So what do you do?

Organize the Process in a Group

Anyone who has ever forgotten to get something from the grocery store realizes that it requires a lot less time to buy everything one day than having to go get something as you need it. It requires a grocery list and a bit of foresight, but it saves you hours throughout the week by NOT having to go back to pick up missed items. Why not implement the same type of planning to the paying of your bills?

Rather than sporadically paying them as they come in, or checking a pile on your desk every few days, you should be able to designate 2 days a month to pay your bills. And of course, if you want to save even more time use your bank’s online bill pay.

Steps to Manage your Bills

Itemize your bills. You want to make a list of all your bills, the due dates, the average monthly amount. Like a grocery list principle, this helps you see where you are, and what efforts you have to put in to be on track

Group them into payment periods. Most companies send out bills around the same period. Either they are generated 2 weeks before the end of the month or the first 2 weeks at the beginning of the month. You want to call the companies and have them generate all your bills on 2 days. Typically you get paid bi monthly, so it will help if the bills all came in around your pay period.

Figure out the bill amount per pay period. When you do this, you have a better picture of where you are financially, and what commitment you need to pay your bills. A a practice round up the figures. Say you get a bill for $34.82, write it down as $35. Psychologically this helps you because you know you’re going to pay your bills for that period all at once, it is a whole number, rather than staggered payments all through the month. You do it once, and you wait to the next pay period. So you know what you have left can be properly allocated

Setup Automatic deductions. After grouping the bills, you know the total amount. Set up a bill pay bank account where all the bills for a particular period will be deducted. Try to set this up to deduct automatically 3 days after your pay-day. This way you have enough time for your pay check to clear if it is direct deposit. Add 2 more days if you are paying the check  in physically.

Romans 13:8 "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law."

I love checklists. Especially when I want to make progress in a particular area but don’t exactly know what steps to take. This is a personal financial checklist that covers all the steps I have taken over last 5-7 years that have helped me move from being a financial mess to having a little bit of an idea of what’s going on.

Some of the listed items are bigger and will take a long time, and some of them are simple tasks that you can accomplish in a day. Some will be relevant to your situation and some will not – that is why it is called “personal” finance – everyone’s situation is unique.

But, if you are just starting out and are trying to get yourself into a better position financially, I would suggest spending the next couple months and checking off as many things on this list as possible. If you do that you will be on your way to financial freedom!

This is not a chronological step-by-step process, but like the title suggests it is just a checklist. Some of the items can be done simultaneously, while others will require another item to be checked off first. Other than the first couple items, they are not listed in any particular order. If you are looking for a step-by-step process, I highly recommend Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover.

Below is My Personal Checklist To Financial Freedom:

Start giving regularly.

Something. Anything. If you don’t have money, give your time.  Just get the sowing and reaping process started. The Bible says as long as the earth remains there will always be seedtime and harvest and you can’t reap what you don’t sow. So just like a farmer wouldn’t expect crops without planting seed, we too must start sowing in the area that we want to reap.

Make a lifelong promise to yourself to spend less money than you earn.

We could end this checklist right here and it would suffice. Just about everything listed below falls into this category. Spending less than you earn is the key to wealth building, and is the most important lesson when it comes to personal finance. You can do everything else right, but if you spend more money than you earn – you will not be in a good financial position.

This is the simple rule that allows families living on a $40,000/year salary to retire with millions and that causes millionaires to go bankrupt. You have to decide that you will not spend more money than you earn.

Pay off all consumer debts

Proverbs 22:7 says that the borrower is slave to the lender. Having been a slave and a free man in this area, I much prefer being free. A wonderful second benefit is that you have a lot more financial peace and can build wealth faster when you are out of debt.  For paying off debts, I recommend the Debt Snowball Method and these are a few other tools and resources to cut your debt.

Negotiate a better rate with credit card companies

While I was working to pay down my debt, I spent some time on the phone negotiating with my credit card companies to get a better interest rate. It isn’t a guarantee, but I consistently would get off the phone with a better interest rate than when I called.

Create a budget

Creating a budget can be as simple or as difficult as you make it. I love having a budget in place – contrary to what I thought before I tried it, it doesn’t feel like we are in handcuffs, but rather that we are more free to spend money in the areas we want to.

There are lots of budgeting software options and other budgeting tools to help you. Having a budget has helped my marriage, saved us thousands of dollars, and given us so much more peace with our money.

Get the employer match on your 401k

If your employer has a matching program in your 401k or 403b (many of them do) you should try to take advantage of that if at all possible. My former employer had a 100% matching program. So if I put in $500, they put in $500. That is a 100% return on my investment. This is the easiest way to boost your retirement dollars.

Start an emergency fund

This was another thing that we did to give us a lot more peace with our finances. It can be expected that unexpected things will happen. Creating an emergency fund is just proof that you are expecting them. We have since used our emergency fund to save us even more money.

Sell your junk

Way too many of us have way too much stuff. A lot of it would never be missed if we got rid of it. I have sold a lot of stuff on Ebay & Amazon and it helped provide some extra cash to pay down my debt.

Start learning what the Bible says about Money

The Bible really has a lot to say about our money. I wrote an article called 5 Bible Verses about Money that every Christian should know and if that isn’t enough here are 250 Bible Verses about Money.

Create a balance sheet

A balance sheet is a snapshot of your financial position. I like to update it every 6 months and it is a fun and helpful way to gauge your progress.

Create a FLOP

Since I handle the finances in our family, I know a little more about whats going on than Linda does. I created this file, which I call our Financial Life on One Page (FLOP), as something that she could go to if I died prematurely. I combined it with our balance sheet to make it one file that covers all the financial details that she would need if I were gone.

Start giving 10%

Giving 10% of your income to your local church is an important milestone. God was the original giver and we were created by Him to be givers as well. I have witnessed miracles in our life in the area of giving and it also happens to be the only place in the Bible where God says it is okay to test him – See Malachi 3:10.

