Have you ever felt like God was speaking to you? Maybe it wasn’t in an audible voice, but in a still small whisper to your heart, an insistent urgency that won’t go away and is confirmed in things people say, verses you read and other “coincidences” that happen.  When my husband Curt and I determined to get out of debt, we knew it was because God was telling us to. This was confirmed in our circumstances and in the unified attitude we both had about this huge… Read More

1. Make a budget (and stick to it). A budget overwhelms many people but it is really nothing more than devising a plan for every dollar you bring in. Having a budget helps you spend smarter and think more. It also helps to improve your buying power. The best way to make a budget is to start by sitting down with your spouse and deciding how much you spend on regular categories like groceries, gas, medical, etc. each month. Talk through these things and get them down… Read More

When we got married, we didn’t just make a few mistakes with money—we made ‘em all! Throughout our sixteen years of marriage, there have been some trouble spots that seemed to pop up repeatedly.

Failing to communicate about money
Money is hard to talk about. Issues of pride, inadequacy, resentment and shame get wrapped up in the conversation, resulting in hurt feelings, isolation, and even lying to each other about debt. In the early days of our marriage, every conversation about money seemed to end up in a fight. He felt attacked… Read More

When my son Brad was about three years old, he went through a little phase.  He learned to play on my emotions when asking for things.  Upon hearing “no,” he would reply, “But mommy, that will make me happy.”  Then he would give me his most drop-dead gorgeous smile and bat his eyes at me for effect.  Boy did he know how to work me over!  Some of the requests were for things like a lollipop before dinner or staying up several hours past bedtime.  And while… Read More

“Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
Be merciful to me and hear my prayer.”

Lord, you saw that list of layoffs my company is talking about. I don’t know what the future holds and I am worried about what that could mean for my family. I know that we should have had some savings built up for times like these… but we just never did. Lord, help me to… Read More

When my husband and I first got married, discussing finances was something best avoided at all costs. Money was a necessary evil, something to be endured when bill paying time rolled around, but not thought of much beyond that. I would have never guessed that 17 years later, discussing finances would become a major part of our love story. I could never have realized the value that would come from learning to talk about money, sharing our goals and dreams for our financial future, and becoming a… Read More

Too many times, I think we treat our financial decisions like we treat our new year’s resolutions.  We might make a half-hearted attempt at “doing things right” financially, only to fall off the wagon weeks or months into the process. The problem is, our resolutions are too lofty and too ambiguous to be lived out.  It’s like saying, “I am going to lose weight.”  And yet, that statement in itself does very little to help us actually lose weight.  We need a plan.  We have to turn our resolutions into real solutions. … Read More

Every year it happens. The catalogs arrive. My children—who didn’t even know they needed a whole truckload of toys—suddenly become convinced that they, in fact, do. And the ensuing weeks are spent begging, whining, and listing off the many things their hearts desire. As a parent, it never gets easier to navigate between their lists of wants and needs, deciding what can stay and what can go. We want to give them everything, yet we know we shouldn’t. At Christmas more than ever, our hearts stray towards the thought of their little faces… Read More