Two Column Budgets

I received an e-mail saying:

"I am trying to do my first budget but I am having trouble with it because I get paid in the 15th and the last day of each month. While my bills are due at different times during the month. Any advice?"

My suggestion is to have a two-column budget. The first column represents the first paycheck of the month and the other represents the second paycheck of the month. Place the amount that you are bringing in out the top of each column and spend (plan) every dollar on paper for that pay period.

If your power bill is due on the 5th that is the first column. But then cell phone is on the 19th that is the second column. Then adjust categories that have some flexibility (like clothes can be budgeted on whichever pay period has some room.)

I encourage you to keep it up. It takes practice and you will constantly be getting better at it. It is extremely hard at first but most things in life that are worth doing are like that.

Coupon Time

I got these from www.hustlermoneyblog.com

There are some pretty awesome coupons in this batch. If you had an upcoming purchase I recommend saving a little $ by printing one of these out.

Printable or Online:

1. Best Buy 10% or 12%
2. Ralph Lauren 20% off
3. Border’s 20% off
4. CVS $4 off 20
5. New Customers – Take 7% off Your Order at Overstock.com. Expires 9.30.07
6. Chuck E Cheese Coupons
7. Phillips 10% off
8. Office Depot Get $30 off Purchase of $150 or More!

Insurance: So easy a caveman can do it...

So in my young life I have not had the pleasure of dealing with medical insurance a great deal. But in such a short time I feel like I have learned the hard way.

I consider insurance (along with an emergency fund) to be a foundational block of your financial picture. However, now I realize that it is not only important to HAVE inusrance, but you have to UNDERSTAND your insurance.

I knew I had dental so I scheduled an appointment. My insurance covers 100% of reasonable costs. I ended up learning the hard way that my insurance didn't cover the whole amount from this dentist and I ended up having to shell out some major money that I wasn't expecting.

If you have some type of medical appointment make sure you request for them to pre-qualify their expenses with your insurance company in advance. This is a must, especially if this is a new dentist or doctor you are going to.

I do love Vanilla Coke

For those who haven't heard (and yes I know most do not care) Vanilla Coke is back!

I am pumped about this and even more pumped that they have commemorated the return with a buy 1 vanilla coke get 1 free coupon!

Vanilla Coke Coupon

If drinking a vanilla coke brings back fond memories, now you can do it for free!

Watch out for Identity Theft

I used to not really take this idea seriously because I thought that it would not happen to me. I did not go to questionable websites nor did I give out my information to anyone that I didn't have 100% certainty what it was used for.

However, it is getting trickier and tricker to protect yourself from Identity Theft. For instance, I use paypal on a monthly basis but not a ton. I got this email a week ago saying that my account was frozen due to inactivity and needed to unfreeze my account. The e-mail looked EXACTLY like the paypal e-mails. Then when I clicked the link it took me to a site that had a web address that looked legitimate and had "paypal" in it somewhere. The page even looked exactly like the paypal website.

It asked me for my ss#, bank card #, and other things that paypal might normally ask for. Then I questioned what I was doing because I wanted to think twice before I put this information in. I hovered my mouse over the page to see where the links on the page would take me and came to find out there were no links at all on the page. The entire page was just paypal graphics.

On the page before they had me "log in," so I decided to click back and log in again but this time use an incorrect password. I came to find out that it still let me through. It was a scam.

I notified paypal immediately and change my password. I am thankful that I did not click submit and give out all my information.

Be on your guard against identity theft because it would be easy to fall in a trap if you are not careful. Matthew 10:16 actually tells us to be shrewed as snakes. Jesus was telling his disciples when sending them out to not be taken advantage of. I think this is still very insightful in today's age.

Is Christmas time here yet?

No, it is not...but it will be.

I love Christmas time; not only is it a cool time to remember Jesus but just to be completely honest I get really excited about getting presents (and giving). Don't get me wrong the Lord and Savior of all creation should be #1 on the list and He is, but that is everyday. On Christmas the only thing that changes is I get presents and I am okay with that.

I think Michael Scott said it best "Christmas is awesome. First of all, you get to spend time with people you love. Secondly, you can get drunk and no one can say anything. Third, you give presents. What's better than giving presents? And fourth, getting presents. So, four things. Not bad for one day. It's really the greatest day of all time."

