Stewardship – Page 4 – Susan's Reflections

Plan for Christmas Charity Now

It’s 135 days until Christmas. You may be wondering why I am writing about Christmas in the middle of August. The summer days are hot, and school children are preparing to start back to school. Christmas is 4 ½ months away. So, why am I talking about Christmas charity now? There are several goods reason to plan for Christmas giving this month.

Now is the time to decide how much your budget will allow you to give and spread your donations over the next several months. Planning for your charity is much easier on your wallet than making all your donations in December. If you plan to pack Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child (https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/), decide now how many boxes you will fill and the gender and age of the children for whom you will pack boxes. Keep an eye out for items and purchase them when on sale and as your budget allows. When school supplies go on sale this month, grab extra to add to the packages going overseas for the children. It’s not too early to buy new toys to donate to Toys for Tots (https://www.toysfortots.org/default.aspx) or save money to contribute to the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program (https://salvationarmynca.org/angeltree/.

Pray thoughtfully about how you can participate in supporting these organizations. Can your business place a collection bin for Toys for Tots? Can you promote Operation Christmas Child to your church and organize the shoebox collection? Can you share information about Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program with others in your church and your network of friends? (https://www.prisonfellowship.org/about/angel-tree/angel-tree-christmas/) These activities do not cost money but require an investment of time. Now is the time to register as a collection site and order resources to promote the programs you wish to support this year.

Volunteer time at one of these charitable organizations. It takes many volunteers to sort presents, check shoeboxes, and deliver gifts. If God puts a burden on your heart to get more actively involved, be obedient. Most of these organizations are actively soliciting volunteers year-round. Application forms are available online now so that they can make plans and train volunteers.

Actions you can take right now:

Order shoeboxes and promotional materials for Operation Christmas Child from Samaritan’s Purse.
Register to be a Salvation Army Angel.
Donate money to Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program.
Shop for new toys to donate to Toys for Tots.
Volunteer to help an organization and begin any training required.

Remember that Christian charity should be year-round, not just during the holiday season. Our schedules stay full, and adding charity to our time requires planning ahead. As you are able, make donations to local food pantry ministries to feed the hungry, give to One Simple Wish (https://www.onesimplewish.org/) to make wishes come true for kids in foster care, write letters to soldiers to let them know you appreciate their service and send them through We Are Here (https://www.operationwearehere.com/ideasforsoldierscardsletters.html), and send children to summer camp through Prison Fellow or the Salvation Army.

As you bless those in need in tangible ways, God will use your donations of money and time to be His hands extended. Your kindness might be the key to letting someone know they are not forgotten, and God loves them. There is no greater gift you can give someone than helping them to open their heart to God and accepting His free offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal life

My book Honoring God with Your Money provide more information about how to decide which charities to support and how much you can afford to donate.

A Secret Method for Motivation to Save Money

Where are the holes in your budget? When people start to get serious about saving money, they will begin reigning in the expensive ticket items and carefully research the best price for those purchases. Watching a large amount of money leave your bank account can be painful, so an obvious way to save money is to compare the price of your options before committing to spending a large sum. If you need new furniture, you may research and find that new inventory hits the floor biannually, and stores discount last season’s items to make room in the showcase area. The research will result in hundreds of dollars in savings.

However, an often overlooked part of a budget is the accumulated sum spent on your smaller ticket items. Shoppers tend to buy less expensive items on impulse without giving them much thought. Since a product is not expensive, you can justify tossing it in the cart and checking out. Over time, these purchases can be a hidden drain on your budget. They can also lead to regret when you realize the product is not worth as much as the money you spent on it.

Perspective: Let’s look at an example involving shoes.

Suppose you are shopping for a new pair of shoes. Do you stop to take the time to consider if you need the shoes? The average price of shoes for women is $49. Regarding your budget, that might not seem like a bad price for a pair of shoes. But what if we put it in terms of how many hours you had to work to earn the shoes?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage for an American worker is currently about $57,000. A salaried worker with two weeks of paid vacation works 2,000 hours a year. Their hourly rate can be quickly estimated by dividing the yearly salary earned by 2. Therefore, we can calculate the average hourly wage rate at $28.50. (57,000/2=28.50) Of course, this is their gross salary. After deductions for tax withholdings, social security, and Medicare, the take-home pay would be about $22 per hour.