Organize your bank accounts

I discovered that having more than one checking account allowed us to manage our money much cleaner and with more efficiency. Here is a little on how we organize our bank accounts.

Cut Your Expenses

If you are really trying to save money or get out of debt, you need to thoroughly examine each of your monthly expenses. I wrote about 15 ways to cut expenses which will get you started, but always be asking yourself, “Is _______ really necessary?” or “Can I get ______ cheaper somewhere?”

Simplify your bill paying process

I created a simple system for paying my bills each month. It made my life a lot easier and eliminated a lot of stress. Read more: How to Pay Monthly Bills.

Figure out your true hourly wage

This is a fantastic exercise to help you more accurately know what your time is worth and whether or not that job you have is worth it. Try it here: How much are you really getting paid?

Set Career Goals

Following up on the previous task, is the current job worth it? It is going to help you reach your career goals?  If you continue doing what you are doing, where will you be in 5 years – or 20 years? Are you doing what you love? If not, find someone doing what you want to do, take them out to lunch, and ask them how they did it.

Create A Will

Save your loved ones a headache and just do it. You can do it at LegalZoom.com in less than 30 minutes for $69 and be done with it.

Evaluate your car situation

I am convinced that the one of the biggest things that keeps the middle class Americans in the middle class is their insistence on spending way too much of their income on cars. I used to believe that I would always have a car payment. I was wrong and now I intend to never have a car payment because I will save up cash for whatever car I buy. Watch this video for inspiration. For more read How cars affect your financial freedom.

Start saving for Kid’s college

If you have kids you might want to start saving for their college education. Personally, I wouldn’t do this until I had my debt paid off and had a head start on saving for retirement. Your kids can take a loan out for college, but the only loan you can get for retirement is on a credit card and that seems a bit foolish to me – don’t you think? Some argue that the 529 is the best college saving plan, but the Education Savings Account is a good option as well.

Get Life Insurance

I believe in buying Term Insurance over whole life. There are some cases where there could be an argument for choosing whole life, but generally Term seems to be a better purchase for most people. I recently signed up for my first life insurance policy. I used Zander to get a term life insurance quote and was happy with the process. You can read more in my Zander Term Life Insurance Review.

Pay off your house early

As part of getting out of debt, I want to live without a mortgage as well. Here are 4 ways to pay off your house early. Just imagine your electric bill being the most expensive bill each month. I can’t wait!

Give more than 10%

The more I understand stewardship, the more I realize that every dollar that is in my bank account isn’t mine – it is all God’s. A big part of being a good steward is understanding this and never letting money get a hold on us. I am convinced that the most fulfilled people in the world are those who always looking for ways to give of themselves. Time, energy, or money – it is in our DNA to be givers and like the parable of the talents teaches us, if we are faithful with small amounts we will be entrusted with more.

Used by permission from ChristianPF.com

Why I wanted to get out

A little over a year ago I ventured out into self-employment after spending much of the previous decade in the “Rat Race”. For most of that time I was a glorified pencil-pusher in the corporate abyss of a Fortune 500 company.

I was a pawn in the corporate version of Henry Ford’s technological breakthrough: the assembly line. I had a specific thing I was supposed to do each day. Creativity was not required, valued, or even tolerated. The corporate machine’s wheels were spinning and everyone seemed happier when you left “good enough” alone.

It was frightening to find myself in such a unique and specific role that my job title contained six words and no one outside my office would have any chance figuring out what it actually meant. The frightening part, of course, was that there might only be a handful of companies in the country that ever needed someone with the highly specialized batch of skills that my job required.

For some strange reason I actually couldn’t wait to finish college so I could get started in Corporate America. I had lofty ambitions and was itching to get started. It didn’t take long before I realized that Corporate America was not for me. I felt “cool” wearing a tie to work for about the first week. It was working in a skyscraper and being able to see the city (from my boss’ office). But before long, I would see the lawn-care guys outside and legitimately be jealous that I was locked up in my cage while they got to work outside.

The saddest part was seeing so many of my co-workers who had dreams of things they wanted to do, but because of fear they worked decades in jobs they hated. I saw so many who allowed fear and complacency to control their destiny. Rather than taking a chance on reaching their dreams they settled to become “lifers” in jobs they did not enjoy.

“If you won the lottery and the first thing you would do is quit your job, then you need to quit your job.” – Dave Ramsey.

I was in the same boat. Each day I saw myself looking more and more like some of those around me. I could so clearly see where I would be in 20 years if I didn’t make a change and it was scary and depressing. Yet I didn’t know how to change it or what to do about it. I wanted something so different for my life, but was on the wrong track to get there.

Now that I have spent over a year working for myself I can’t imagine doing anything else. For as trapped and held down as I felt before, I feel the opposite extreme of the joy of freedom. Just to be clear, self-employment has it’s own challenges and difficulties, but I honestly think they pale in comparison to what I went through while spinning my wheels in the Rat Race.

Step 1: I Started Something knowing that it might fail

This took me years to take this step. I finally realized that I just needed to start something, anything – if it failed, then it failed, at least I tried. I had to work to overcome my fear of failure, because it was paralyzing me.  I found myself spending way too much time trying to figure out the perfect plan even before I took the first step. The amazing thing is that as I started taking steps, the plan became clearer. It’s just like a horizon line. It stays the same until you start walking towards it. As you get closer you see things that you couldn’t see before.

I am a planning fanatic and think it is a critical component of just about everything, but for me I was excessively planning to the point that no progress was being made. It was like trying to map out each step of a hike on a trail that I have never walked on. I finally decided I was just going to start hiking the trail and when I saw log laying on the trail I would plan out my steps then. But there was no way for me to see the log from the trailhead – so I had to take that first step.