It quite possibly could be the greatest day of all time, Michael. If you are like me, you like to go all out. And afterwards you end up feeling a lot of pain in your bank account right afterwards. I never want to go through that and do not want you to go through that ever again. The simple solution is this:

Christmas is 129 days away. Right now figure out how much you are going to spend on presents...it's really easy to do just try it. Then put it in your monthly budget and plan for it, in fact if you put it in an www.ingdirect.com account you could get 4.5% interest until you spend it.

Christmas is not an EMERGENCY. It comes the same time every year. Can you imagine how great it would be to get to enjoy all the great things that come with Christmas AND to not have buyers remorse!

Learn the Magical Word

The great word that we as Americans need to tell ourselves is "NO!"

It may sound simple but it is so NECESSARY. It doesn't matter how much money you make you still need to tell yourself "NO." For whatever reason the trend is to always spend a little bit more than what your income is; it could be a $30,000 income, $300,000 income, or $3,000,000 income you still end up living paycheck to paycheck.

I was reading an article in ESPN the magazine I think like a year ago. And it had an article on John Daly and how he was in debt $4,000,000. He turned to casinos to try to keep his head above water and was running himself into the ground by trying to make it to so many appearances.

It doesn't matter how much your income is, you need to learn to tell yourself no. That is the toughest thing for me. If I want something (or talk myself into "needing" something) I want it right then; it is the mentality we all have in America. I want it right now, my way or I am pissed.

When I make a plan I need to stick to it, the next month I can make a new plan; I can figure into the new plan the thing I want (and it might take multiple months saving for it!!!!). It is so worth it; to be financially free allows you to live life the way Christ designed it (not in bondage). There is so many warnings throughout scripture; they are not there for show, its truth.

Free Chicken and a Coke!

http://www.freechickenandcoke.com/

By now you probably know that I love free stuff; what you might have no known is my extreme fondness of chick-fil-a chicken sandwiches. Every once in a while God allows us to get a glimpse of heaven by putting the two together.

If you go to that site and fill out your info they will mail you a coupon for a chicken sandwich and a coke. Enjoy!

Should I borrow from my parents?

I recently got an e-mail asking me if it was okay to accept a loan from this person's parents. This person believes it is okay and actually borrowed money on two occasions from family members and it worked out.

Check out my previous post to understand my point of view on borrowing money from family. Out of Bounds.

I thought he had a valid point that I wanted to address on the blog. I am glad that borrowing money from your family worked out. However, what I am still saying is truth and it's good advice. You can drive down the road 100 miles per hour and get where you are going in one peace; but that does not prove it was a good idea.

In most instances families can produce strain on those involved and usually will be followed by regret. The borrower is always slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7) and Thanksgiving Dinner tastes different when you are eating with your master.

A Glimpse of Compound Interest

Have you ever thought about being a millionaire but then just laughed it off. I am going to show you the key to becoming a millionaire; compound interest.

$100 a month, that is all it takes. If you invest $100 a month for the next 40 years you will have invested $48,000 by the end of it. That is a lot of money.

But after 40 years of compound interest that $100 a month would be $1,176,477.25!!! (This calculation was done with the assumption of the market average over the last 75 years, 12%)

I think most people could plan to set aside $100 a month; but the problem is nobody is doing it.

Compound interest is your greatest friend or your greatest enemy. (By the way, that exponential growth works against you for your debt)

The Heart of Savings

What I am going to talk about is a tough issue to teach and explain. The reason why it is hard is because it is a balancing act.

Savings is important but not at the cost of replacing the hope we have in Christ with our "stuff."

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 is saying save for a rainy day. This is where I got the concept of an Emergency Fund from.

However, there is a flipside to this that was brought up in my life group last Wednesday. When we put our hope in that to take care of us we now have a new issue to work on and some might even go as far to say they don't need God.

Matthew 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

I cannot stress this enough. You SHOULD do things like save money. Scripture is clear and calls that wisdom. But DO NOT put your trust and hope in that because our stuff on earth is so fragile. It can be given then taken away in a blink of an eye.

God loves his children and loves us enough to teach us what is best for us. Just like a father telling his daughter to not play on the roof. The daughter will say things like, "Why are you ruining my fun" or "You are so mean, why are you against me." Then the father will reply, "I know what is best for you even when you don't, I love you, and because of that you need to go sit in the corner."

It's discipline but it's love.

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid."

I want you to save money AND put your hope in Jesus and not on Earthly things. Look for discipline in this; our hearts will fight this and as a Christ Follower you should be constantly growing in this area.

Joe Sangl Day

Today I am meeting with Joe Sangl from Newspring for a Financial Counseling Roundtable with 7 or 8 other people who have a passion for helping people with their finances.