Therefore, an average person will work 2.2 hours to pay for an average-priced pair of shoes. A pair of heels could easily cost $150, which will require 6.8 hours of labor; a pair of Jimmy Choo’s can run $800 or more, consuming nearly a whole week’s work.

Coffee is another possible area of your budget that you might not scrutinize. A woman spends, on average, $2,327 a year on coffee from a coffee shop. She will spend 105 hours working to pay for her coffee. When your daily habit is to drive-thru and grab a coffee without considering the cost, it can affect your budget’s bottom line. Even changing your order to a less expensive coffee can make a difference.

A simple method to reduce impulse purchases is to ask yourself two questions:

1. Do I truly need this item?

2. Am I willing to trade ______ hour(s) of my labor to obtain this item?

So before purchasing something like the shoes mentioned in the example, you should ask yourself, “Am I willing to trade more than 2 hours (or 7 hours or 36 hours) of my time to own these shoes?”

The higher your wages, the fewer hours of labor it will take to make the same purchase. Conversely, if you make less than the median wage, you must work longer to buy a pair of shoes or whatever item you consider. A woman whose take-home income is $40 per hour will have to work a little more than an hour to buy an average pair of shoes, and she can buy a pair of Jimmy Choo’s for 20 hours of labor. A woman earning $15 an hour will take home about $11. She will have to work more than 4 hours for an average-priced pair of shoes and almost 14 hours for a dressy pair.

One pair of shoes will not break the budget but consider all the little purchases you might throw in the shopping cart, and it adds up. Use this new method of motivation to curtail your smaller impulse spending.

Knowing your estimated hourly take-home pay lets you quickly calculate the hours you must work to make any purchase. It is a wise idea to take a few minutes to figure out the investment in labor to make the purchase and evaluate if this makes sense. It will save you from making many regrettable purchases.

My book Honoring God with Your Money can provide you with more ideas on how to manage your money and achieve financial peace. My free quarterly newsletter is another great resource; click here to subscribe: newsletter

Is College a Good Investment for Your Child?

Many high school students automatically plan to attend college without genuinely considering their alternatives. The U. S. Census Bureau reports that while 59% of all Americans start college, 24% drop out without having earned a degree or a certification. Parents must convey the whole picture about the time and money required to earn a degree or a certificate in a specialized program. If God has called your child into a profession requiring college, they need to pursue the education with the knowledge of the steps it will require. Your job as a parent is to show them all the options. An opening question should be, Is college a good investment for you?

Father and daughter considering career options

Cost of Continuing Your Education

If they decide to pursue education beyond high school, you should help them count the costs and determine which path is best. Take some time to sit down with your son or daughter and add up college costs. Here are a few talking points:

Tuition, books, and registration fees
Room and board, if you live on campus
Fees to participate in sports, fraternities or sororities, clubs, and activities
Travel to and from school, if you do not live on campus
Foregone income from delaying full-time work while completing your education

Minimizing the Costs of Education

There are ways to make college or a certification program more affordable. Some of these are:

Attending a college close to home and commuting rather than living on campus
Attending a local community college to get your Associate’s Degree before transferring to a four-year college
Earning college credits while in high school through AP classes and dual-enrollment programs
Knowing what your goals are in attending college. Many people waste time and money by taking classes without real purpose, or they switch colleges and lose some of their credits.
Taking classes online from home
Working part-time or full-time while taking classes
Earning a vocational certificate rather than a two-year or four-year degree

As you pray with your child about their career path, you should consider vocational alternatives to careers that require college degrees. Many professional service provider careers are in high demand and pay well. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and welders. These careers require training beyond high school, but they can learn on the job through apprenticeship programs. This is also true for heavy machine operators and some IT professions. Your son or daughter may be able to earn a cosmetology license or skilled labor certificate while in high school if the school offers those programs.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 169 occupations require a bachelor’s degree, and another 100 require a Master’s or higher degree. On the other hand, there are about 100 occupations that require an associate’s degree or vocational certification and about 425 that do not need any formal education beyond a high school diploma https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2020/article/education-level-and-openings.htm

