When you have a written budget in place and live on less than you make, you get the chance to do some really cool stuff. Christy & I have never given anyone a car, but we have gotten to do a few generous giving things. And it's a ton of fun...
Give this video a watch.... For more on the I Like Giving campaign, go here...
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Oct 16, 2012
Update on the $1 Coin
A week ago I reported that I took out $50 in $1 coins to see what it would be like to use those instead of $1 bills. You can read that post here....
I've spent about $30 worth of them at several fast food places and a couple of grocery stores. I'm kinda disappointed... For the most part none of the cashiers have batted an eye at the coins. I had spent a $1 coin a while back and the cashier didn't know what to do with it. This experience is what prompted my little experiment.
But I haven't had any unusual encounters this time around. The cashiers have taken the coins just like it was cash.
I think I'm going to keep going with the $1 coins. As part of our budget, each pay period I take out $32 for my our ending money. For a while I'm going to take that out in $1 coins.
In Canada they don't have $1 bills, just coins. There's been several attempts to do that in America, but experience with the metric shows Americans aren't big on change...
I've spent about $30 worth of them at several fast food places and a couple of grocery stores. I'm kinda disappointed... For the most part none of the cashiers have batted an eye at the coins. I had spent a $1 coin a while back and the cashier didn't know what to do with it. This experience is what prompted my little experiment.
But I haven't had any unusual encounters this time around. The cashiers have taken the coins just like it was cash.
I think I'm going to keep going with the $1 coins. As part of our budget, each pay period I take out $32 for my our ending money. For a while I'm going to take that out in $1 coins.
In Canada they don't have $1 bills, just coins. There's been several attempts to do that in America, but experience with the metric shows Americans aren't big on change...
Oct 6, 2012
The $1 Coin
So a few weeks ago I need to spray some gunk out of the bed of my truck. I swung by the coin operated car wash place and stuck my $10 bill into the change machine. It spit out ten $1 coins. I only used six of them, so I threw the rest in my change holder in my truck.
A few days later I was at a drive thru and paid using those dollar coins... The young lady taking my money was complete confused by them. She asked if they were real money...
So I decided to do an experiment. I took out $50 in one dollar coins from the bank this morning. Some are the presidential one dollar coins, some are the Sacagawea dollar coins and a few are the old Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. I'm going to spend them over the next little bit and see what sort of reactions I get.
I've already spent $5 worth, but it was in a self-checkout line at the store...
Here's how they came from the bank:
Here's how they look in a pile:
And here they are lined up across my dash:
A few days later I was at a drive thru and paid using those dollar coins... The young lady taking my money was complete confused by them. She asked if they were real money...
So I decided to do an experiment. I took out $50 in one dollar coins from the bank this morning. Some are the presidential one dollar coins, some are the Sacagawea dollar coins and a few are the old Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. I'm going to spend them over the next little bit and see what sort of reactions I get.
I've already spent $5 worth, but it was in a self-checkout line at the store...
Here's how they came from the bank:
Here's how they look in a pile:
And here they are lined up across my dash:
Jul 17, 2012
What Does The Bible Say About Money?
What Does The Bible Say About Money?
Almost everyone agrees that the Bible contains great advice about life, from improving your marriage to getting along with your boss at work. But does the Bible really say much about money? Does it really give us advice that we can apply to our own life in today's world?The Good News is Yes! Absolutely! We believe the Bible is as relevant and helpful today as when it was written, and God has a lot to say about money. Did you know money is mentioned in the Bible over 800 times? God must be pretty serious about this subject to talk about it that much.
In fact, Jesus says in Luke 16:11, "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" It appears from this verse that God uses money as a test of our management and stewardship skills before entrusting us with spiritual things. See more below.
Money in the Bible
1. Proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaves an inheritance to his childrens' children" indicating that God wants us to make a difference, financially, in our family tree.
2. Proverbs 21:20 "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." This gives us an idea of how God wants us to save for a rainy day, to set something back for safekeeping.
3. Proverbs 22:7 states that "The rich rule over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender." Really? The Bible discourages debt? Does God really want me to pay my debts off and avoid debt?
4. Luke 14:28 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it." Does Jesus really want me to save up and pay for the things I buy?
5. Matt. 6:24 "You cannot serve both God and money".
If money is this important to God, why are there so few Sunday school classes on this topic? Why don't we see lots of small group studies on "Managing Your Finances" or "Getting Out of Debt"? Why aren't there more sermons in this area?
There are many reasons, but the top reason is that most people don't realize how much of a problem managing money is for the average family. Look at the statistics below:
Financial Statistics
1. Marital Problems - 37 percent (the highest rate) of marital problems derive from financial situations
2. Cash Flow - 70 percent of all consumers live paycheck to paycheck, meaning they run out of money before the end of the month
3. Savings - The average family would have to use a credit card to pay a $1,500 unexpected expense (ex: home or car repair).
4. Retirement - Nearly half of all Americans (46%) have less than $10,000 saved for their retirement.
It is a problem that affects everyone, inside and outside of the church. In fact George Barna says that the fastest growing churches are teaching about marriage, child rearing, finances, and careers. Money is a serious subject, and God is serious about money, which is why we should study closely what he has to tell us.
Finally, there is something to guide us! A study to take God's wisdom about money and help us apply it to our own lives. It is called Financial Peace University.
Oct 1, 2010
30 Minutes of Television That Will Make You Hate Your Life
That's what famed blogger Jon Acuff calls the TV show "International House Hunters."
If you are not familiar with Jon, he's the author... nay, GENIUS who writes the "Stuff Christians Like" blog. He recently became a part of financial guru Dave Ramsey's team. And if you are not familiar with Dave Ramsey then you need to be. Now. (I was pretty thrilled about this... It's like the Easter Bunny & Santa Claus teamed up...)
