A beginning

Ken and I had another conversation about money last night. Wouldn't it be nice to never worry about money or have a need to talk about it ever again? Money is something I have struggled with my entire life. My parents never talked about money, and I never knew if we had any, if there were any problems, what they did with it, etc. I had an allowance for a short period of time in my early years but after my parents divorced that was the end of it. I was a saver in the beginning, always saving up for things I wanted. Then as money became tight for my mother I didn't have an allowance anymore so I skipped lunch at school so I could have some money. Sometimes I used my bus money for things and hitchhiked or walked instead. When I started working I had no idea what to do with such large amounts of money so I would tend to spend it all as soon as I got it. Later when I ended up on welfare with my own baby I learned more about budgeting out of necessity or we would be homeless. I still had no idea how to figure out how much rent I could afford in order to have money for other things. I did become an expert at finding money to pay for things I needed and resources for other stuff we needed. Eventually I went to school, became a nurse, and became self supporting. Sort of. I still had no idea what to do with money. My life has been one big crisis with money. When we had it we spent it, and when we didn't, we suffered. I made a conscious decision one day to get control of my money. I started reading lots of books to try to figure it out. One book said she guaranteed that we were spending $1,000 a month more than we thought we were. We laughed histerically until we added it up. A sobering $1,200. That explained why we never had any money even though we have a decent income. We attended a workshop on becoming financially free by Crown ministries. What a relief to find out we were not complete idiots, just bad planners. We are trying hard to be better planners. I'd like to say we have it all figured out and we have no more money problems, but we don't. We are still trying, but I would like to share what we have learned in hopes that others will benefit from it as things are very difficult right now in this economy. I hope that others will share with us also so we may encourage each other to reach our final destination of becoming financially free. I encourage everyone to start out with Crown ministries Money Map. It is a free program on their website you can sign up for. In destination one there is a guideline for starting a spending plan. We are in the process of revising it again. The Bible actually holds 2,350 verses dealing with money, so he obviously intended to give us a lot of help in an area that is important to us all. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of wordly wealth, who will entrust true riches to you? Luke 16:11