How to determine your present cash flow:
The Husband and wife must work together.
For most people, the checkbook is their entire bookkeeping system.
Go back three months expenses and do an average on each expense.
Subtract expenses from income.
Construct a general budget based on your new lifestyle.
Review your budget regularly.
Each member of the family must be dedicated to living the budget.
No decision should be made; no expenditures should be made without first insuring that the family budget will not be compromised.
By: Ed Hirsch, used with permission
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Some additional tips for developing good cash-flow priorities:
1. Address and discuss problem areas concerning cash-flow when you are “in the black” – not during times of crisis, if possible. Better decisions are made when emotions are not involved.
2. Avoid any/all get-rich-quick schemes.
3. Remember most financial decisions are just plain common sense.
4. Be open with your mate regarding ALL financial income.
5. Avoid grouping figures: itemize whenever possible.
6. Don’t finanlize a budget till you both completely understand it and have agreed on it.
7. Balance your checkbook regularly.
8. Don’t buy steak on a hamburger budget.
9. Believe in the Biblical principles for spending and saving – and use them.
10. Remember that you cannot out-give God: your tithe is the minimum – not the maximum. Agreeing to tithe regularly is the pivital point of marital finances. Rob God……and no budget will work. Judas betrayed Jesus for money……and you know what happened to him.
The basic rules for financial freedom are unclomplicated:
A. Tithe first
B. Save second
C. Pay off bills/debts
D. Live off the rest
E. Don’t borrow unless you must.
“Godliness with contentment is great gain” (I Timothy 6:6)
Remember:
Before God would let you starve, He’d sell the pearly gates.