Being Intentional With your Bank Account – Setting Goals
You can’t change your financial situation unless you also change the way you’re doing something. – Crystal Paine
Properly handling finances takes hard work, diligence, large amounts of self-discipline, a prayer filled life, and good communication with your husband. Finances also just so happen to be the biggest thing that couples fight about. In an effort to gain back control of your life and your home – finances deserve a serious look.
Welcome to the next part of our online book study of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. It’s not too late to jump in and join the fun! You can read the introduction and see the full schedule of topics for the next 10 weeks. Or jump in with today’s discussion!
So far in this book series, we’ve been tackling the challenges of creating personal priorities lists and creating manageable routines so we can accomplish big things from within our homes. But today we are going to be looking at a very different subject: Finances and being intentional with your bank account.
Finances are a touchy subject for me and we are in the throws of paying off our student loan debt. And I’ll be honest about something: I’m really really bad at handling finances. Like terrible. I’m not a natural saver. I really like to shop and have a hard time focusing on our larger goal of paying off all of our student loan debt when it seems like such a large hole to dig out of.
But finances has been one of the biggest things that the Lord has given to us in our marriage to teach us to rely upon Him. When we got married, we didn’t have two pennies to rub together. We were both working and going to school full time. My husband graduated college a year after we got married and I graduated two years after we got married. We were young, in love, and poor – and it didn’t matter to us.
Dreaming Big Together
Over the years, I’ve had to come face to face with the reality that my struggles with handling money stem out of my lack of self-discipline. As I’ve learned how to better be more discipline, I’ve learned how to handle money better. And thankfully – hubby has taken over the finances for me – WHEW!
One thing that has really helped us stay motivated to watch where every single penny goes, is that we have huge gigantic dreams for our future. I’m not talking about we plan to be millionaires, but rather, we have fun and practical goals and dreams for our family that we won’t accomplish if it takes us the normal 30 years to pay off our student loans.
We pray, talk, and dream about our financial goals often. This helps us to stay on our strict budget…even when we fail and veer off that budget from time to time.
“So many people dream of getting out of debt, paying cash for another vehicle, paying off their house early, or giving more generously to others. Very few people, however, get beyond the dreaming stage. Instead, they drive around and around without a map, wishing they could go somewhere without ever determining where they want to go.” – Crystal Paine, page 109.
Making Plans and Moving Forward
Maybe you don’t have any debt and your wondering what your dreams could be. Maybe you are so far into debt that you can’t see (or think) straight. Maybe you have a little debt that doesn’t seem too terribly bad. Or maybe you are barely surviving, going from one paycheck to the next.
No matter your situation, pick a time this week to sit down with your husband. Schedule a meeting and take a hard look at your finances. Pray together and start seeking some goals (pay off credit cards, build an emergency fund, save up money for a new car, down payment on a house, etc).
While I’m in the middle of digging our way out of student loans, I’m definitely not an expert when it comes to finances. Check out our FREE eBook below (which was written by nine couples with various financial situations) or some of these resources:
- Take Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (our Church offered it for free)
- Dave Ramsey’s Gazelle Budget System
- Mint.com FREE Budgeting Software
- The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
- The Money Saving Mom’s Budget – Crystal Paine’s First Book
- Money Saving Mom’s Resources on Managing Money
Download our FREE eBook for a limited time!
Download our free resource on how to handle finances alongside your husband: Glorifying God in Your Finances! Written by 9 couples who all have diverse life circumstances and experiences in marriage. We have come together to share what we have learned and to give you encouragement. To instantly download this eBook for FREE, simply sign up for my email newsletter! This eBook is only free for a limited time – so sign up today!
5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day
Free PDF Guide & Training Video!
If you want to take this concept further and jump into how you can plan for a successful day (and what that even means), then I want to invite you to sign up for my FREE video and PDF guide 5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day.
Sign up and you can start going through it right away! Join me to chat about how, with a few simple tips, we can start living with more intention. It might seem overwhelming to work on being more intentional and purposeful in your schedules and to-do list. But in reality, it takes just a few minutes to begin transforming your routines with 5 simple steps…