Starting a business

When I started this blog, my first financial goal was to make $100. I gave myself 6 months to reach that goal. I set a small goal because I needed to have a really good chance of reaching that goal. By reaching that goal, I would be inspired to keep going. Successfully achieving goals is one of the most motivating things out there. So I work hard to set attainable goals. Had my first goal been to make a full-time income from the blog I don’t know that I would have been able to stick it out that long without having the feeling of success that comes from reaching a goal.

At the beginning I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to make enough from my blog to support myself, but I was very confident that I would be able to make some money and that was a step in the right direction.

It was something I enjoyed and was passionate about it.

I started a blog about personal finance because it was something I was interested in. I enjoyed figuring out how to manage my money better and enjoyed helping others do the same. I think it is important to mention that I didn’t write about personal finance because I thought it would be a profitable topic. I wrote about it because I liked it.

The corporate jobs that I was trying so hard to get away from were a result of me just getting a job because I needed money. If I would have started a business just because I thought there was money to be made with it, I could potentially be in a similarly depressing state – running a business just because it pays the bills.

I had been advised by enough people that I should, “do something I love doing and find a way to get paid for it.” This really is great advice. The rules are changing and now more than ever the possibilities of businesses to start is endless.

I worked at it part-time

An excuse that I often hear, and admittedly used myself for a while, is, “I don’t have time to start a business.” Up until the point I left my corporate gig, I don’t think I ever spent more than 15 hours in a week on the blog. And most weeks were from 5-10 hours. I used to devote one night a week to writing and would sit down for about 3-4 hours and try to write a few articles. On an average week I would spend 15-30 minutes each day on maintenance activities. The point is I was wasn’t working 2 full-time jobs, I just gave up a few hours of my week to devote to freeing myself from my 9-5. And since it was something that I enjoyed – it really didn’t feel like work at all!

A failed attempt

I should mention that during this phase where I was trying to ways to generate income, I tried a few things that failed. They failed because I realized that I didn’t really enjoy them. Most of them were making money, but I realized that it wasn’t something I wanted to do, so why keep doing it?

One example was an Ebay business I started (which you can read all about it: Step-by-Step guide to starting an Ebay business). I had an idea of a product I could sell (by the way, if you can think of it, you can sell it on Ebay) and so I decided to do a little test. I spent a couple hundred dollars knowing that even in the worst case scenario I would probably break even. I sold my products and was detailed in calculating my expenses so I could get an accurate picture of how much profit I made. After my test was complete, I calculated that I made $160 in profit from selling 6 items. From what I could tell I could have scaled this up as well in order to make much more if I wanted to. But that was my answer, I didn’t really want to. Like I mentioned above, I didn’t want to get caught up in doing something just to get paid again. I had already learned my lesson.

Starting a business should be cheap

Another one of my excuses that I used for a long time was that I didn’t have money to start a business. I always thought that you needed to borrow $250,000 from bank just to get started and then if it fails, you have to spend 10 years trying to pay for your losses. While there are still businesses out there like that, there are a whole lot more that can be started from your house for next to nothing. You can host a website for about $6/month with Dreamhost and find all kinds of free or cheap tools to create a website, online store, blog, message boards, or anything else. You can start an endless number of businesses from home spending only $15 on business cards. The days of having to risk a lot of money to start a business are over.

Step 2 – Lowered our cost of living to the lowest reasonable point

I am very calculated in most of my decisions that I make because I don’t like taking on unnecessary risk. But whether I like it or not, handling risk is a part of everyone’s life. Some people try (unsuccessfully because it is impossible) to remove any and all risk from life. And others seem to not to take risk into consideration when making any decisions. But it seems to me that the most successful people do a great job of balancing the two. But I digress…

I knew that stepping out into self-employment that there were elements of risk. I also knew that if we could lower our cost of living then we would be able to survive a challenging financial situation for longer than if we had a lot more expenses.

For example, if a family is accustomed to living on $5000 a month, they need a $60K salary to support that lifestyle. If by cutting expenses, and spending $1000 less each month they can now survive on a $48K salary.

Taken even further, if the business had a few months that only made $3000, an emergency fund of $10,000 (in our example) would last twice as long (10 months instead of 5 months) if they had cut their monthly expenses down to $4000 rather than $5000.

How we did it

When Rocky fought the Russian Guy he didn’t just sit around hoping that he would win. He worked out to prepare and get ready for the battle. Also, he didn’t only strengthen his offensive muscles, but his defensive muscles as well. He strengthened his core muscles so that when the Russian delivered a blow to his stomach it wouldn’t just destroy his internal organs. He could flex those stomach muscles that he had worked on and they would provide a barrier of defense.

I view the whole exercise of lowering your cost of living like Rocky working on defense. You know you are probably going to get punched in the stomach and it will hurt either way, but if you are prepared for it, it won’t be as bad.

In our case we had started a budget years earlier and had our expenses pretty well under control, but we scaled back even more. In preparation for the big transition we cut out just about all unnecessary spending for the previous 6 months. We spent very little on clothes, going out to eat, Starbucks and other casual luxuries. We cut back on just about anything we could, meanwhile taking all the savings and socking it away in our emergency fund.

Step 3 – Paid off all debt possible

After we got a decent chunk in our emergency fund, we spent the rest of the preparation phase paying off any and every debt we could. Like I mentioned earlier, we knew that every hundred dollars of monthly payments that we could eliminate would just better our chances of survival. Much like Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball, we paid off smaller debts, in lieu of larger ones with higher interest rates.  So for us, we paid off the remaining balances on our cars (thankfully there wasn’t much left), paid off multiple credit cards, and some of the smaller student loans.

By eliminating so many of these smaller debts, we were able to greatly reduce our monthly payments, and thus provide ourselves with a larger cushion. And while cutting back on our monthly expenses helped prepare us for starting the business, eliminating so many monthly payments proved to be even more valuable.

