It has become increasingly important for us to know exactly where our money goes. We must track every dollar spent, from our income source whether it be tithes, groceries, mortgage/rent, a new pair of shoes etc. If you do not tell your money where to go, it will gladly take you somewhere leaving you wondering, guessing and thinking, “where has it all gone?” Luke 14:28-30 reminds us, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish”.
Create and Stick To
How do we then tell our money where to go? By creating and sticking to a budget. Dave Ramsey offered, “A budget is you telling your money where to go, instead of wondering where it went”.
Three Key Benefits of Having a Budget:
- A budget helps in controlling expenses. The action of listing all your expenses gives us a level of awareness as to the nature of our spending patterns. This will result in us being deliberate in cutting back on spend or seize spending in particular areas.
- It allows you to live within your means by the very action of cutting back or seize spending in unnecessary areas. If our day-to-day expenses need to be supplemented by debt i.e., credit cards, borrowing from friends or family, you are living above your means. On the flip side, if you are experiencing an abundance of cash flow, a budget can help to reduce haphazard spending and allowing you to also consider charities and the needy.
- A budget can help you reach your financial goals as it gives focus. So, regardless of your goals, whether it be savings, paying off debt or investing, creating a budget can show you how much money you can put towards each goal.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty(Proverbs 21:5).
Let us be intentional in how we are spending our hard-earned cash!
Mr. Darren Brown, an active born-again Christian serves the Church of the Nazarene. He holds a B. A. in Accounting and International Business as well as an MBA ( Finance Concentration). He and his wife are blessed with two precious daughters.