I could not be more excited and can't wait to post tomorrow on what God teaches me through this!

Am I against all debt?

I get this question a lot, and in order to answer let me explain the kinds of debt that I am specifically referring to.

Types of Debt

Credit Card
Student Loan
Home Mortgage
Car Loan

The answer: Yes, I am against ALL debt. I want to make every effort to have (zero) debt in my life. That is the ultimate form of financial freedom when I don't have to make payments to ANYBODY. I do not want to ever be STUCK at a job because I need the security of being able to make payments. This is not freedom, it is what I call bondage. You are literally bound to doing something you may not want to do. So my plead is to make every effort to stay out of ANY kind of Debt.

With that being said, those 4 types of debt are not created equal.

My stance on debt is, it is only acceptable debt when you can sell it and be debt free immediately. It has to retain monetary value.

Therefore out of the 4 types of debt I listed, a Home Mortgage is the only form of debt I consider acceptable.

Home Mortgage
At any point when things change in your financial situation you can sell your house and be out of debt immediately. Now we all know it might take a few bumps (like it may take your house a few months to be sold). But that is why I recommend a fully funded emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses. It is smart to have it for this very reason.

Car Loans
Car Loans are NOT acceptable. Your car depreciates in value so fast and it breaks my heart when people get stuck financially and need to sell their car but they can only sell it for like $15,000 when their loan is still outstanding for $25,000. You still have to sell it because $10,000 of debt is still better than $25,000 but it is just a bad situation...stay away.

What I personally do, and what I recommend is to find a beater car (couple thousand bucks) that is in good mechanical shape (ugly physical shape) and drive that while making a car payment to yourself. Put aside $300-350 a month but put it in a money market to buy your next car, in cash. Keep making payments to yourself and at some point put it in a mutual fund. After years of making payments to yourself, there will be a break even point where due to compound interest you will never have to make a car payment again!

Credit Cards
These are NEVER acceptable. They do not even come close to the rule that I have of being able to sell it immediately and be out of debt. I do not feel that I need to go real in depth but Credit Card companies are making MAJOR money; it is or will be coming from you if you play around these things.

Student Loan
I know that I am going to get push back on this. The common response is, "Education is important. Some people can't afford college, so are you saying they should not go to school just because they can't afford it." My response to this is no AND yes. First of all, education is SO IMPORTANT. But it is not valuable because you need a diploma, you need to actually learn and apply it there. And I do think that an education is VERY important, but like I said before the only acceptable form of debt is when you can sell what you went into debt for and be out of debt immediately; it needs to retain a monetary value (not sentimental value, not emotional value, not enjoyment value). Student Loans do not fall into the category of being able to sell it and be out of debt.

But I DO want kids to go to school. If asked, my advice would be to work, work, work your tail off. Work for a couple years and save up every penny you can, go to a state school. You will most definitely not take school for granted at that point. My buddy, Casey, worked his way through school and graduated from Clemson University in Engineering. He did not incur a penny of debt and graduated with a degree. It is never okay to use money that you do not have. That seems very basic to me but something that we rationalize so well. By the way, you know what we do when we rationalize, we tell rational-lies.

Yes I know that student loans generally have lower interest rates and yes I know they have things like you don't have to pay until you graduate. But it is still the emotional response of being in bondage and I will choose freedom 100% of the time.

So when you tell me the perks of debt (like in Student Loans) what I essentially hear is, "Come be in slavery, we have all types of perks like water, food, sheets, good hours, a nice master and it is much better than the other type of slavery." I will never be willing choose or say it is okay to be in this. I cannot make people's decisions for them, but there are too many Americans that have the walls closing in because of their money and we have to open our eyes that we are allowing it to happen. It is so important because it affects everything else in their life, to the point that they may not be able to do what God wants them to do because they have put them into a place of bondage.

Too many people are stuck in a trap and doing a job they don't want to be doing. Instead of doing something that makes them come alive and what God designed them to do.

In John Eldredge's book, Wild at Heart, there is a quote that holds very true.

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

Coupons of the Week

Here are some coupons of the week from Hustler Money Blog that you might be interested in.

