrictive.  They feel it will eliminate spontainaity.  I suppose that could be true if someone else budgeted your life.  But you are creating a budget to fit you.  A budget is more freeing than confining. It frees you from worrying about your splurge at Target dipping into your mortgage payment. If you enjoy splurging at Target, have a Target budget each month. If you always go out to eat on Tuesdays for lunch, have a specific amount allottted. for Tuesday lunches. If you are trying to pay off debt, you may want reconsider some of these budgeted items, but that is your choice. Know where your money goes.