Category: Finances

Finances and money affects all aspects of family life, but it doesn’t need to control your family life. The blessing of working and earning is also a responsibility. Learning and disciplining ourselves and family to live within our means can sometimes be a struggle, yet rewarding.

Finances, For the Love of Family

How to Build Your Financial House – One Wall at a Time

At the very core of budgeting is taking care of the basic needs of yourself and/or family: shelter, food, transportation and clothing. If your spending plan (budget) is not working, start fresh, assuring that your basic needs are being covered. It is not unusual to pay the ‘loudest’ bill, and forget to take care of the very things that will provide security and a sense of control. The trick to preventing a crisis, is creating a haven of protection. If and when a financial crunch occurs, or when there is an unexpected interruption in income, security comes knowing the basic […]

Family, Finances, For the Love of Family

Ice Cream Truck Economics: Real Life Lessons

It’s summer! Enjoying the freedom of summer, sunshine and impromptu games in the yard, suddenly the familiar sound of the ice cream truck draws everyone’s attention. Run. Get your money. The ice cream truck is coming to the neighborhood. As I child I envisioned the wonderful life of city living, where an ice cream truck made daily stops in front of my home. How great that would be! Fast forward several years and reality hits: Living in a city, three children and the daily stop of the ice cream truck. Ice cream treats are $3 each, the inevitable fall of […]

Family, Finances, For the Love of Family

How Living with Boundaries Makes Life Better

I can’t remember the exact day or even time period of my life when it happened. But it was a conviction; a conviction that grew and expanded to infiltrate all of my life.  The conviction? God’s blessings come with boundaries; boundaries for our benefit and his glory. As Gary and I were climbing out of debt, and dealing with the temptation of using credit, I was slowly convicted. Although we lived fairly simply, our spending was beyond the boundaries of our income. It was probably an answer to some sporadically spoken prayer for contentment and ridding ourselves of materialistic and […]

Finances, Food, For the Love of Family

5 DIFFERENT Ways to Save on Food

I fall for it every time. Titles, images, call-outs that promise to save money at the grocery store lure me in. Call it an obsession, a trait, or simply being frugally conscientious, I’m clicking through to read the article. But the information tends to be the same, just recycled with new images and phrases. Yet, I read on. …because, when coaching an individual or teaching a class, fresh information is always welcome. The budget item that can be flexible and seems to get the most attention is food.  Most people tend to get their budget in balance by decreasing the […]

Finances, For the Love of Family

Defining Stewardship

My family and I own a small farm in Kansas. We love the farm. It has become a place for solace, rest and re-booting. While there, I enjoy walking the dirt roads, looking at the vast amount of space around me, and pondering. Last week, I was walking the dirt road thanking God for this incredible blessing of land and the people who take care of it for us. God used the opportunity to teach me what he means by being a steward of his blessings. Steward – a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything […]

Finances, For the Love of Family

It’s Not About the Envelopes

Our grandmothers and great aunts used them and many budget experts promote them. Envelopes.  It seems antiquated. Especially in today’s world of automation and convenience, why use an envelope for your money? There are many reasons for not using envelopes. “It’s dangerous to have that much cash available” or “It’s embarrassing to pay with cash” or “I’m not going to look like an old man/woman using an envelope”. If you have said this to excuse yourself from using ‘the envelope system’, you’ve missed the point. It’s not about the envelopes, it’s about the cash. Most people spend an average of […]