Printable:
Express $10 off 40 or $20 off 80
Kmart $5 off 50 **should work at Walmart too
Best Buy 10% off
Office Max $10 off 20
Pep Boys $10 off 50
Value City $20 off 50

Fear of Investing

I was talking with someone about a month ago about his financial situation. Just to paint a picture: he is married, does not own a home, is debt free, and him and his wife are in a situation where they are not incurring a lot of expenses. He makes a regular income; She does not. His regular income covers all expenses that they have. His wife has irregular income coming in due to things on the side she does. All money she brings in goes to savings.

He wants to invest the extra money they have coming in but says he is scared to do so. My advice to him is what I have heard from many financial guru's in the past. Knowledge Eliminates Fear.

Know this:

97% of the 5-year periods in the entire market history made money
100% of the 10-year periods in the entire market history made money

Just pick any random 5 or 10 year period in the market's history and you will find these statistics are true. By the way, this includes during September 11 and the Great Depression.

Your money will go up if you just leave it. Here is some knowledge to steer you away from short term investing.

Only 66% of the 3-year periods in the entire market history made money

That is a 1 in 3 chance that I will LOSE some of my money. I am not taking those chances; I would much rather stick with the 97% and 100% figures.

FICO Score Decoded

I had a friend ask me a really good question recently that I wanted to put on here to show my thoughts on it. He asked, "Which is better on a credit score - a credit card with zero balance, or no credit card at all?"

Before I answer this question I have to lead into it so you know where I am coming from. I am not a big fan of encouraging people to make efforts to make their credit score as high as possible. I do think it is important to make all payments you have so that your credit will be intact and in good shape because it is your electronic reputation. As long as you do that, you do not have to worry about your credit score.

The only thing that a credit score gives you is the ability to borrow MORE money. So essentially what you are saying when you want to raise your credit score is, "I want the ability to borrow more money." I don't like the idea of borrowing money period so I usually advise people accordingly to not bend over backwards to get their credit score higher.

FICO scores are calculated based on your rating in five general categories.

Components of the FICO score are:
Payment history - 35%
Amounts owed - 30%
Length of credit history - 15%
New credit - 10%
Types of credit used - 10%

80% of your FICO score is to get in debt, stay in debt, and make payments for a long time. That is the way to improve your credit score, but also the way to be in slavery and have no freedom with your money. So I advise people don't even play that game. The only thing you need a credit score is for more debt anyways. Everyone in America is so worried about their credit score; yet most of America is living paycheck to paycheck. I want to steer people away from playing the credit score game because I really do think those two issues are connected.

But to conclude to an answer I say don't mess with it at all. If you are not planning on using the card, then don't get the card. It really doesn't affect your "credit score" that much if you had a card with zero balance as opposed to no credit card at all.

Realtor or No Realtor

I know several people in my life that are currently either selling their house or thinking of selling their house. The age old question in this is, "Do I NEED a realtor?"

The positive to not getting a realtor is you save on the commission that is rather sizable depending on how much your house will be sold for.

However, if you had to ask me I would say yes, I do recommend you have a realtor when you sell your house...BUT, I do not just want a realtor, I want you to get a high quality, highly motivated, won't slow down realtor with a great track record.

I have heard Dave Ramsey say to interview people when they are going to make money off you. So that is my suggestion. If you go in there and have questions ready for them and they don't want to oblige or are being a jerk, move on quickly and thank them for their time. If they don't feel that they are good enough to exceed all your expectations and know that they will stand up to a tough grader then you did not want them in the first place.

Interview Questions to ask:

1) Why should I list my home with you? (Find out what the agent will do to help your home stand out.)

2) What’s your company’s track record and reputation? (If one agent or company sells more than the rest, ask why and what they’re doing differently.)

3) Does your broker control the advertising or do you? (If your agent doesn’t control the advertising, your home may compete for ad space with listings from every other agent in the brokerage.)

4) On average, how close is the selling price to the asking price? (This information is available from your local Real Estate Board. The agent’s performance in this area can help predict how much you’ll get for your home.)

5) On average, how long does it take your listings to sell? (This information is also available from the Real Estate Board. It will help determine about how long your home will be on the market. )

6) Do you have a reference list of clients I could contact? (Make some phone calls. Ask them to describe their experiences with the agent.)

7) What if I’m not happy with the job you do? (See if the agent will cancel your contract without penalties if you’re not satisfied with the service they provide.)

Did I say free?

I found these offers on Hustler Money Blog.