When you realize that getting rid of a $300 car payment can be enough to cover your groceries each month, you can start to see the potential.

Step 4 – Used time wisely

Employees in the Rat Race who punch a time clock have little incentive to use their time wisely. As one of them, I didn’t get paid (or even rewarded) by performance – only based on whether or not I showed up. I guess if I did a bad enough job, they would have fired me – buy you get the point.

Working in an environment like this generally creates terrible time-management habits. Getting to go home was the incentive I had to finish my work each day – which, surprise, surprise, took 8 hours each day. But it was always amazing how we could supernaturally finish all our work in 6 hours – when they said we could leave early – if our work was complete. So just like Parkinson’s Law states that expenses rise to meet income, so to do tasks expand to fill the time they are allotted.

Learning how to overcome this challenge is a key to being self-employed. I still have tons of room to grow in this area, but thankfully have made some progress. The key for me has been to ferociously eliminate distractions and to challenge myself to get tasks done within an allotted amount of time. So I would look at something I need to complete and challenge myself to get it completed in a shorter amount of time. Without fail, I always get more done by doing this than if I just started it without a completion time goal in mind.

In my case, when I was officially working on the business full-time, I knew I only had a few months to start making it profitable or I would have to call it quits. So making the most of every hour was very important.

Step 5. Reinvested in the business

If I had not gotten laid off and had more time to grow the business part-time, I would have reinvested more of the profits back into the business. In theory if you have a full-time job that you are supporting yourself from, all the profits from the business would just be gravy.  So if you were making $500/month with the part-time business, I can’t think of better way to speed up the process of becoming full-time than investing it in your business. This is a much better idea than spending that extra $500 on clothes each month.

Buying advertising to generate more sales, adding new products, or anything that would help the company generate more income seems like a great idea to me. I was able to do a little bit of this while we were in the preparation phase, but once you cut the cord from your employer, you now need that money to pay the bills – so you might as well take advantage of it while you can!

Final words

To reiterate, this isn’t for everyone. But, I know there are a lot more people out there like me – who were called to do something, but were bound up by fear. If that is you I encourage you to fight against it and try. We only have one life to live and we are responsible to use the gifts that God has given us. Remember the Parable of the Talents?

If you do decide to step out, pray and do it in God’s timing. Don’t just run out and quit your job – use wisdom and be patient, God’s ways seem to take a while sometimes. Plan for the worst case scenarios, and pray for the best case!

Have you escaped? What did you do to get out of the Rat Race?

See also Checklist to Financial Freedom

Used with permission from Christianpf.com, original article posted as How I got out of the rat race

The question now becomes if these loans could have been avoided. Certainly! However it takes diligence and proper planning for this to work. The first and probably best attack against school loans is to study hard for the SAT and get outstanding scores with which one can get a full ride scholarship. Often times when one gets a scholarship of this sort, there is usually a GPA requirement to be maintained. This will mean that time that would have been otherwise channeled to some other extra-curricular activities will now be focused on studying and career advancing activities. However in reality many will see this as a feat to be accomplished, so here are a few steps that will be taken in order to keep a tight limit on student loans.

1. Have a plan

Understanding that a college education is a means to an end is a very valuable mindset to embrace. Proverbs 29:18 reveals that without a vision, people are unrestrained. A plan for your college life, courses, finances, social life etc is very important, and will keep you in check against distractions.

Time is money, and this could be no truer here. Every additional semester spent in college above the prescribed time for the coursework will cost extra money. However with a plan, forces you to walk a straight path. You are able to ask yourself most times if your actions are contributing the success of your plan. Through a personal plan, one can eliminate or severely reduce these additional costs.

2. Live a frugal life

“…for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing…” Philippians 4:11,12, NLT.

To be frugal doesn’t mean to be stingy, meaning to be slack in giving, however it means being able to live an inexpensive life. While I’m advocate of prosperity, recognizing that your college education is a means to an end will require you to live a financially disciplined life. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, then you probably need the knowledge on avoiding student loans. Not everything you see is worthy of you spending your dollar on. 4 years of college translates to 48 months, and if you can save yourself $50 a month by living a frugal life, you can save yourself about $2000 through college.

You will have to learn to say “No” to some things. When making a decision, you have to ask yourself the question of if to buy the $100 pair of shoes or the $35 dollar shoes, or make a decision to strategically plan your shopping during seasonal sale s at departmental stores, cooking at home versus eating out.

I’ll add, live at home for as long as you can. Picture this, the average room and board per year is $12,000, this translates to $48,000 a year.

3. If possible avoid buying text books

Text books usually range between $150 and $300 every semester, and it has been tagged amongst the top ten overpriced expenses for college students. Avoiding buying text books could be very tricky, as it could mean the difference in you excelling in a class or barely making it through. Often times the class texts are available in the school library, or in public libraries. If not, check with a friend or a friend-of- a friend, or search on craigslist. The point here is to keep text book cost at a minimum. Only purchase books when it is necessary.

4. Apply for grants and scholarships

Grants are different from scholarships and financial aid in that they are free gift money given on a need basis, rather than merit based like scholarships. Most financial aid offices have some allocation for grants. So what do you do? Make an appointment with your college advisor or go to your financial aid office and show determination and desire to complete your college education. In essence show that you need the money, and make a case for why the money given to you won’t be a waste. Don’t be discouraged if you’re turned down the first couple of times. I have a friend who persistently asked, and he received grant money of about $20,000 over a period of two years from his school’s financial aid office.

Also don’t stop applying for scholarships! A simple search on google with the search string “college scholarships” will bring up a bunch of different options, and this is what you spend most of your free time doing. Some are given based on you GPA and community service work, some are given based on how convincing you are in an essay; Whichever the case, keep applying, get as much free money as you can.

