Budgeting

I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful and dynamic group of ladies!  We are reminded in Matthew 6:25-34 that God loves us and will provide for our every need.  He instructs us, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you are well" (Matthew 6:31-33).

This week we talked about how each of our families handle budgeting duties, and we shared our best practices and lessons we have learned along the way.  We covered the budgeting worksheet attached to the previous post.  Here is a synopsis of how I budget:

Each month, I sit down and prepare a budget for the following month.  I use a spiral notebook (old style).  I open in prayer to the Lord, asking for His blessing and direction for our finances.  I list out our income for the month and calculate our monthly tithe based on our gross income.  Then, I continue listing our expenses for the month beginning with housing, utilities, groceries and ending with negotiable expenses like clothing and personal care items.  I try to be as specific as possible as I budget.  Giving each dollar a name helps me to prioritize our spending.  In years past, we have used the Dave Ramsey system to pay off our debt (both credit card and vehicle payments).  I highly recommend this method if you have consumer debt.  It has freed us in so many ways!

Often, I am discouraged or stressed at the end of the process, so I often end by writing a prayer in my budget notebook.  I tell God that I trust Him and ask Him to help me be a good steward of the gifts He has given us.  I ask Him to take away my stress as I am reminded, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself" (Matthew 6:34). 

After completing the budgeting process, I write a check to get cash out for all of the budget items not paid by bank draft or check (i.e. tithe, mortgage payments, utilities).  I have purchased a plastic coupon organizer and labeled it with the following categories for monthly spending:
          Groceries
          Miscellaneous groceries (Target/WalMart type expenses)
          Dining Out (Family meals)
          Lunch money
          Miscellaneous 

Under the Miscellaneous category, I paperclip and label money for various spending categories such as clothing, personal care, postage, etc. The contents of the miscellaneous tab vary from month to month.  I also separate the money behind the other tabs into the cash needed for each week.  This keeps me on budget each week, which is key to sticking to a budget.  When the money runs out, the spending stops.  This is extremely hard.  I recommend keeping a small amount of money in your budget to pull from for emergencies or sudden and necessary expenses.  Otherwise, when these expenses arise, you will have to re-distribute money from one of the other spending categories.

I would love to spend time with you talking about your budget or going into more detail on how the Franke family handles this process.  I would also love your feedback on what has been shared.  Next week, we will be talking about couponing and grocery shopping.  We have agreed as a group to begin a Coupon Exchange at Parkway.  We will be starting a box or envelope on the Women's Ministry bulletin board soon!  The Lord is working among us and I am blessed!

Sample Budgeting Worksheet

I have created an electronic version of my budgeting worksheet.  I have included some broad, general categories for expenses, but I really encourage you to get specific and tailor it to fit the needs of your family.  We will be covering this at our meeting tomorrow and talking about truly giving your finances over to God.  I hope you can join us, but if you can't, the blog will be updated after the meeting!


http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0As1SECST8md-dEhnY1hQMTNQTE9BZW15QzJUUFUtb1E&hl=en

This Week's Topic - Budgeting

I am so excited to tackle this as our first topic for discussion!  I can honestly say that I have learned A LOT of lessons about budgeting over the past few years and still have A LOT to learn.  Brandon and I have developed a method that seems to work for our family, and I can't wait to be able to share our journey with all of you.  Bring your best budgeting ideas, successes and failures to share with the group on Thursday morning at 10:00 am. 

I want to help you in any way that I can.  If you want to bring your actual monthly budget for September/October, I will be happy to spend some one on one time with you or set up another meeting to go over it.  No judgement--just advice and support.

If you can't join us in person, feel free to share your ideas here, and they will be shared out with the group.  After our meeting on Thursday, I will share the ideas that we discuss so that we can all learn from and support each other as we strive toward successful stewardship!!!

What a wonderful morning!!!

Today was the first meeting of our ladies stewardship group. I am truly in awe and blessed by the group of women that God has assembled together. Each one is amazing in their love for Him, their gifts and talents. Today we talked about what stewardship is and how it touches every area of our lives. We studied what God instructions for us as women in Titus 2:3-5, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the word of God."(NIV). We also read about His love and provision for every area of our lives in Exodus 16:4, 12, 18. 

We discussed areas of our lives where we struggle with our stewardship and areas where we have grown and matured over the past years. We have all learned valuable lessons from our past experiences. God instructs us that we should share our experiences and growth with one another and seek advice and counsel for those who have already traversed the path before us. We are so excited that He has brought us together to support each other on the road to successful stewardship.

Next week we will begin our topical discussions. If you were not able to join us today, we would love to have you next Thursday morning at 10:00 am. I will be praying for each of you individually and our group collectively. Next week I will remember to ask for specific prayer requests :0) Check back soon for more information on next week's topic!

Tomorrow is the BIG day that we start our journey toward successful stewardship!

I am so excited to open my home to a group of ladies who are seeking God's will for their lives and looking for ways to be a better steward of the gifts He has given them.  I have a deep passion to share what I have learned with you and to learn more through your experiences and input.  We will meet in my home on Thursday mornings from 10:00-11:00 am.  (Remember that I moved last summer, so if you have not been to my new house, please call for directions.)  Please feel free to bring your kids--mine will be here and will want some playmates! 

If you have a friend who you think would be interested, bring them along.  I am so excited about what God has in store for us, and can't wait to watch as He works among us!!!

Welcome to my Blog

I have finally decided to start a blog to share my journey toward successful stewardship and the blessing that I receive along the way. Let me begin by inviting you to my home study on stewardship which will start next week. I envision this to be a time of sharing our best practices and mentoring one another as we traverse through topics that affect every woman. I hope you will join me:


The Bible calls us all to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. He has laid on my heart a deep desire to share the lessons I have learned and a hunger to know more.


You are invited to join me on a journey toward successful stewardship beginning
Thursday, September 17, 2009
10:00-11:00 am
Franke Home
Children are welcome!


Discussion Topics will include:
Budgeting
Meal planning and grocery shopping
Organizing and cleaning your home
Quality time--what is it and how to spend it
Dating your mate and other relationships
Volunteering and gifts inventory

Please let me know if you plan to attend or if you need the address--979-690-2415