Guest Blog :: Budgeting Your Money

Greetings friends! This is Delvalina's boyfriend, Sean, doing a guest blog post today!

I want to say thank you for praying and some of you even supported my trip to visit Delvalina for the first time this past summer. It was such a sweet moment to finally embrace after five years. Continue to pray for us as we decide what is the right path God wants for our lives together. I am planning to visit her for her birthday in August.

With all that life brings I want to talk about the importance of a budget and even speak on debt. I had the opportunity to take a financial class called Financial Peace University (FPU) at my church in Central Florida. Dave Ramsey is the speaker and if you have not heard him talk, I suggest you go YouTube him! He is very clear about the importance of using your finances in order to "live like no one else."

Here are a few statistics:

       

How are you to manage your money? Start using a budget! What is a budget? A budget is telling your money where to go each month. For example, say I make $200/month. I need to divide that $200 up amongst all the things I pay for... $20 for food; $50 for rent; $100 for savings; and $30 for entertainment. I cannot go over these amounts because that would mean I have more than $200. You would also need to factor your debts into this equation. 

I had the privilege of going to a private university from 2008-2011. Unfortunately, I had to take out loans that I am now paying off. I urge you to not do this- find ways to get scholarships or even start working to pay off college. Parents, if you are financially stable, create a college fund for your children that they can use once they graduate high school. Of course I would not be where I am today without my degree, so I am thankful for going, but my heart hurts for all the money I could be using for better things.

Lastly, I have an awesome resource that can help you manage your money and get you on the right track financially. Dave Ramsey and his team created a FREE budget app and website called EveryDollar. I urge you to go sign up and check it out! If you have any problems or need help they have an FAQ, but I am also available. I will be checking the comments and can reply to you or you can email me.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I pray God can and will use you all for big things.