In line with this, build good relationships with your professors and advisors. Their favorable recommendations will be of great value when applying for scholarships.

“Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold” Proverbs 22:1, NLT

5. Go to a community/2yr college for pre-requisite

For every degree program, there are a series of general education courses that need to be taken before courses that focus on your major. But why pay so much for the same set of courses that can be taken at a 2yr college and transferred to your university of choice? The tuition at community/2yr colleges are significantly lower than tuition at universities, and most times the credit for gen-ed courses are transferable. Do proper research here to ensure the outcome is positive for you . This will probably be the initial best use of money that may have been saved up for college.

6. Get a job, or work study

Certainly this was going to come in, get a job! Whatever free time you have can be used to earn some income. If possible get a job that will allow you some free time on the job to look over class work. Most on campus jobs are pretty lenient with this because they understand that you need the income while you go to school. My recommendation will be to work about 20hrs a week, at least this will give you enough to cover some of your basic expenses.

The best jobs are academic work study jobs. These are part-time jobs that are given based on need to those who meet certain requirements. At a minimum, you can expect to earn the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. But beyond this, you will get a portion of your tuition paid, and this can be as much as 50% off your tuition in some cases.

7. Request cash as gifts

Throughout your college experiences, there will be events, celebrations where people will want to give you gifts. At a minimum, Christmas and birthdays, at these events make it clear to people who ask that you would prefer cash donations as gifts. This means that a person that would have bought you a pair of shoes for $120 will probably just write you a check for $100. That’s cash in hand and it’s worth more than the shoes. Some people may find this a little sensitive, but truthfully this doesn’t mean you’re begging. You’re just making it easier for people who would have otherwise gotten you a gift, but this time, its money that you can channel to some area where you need it most.

8. Be diligent in your studies

Need I say this? As intuitive as this may sound, many people think it’s enough to just make it through college, but really that is not good enough. You are supposed to excel above all, be the best where you are. Being diligent will give you an edge over everyone else, your academic excellence puts you in a better position to get scholarships, and with better grades you are in a better position to get a good paying job quickly. This verse of scripture puts the point in its simplest form: “All hard work brings a profit…” Proverbs 14:23, NIV

9. Be a giver

You may think: “but we’re talking about saving money here…” That’s true, however spiritual laws supersede natural wisdom, and one of the spiritual laws that exist as it relates to our finances is the law of seed time and harvest. God promises a blessing in return as we sow a seed of goodwill into the life of another (Luke 6:38). Having a giving attitude psychologically breaks the tendency to become self absorbed financially.

Another thing to realize when it comes to giving is that not all that you receive has to be financial. However there are benefits that are received that are intangible. Pay attention to these and if you would like, try and quantify them in cash, and you’ll resolve for yourself that being a giver pays!

“Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.” Proverbs 11:24, NLT

10. If you must take loans, make sure every dollar goes towards the tuition

The point of this article is to keep student loans at $0, realizing that all the above are suggestions that have been proven; however the choice to follow them is left to you. If you have done all these and you still have to take a loan, please don’t use the money to buy a Gucci purse or Prada loafers or the likes. Ensure every dollar is spent wisely; towards your college education.  Always remember you’re on a journey, and every decision counts towards the fulfillment of the vision.

Be blessed and follow me on twitter @MoyoMamora

Be blessed and live debt free!

PS: Discuss this post at the ChristianPF Forum

Many habits people have are nothing but money traps that will ultimately do nothing for a person except cause an addiction to form and a piggy bank to break. We all know the habits that I’m talking about. It is these destructive habits that form during our youth, especially during college, which often plague people for their entire adult lives. Habits form our character and eventually make us the person who we are. A habit with a $200 monthly income will be 10 times or probably 15 times magnified with a $2000 income. Money has a way of amplifying character traits. You may think that your habits are your little get away from the stressful college life, but any habit reinforced will form a character trait. Is it any wonder why majority of people go deeper into debt with an increase in income?

Whether your vice is drinking, smoking, or even something simple as buying a lottery ticket every day, it has no place for someone who is trying to obtain an education and better themselves financially (not to mention spiritually). I would much rather save money by not forming addicting habits. However, as with most things in life, the choice is ultimately yours. If you want to make the change, make a list of these habits that are costing you nickels and dimes. And while holding yourself accountable to a trusted mentor, and begin to form new habits by the words you speak and decisions you make, that will overrule these habits.

“In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” Proverbs 21:20

2. Make a budget.

Yes. I know a budget sounds boring. A budget sounds like something that old senile great aunt Mildred would give you every Christmas. “Oh no, not another budget!” said little Timmy. Ok, I took that too far. On a more serious note, budgeting is one of the most important things that you as a college student will do. You have to learn to plan for what you will receive, and for what you will have to give out. Not only will this help you now during college, but budgeting skills will also help you for the rest of your life. By budgeting you can hopefully master the art of making a little go a long way. If you can track what you spend your money on, it will help you to cut frivolous spending and will make you more accountable every time you pull out your wallet.

Also with making a budget you have a good picture of your financial condition. Humans tend to do better with pictures. You will also be able to release your faith towards God for a your daily bread (Matt. 6:10-11)

You can learn how to create your first budget here

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5

3. Get a job.

Let’s be honest here guys, it is not that difficult to juggle a job and college at the same time. Unless you are studying Nuclear Brain Manipulation Surgery at M.I.T., you should be able to pull at least a few hours a week at a part-time job. But if that does describe you than Kudos! Personally, I am taking 18 hours this semester and working at least 30 hours a week. Now, I don’t say this to brag or make myself out to be better than I am, I only say it to make my point.