As you consider together whether college is in their future, they should only go if it makes wise financial sense and if it aligns with God’s plans for their life. Suppose God has called your child to be a physician, a teacher/professor, an attorney, a minister, or many other careers. In that case, he or she must spend many years gaining the necessary education. However, if God has called him or her to be a businessperson, an inventor, a writer, a hairstylist, a plumber, an electrician, or one of many other careers, they may need only to obtain vocational training or on the job training.

If you sit with your child and connect with their visions and goals, they are more likely to make an educated decision about their future. Often, kids get to college and flounder because they don’t know what major to declare. Advisors can persuade them to take all their electives and then decide. However, a community college is a smart alternative if that is the case. Students can complete their electives much cheaper and then move to a state college to declare a major.

The Bible tells us that God has a beautiful plan for each person’s life. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God prepared your child to do the work He designed them to complete. He has empowered your child with the skills and desire to do that work. Allow Him to show you and your child His plans and then help your child prepare to fulfill those plans by obtaining the training or education needed to achieve those plans.

Trusting God for Your Finances

Are your resistant to the concept of tithing? Do you consider it a suggestion rather than a command from the Lord? Some people rationalize withholding their tithe because their bank accounts are empty at the end of the month. Others justify not tithing because they see it as God taking money away from them. Perhaps others plan to tithe when the company gives them a bonus or a raise, but those times arrive, and they still do not tithe.

Coins and the heading, The Truth about Tithing.

It is normal to be fearful when you have difficulty paying your bills and making ends meet, especially in this slower economy. Even if you typically can pay all your bills, you might worry you will not have enough extra cash to meet an unexpected expense for circumstances like extended sickness. Wishing for more money is not the solution.

The solution is to put your trust in God and follow His command to tithe. It may sound counterintuitive that tithing can be the solution to financial difficulty. However, tithing, combined with sound financial management, is the solution.

Tithing is an act of obedience. In Malachi 3:8, God chastised His people for failing to pay tithes. “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.” God expected the Israelites to bring in one-tenth of all their crops and livestock to support the priest. He still expects Christians to give one-tenth of their income to support the work of their local churches. The apostles and other early Christians demonstrated this by supporting the ministry of Paul and other teachers and apostles.

Tithing and giving when prompted by the Holy Spirit demonstrates trust in God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus promised His followers that they did not need to worry about their needs because God would always be faithful to meet them (Matthew 6:25-35). In the Bible, God gives us many examples of people who gave sacrificially in obedience, and God met their needs. Two examples are Elijah and the widow in 1 Kings 17 and Elisha and the widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4.

God promises to bless those who are obedient in tithing. In Malachi 3:10, God promises to richly bless those who tithe. God challenges us to trust Him fully and allow Him to demonstrate that He will always give back to us more than we gave to Him.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,

That there may be food in My house,

And try Me now in this,”

Says the Lord of hosts,

“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven

And pour out for you such blessing

That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

God does not want you to live in fear of being unable to care for your family and meet your basic needs. He has promised to care for those who place their trust in Him. He has also promised that you shall not be in need. One of the most famous passages of Scripture is Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

If the Lord is truly your shepherd, you are under His protection, and He will meet your needs. If He is not your shepherd, He desires to be. He loves you and wants to offer you the forgiveness of your sins, eternal life, and His care and provisions while you are on Earth.

In Psalm 34:8, David wrote, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusts in Him.” David was in the midst of a trial, yet he recognized that the Lord is always good. He trusted God in all circumstances, and God blessed David in very many ways. I challenge you to trust God with your finances and to demonstrate that trust by paying your tithes and giving as led by the Lord.

To learn how to accept God’s free gift of salvation, please click “Basics of Salvation” from the menu bar. If you want to learn more about managing your money in ways that honor God and reduce your stress, my book Honoring God with Your Money is a great resource.

