DO YOU have problems with family finance and balancing the budget? These are vital topics for every home and require a sensible approach for the maintenance of security and happiness in the family. Today there is little "rubber" left in the American dollar and it requires a rare type of ingenuity to make it elastic enough to meet our needs.
Balancing the Budget
Balancing the budget has been a continual problem since before we were married. We have read books and experimented with various methods and yet we are still searching for the perfect solution to the problem. However, there are ways in which we can stretch the pay check a little farther.
Every family develops its own ways and means for keeping its financial status in the black. First of all, there is a difference between balancing the budget and following the budget. Balancing the budget is the paper work of recording your proposed spending. Following the budget is carrying out the plans that have been set down on paper. This requires strict discipline and perhaps this is where we are the most vulnerable to financial problems. To illustrate: Johnny needs a new pair of shoes but you have just found an excellent bar gain on a new dress. You really don't need the dress but it is a tremendous buy and you may not find another one you like for quite a while. If you can stretch the budget to include both items, fine. But if you are pinching pennies to get by, better fill the needs and satisfy the wants a little later. Planned spending spells the difference between financial success and family bankruptcy.
Here are a few suggestions that have been lifesavers for our family:
1. We shop once a month for staples and buy fresh fruits and vegetables as needed. This saves making frequent trips to the grocery; keeps the " pantry better stocked and saves money by buying in larger quantities.
2. If your husband is mechanically inclined, even a little, a small investment in a set of basic tools can save many dollars in emergency repair bills. My husband has saved us from a number of financial crises by electing himself as Doc Fixit.
3. Our educational expenses have been greatly minimized because our two older children have earned their tuition and bought much of their clothing since they entered the academy. Our older son has been almost self-supporting throughout his academy years as well as the three years he has been in college. This has enabled me to continue to be at home with the family without having to go out to work.
Wives Should Be Intelligent on Family Finance
For many of you, Hubby holds the purse strings, pays all the bills, does the bank reconciliations and maybe even buys the groceries. This leaves you free of all worry and responsibility. Or perhaps your husband gives you a certain allotment for food and household spending. Beyond this, you know nothing about your financial condition. I believe every wife should be intelligent about family budgeting, spending, check book balancing, and reconciling the check book with the bank statement. This knowledge will serve as a guide in your family spending. A well-informed wife will be a real asset to her husband. This should be the means of promoting a spirit of teamwork and cooperation in family spending.
Reserve Accounts
We have found reserve accounts to be a convenient way to save money within the checking account. It is also an aid to spreading out the payment of bills that come due only every other month or less frequently. At present we have fifteen re serve accounts set up within our checking account. For example: Our electric bill comes due every other month. On the odd month we deduct ten dollars from the checking account and put it in a reserve account. Our Social Security bill comes every three months. We divide the bill into thirds and subtract one third each month from checking so that when the bill comes due we do not have to deduct the entire amount from one month's pay check.
From time to time we receive money as gifts. To insure against gift money being absorbed by family spending we set up these amounts as reserve accounts. Our children earn money and save it for tuition, et cetera. We put this money into our checking account as a reserve account under their names. There are several ways of keeping track of these reserve accounts. You may use a plain three-by-five card and record the transactions for each reserve account on an individual card. Or, better yet, you can use a small book with the name of each account on a separate page. Reserve accounts serve two purposes— they are a means of saving for specific projects and they increase your bank balance, in turn reducing the bank service charge.
Systematic Giving—A Means to Financial Success
"Bring ye all the tithes into the store house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Faithful tithe paying and systematic giving bring countless blessings. We cannot all give the same amount but we can all give systematically. The Lord repays in many way's. The blessings are not always re turned in dollars and cents but the dollars you have left will stretch farther. We have enjoyed an abundance of health and happiness and these are of inestimable value.
From the beginning of our married life we made a practice of writing our tithe and offering checks before spending money for anything else. When our children reached school age, the tuition check also received top priority in cash disbursements. It is the loose-offering check I would like to explain here. (This does not include church expense and special offerings included in the tithe check.) We originated this plan when the children were small and it has assured us systematic giving of our loose offerings down through the years. Perhaps you have had the experience of turning your purse wrong side out Sabbath morning in search of a suit able offering for yourselves and the children, only to find you have no change or not enough of the right kind. This is a frustrating experience and our conscience tells us we are shortchanging the Lord. To spare ourselves this problem we began the following plan.
Each month we decided on how much our total weekly offerings would be. For example: a dollar apiece for husband and wife for Sabbath school; twenty-five cents each for Sabbath school expense and a dollar for church, bringing the total weekly loose offering to §3.50. This means that each Sabbath we need three one-dollar bills and two quarters. Multiply this by four and you have the total loose offering for the month. The children must be taken into consideration too. Included in the loose-offering check is a small allowance for each child. Out of this allowance each one must pay his tithe and save out his offering money for the entire month. There is little spending money left after the tithe and offerings are deducted but the child is learning systematic giving. We also make sure the allowance money is broken up into the right change so that the children will have no trouble in setting aside their tithe and offerings. Loose-offering checks, then, include offerings for husband and wife plus the children's allowance and should be handed to the bank teller with instructions for change in the denominations desired. This will assure the right offering for each week. It is a good feeling to go to that special box and know that Sabbath school and church offerings are there waiting.
Buying on the Installment Plan
What about buying on the installment plan? Sometimes it is necessary to buy large items (other than house and car) this way. We have followed the plan of buying only one item at a time on this plan and paying for it completely before we involve ourselves with any more monthly installments. We take the maximum amount of time the store will give us to pay off the item, and then, if possible, double the payments. There have been occasions when we have been able to clear up the unpaid balance six months ahead of time. This saves interest and establishes a good credit rating.
It may be possible that some have over spent and find themselves hopelessly in debt. Don't let this condition discourage you. Make plans immediately to get those debts paid off as quickly as possible. Keep a close tab on future spending and be sure not to get involved any deeper. Remember—a minister's reputation is at stake when he owes money all over town.
When we love God supremely, temporal things will occupy their right place in our affections. If we humbly and earnestly seek for knowledge and ability in order to make a right use of our Lord's goods, we shall receive wisdom from above.— The Adventist Home, p. 372.
