Blog

In our culture, when someone says, “I’m on a budget” it’s code for, “I can’t spend any money”. It conjures up images of longing gazes at forbidden items, or plunking down jars of coins onto checkout counters.

This used to be my view of budgeting too. My parents were always starting a “tight budget” in an attempt to get control of their finances, and then bailing a couple of months later when they just couldn’t keep it. Then they’d start again. It was always their excuse for why I couldn’t get something, so as a kid, a budget was the enemy.

When Von and I had a young family, money was getting stressful. Von, my “solution finder”, signed us up for a weekend budget workshop. As you might imagine, I was not excited about it. I had very low expectations of taking away anything meaningful from it.

But I walked away pleasantly surprised, and....dare I say it, excited?! Is it possible to be excited about starting a budget? What we learned was how to honor God by being good stewards of His money. How to see how money flowed through our household, and how to stop the “leaks”. We learned to pray and set goals together, and then how working on it together made us a team, not opposing spenders. We saw that as the budget is based on our goals, it’s a living document that changes as our goals and situations change – it’s flexible. And situations do change all the time! Jobs change or have pay adjustments, health and goals change, kids grow and have new interests...and your budget can easily flex with you.

We also learned to save, and this was a big one for me. I felt a lot less stressed knowing that money was ready when those unexpected expenses happened. And, boy do they! The first time I wrote a check for yet another emergency car repair, and I knew the money was right there in the account all ready for this moment, I was a complete believer. This budget thing works!

Honestly, this has been a game changer for us. For our marriage, our family, our faith... oh yeah, and for our finances. We got involved teaching budgeting because it was so impactful for us. We would love for it to be a game changer for you too.

Please join us on Saturday, June 29, from 9 am-3 pm at MCC. Childcare and lunch are provided. Ages 15-110 welcome! Please contact me (Elisa Trullinger) at 505-971-7432 by June 26 to find out more information or sign up!