Honoring God with Your Money

When you sit down to pay bills, does it create stress and anxiety for you? Do you feel guilty for not tithing, but you barely make ends meet? Is your first thought, if only I could make more money? If so, you are not alone. For most people, a lack of money does not cause their financial pressure. They do not budget their current salary or live within a budget, allowing their wants and desires to dictate their spending. However, when you see your earnings as a blessing from God, most of your stress turns into financial peace. The first step is recognizing that God has entrusted you with your income. Next is embracing the principles that He laid out in His word. If you consistently live outside of your means, you live in debt. God does not want us to live as debtors.

Bible study on stewarding financial resources — Honoring God with Your Money

I read Dwight L. Moody’s book Pleasure and Profit in Bible Study several years ago. It inspired me to do a word search on what the Bible says about money which led to searches on riches, wealth, poverty, giving, charity, tithing, and greed. I realized that the Bible has much to say about money and finances and began to create teachings based on those guidelines so others could live in financial freedom.

From these teachings, I created a Bible study, Honoring God with Your Money. Part One of this book is an in-depth study of what God’s word says to us on the subject of:

The role of money in our lives
Appropriate attitudes toward money
The foolishness of trusting in money
Tithing, offerings, and charitable donations
Business practices

Part Two applies the biblical teachings and budgeting principles and helps you create a budget for your family to achieve your financial goals.

This Bible study is an excellent tool for young people about to graduate from high school or college, newly married couples, and anyone who struggles to manage their finances. Individuals, couples, or small groups can work through it. Also, I have developed teaching materials for instructors to use in small group settings. If you would like these materials, please email me at susan.ball5@aol.com, and I will happily email them to you. I do not charge for these materials.

Recently, Deborah Morrison interviewed me for her YouTube channel, Greater is Jesus in Me. In the interview, we went through all the sections in the book and discussed the blessings of managing money according to godly principles. Deborah split the interview into two parts.

Part 1 of interview: https://youtu.be/_3QFxywuzqo

Part 2 of interview: https://youtu.be/euThkOk0Kr0

God intends for money to be a tool to help make your life easier. He does not intend for money to be a source of stress. As you go through this study, I pray that you will allow God to bless you with financial peace and empower you to use the financial resources that He entrusts to you to care for your family, help others, and honor God.

Financial Success Can Help You Realize Your Dreams

One of my favorite songs is “If I Were a Rich Man” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” The family patriarch, Tevye, sings the song, and it begins like this,
“Oh, Lord, you made many, many poor people
I realize, of course, it’s no shame to be poor
But it’s no great honor either!
So, what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune?”

And it ends with,
“Lord, who made the lion and the lamb
You decreed I should be what I am
Would it spoil some vast eternal plan
If I were a wealthy man?”

In the middle, Tevye shares with God all the ways his life would be easier if he were wealthy. It is a humorous but self-centered rendition of the life of ease Tevye dreams of for his family. He would have multiple staircases—one going up, one going down, and one going nowhere. His wife would have ‘a proper double chin’, and he could sit around having religious discussions with the learned men. Poor Tevye always works hard and provides for his family but never achieves financial success.

Two people climbing an incline with a third person helping them up.

Like Tevye, many of us dream of the lifestyle wealth would allow us to have. Then we read Scriptures that speak against being wealthy, and we may rethink our desire for financial success. Matthew 19:24, “And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Of course, Christ was not saying that a wealthy man or woman could not go to Heaven. Instead, He was speaking against making riches a priority in your life. If you wish to be rich, so you can be treated as a VIP and live a life of ease, then your focus is likely not on the things of God. On the other hand, if you wish to provide for your family and use your excess money to bless others, then God may be able to trust you with wealth.

Sharing your wealth with others is one of the blessings of achieving financial success. You can go beyond tithing and generously giving to missionaries, food banks, homeless shelters, and other causes that God lays on your heart. You will be a blessing to others and be blessed in return.