If you have some free time and you like to drive, you can now get FREE stuff while doing it. Check out these offers:

$25 Best Buy Gift Card for Test Drive a Suzuki XL7
Two Tickets to the Bourne Ultimatum for Test Drive VW Touareg 2
$10 Starbucks Gift Card for Test Drive Smart Car USA Tour
Mercedes Test Drive for free food and parting gifts.
Support Susan G Komen to raise money for breast cancer research with BMW test drive
Request a brochure with Prepaid $50 Mastercard for Toyota Test Drive..ymmv.

"Above and Beyond" Cash Flow

At the risk of this post being "out there," I am going to talk about what I have termed "above and beyond" cash flow.

This is any money you have coming in that is unexpected. It is different than your alternative income stream where you are making money work for you without going into a "job" so to speak (that is a planned income stream). Above and Beyond Money is when you find $20 on the ground, when your annual tax return comes in, or when your Aunt gives you $50 for your birthday. It is irregular income that you know is coming someway, somehow, sometime; you just don't know how, from where, or when.

If you have a detailed cash flow plan and receive above and beyond money you know exactly where that money can be put to good use. If you do not have a plan there is a good chance that money will leave you quickly and this is never a good feeling.

A marketers job is to appeal to your senses and use our psychology against us. So if you suddenly have $1600 that you did not have a plan for, there is a good chance it will be gone and you will be left wondering where it went. I am not trying to tell you what to do with YOUR (cough, God's) money; but I am trying to tell you that whatever you spend it on, you need to do it on purpose.

I believe that if we receive Above and Beyond Money and there is no plan, then it is not going to be a financial help to us. I cannot stress the idea of a planning enough. I love talking about doing fun stuff with your money: investments, generosity, savings for cash purchases, etc. But you HAVE to have a foundation first and one of those foundational blocks is a PLAN.

Tips for Cash Flow Planning

These are all tips that have worked for me; if you have been frustrated with budgeting try some of these ideas.

1.) Use a computer. They are good for you. If you do it in excel you can make it calculate your total as you go. Not only that, if you forget something you can just insert a row instead of erasing everything like you would on a sheet of paper.

2.) Budget for upcoming expenses. If you know something is coming up a few months from now, start budgeting now. It makes things so much easier when it comes time to pay whenever that something comes.

3.) Do your budget monthly. Each month changes. I am single with a basically simple lifestyle and still things change for me on a monthly basis. You are not going to come down from the mountain with the stone tablet budget, you have to continue to tweak and change things depending on what life throws at you.

4.) Start your EMERGENCY FUND. I don't think anyone will argue with me that life throws curve balls. Why would we not plan for this? This is the FIRST thing recommend you to do, it is SO important. Save up $1,000 and set it aside. Then attack your debt. (See Attack that Debt) After that is completed I suggest you set aside 3-6 months income as your emergency fund. (See Emergency Fund)

5.) Keep copies of old budgets. I like looking back on things from a year or so ago and see how far God has brought me in life. Not only would it be neat to see this in our cash flow planning, it is also a good reference tool.

6.) Use envelopes to hedge overspending. If you plan for $200 for groceries one month, just put $200 in an envelope and have all your money come out of there. Dunn & Bradstreet did a study that says in our psychology we spend less money when we use cash. It is a fact and we can argue but because debit/credit cards are so convenient we end up spending more. If you set aside a few envelopes a month: food, groceries, fun money, etc. it will aid in your effort to not overspend.

Side Note: My friend Dean has a "five pocket wallet" that he uses to set aside his cash for each category, rather than having five envelopes . This idea intrigues me and I think I would like to try that in the near future.

7.) Do NOT turn to debt. If you can't fit everything into your budget that you want/need to spend money on do NOT turn to debt. You need to cut things out of your life, debt cannot be an option anymore.

8.) People with irregular income still have to budget. You do not have a round number each month and to planning for your budget will look a little different. You need to prioritize your spending. Rank your expenses. 1.) Food 2.) House 3.) Transportation 4.) Basic Utilities 5.) Clothing from there rank what you deem most important then next importance. It is a skill and will take time to develop.

Gut Check Time

Recently I have been thinking about my principles on personal finances because I am preparing to teach a two week Financial Class on October 21 and 28. (Click contact me if you want more information on this) These are 3 questions that I had to ask myself, that I encourage you to ask yourself to examine your financial health.

1.) Is there anything in my finances that if made public would discredit me?

If your financial records suddenly became public, is there anything you are doing that would make you embarrassed? You know what that is and chances are you need to cut it out of your life. This rings true especially if you are a Christ Follower. It may be your $400+ monthly eating out expense when you say you have a heart for the poor. Money is an indicator of our heart, the tough thing is that it is so easy to keep it private. I encourage you that if there is something in your financial life that if brought to light would be a negative representation of you, to cut it out.

