At the end of yesterday’s sermon called “Worthless Investments,” I gave the challenge to commit to re-align how we handle the treasure (money, finances, wealth) that God has given us (If you missed the sermon, you should listen to it on podcast).  Afterwords, I talked to a few people who really wanted to do this, but didn’t know how.  So, here is a budget worksheet that can help you (budget-worksheet1).  Below is an explanation of how to navigate through this worksheet.  If you do this, I think this is really going to help you take steps in the right direction financially.

Pastor Ronnie

Budget Spreadsheet

Fill out the attached spreadsheet as accurate as possible with a realistic working budget.  Here are a few things to consider as you are filling out the budget

• MAKE SURE YOU ONLY TYPE NUMBERS UNDER THE MONTH SIDE.  THE EQUATIONS ARE ALREADY SET IN THE WORKSHEET AND WILL FIGURE THE YEAR AMOUNTS AS WELL AS THE PERCENTAGES. 
• Only work in both spouse’s income if you are married and will be living off both incomes
• Your over/under cannot be in the negative, so you may have to decide what expenses to cut out
• Try to keep fixed expenses as low as possible

Budget Method

Discuss what budget method will be most suitable for you to maintain your budget sufficiently.  In order to maintain your budget you must both (if married) agree on a method that suits your needs and is easy to maintain.  Here are a few examples (but not limited to these):

• Check/Debit Card System: Much like the credit card system below, but a check register is used as well.
• Credit Card System: All variable expenses and as many fixed expenses as possible are put on credit card and one check is written at end of month after recording expenses from statement
• Envelope System: Envelopes are kept in the house with the variable expenses written on the front of them.  At the beginning of the month the specified amount for that expense is placed in the envelope and withdrawn at time of desired spending

Budget Facilitator

If married, who will facilitate the budget and communicate to the other partner the progress of the budget?  How will this be done on a day to day basis (computer spreadsheet, budget book, etc.)?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 8:58 am and is filed under Spiritual Transformation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.