Financial success has other benefits as well. It can provide you with the freedom to try new endeavors. As a business consultant, I meet people weekly who want to start their own business. They are more likely to be equipped to launch their business if they have achieved enough financial success to have savings to invest in their business and see them through the start-up phase.

Financial success can allow you to retire at a relatively young age. Of course, retirement can be pretty dull if you do not have meaningful endeavors to keep you active and help you feel worthwhile. However, retirement can be quite rewarding if you use your time to engage in hobbies, travel, volunteer in schools and hospitals, go on mission trips, or care for aging loved ones or grandchildren.

An alternative to early retirement is taking a sabbatical from work. They can last a few weeks, months, or even years. Sabbaticals can allow you to try a new vocation temporarily, take an extended vacation, or engage in short-term volunteer projects. College professors often use them to teach in a different country, whereas some lifelong learners immerse themselves in a different culture during their sabbaticals. The break from the mundane schedule of life can rejuvenate your motivation at work and help you refocus on personal goals.

What is your dream? It likely requires money. By managing your money well and working hard to gain financial success, you will be more likely to achieve your goals.

God has designed you for a purpose, instilling unique dreams and visions in your heart. Managing your finances well can allow you to pursue your dreams. My blogs on money management and stewardship are great resources for learning how to manage your money and accomplish God’s plan for your life. My book, Honoring God with Your Money, is another resource to help you learn money management principles.

Save Money and Develop a New Mindset with a Financial Fast

If you’ve ever had surgery or bloodwork for your cholesterol levels, the test required you to fast for 8 hours or more. Many people also endeavor to fast for its health benefits to promote better digestion, weight loss, lowering cholesterol, and resetting appetite. Others may fast for spiritual reasons, like drawing closer to God for spiritual direction or increasing discipline.

However, eating is not the only item you can limit when fasting. I have “fasted” activities, such as crossword puzzles, computer games, and television, to gain more time to accomplish a goal or project. My time management fasts typically lasted until I achieved my goal or task.

A financial fast might be in order if you need to control your spending better. Whether you are just beginning to set up your budget or years into managing your money and want to reach a new goal, this plan might be the catalyst for your success. A total financial fast eliminates all unnecessary expenditures for a set period, whereas a partial fast eliminates specific spending categories. After you review your budget, decide which option works for you. During the period of the financial fast, you cut your spending. Fasting should increase your bank balance. However, you will likely experience other benefits.

Benefits of a Financial Fast:

One benefit is an increased awareness of how often you spend money on non-essentials. The ease of your purchases can hinder your realization of how much you spend. While shopping, a store offers multiple ways to pay for items. Pulling out a credit card or clicking the online “order button” distances the shopper from feeling their loss of money. Consider if you paid cash for every transaction. As the stack of bills shrinks in your hand, you connect the loss with the purchase. If you habitually charge $5 for breakfast and $10 for lunch every workday, you may not realize that those purchases add up to $330 each month (based on 22 workdays per month). The individual transactions are hardly worth noting when you examine your credit card bill, but the total makes a big dent in your bank balance. You will be surprised when you implement your fast. Those quick habits of taping your phone or swiping your credit card will lessen, and your bank account will grow.

A second benefit will be breaking bad habits and creating good ones. If you have been going through a drive-up for a coffee and breakfast sandwich, and now you skip that, you may begin to make coffee and breakfast at home. After a few weeks of this, making breakfast at home should be a regular habit, and going through the drive-up might become a once-in-while treat.

A third benefit is saving time. It takes time to get from your office to your car, drive to a restaurant, eat, and return to your office. Packing a lunch takes much less time, and you can use that time savings to do something else, such as taking a walk, writing a letter, or engaging in a friendly conversation with a co-worker.

Finally, you are developing a new mindset of finding ways to enjoy life that do not require spending money. If you decide to fast spending money on recreation, you will work harder to seek free entertainment options. You will likely find many available to you and your family.

