Budgeting. Oh. So.. Important!

Budgeting. Oh.. So.. Important!

     When I was considering marrying (my now husband) Joel I knew I had to help him create a budget. He had a credit card maxed and was absolutely terrible at managing money. He did not cook often and ate out alot. Also, he had student loan debt he made minimum payments on.
     My background was saving up and buying my first car with cash. Paying as much as possible on my student loan (once I found out the interest was $5/day and I had a smaller loan than most people!)
I also bought my first home (with my mother co-signing) when I was 23 years old. I took pride in managing money well and had a good career as an LPN.
     Early in our marriage we paid off my husband's student loan and began paying his father back a $20, 000 loan (borrowed for education). We wanted to honor him and pay it back asap just like any other student loan. We began paying $1000 every 2 weeks and once we hit $10,000 he actually forgave us the rest. We were debt free. We then put money in savings.
     Soon we were expecting our first child and bought a used van with our savings... from there we lost all control!! I started eating out which i hadn't done for my whole life, and began to not pay iff all our visa recipts right away as we used to. 6 years later we were increasing our visa limit as we had reached the max. We were way over spending with our credit card not really paying attention. My excuse was that we had gone down to one income after having kids (as childcare is crazy expensive and one of us would be working only to pay for child care). I wasn't budgeting at all, I just assumed we were not making enough money to live on.
     Fast forward to 2019. My amazing Mom's group called "Thrive" really has helped me in so many areas to have a better life. Forgiveness. and a few months ago we did this series about finances:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwBvi-1F5KFhNucFeJeCmbvPyPkjBxs2v

     This series inspired me big-time: to fight debt, live below our means, and put money in savings to be able to give generously.
     We started right away by looking at our money situation. It was a HUGE eye-opener just to list our income VS our bills. We actually WERE making enough money to live on. I realized that my couple shifts a week of income were needed to help pay for our food, groceries and medications. I would have to work more if we were going to get out of debt or save any money.

     We created a strict budget to limit our spending to whatever CASH I take out on payday. No more swiping our cards without paying close attention or buying anything with plans to "pay later". I also began booking a few more shifts too.
     A few months later ~ We have saved any extra money we could and paid off our visa completely!!
Seriously, this gets me excited about putting money in savings and reaching some big goals for home renos or vehicle repairs etc..  Things we thought we couldn't afford. Now we will be able to!

I highly encourage anyone who is struggling to watch this series even if you are not a Bible-believer.. you can still benefit from these teachings!

1. List your income VS your monthly income.
2. List your debts with the smallest owing first
3. Create a Budget, to be sure you live below your means. For us this also inspired me to create a meal-plan.
4. Start paying down debts and putting money in savings!
You can live on less, you can pay down debts! You can stop struggling and Thrive :)

Happy Budgeting, Cheryl

"The Graceful Season" A poem.

     Here is a poem I wrote many years back. I really love winter, and this poem is one I think of every year. It captures what spiritual significance snow has to me. I feel like it's God's grace and mercy covering us, no matter what.. it always comes. It comes again when we make a mess of everything, He just keeps covering us over again and again. I think I really need to hear Him tell me I am clean white and pure. I really feel distant and dirty right now actually. God Help me know your truth this Graceful Season!

This Graceful Season

It's all right,
the ground is all white, once more...
it's finally snowing,
just what I've been waiting for...

Oh just a little bit
not too much of it
just enough, to keep it all white

these words send applause
i love it because:

everything's right...
everything's white, clean and pure.


Such fun and beautiful fluff
could be significant stuff
i enjoy it more every year

when it covers the ground
without making a sound
i feel such peace in the air

with time it starts to get brown
but then more will come down
covering it over again

then i will applause
i love it because:

when everything's white...
everything's right, clean and pure

Dec 9, 2005. Cheryl Tower