Family Budgeting

skeeter1

How do you budget?

As a JW, we never had "classes" on family budgeting. The world was going to End, so who cared about paying off credit card bills, retirement savings, etc. And, on the salaries many made, one couldn't be extravagant. But, I know many JWs who "take it to the limit", which would be materialistic. Regular Christiandom has classes on this, taught through the church. This is a win-win, as it helps peopel tithe their money.

What works? I dont' know the answer to that completely.

= know what you spent on what last month.

= talk with your significant other in a weekly budget meeting. Can be quick, but it's a snapshot of what happenend and what needs to happen/be paid in the short run. It's amazing how many people I speak with who don't do this.

= look for ways to save.

What ways have you found to budget & save? Did being in the Truth hurt your financial position and outlook?

Skeeter

LisaRose

Being in didn't really affect my retirement plamning, I still put money in a 401k, I was more impacted by the fact that my company went down the tubes, there was fraud, so my company stock became worthless. Then I got laid off. I have some money, but not as much as I had hoped. I will get a decent amount of social security. Fortunately my husband was never a dub so he has a military retirement, plus he is a good saver, and he will also get social security. We are empty nesters, so we have no child related expenses. We live within our means, drive our cars at least ten years. I like to cook, so I make most things from scratch, which saves quite a bit, healthier too. I do buy organic food where possible, I feel the quality is worth the increased cost. We keep our thermostat down in the winter, but its California, so heating is not that expensive, and we dont need air conditioning. We get books from the library rather than pay for books we only read once. Our big splurge area is eating out, my husband loves to eat out. It is expensive, but we can afford it, because we save in other areas. I consider my self lucky to have little debt, and no worries about retirement.

zeb

lisa rose one smart lady. So is Mr lisa Rose.

DATA-DOG

My budget:

1) Go to work

2) get paid

3) Use credit cards as little as possible ( preferrably only for emergencies)

4) Take all money destined for the WT contribution box and hide it from my wife.

5) Seriously, I pay off the small debts first. That way I feel like I am getting something done. When I make payment after payment on something big, I still have the smaller debts staring me in the face. So psychologically, it makes sense to pay the small debts off first. Also, remember that everyone is after your money at all times..

skeeter1

Here's our family saving. It's a website. It bases your grocery list around recipes whose ingrediants are on sale at your chosen grocery store. It's segregated by eating stye (low carb , clean eating, vegetarian . .. . to family eating, grilling) and by serving portions (1-2 or 2-4). Last week, in 3 minutes, we picked 6 entries, 1 soup, and 2 sides. It complied a grocery list, by department. It showed each items price, for a total of $75 USD. It was very accurate, only off by a few pennies on a few items. Wish I would have thought of it. (I can't mention the name due to posting rule #6, even though I am in no way affiliated with that website).

Berengaria

Mention it!!!

Julia Orwell

No, being a JW taught me not to subscribe to the consumerist lifestyle and actually helped me keep things simple in a material sense, figuring out what really was needed, and what was wants. I find many JWs are keen budgeters, because 1- the WT is always telling them to eschew materialism, and 2- they generally were low income earners so budgeting over the years became an absolute necessity. I must say, a non- materialist locus was one of the good things they gave me.

St George of England

No problem, I got married.

My other half must be a Jewish/Scottish cross with a liberal amount of Yorkshire blood in there also. The hinges on her purse rusted up years ago!

After we got married she worked so I could go back to University which was a great help with income, and now we are OAP's we are reasonably well off. She takes care of day to day finances and works on the principle of not spending a penny if a ha'penny will do.

George

excitesinceredetermination

Skeeter, Google "Simplified Income Statement" and print to fill it out. The form should have these basics:

1.) Take home pay

2.) Living expenses

3.) Total available for savings and investments.

If you desire to educate yourself, I recommend the book: "Personal Finance Turning Money Into Wealth" 6th edition by Keown and published by Pearson.

A helpful website or app on your phone is "mint" as well as "manilla"

A.) Look for ways to save by deciding how much you want to spend, say on eating out a month.

B.) For example: set the budget for $50.

C.) Set $50 in an envelope and when the $50 is gone, you do not allow yourself to spend any more. Voila! You make yourself stay on budget.

Let me give you an example of how easy it is to save: If you are 20 years old now and you save only $15 dollars a month (that works out to 50 cents per day) if you invest this $15 a month at a 12% rate, then 50 years later when you are ready to retire...you will have $585,000! Saving is easy, the key is to start early. Most everyone can set aside $15 a month to invest. Good luck!

moshe

Budgets? What is that? Many JWs I knew put off car maintenance- they ran it until she broke down. I saw JWs who had no vacation time, lose their jobs in order to go to a summer convention- Jehoover will bless and provide was the attitude. I wonder how many JWs get into needless car wrecks because they are driving cars with bald tires and worn out brakes.

Having a modest, dead end job is a blessing, if the JW can pioneer- dang it, that low income single pioneer brother might be able to marry a gorgeous sister who values a brother who pursues WT theocraptic goals instead of a career and a ranch house in the suburbs.

Family Budgeting

Share this