Now this is not written to advocate toiling, thank God man has been redeemed from a life of toil, and by the blessing we are able to be fruitful and productive in life (Gal. 3:13,14). However there is a place of wise use of one’s time. Too often we’ve heard the saying “time is money”. So if one is not able to manage time, then it’s a good pointer as to why there are financial difficulties. Making a decision to effectively use the time available to you puts you on a path to overcoming financial hardship as a college student. Really, balancing school and work is not impossible, it may not always be fun or easy, but it is not impossible. It is pretty obvious how getting a job would help you to have income while going to school, but it also helps you to gain more responsibility in juggling priorities. If you can’t handle college and a part-time job, you might want to rethink having a family and a career.

“How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” Proverbs 6:9-11

4. Be a giver

Yes. It appears I have just contradicted myself, but let me explain. Money is ultimately nothing but a concept that we give value. While it is a concept that we should be good stewards of, we should not take so much pride in our wealth that we hoard it all to ourselves. I am not saying that you should go out tomorrow and give away your life savings to the first homeless man you see. I am saying that you should find joy in routinely giving away some of what you do have, even if it is not much. If you don’t feel comfortable giving cash away to needy people, then find another outlet. There are plenty of ways to give. You could buy groceries for a needy family, buy Christmas gifts for less fortunate children or sponsor a child through an organization such as World Vision.

The Bible in so many different places teaches on the importance of giving, as a matter of fact, “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). When you give, you position yourself to experience overflowing blessings from God. Jesus Himself taught concerning giving in Luke 6:38. Your giving positions you to receive in a good measure, pressed down shaken together and running over. Your ability to receive is dependent on how deeply you have imbibed the concept of giving.

I encourage you to find a way for you to give back, I am confident you will be glad that you did. If you don’t learn how to part with some of your money, it will become a stumbling block between you and the Lord.

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24

Obviously, these are just a very few guidelines to help you on your quest to balance finances and college. I encourage you to explore other options available to you and utilize what works best for you.

Be blessed, follow me on twitter @MoyoMamora

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Article originally posted at ChristianPF.com, 4 Tips for Broke College Students and Editing and additions by Eden Life. Used by permission.

That’s why you’re surprised when your spouse:

• Writes a check knowing full well there is no money in the bank.
• Stops at an out-of-network ATM because the walk across the street (to an in-network ATM) is just too much hassle.
• Spends $10 every lunch and refuse to take a lunch.

And that’s exactly why your spouse is surprised when you:

• Insist on washing the zip lock bags to re-use them.
• Even insinuate you should cut the cable TV.
• Bring up the topic of cutting up the credit cards because you have a credit card debt problem.

Typically, these topics are issues because, until you were married, you never took the time to ask how they would respond to all these situations.  Thus, one strategy for a healthy marriage and money relationship is to explore what each other really believes about money.

I think talking about money can really help you open up a new door to financial intimacy.  However, for these questions to bless your marriage, you should consider discussing them with the following ground rules in place.

First, the purpose of these questions is exploratory – not accusatory.  If you have an agenda to use these questions to change or manipulate your spouse, they’ll perceive it as just that.

Second, if you’re currently in a financially adversarial situation with your spouse, these questions are better asked and discussed in the presence of a qualified counselor.

Finally, allow an adequate amount of time.  Perhaps you should consider taking a date together where the two of you strengthen your financial intimacy through open discussion.

21 Discussion Questions for Married Couples

Family Background

1.  When you were growing up, did you think your family was poor, middle class, or upper class?  When you look back now, do you still view it in the same way?  Do you have any regrets about how your parents handled money?  Are there parts of your financial history you plan to avoid?

2.  Did your parents typically see eye to eye on the topic of money?  When they did disagree, what was the process for coming to a consensus?

3.  What were some of the best ways that your parents spent money?

Self Diagnosis

4.  Would you classify yourself as a saver or spender?  When you think about investing, do you feel confident or cautious?  When you work, do you typically want to choose the path most traveled or least traveled?

5.  What is your greatest financial fear?  How do you think that fear impacts and influences how you spend your money?

6.  What do you believe about money?  I believe money is best used by ______________.

7.  How do you feel about debt?  Are you comfortable having credit card debt, payday loans, car loans, or a mortgage?  When I look at the stack of bills we get in the mail, I feel _______________.

The Marriage

8.  How much does something need to cost in order for it to be an us decision instead of a you decision?

9.  What is the biggest financial adjustment that needs to take place in this marriage?

10.  The one thing I’ve always been to shy to tell my spouse about money is _____________________.

11.  I feel ___________ when you ____________ with money.

Current Financial Situation

12.  If one or both of us were to lose a job today, how would you feel?  Would you be financially ready to handle that crisis?  If not, what could be done today to help you be prepared for it?

13.  How are you enjoying your job (or homemaking)?  Is there anything I can do to be more supportive?

14.  I think our current debt levels are: (a) no big deal, (b) something to be aware of, (c) a serious issue, or (d) a crisis.

15.  Do you have an emergency fund in place?  What would need to happen to start saving up for an emergency fund?

16.  If there were one thing you could change in our finances to make you feel so much better, what would that one thing be?

17.  When it comes to giving money to the church or others, I feel _____________.

The Dream

18.  What do you want retirement to be like?  Where do you see us living?  What do you see us doing?  Should one of us work?  Part-time or full-time?

19.  What are three things you’d like to do in your lifetime?  What are the financial implications?

20.  The one thing I’ve always wanted to do with my money is _____________.

21.  (Here’s a creative one) If you won a million dollars, what do you think you would do with it?

We’d love to hear from those of you who have discussed some of these questions with your spouse.  How did it go?  What did you learn about each other? Meet us in the comments!

Used by permission from ChristianPF.com, Excerpts from 21 Financial Questions to Improve Your Marriage

I’ll start out with these 5 verses of Scripture concerning money that every Christian should know.  These are  5 verses that, even as I just scratch the surface of understanding them, have revolutionized my financial life. Each one of them has had a strong impact on many decisions in my life. I hope you allow them to impact you as well.