Jon recently wrote an article on Dave's site talking about something you commonly see on the show. (I've seen the same thing on their sister show "House Hunters.") If you've not seen the it, the basic premise is a house hunting couple is shown three homes base on their shopping criteria (budget, size, neighborhood, etc). Typically, one of the three houses is price beyond the budget and the couple struggle to say no to the stunning home with the big price tag. I mean, who wouldn't bigger, better, nicer; regardless of the price.
Christy and I went through this in our 10 year long house hunt. We looked at some incredible homes, but they were out of our price range. Some were way out of our price range. Those were easy to say no to. But some were *just* out of our range. Just a bit. Just a teeny little bit. Those were the hard ones to say no to... We'd start looking at the budget to see if we could make it work. Three square meals a day? We could shift that to three square meals a week. If fig leaf clothing was good enough for Adam & Eve, shouldn't it be good enough for us? Fred Flinstone came up with a 100% fuel efficient car that would cut our gasoline budget.
But, the truth was they were out of the budget. We had run the numbers. We knew what we could and couldn't afford for monthly payments. The hard part was the bank had approved us for more than what we could've realistically afforded. But we had to ignore that and stick to the plan.
And this concept applies to more than just buying a home. It really applies to all areas of spending. Studies have soon you spend less when you hit the grocery store with a shopping list and a specific amount of cash to spend.
Have you ever had a weekend with nothing planned? A friend calls and you head out to the movies. Despite the jumbo popcorn and bladder-buster soda, you're still hungry so you grab some Applebee's afterward. Then on Sunday, after church you grab some Chili's. Before you know it, you've spent $100 of unplanned money. In my world, that's a big chunk of change.
Is going to the movies and eating out wrong? Of course not. But it can be the death blow to your budget if you don't plan for it. Put it in the budget. If it doesn't fit in the budget, then you'll have to give up something somewhere to make it fit.
The biggest push back I get from people is "no one is going to tell ME what to do with MY money." And that is exactly right... It's your money. You can spend it however you want. That's the beauty of a budget. You write it. (You and your spouse if you are married...) You make the choices. You choose what you are going to spend on what. You are in COMPLETE control.
But, if you are wanting to spend more than you make, then you've got to make some hard choices. Either make more money or starting cutting stuff based on what is important to you. Your values are reflected in the budget you have set up.
A budget is the game plan where you tell your money where it'll go. It'll keep you from wondering where it went... Money is like a new puppy. You either train it where it'll go, or it's just going to go where ever it feels like and you've got little puddles all over the house. Yuck.
Have a plan. Stick to it. It's as simple as that.
Really, you should read Jon's article here... It's way better than what I write.
If you are not familiar with Jon, he's the author... nay, GENIUS who writes the "Stuff Christians Like" blog. He recently became a part of financial guru Dave Ramsey's team. And if you are not familiar with Dave Ramsey then you need to be. Now. (I was pretty thrilled about this... It's like the Easter Bunny & Santa Claus teamed up...)
Jon recently wrote an article on Dave's site talking about something you commonly see on the show. (I've seen the same thing on their sister show "House Hunters.") If you've not seen the it, the basic premise is a house hunting couple is shown three homes base on their shopping criteria (budget, size, neighborhood, etc). Typically, one of the three houses is price beyond the budget and the couple struggle to say no to the stunning home with the big price tag. I mean, who wouldn't bigger, better, nicer; regardless of the price.
Christy and I went through this in our 10 year long house hunt. We looked at some incredible homes, but they were out of our price range. Some were way out of our price range. Those were easy to say no to. But some were *just* out of our range. Just a bit. Just a teeny little bit. Those were the hard ones to say no to... We'd start looking at the budget to see if we could make it work. Three square meals a day? We could shift that to three square meals a week. If fig leaf clothing was good enough for Adam & Eve, shouldn't it be good enough for us? Fred Flinstone came up with a 100% fuel efficient car that would cut our gasoline budget.
But, the truth was they were out of the budget. We had run the numbers. We knew what we could and couldn't afford for monthly payments. The hard part was the bank had approved us for more than what we could've realistically afforded. But we had to ignore that and stick to the plan.
And this concept applies to more than just buying a home. It really applies to all areas of spending. Studies have soon you spend less when you hit the grocery store with a shopping list and a specific amount of cash to spend.
Have you ever had a weekend with nothing planned? A friend calls and you head out to the movies. Despite the jumbo popcorn and bladder-buster soda, you're still hungry so you grab some Applebee's afterward. Then on Sunday, after church you grab some Chili's. Before you know it, you've spent $100 of unplanned money. In my world, that's a big chunk of change.
Is going to the movies and eating out wrong? Of course not. But it can be the death blow to your budget if you don't plan for it. Put it in the budget. If it doesn't fit in the budget, then you'll have to give up something somewhere to make it fit.
The biggest push back I get from people is "no one is going to tell ME what to do with MY money." And that is exactly right... It's your money. You can spend it however you want. That's the beauty of a budget. You write it. (You and your spouse if you are married...) You make the choices. You choose what you are going to spend on what. You are in COMPLETE control.
But, if you are wanting to spend more than you make, then you've got to make some hard choices. Either make more money or starting cutting stuff based on what is important to you. Your values are reflected in the budget you have set up.
A budget is the game plan where you tell your money where it'll go. It'll keep you from wondering where it went... Money is like a new puppy. You either train it where it'll go, or it's just going to go where ever it feels like and you've got little puddles all over the house. Yuck.
Have a plan. Stick to it. It's as simple as that.
Really, you should read Jon's article here... It's way better than what I write.
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