Finding time to manage personal finances

 Lets face it, taking care of our finances is time consuming. It's much easier and faster to just check the bank balance. I have talked with many of my friends who have asked me to help them do stuff that just isn't so time consuming. They don't want to spend a lot of time on it. I get that. Managing money takes time. A lot of time in fact. Since I have been at home not working I have had the time to find a lot of money. I have lowered our expenses on medical, dental, prescriptions, home insurance, and our home mortgage interest rate. That's a lot of money! God calls us to be stewards, to be accountable, and to be faithful. Matthew 25: 14-29, 2 Cor 5: 10, 1Cor 4: 1-2, and to be at financial peace. It is the blessing of the Lords that makes us rich, and He adds no sorrow to it. Proverbs 10:22. So why is it such a struggle to set aside time to manage it carefully? Larry Burkett once said that money management reveals the priorities of our hearts and our spiritual maturity. Hmmm, wonder where I fall in this? Financial bondage often occurs by hasty decisions, not counting the costs, and operating without a plan. Proverbs 21:5. So what can we do? We must start with a monthly spending plan. When I first started my financial freedom journey I wrote a spending plan. I quickly realized it had to be revised all the time. I wanted to do it once, and be done with it, but this is one of those things that take time, and constant evaluation. You must schedule time to not only manage your current finances but also make plans for the future. Being at home and not working has made me realize that I spend a lot of unnecessary money because I'm not taking enough time to take care of it. It has to be scheduled in just as the other things in my life, like meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. In my opinion poor planning is one of the biggest issues that foster debt, but by making it a priority and setting aside time to deal with it your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3.
Here is a good article I found on finding the time to manage your finances. 

Save money on Prescription Drugs

Well we checked out the prices at United Health Center on Prescriptions and I wasn't impressed except for one of the drugs, but it did motivate me to do some more checking around. Walmart, Target, and CVS have about the best programs for the uninsured. They have $4 a month prescriptions or $10 for 90 day prescriptions. They have a list online to check to see if your meds are on them. I found CVS to be the best one for me personally at a savings of what I am paying now of $124 a month! That is unbelievable! It is actually less that what we paid when we had insurance. Needless to say we will be switching immediately.

Free Ice Cream

 Mark your calendars! Cold Stone Creamery will be holding their annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social on September 30, 2010 from 5 to 8 p.m. at participating locations around the country. Each person will receive a free 3-oz. cup of Kate’s Creation ice cream.

Free Gifts in a Jar ebook

It's time to start thinking about Christmas. Yes, I know it's September but if you make handmade gifts it's nice to get a head start. Here is a free ebook to make gifts in a jar. This is the best time to buy canning jars as they are on sale at the end of the season. Click here for book.

I reduced my interest rate!

Every time I thought about my mortgage I felt sick. The interest rate was terrible. I had to refinance due to a legal issue a couple of years ago right when the financial crisis hit and no one was giving a home loan. I ended up going with a private lender who charged me an insane interest rate. Having no choice due to a court order we refinanced. It actually raised my house payment about $400. Ugh! Recently I contacted the lender about this. I am presently not working and just cannot afford the payment along with trying to keep up with the necessary upkeep and repairs on the house. I stated my present position in a letter to the lender and asked them to consider lowering the interest rate. Much to my shock they agreed! They lowered it by almost  5%! Wow! That lowered the payment by $243 a month. Just imagine what we can do with that. I have often encouraged people to write letters to creditors. The worst that will happen is they will say no. There is no reason not to try. I have written many letters to creditors and every one of them has been successful. You must be completely honest. If you are untruthful you will get nothing. You must also disclose your present financial position. I once sent a list of current debts vs current income. I got a creditor to stop collecting interest in a debt to allow me to pay it off. This method has always been 100% successful for me with prayer, total honesty, and complete disclosure. Come on, what can it hurt to try!

Emergencies

I started Dave Ramseys class the other night, Financial Peace University. The first class is about emergency savings. It is recommended you have a minimum $1000 in savings. We started doing this years ago. We opened a money market account and started having automatic withdrawals every month for our fund. One of the things Dave says in his teachings is that you will find when you have that fund you quit having emergencies. How true that is. Just recently our washer broke down and we needed a new one. Ours was almost 20 years old and the part alone was like $150. It just so happened the state was doing their rebates along with pg&e, and the city. We ended up paying a little less than half of the cost for that washer with the sale and rebates. The best news is we did not have to put it on credit, we were able to pay cash. By paying cash we avoided financing charges, and we were able to take advantage of a great deal. Once upon a time this would have been an emergency. There would have been no money to handle this and wait for the rebates but thanks to our emergency fund we were able to do this without it causing a financial crisis. The same thing has been true for car repairs most of the time. It doesn't always take care of everything, but it sure does handle most of lifes little emergencies. I can tell you right now I don't miss those financial crisis at all! If you don't already have an emergency fund, start one right away. Start putting money away no matter how small amount you can afford. Have yard sales, sell off unused items, do a little over time. Whatever you can do to get that fund going. Before you know it you will have your emergency fund and quit having emergencies!

Free work your money discovery kit

Crown financial ministries if offering a free work your money discovery kit. Click here .