My Total Money Makeover

DaveRamsey.com

Recently, I finished my July book, "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.

Wow.

What do you say? Other than I have been for much of my life VERY "financially illiterate."

Liz and I in recent years had begun to live on a budget, meaning, tracking every penny and planning our expenses, really out of necessity. For so long we had "more month than money" as Dave talks about. We had to get our spending under control. We had taken great strides to getting out of debt and becoming more financially secure through what we had read in the Scriptures, Crown Financial Ministries, and listening to Dave on the radio. But we still had (and have) many things to learn.

"The Total Money Makeover" revealed where we were still compromising in our monthly budgeting, and showed our lack of specific vision for the future. The book confirmed much of what we have learned, but it gave us greater clarity for now and the future and strengthened our resolve to become better money managers, and ultimately better stewards of what God has given us.

I have lived in la-la land regarding money for much of my life, not  really knowing how money really works and not seeing the deceptive traps I was in. In reading the Scriptures I have learned such things as "the borrower is slave to the lender," and "owe no one anything except to love," and that it's diligence and hard work that brings wealth as opposed to get rich quick schemes.

I also learned in 1 Timothy 5:8 that he who doesn't take care of their own household "has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

That one hurt. Bad.

I overspiritualized money by not really giving it my concern or attention, and yet all the while wanted more of it and not enjoying the situation we were in.

The spiritual thing, in fact, is to get out of debt, take care of your household and your future, and position yourself for giving!

So through tears, joy, despair, inspiration... I finished The Total Money Makeover.

Now it's time to have one.

Pennies

It's December 1st, and the Follman family 2011 annual budget is coming to an end.

Yes, you read me right. I said budget. And I'm writing about it. AND I'm excited about it!

Budget is not a word that many get excited about, and we are not unlike that. But it's been over a year now since we started tracking just about every penny that goes in and out of our pocketbook. After we started tracking our income and expenses last year, we rolled out the Follman Family Annual Budget 2011 (sounds pretty official!).

Where sometimes budget can seem like prison, it has meant liberation for us. If you are anything like our family, over the years I have looked at our finances like is was a mystery... an enigma! There was no making sense of it. Money came in and out of our possession and it seemed as if I could never really get a hold of where it all was going. It's all simple math, yet I am dumbfounded and can only shake my confused noggin when I try to determine what we have done with our finances over the years.

Then we began writing it down. ALL down. I'm not even sure why except that we were trying to figure out how we were going to make it! I was starting a new job and we needed to determine how we were going to do this (financially), and the habit of writing it down stuck.

After several months, the enigma turned into enlightenment as we were able to see where everything was going and what our true income and expenses were. Sounds so simple, yet it was so profound. The single most influential factor for us getting a hold of our finances and tasting freedom has been writing it all down. From that, we could make our spending plan (budget), and determine if we were sticking to it, blowing it, and how we needed to adjust.

A wise man once told me, if you take care of your pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves. I didn't understand what he meant at first. I also didn't have good control of our finances at that point. What he said has a couple of meanings to me now.

First, every penny matters. Where and how I spend my (which is really God's) money adds up. Be thoughtful and purposeful about everything your spend. Every penny matters.

And, the other way this speaks to me is similar - tracking our pennies. Tracking every penny has helped us to get a better hold of our dollars.

We have a long way to go as a family. We have debt like many Americans, but we are working hard to release ourselves from that bondage as well. We have much to learn when it comes to our personal finances. And... we have made progress.

If there is one thing I could encourage anyone struggling getting a grip of their finances, it would be to write it all down. To the penny. Every penny matters. And from their you will be able to see what needs to be done in your finances and make the appropriate changes, like we did and are still doing. Until you write it down, it stays a mystery, and your money floats into la la land and control of your spending slips through your fingers like sand from the seashore.

May I also suggest two excellent resources on getting a hold of your finances, and secondly yet more importantly, getting God's vision of them? (Sure you say!) Try Crown Financial Ministries or Dave Ramsey.

As you gear up for the new year, try something new with your finances. Count your pennies, and write them all down. See if the dollars begin taking care of themselves...