Action Plan for a Financial Fast:

Decide on a goal for your financial fast. Possible goals might include:
a. Paying off some debts
b. Saving for a vacation
c. Developing an appreciation of “free” activities and habits
d. Demonstrating to your children that you have the self-control to delay a purchase until you have ended your spending fast.
Set a time frame. Many financial experts recommend a 21-day fast, which is based on estimates that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Other experts recommend a period of intermittent financial fasting, such as fasting financially for one week out of every month. Your time period could be shorter or longer, depending on your goal and what spending category you will fast.
Decide what you will fast. One option is to go on a strict fast, where you only pay bills and purchase groceries and medicine. Another option is a partial fast in which you forego spending for specific categories of items. For example, if buying shoes is a personal weakness, you might fast shoe purchases for an extended period. If you are saving to go on a cruise, you might give up dining out and recreational spending to have more money going toward your cruise budget.
Plan for success. If you give up eating fast food for breakfast and lunch, ensure you have groceries to prepare those meals at home. Have motivational phrases and Scripture verses in your wallet, car, and computer to help you stay motivated. Celebrate your success without breaking your fast.
Avoid temptations. If you are fasting clothing expenditures, avoid visiting your favorite apparel sites and stores. Throw away catalogs and delete marketing emails without reading them.

Recently, I participated in a 24-hour dietary fast at the request of a friend with a terminally-ill child. The purpose of the fast was to spend time in prayer for the child. I had no other motivation. Although I have been working to lose weight for a while, I did not fast with the expectation of losing weight. When the fast ended, however, I found that my appetite had been “reset.” I have been able to eat less and feel satisfied, which has led to weight loss. A financial fast can provide the benefit of resetting your spending mindset, which will reap economic benefits for you long after you have ended your financial fast.

My Bible study, Honoring God with Your Money, is a great resource to help you understand how to manage your money better and achieve your financial goals. It is available on Amazon. If you would like to receive my quarterly newsletter with tips on managing your money, please complete this short form: Honoring God with Your Money (list-manage.com)

Hope is Not a Plan

As a Christian, my hope is in the Lord, who holds my life in His hands. As a writer, I hope people buy my books and read my blogs. As the owner of short-term rental property, I hope that vacationers decide to stay at my home. But, as a small business consultant, I share with my clients the mantra, “Hope is not a plan.”

Hope is essential to taking risks and moving forward with new opportunities in your life. However, hope does not bring me readers or renters. I must take action to inform potential readers of my books and blogs and potential renters of my property. Those actions involve effort, such as marketing, advertising, and asking for reviews.

If you are trying to achieve a financial goal, hope will not help you to accomplish your goal. You need to have a plan:

If you want to purchase a new home or car, you need a plan to accumulate the down payment.
If you want to get out of debt, you need a plan to start paying off one debt while meeting the minimum obligations on your other debts.
If you would like to retire early, you need to start putting money into a retirement account at an early age and be consistent in making contributions.
If you want to improve your credit score, you need to obtain your credit report and assess what debts need to be paid off, what errors need to be corrected, and what steps you can take to reduce your total amount of debt.
If you want to start your own business, you must maintain a high credit score and set aside money to invest in your business.
If you want to start budgeting, you need to research and evaluate budgeting tools to determine which one you will actually use.

Key Factors of a Plan to Accomplish a Financial Goal:

Live below your means. If you want to save money for any reason, or if you’re going to pay down debt, you must spend less than you make. This requires you to know what you spend and evaluate where to make cuts.
Write down your goals. Studies show that writing down your goals significantly increases your chances of achieving them.
Have an accountability partner. If you are married, you and your spouse should hold each other mutually accountable. If you are unmarried, ask a friend to be your accountability partner. Hold each other accountable by encouraging each other and reminding yourselves that money spent cannot be used to meet your goal.
Celebrate milestones. Give yourself a pat on the back when you hit an intermediate milestone, such as paying off a debt or saving a certain amount of money. Milestone celebrations should be free or low-cost to keep you on track to achieve your goal.
Make it easy to save. Set up payroll deductions for retirement or other savings so you never have access to the money. Download a budgeting tool that makes it easy for you to track your spending. Avoid “window shopping,” which increases your desire for items you do not really need.
Keep your goal in front of you. Have a picture of your dream home or car on your refrigerator. Write your business plan and look around for possible locations. Develop a bucket list of all the fun things you will do in retirement.
Evaluate your progress periodically, and if you have gotten off track, take action to correct your mistakes and get back on the right track.