1.  Philippians 4:19- “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

If you have lived much life at all, you are probably well aware that putting your trust in the economy, your employer, or your bank account is not a good idea. They are all fair-weather friends. They all can be helping you greatly one minute, and then the next everything has changed.

God, however is always faithful. That is why we should always trust Him as our supply! It doesn’t matter if there is a financial crisis, if you get laid off, or your 401k loses 37% – God will still supply your needs, just like He promised.

2.  Malachi 3:10- “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

It is a bold step of faith to start tithing. Cynics sometimes argue that tithing is not required in the New Testament. I actually agree, since our salvation is no longer based on works, but on faith in Jesus. But there is no escaping the truth that tithing opens the door for blessing that cannot be opened without doing it. From my own personal tithing experience, I can attest that I am so overwhelmingly convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that tithing increases blessing, that I will never live any other way.

3. 1 Timothy 6:10- “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

This verse is so often misquoted that it is almost laughable. Money is not evil. The love of it is. Having a million in your bank account doesn’t mean that you love it. Having $5 in your account doesn’t prove that you don’t.

For example, Warren Buffett has billions in his accounts, but he is giving almost all of it away to benefit the lives of others. On the other hand I have heard stories of people getting killed over a matter of $20. It is a matter of the heart that only God can judge.

4. Acts 20:35- “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Giving sets us free, while hoarding entraps us (James 5:2). Giving changes the lives of others (John 3:16). Giving brings blessing back to us (Luke 6:38). Giving allows us to store up treasures in Heaven rather than here on the earth (Matthew 19:21). Giving really is fun – we need to be in on it.

5. Proverbs 22:7-“”The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

The freedom of being debt free has always been so incredibly enticing to me that I have been willing to give up a whole lot in exchange for it. The last 3+ years my wife and I have been diligently chopping away at it, passing up opportunities to spend as frivolously as some of our peers have done. Getting out of debt is not easy and often requires a fight, but the freedom that comes with it is so worth it.

With that said, here are four principles that I believe to be at the core of all wise Christian financial advice , and if you integrate them into your life, you will find financial freedom.

Principle 1: Spend less than you earn.

“In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.” Proverbs 21:20.

Financial success and peace are based on having financial margin, a positive difference between what we spend and what we earn.

Principle 2: Avoid the use of debt.

“The rich rule over the poor and the borrow is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7.

We can only serve one master. If our servitude has been committed to a lender, we are not financially and spiritually free to serve Christ with all of our heart.

Principle 3: Build reserves.

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8.

Financial reserves give us the flexibility to respond to the unknown. According to the passage above, they do not represent a lack of faith, but a prudent response to planning for an unknown future.

Principle 4: Set long term goals.

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14.

The first three principles are means to the end of accomplishing the goals that God has placed in our heart. Effectively funneling money toward what matters most requires that we avoid debt in order to live within our means and develop a financial margin . . . a margin that is first used to provide a reserve and then toward long term financial goals.

What are some other Christian financial principles we should follow? Meet us in the comments!

Used by Permission from ChristianPF.com, 5 Bible verse about Money every Christian should know, 4 Fundamental Principles on Money

The Fruit of the Spirit

1. Fruit needs water in order to reach it’s fullest potential

2. Good soil is very important

3. Death brings life

4. Pruning produces more fruit

5. A branch can’t bear fruit separated from the plant

Used by Permission from ChristianPF.com, 5 Lessons from the Garden about Fruit Bearing

1. Car Insurance (Don’t skip this)

Believe me, if you haven’t shopped around for car insurance in a couple years – it is worth your while. I really was sure that I had the lowest rates I could get, but then I checked out Geico and found that I could save $330 a year for the same coverage. I was so blown away that they could save me $330 that I didn’t shop anywhere else.

Six months later my old insurance broker called trying to get me back and she had found another insurance company (America First) who was $250 cheaper than Geico. And again it was for the same coverage. So just to repeat – I thought I was paying a good rate, but by shopping around I was able to knock almost $600 off my car insurance bill.

2. Cell Phones

Grab your most recent cell phone bills and look at them to see what you are actually paying for.  Are you paying for internet service that you are not using? Are you paying for 1000 minutes a month, when you are only averaging about 350? Are you paying for text messages that you are not using?

Before you call your cell phone company, check other cellular companies to see how their rates compare. If it is still worth your while to stay with your current provider, then call them up and talk to them about the changes that you can make.

3. Home phone lines

Ask yourself a tough question, “Do I really need a land line? Would it be possible to use my cell phone for all calls?” If the answer is no, you may want to look into Vonage. I haven’t used them, but I know they are saving some people lots of money each month. (They currently have a plan for $14.99 a month that gives you local and long distance.)

If you have a land line solely for the purpose of having a DSL internet connection, I would recommend calling the phone company to adjust your phone plan. I was not using my land line at all and was paying $25 for it. I called them and got the plan lowered to a pay-per-call plan which only costs me $7 a month.

If you can get by without a land line, call and cancel it. This will probably save you $20 or more a month just by making a phone call.

4. Save on the Internet

I am not suggesting that you get dial-up. That is just cruel and unusual punishment. But, if you are paying for the premium package you should consider one of the slower packages. Many people won’t notice a difference in how fast the web pages load.

Again, it may be worthwhile looking at the options available for high-speed internet service. I saved about $20 a month switching from one company to another.

5. Save money on Food: Make going out to dinner something special

This is one of the easiest fixes for most people. I know I am saving hundreds of dollars a month by not doing what I used to do with my food purchases. Not only will you save yourself a lot of money, but it will be more fun when you do go out. Have you noticed that when you do something all the time, it just isn’t as fun anymore? This is a great way to “add fun” and save money.

