(I really enjoyed this post from Ashley. I realize that some of my readers are not Christians, but I think she makes a really good point about taking care of our finances.)
At Peace is a guest post from Ashley.
____________________________
I have a confession…I used worry too much! I know the Bible says not to but I still found myself thinking and worrying and stressing over money.
And why did I worry? Because I didn’t know.
Didn’t know what, you ask? Didn’t know how much money I had.
When it got close to payday I would worry because I didn’t know if we had enough to finish the week. After payday I would worry because I didn’t know if I would be able to pay all the bills. I would just kinda drift along financially, hoping we would be ok, not really taking charge of the finances or the bills. As a result we have paid a few overdraft charges, late fees, and had to take out personal loans just to keep afloat.
A few weeks ago I had a little revelation, a word from the Lord: He told me to just do it. Just check the bank account. Just write down the bills. Just do the math.
So I did, even though it was hard and I felt a little like throwing up….ahem.
Here’s what I found…
I still had a little money in the bank.
We weren’t going to go over before next payday. However, I’m certain if I hadn’t checked the account and didn’t know exactly how much we had left we would have spent unknowingly and would have been overdrawn.
We were going to have enough money in the paycheck to pay the bills with a little left over.
Sure, it wasn’t as much as I wanted it to be but again, the knowing kept me from spending what we didn’t have.
God is my supply, not my bank account.
No matter what the calculator says, no matter what the bank balance is, God is my source. Period.
I found peace.
There is peace in knowing. It feels good to know what you can and cannot spend. Even if you find that you don’t have as much as you would like, as long as you know what you have there will be a peace.
I have found if I go a few extra days without checking the bank balance the worry starts to creep back in. What if I go over? What if that last payment gets returned? What if what if what if…..To shut that down I have to go check. Keeping a close eye on our money these last couple of weeks has really helped free up my mind.
Go now. Check your accounts. Stop the what ifs. Receive God’s peace and rest in Him!
_____________________
Ashley is a stay at home wife and a homeschooling mom of 4 beautiful girls. She is a lover of Jesus and a daughter of The King. She blogs about her life in the kitchen and home at Forever In The Kitchen where she is cooking up goodies for the spirit, soul, and body.
Wow…if I just floated along and didn’t write anything down like that, I would be an absolute nervous wreck, so I can see how you were worried before! lol. So glad that you found the situation better than you thought when you started keeping track. Blessings to you and your family!
I too now feel peace and am able to sleep because my husband and I talk about our money now. We have had a budget for one year and I love the peace I feel.
I keep track of many areas on paper and just yesterday i added up all the money we have. I was surprised how much we have been able to put away now that i keep track of every penny that leaves our account. I balance everything every two weeks and make transactions sometimes daily to keep everything in alignment with our budget.
I want to try a spreadsheeet but for now it is a printed sheet with numerous columns ( area, amt at payday, amt deposited into area, money spent during the two weeks and then new balance: I then transfer that amt to the next sheet).
I used to worry to. I check our bank every morning. Even if the balance is $0 I like to see it and not -$. When we bought our house 2 years ago I made a spreadsheet with a list of our bills and every payday from now until 2015. I have every bill mapped out. I can easily go in an change things if something comes up. Like when my husband had back surgery in March I was able to add the medical bills in to the rest of our bills and when they are paid off I can delete them. I’m really looking forward to that. It also helps with planning for special occasions such as my son’s 5th birthday party. He’s never had a party so I wanted to do something special and I can because of my spreadsheet planning.
@ Cassie, I’m interested in working out our debt and savings using a spreadsheet as well. Have you tried many and which one are you using now? Thanks for the help!
I know that peace!! We started Dave Ramsey’s FInancial Peace University a couple of months ago, and though we don’t have our emergency fund met yet, and we haven’t started the “snowball” to eliminate debt, we have so much peace having a plan for our money and having some left at the end of the pay check! We are telling our money where to go, and not wondering where it went!!!
It is an awesome feeling to control your money instead of allowing it to control you. 🙂
I agree, I gained financial peace just reading his book! We started the Gazelle budget and realized how much extra money we really bring in. Such a weight has been lifted already!