Your plan does not have to be complicated to be effective. Start dreaming, set a goal, and develop a plan to reach that goal.

Setting and achieving financial goals helps you honor God in how you use and manage the financial resources He has entrusted to you. It also allows you to build treasure in Heaven. For more tips to help you manage your financial resources, please see my other blogs in the Finance tab. My book, Honoring God with Your Money, is full of guidelines to help you use money in a way that builds true wealth.

If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, please consider accepting the free gift of salvation from your sins and eternal life in Heaven. It will pay dividends for all of eternity.

Minimizing the Costs of Credit Card Balances

Americans have a love affair with credit cards. They make life easier while also making it easier to overspend. Studies reveal that a purchaser will spend an average of 20% more on an item when using a credit card than when paying with cash.

Credit card usage peaked in the fourth quarter of 2008, as the nation entered a severe recession, with balances reaching a then-high of $866 billion. Credit card balances fell significantly over the next 5 years. As the economy recovered, however, the use of credit cards and credit card balances began to rise. Today, credit card balances are approaching the $1 trillion level. The average consumer carries a credit card balance of $7,279 (Lendingtree.com). Fifty-three percent of credit cards being actively used are not paid off in full each month. The average interest rate of these balances is 20.92%, and the average interest rate being offered to new borrowers is 23.65%.

The good news is that most Americans make regular credit card payments, and only 2.25% of credit card balances are delinquent by 30 days or more.

The minimum credit card payment is typically about 2% of the balance. On the average balance of $7,279, the minimum payment would be $86. At that payment and an interest rate of 20.92%, it would take a borrower 28 years and 3 months to pay off the debt. The total interest paid would be $27,776. In this scenario, the $7,279 in debt would cost the borrower $35,055.

When a consumer (that’s you) begins to take an active role in their financial future, they can minimize the interest on credit card balances. Remember, interest is handing part of your hard-earned paycheck to someone loaning you money. If you are not paying off your credit card each month, you need to determine why you carry a balance.

The steps below can help you make advances on getting a handle on your credit card debt:

Always pay at least the minimum balance on time.
Set up automatic payments to ensure that payments are always made on time.
Pay more than the minimum balance whenever possible.
Consider the actual cost of debt before making large purchases on credit cards.
If your balances are on multiple credit cards, prioritize paying off the card with the highest interest rate first.
Live below your means so that you will have some money each month to put toward your credit card balances.
Create a budget to live within your means. (Refer to my past posts on budgeting)

To learn more about how to manage your money and pay off debt, please click the Finances categories tab to find many blogs on money management, budgeting, and stewardship. My book Honoring God with Your Money is a great tool for financial money management.

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9 Tips for Sticking to Your Budget

A few weeks ago, I shared tips on developing a personalized budget that works for you and your family. You can find that blog by clicking the following link. https://susaneball.blog/2023/03/30/how-to-create-a-personalized-budget-one-size-does-not-fit-all/

A reader wanted me to share some ideas on how to keep on track and stick with a budget. Often we desire to manage our finances and enthusiastically start the steps to wrangle in our spending but quickly lose the motivation and discipline. So, this post focuses on motivating yourself to follow the budget you developed to manage your finances better and achieve your goals.

What is Your Goal?

You should take the time to determine your goal(s). Simply saying that you want to save money is typically not incentive enough to save money. It is nebulous, and you will find that you can justify overspending when you have not determined a marker of how much to save and a date to accomplish this goal. Setting specific financial objectives and developing a budget will take you one step closer to achieving success. Your plan will motivate you because every good spending decision brings you one step closer to your dream. Your goal should be unique to your life, and you might have multiple ones that you are working on simultaneously. If you have not thought about your financial plan(s), below is a list of some common ones:

Pay off debt(s).
Reduce stress.
Improve your credit.
Save for a memorable vacation.
Save a down payment for a house.
Save for a new(er) car.
Retire early.
Invest in your retirement fund.
Save for your children’s college expenses.
Start your own business.