A couple going out to dinner just two times in a week could easily spend $300 a month. If they knock it down to just one time a week that is $150 savings.

6. Save money on Food: Make it yourself

You really can cook. I don’t care if people told you that you were a bad cook, don’t listen to them. You aren’t bad and it is not that hard. There are tons of meals that you can make that require little more than an ability to set a timer and read directions. Start at Allrecipes.com, they have lots of cool features that I won’t get into here – just check it out.

7. Save money on Food: Bring your lunch

This is one of those rubber-meets-the-road sacrifices. But it pays off handsomely. If you are paying $10 for lunch to go out each day, you are spending $200 a month. If you bring your lunch 3 days a week, you should easily be able to save $100 a month.

8. Save money on Food: Eat what you have

Buy food that you are going to eat and eat what you have. I cut my grocery bill by 50% from my wasteful years by eating the food I had and not wasting any. I could not believe how much money I was wasting by letting food spoil. Just putting a little bit of thought into your grocery list each week will be an easy way to save money.

9. Save money on Food: Clip coupons

Most of the food we buy doesn’t have coupons, so this has never been too much help for me. But, there are some people who take pride in buying a grocery cart full of food for $25 and 100 coupons. Even if you aren’t a pro, beginners can save $50 a month without much difficulty.

10. Save money on Food: Drink water

I saved myself $30 a month just by quitting my Pepsi addiction. A Starbucks addict could probably save $100 a month by switching to water.

11. Save on your energy bills

A lot of energy saving tips require that you to buy something in order to save money in the long run. While I am all for that, the purpose of these tips is to give you more cash in your hand now so that you can pay down your debt.

That being said you can check out these 10 ways to conserve energy and save money and these winter energy saving tips.

12. Pay your bills on time!

This is obvious, but some people (like myself) need the obvious restated sometimes   Late bills often incur a fee that is nothing but a waste of your precious money.

If you find yourself forgetting to pay your bills on time, set up a free Google calendar and you can put reminders of when each bill needs to be paid. You can even set it up to email you to remind you to pay it on the correct date. While this is a shorter term fix, I prefer to set up a schedule of bill payments in order to make bill paying easier.

13. Save at the bank

Grab your recent bank statements and examine them for ambiguous fees. If you see any and don’t know what they are, call your bank and ask them to explain it. I worked at a bank for years and I know how good they can be at coming up with creative names for their fees.

Years ago, after figuring out some of the advantages to banking with a credit union I made the switch. I still bank at one of the best Credit Unions in town and use ING as my online bank.

If you find out that you are paying fees for your basic banking needs, I recommend switching. There is no reason you should be paying fees for falling below a minimum balance or anything else. It is your money. Take it somewhere where you have control over the money, not the bank.

Most credit unions will not have many (or all) of the fees that bigger banks may have. ING also has a great checking account that I use and love.

read more here @ Christian PF- Ways to Cut Expenses

Used by permission Christian PF

Credit Card Debt can Destroy Your Wealth Potential

Have you ever heard the saying “I’m so poor, I can’t even pay at­tention”? It is so true with credit cards. Most people do not pay atten­tion to the fine print. The biggest financial mistakes that I see on a day-to-day basis mainly deal with credit card issues. It is not so much the balance that is the problem, it is the interest. This is the biggest wealth-killer. If you have even a $10,000 balance at 19.99 percent, this is almost $2,000 a year in interest. That is $2,000 that could have been donated or invested. This adds up over time, especially when you are making only the minimum required payments.

You will make very little progress if you are just sending that min­imum payment each month. This is where the credit card companies make most of their profit. If you owe $10,000 and make the minimum payments, you will often pay two to three or more times the principal amount in interest. That’s right, over the life of that debt, you’ll pay $10,000 or $20,000 or more to service that debt. So a $10,000 purchase may in reality end up costing you $20,000 or $30,000. Credit card com­panies make money by killing you with late fees, high interest payments, and confusing small print. Don’t be a victim of their game; get out of debt. You can’t achieve true wealth carrying credit card debt.

Reduce the interest rates on those credit cards!

Get the Credit Card monkey off your back

In order to make headway in paying off your credit card debt, you need an aggressive course of action. This requires lowering your interest payments, paying off the smallest balances first, and paying more than the required monthly payments. In order to get the monkey off your back, you have to first be prepared to fight back. In this war for your wealth, pacifism leads to poverty.

You can lower your credit card interest by following a simple method:

Step 1: Find out your current interest rates on your credit cards.

Step 2: Shop around and find what competing cards are charging for interest.

Step 3: Call your credit card companies and ask to speak to a supervisor or manager. Use competitor rates to negotiate your rate down. Keep escalating your request up to the next manager if you do not get the answer you are looking for from the first manager you talk to. Be persistent. Don’t back down.

Step 4: While you are at it, negotiate to have your late fees reversed. This is also negotiable. Be prepared to fight back.

Step 5: Set up your future payments to that company to be made au­tomatically. Either use a bill-payment company or have your monthly payments scheduled to automatically hit before their respective due dates.

Step 6: Continue making the largest monthly payment you can make—above the minimum payment.

The value of reducing your interest rates

Jane came to see me a few years ago. She didn’t think she could ever get out of debt. She and I sat down and figured out that at her current pace, it would take her twenty-eight and a half years to pay off her debt. Her interest rates were between 19 percent and 27 percent. She followed the action plan listed above and negotiated her rates down to 7–12 per­cent. She paid off the smallest balances first and kept allocating money toward debt repayment.

Within three years, Jane had paid off all her balances. She saved more than twenty-five years of payments and nearly $100,000 in interest charges. She is now able to take the money she was paying the credit card companies and give more to her church and save more for her future. Jane got the credit card monkey off her back.

Used by permission from ChristianPF.com