However, this is just a symptom of a bigger issue. If you are not content in every situation in life you will always have these type issues being brought up. Cutting out something of your life is behavior modification and will probably be brought up again. Praying and working on being content because God has given you so much already is the solution. That is not an overnight thing, that takes perseverance and time.

2.) What am I doing right now that will make me be where I want to be financially a year from now?

I know a lot of us say, "we are going to save money when this changes" or perhaps we say, "once that thing goes away I will spend less." Whatever reason (cough, excuse) we might be telling ourselves, the better question is what am I actually doing? Am I making steps to be where I want to be?

One of my goals has always been making my money work for me so I wouldn't HAVE to (I would still WANT to because I love working at what I am passionate about; I would just do it for free now). I want my "alternative income stream" to be larger than my expenses. What I qualify as alternative income is anything that I don't go to a job for. This could be interest earned, dividends, rental income, or any type of income stream that doesn't require me to "go into work for." This is a lot longer than a goal than one that can be achieved a year from now. But I honestly have to ask myself, if this is a goal then what steps am I or have I taken towards it.

3.) Am I increasing in generosity?

It doesn't matter if you follow Christ or not, you have to be increasingly generous. I believe that it is truth that the love of money is a slippery slope that can ruin a persons life. In fact, it is cool that I am writing about this today because I just read 1 Timothy 6 this morning. (Fresh Bread)

1 Timothy 6:9 "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction."

I believe that God created our hearts and through his divine word he is warning us about money. It is a blessing to have money and in that same chapter (1 Tim 6:17) scripture says that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Now, right before that is says do not put your hope in wealth but hope in God and they go together. What I am saying is, it is okay to enjoy blessings from God (after tithing, basic needs, and generosity of course) as long as you put your hope in God and not in wealth. I am not using that scripture as justification for being greedy so please don't hear me wrong.

But to get back on track, generosity is key to keeping our hearts in check so that we won't fall into ruin and destruction like 1 Timothy 6:9 talks about.

Those are 3 questions that you can ask yourself that will help examine if you are on track to being financially healthy.

I Love a Good Coupon

From time to time when I see deals I like to post it for all to see and enjoy. If you are planning on spending some money at any of these 4 places, it probably would be worth it to go ahead and print out one of these bad boys.

I got these from http://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/

These are great if you were planning to buy something for your house or perhaps a new office that the orginazation you are leading just moved into. Both valid times to print out these coupons.

Target : Coupon for $5 off of $25 purchase

Office Depot: 15% off Office Depot Coupon

Reebok Outlet: 40% off Coupon at the Outlet Store

BabiesRUs: 15% off BabiesRUs Coupon

Remember, if you were not planning on buying anything from one of these stores...don't use them. You will not be saving money. However, if you were going to get something like a desk or bookcases anyway you might as well use em.

What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You

I used to believe that what I didn't know, could not hurt me. In fact, I told my friend Jon this many times when discussing "rules" for us to live by while living in the same house.

To give more life to this, I did not want Jon using certain things. For example I did not want anyone to sit on or put stuff on my bed (pet peeve...don't know why, I just don't like it). Along with me telling Jon that these are my wishes I told him, "But...what I don't know can't hurt me." If I get home and my bed is all messed up, I now know and we have a problem. But if I truly do not know and do not find out, there is no way it can hurt me.

This was my motto for roommates for many years. However, I now believe it to NOT be true in all cases and will never use it again.

If you do not KNOW where you money is going, it WILL hurt you. It is so simple, yet the hardest thing for us in America to grasp. Your income MUST be greater than what you spend. There is no gray area. It is not calculus or trigonometry, it is addition and subtraction. If you are reading this blog you need to KNOW a budget or it WILL hurt you.

You might be saying, “I don’t need a budget.” I know from experience that if you are broke or are stuck in a trap of all the money coming in then going out like a whirlwind, the way to get out is through the introduction of a monthly budget. Once you do this you are actually able to give more than you ever thought possible, save more than you ever thought possible, and will be able to utilize your income to do something besides PAY BILLS!!

You have to KNOW how much you have coming in (Income). And now you have to KNOW what is going out (Expenses). If you do not know this it WILL hurt you; there are too many hurting people out there for me to think otherwise anymore.

If you need help with setting up a preliminary budget and need someone on your team, e-mail me. Click the contact me link on the tool bar.