Money Modays: Mind Your Own Business {at all times!}

I am not talking about the idea of not worrying about other people. I am talking about being mindful of all of your home economics at all times. You are running an establishment: your home. A Proverbs 31 woman looks well to all the ways of her household, as we've been talking about. What's the number one thing that Proverbs 31 talks about? Yup, money.

Can you answer each of these questions?

1. Exactly what is your total debt that you need to pay off?
2. When are each of your bills due?
3. How much of your income is going toward expenses, debt, and necessary bills (like electric)?
4. When will you pay off your next debt?
5. How much extra money do you have for expenses after paying the bills?

If you aren't sure on some of these answers, it's time to do some research...on yourself. It's scary to rip off that band aid, and see exactly where you are financially. Sometimes people will be pleasantly surprised, and sometimes not. I'm guessing if you are avoiding this crucial step, it may not be good. Do it anyway. You can't move forward until you know where you are now!

I love the clip from the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic where Beks has to go through her credit card bills, and see how much she owes! Hopefully in our real lives, it's not quite so painful! She makes it hilarious, but there are definitely those of us who throw out over-the-limit warnings and final payment notices just hoping they will go away. You can try to budget and "do better" all you want to, but until you dig in and get involved with your money, your efforts will be futile! So what's the solution if you really don't know where you are financially?

START WRITING IT DOWN! Last week we talked about tracking income and expenses, and this just takes it a step further. You not only want to have, in writing, your income and expenses, but also things like your balances and minimum payments.

This is what I track, in writing, on a CONSTANT basis in our house:

1. A calendar dedicated to our due dates. This means everything- rent, electric, credit card payments, Netflix. Every single thing that has a due date goes on the calendar. These are your planned expenses. Your constants.

2. Our written budget. I split our month into halves, due to the way our paydays are, and I plan for the bills that are due during that "half" and also the expenses, like gas, grocery, etc. I absolutely could not do this step without having my payments calender! We will talk about budgeting more in coming weeks.

3. Our checkbook. I balance it about every other day. If you wait, and gather a stack of receipts, you will be sorely disappointed when you have finished the task of balancing your checkbook. Know what you have at all times. This is especially important for us, since we use a virtual "envelope system." I prefer my debit, and I hate carrying cash. I love the digital age. I know lots of people out there would disagree and say that cash is best. I may change my mind someday, and switch to cash- I definitely see the benefits! But for now, our "envelopes" are in Excel. My checkbook MUST match what my Excel spreadsheet says, always!

4. A running balance of our debt "snowball." I always know the balance on everything. This is so vital if you want to pay off debt. You will be able to see clearly which debts make steady progress as you pay, and which ones you are just throwing money at every month. You will be overjoyed at seeing the list get smaller and smaller as you pay off your debt! Always know what you owe, who you owe it to, and how soon you can be done with owing them!

5. A list of monthly expenses, and about how much you need for each one. This list will be born as you track your expenses, in the pre-budget step. You will get a good understanding of how much you have to have for gas, instead of just hoping you make it to payday. Now that we plan for the expense of gas, we don't waste time and money by putting a few dollars in the tank to get us through. You will have the opportunity to see how much you spend out to eat at restaurants, and you will be able to decide if that is a practical amount, or if you should be putting some of that money to better use.

You will need to have all of these factors in place as you begin to make your finances work for you, instead of being enslaved by them. The Bible says that we can't serve God and money. Most of the time, we think of serving money as spending lavishly, or being greedy and materialistic. Have you considered that it can also mean that you are trapped by money? When we are constantly concerned about money, or where it will come from, or how far we can stretch it, it is enslaving us. Sometimes life circumstances are such that these worries are not going anywhere soon. I understand. In our economy of unemployment, you may find the idea of financial peace unreachable. But let's at least do what we can to make our money work for us. To be the masters of money, instead of it being our master. We start here, by having a working knowledge of everything that we have. By taking inventory of our financial lives, and getting the good, the bad, and the ugly down on paper.