Keep Your Goal in Front of You

When my husband and I decided to buy a pizza franchise business, we knew we had to save money to invest in our company. We cut back on discretionary expenses, such as dining out. When we were tempted to go out to eat, we reminded each other that the money we saved by eating at home helped us to achieve our dream. To maintain our excitement about our future business venture, we worked on our business plan and discussed our business goals daily. We also sold possessions not needed in our new life so we could add to our investment fund. Sticking to our minimized budget and saving money was easy because we were excited about our new venture.

Celebrate Goal Milestones

Try to set intermediate goals and celebrate reaching them. It takes a long time to achieve many financial goals, such as paying off a large credit card debt or accumulating a down payment to purchase a home. The average home price is about $350,000, and the lender typically requires 6% as a down payment from the buyer. That means you will need to save $21,000 for the down payment. If you save $1,000 per month, it will take you nearly two years to put aside the down payment. To keep yourself from getting frustrated, set mid-goal milestones, such as saving multiples of $3,000, and celebrate hitting those marks. Your celebration needs to be modest and within your budget, such as having a reasonably-price dinner at a restaurant or purchasing an accessory for your future home. Also, you might make a chart to record your progress if you are visually motivated.

Focus Your Spending Attention on Discretionary Spending

Your mortgage or rent payment, car payment, and insurance premiums are set amounts each month. In the short run, you cannot change them. Of course, they are a significant portion of your budget and must be considered. However, it would be best to focus on areas of your budget where you have more flexibility. Consider saving money on utilities, telephone and internet services, food, clothes, recreation, and other miscellaneous spending.

Use a Bill Paying System to Make Bill Paying Easy

I have scheduled each regularly occurring, fixed payment bill to be paid using our bank’s bill-paying service. This system is great for paying the mortgage, HOA fee, car payment, and insurance premiums. Utility bills and other expenses that vary from month to month are delivered directly to the bank, making it fast and easy to pay them.

Set Regularly Times Each Week to Pay Bills

Setting a regular time to pay bills and balance your checkbook will reduce your financial stress. You can put bills out of your mind until it is time to deal with them. I balance my checkbook each Sunday morning before we go to church. Our church service starts later than a typical workday, and our Sunday morning routine is less hectic than our Saturday mornings. After breakfast, I pour a second cup of coffee and settle at the computer. It only takes a few minutes since there are only one week’s bills to pay and cleared checks to reconcile.

Set Up Automatic Transfers to Savings

Once you have established your budget, you need one additional category added to your automatic transfers. This new category should be your savings. Once you determine that amount, set up an automatic transfer on the first of each month or the first payday. This is one less decision you must consider, and you are unlikely to be tempted to pull the money out of savings once it is there.

Make It a Family Effort

If you are married, it is important that you and your spouse work together to set your goals and achieve them. If you have children, share your goal with them and build excitement. This is a great learning opportunity for them, and will help them to understand why you are saying “No” to certain items they want you to purchase. Set aside a time once a week or twice a month to assess where you are and hold yourselves accountable to one another. As intermediate goals are met, have a family vote to decide on the reward, or take turns choosing the reward.

Recruit an Accountability Partner

If you are not married, you will want to recruit someone that you can review your spending with once or twice a month and who will encourage you to stick with your plan. Be careful not to sabotage your budget by asking your shopping buddy to be your accountability partner. Perhaps you have a mentor at your work or church, or a parent, who has consistently demonstrated financial responsibility who would be willing to assist you. Having an accountability partner greatly increases your chances of being successful in reaching your goal.

In summary, set goals, reward yourself for reaching your intermediate and long-term goals, and set up systems to make it easy to pay bills and live within your budget. The easier it is to monitor your spending, the more successful you will be in sticking with your budget.

To learn more about how to manage your money, please click the Finances categories tab to find many blogs on money management, budgeting, and stewardship. My book Honoring God with Your Money is a great tool for financial money management.

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