Before we begin, take a look around. How many trophies do you have? What about ribbons, metals, certificates, diplomas, degrees, even report cards? How many are framed and hanging on the wall of an office or on the refrigerator door? And how hard did you have to work to get them? Now consider the fact that one day all of those things will rust, decompose or in some way, return to the minerals that they were originally made of. They are a perishable and temporary monument to the work that you put into them. I don’t mean to say that they were not well deserved or that there is anything wrong with having them, but the fact is that one day they will be gone along with the memories of what they were for. While there is nothing wrong with having something to show for your accomplishments, it’s important that we understand what the true riches are.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly;’ I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

     I wanted to make the point above to emphasize the importance of what we are talking about. The diplomas and trophies that most of us have were not easy to get. We put many hours of training and studying into them and they are a testament to our achievement. Our walk with Christ should not be any different. In the above verse, Paul was talking to the Corinthians about why he lives his life the way he does; to spread the gospel. But I think that the point he makes applies to the way all Christians live. According to 2 Corinthians 5:10 we will all have to give an account of our lives to Christ and receive what is due, whether good or bad. If that is the case, why would we not put at least, if not more effort into training ourselves to be stewards then we did to get our perishable rewards. Paul likens his personal training to that of an Olympic athlete to show that if a crown that will not last (in ancient times Olympic athletes won crowns of leaves, not metals) is worth the incredible determination that it takes to earn, then the rewards that we receive as good stewards will be worth much more.

     How, then, do we start down this path of training? The first thing is to understand that everything that we have, money, talents, time, the very bodies that we live in do not belong to us, but to God. He has placed us in charge of managing them and left us directions on how he wants them used. We will go into more detail about what he wants us to do with them in later posts. The first thing we need to do to get on the right path is to find out what we are already doing with them.

Find Out Where Your Money Is Going

     Yes, even before we tackle the almighty budget we have to find out how much we have to manage and where it is currently going. I’m going to start from bare basics here because I know that most people are not taught how to file, manage bills or keep track of spending in school. I wasn’t. So here is how we begin.

Start An Organized File System. – First off, if you are married, there has to be someone who is ultimately accountable for the money and bills. If you both work on them that’s fine but at least one person has to have all the info, all the time. In my house, I do this job. My wife did it for years while I was in the Navy and out to sea but recently we swapped. She is always welcome to help, but I have to be updated on everything that happens. The person, who is responsible for this, is also accountable to their partner for it so don’t take the position lightly.

     Here is how my wife and I have things set up. First, everyday she gets the mail while I am at work. Anything that comes from a company that we pay money to (including bills, bank statements, charitable organizations) gets immediately put in a folder that is hanging on the door to our home office (you can use anything as long as you both know what it will be. We just did it this way so that things didn’t pile up on our desk). Then, every day when I get home I go through the mail in the folder. Any junk mail is thrown out and any bills are placed in a pile. I then go through the bills and mark the amount owed and to whom on my Google Calendar. You can use any calendar for this, I just prefer Google because I can check it anywhere I’m at. Be sure you put this info on the day that the bill is due, not the day you received it. Then the unpaid bills go into another folder labeled “Unpaid Bills” to sit until they have been paid.

     All in all, this takes maybe 10 minutes a day if you get a lot of bills. Most days, it won’t even take five.

     Here’s another trick though. When you put your bills on Google calendar be sure to click on “create event” and check the box that says “all day event”. This way it will show up on your calendar as a solid bar that is easy to see. Once the bill is paid, we will unclick that box (it doesn’t matter what time it’s listed for) and it will become just normal text in the box. I also put the date it was paid in the event details so that I can come back later. This is an easy way to know at a glance what bills have been paid and which ones haven’t. But we’ll talk about that more later.

          For the sake of the length of this post, we’re going to stop here for now but let’s do a quick recap.

You will need:

-          2 folders (or other document organizer)

-          A Google account and Google calendar

1.       Every day, put any mail from anyone that you pay money to in a folder labeled “Mail”

2.       Open the mail, throw out junk and find the bills

3.       Immediately list the amount due, the day it’s due, and to whom on Google calendar

4.       Put all bills in a folder labeled “Unpaid Bills”

I have to admit. For years before I had a solid budget and financial plan I understood how important they were. I liked the idea of knowing where every penny I had was going and the idea that I could track how much I spent each month. But until a couple of years ago I never bothered to take the time to get everything together. Part of the reason was because of the hassle. I used credit cards, check cards and cash and it was just too much of a pain to write everything down. At one point I bought an early version of Quicken and made an attempt but it was no good (the attempt, not the program). Even though it would download my credit and bank transactions, I still had to track the cash on my own. The other reason was the fact that I was in the Navy and away from my computer so often that every time I sat down to work out a budget, I had to almost completely start over. Not to mention that keeping a budget in US Dollars was hard enough without trying to keep track of what I was spending in a different currency several times a year.

While I was working on my degree in finances I made sure to read a few finance books that were written from a Christian perspective and that was how I came across the concepts of ownership and stewardship. I had never considered the idea that God owned everything and that I was simply managing it for him. For several months I did a self-study on stewardship and I came across a couple of verses that really stood out to me.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

-1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Paul was writing this to the Corinthians regarding the gospel and how he lived his life but it reminded me that we will all give an answer for the way we lived our life (2 Corinthians 25:19) and we will be rewarded in heaven for our actions here on earth (Matthew25:21).  It also made me realize the meager efforts that I had been making to keep track of my spending were inexcusable.

While personal money management may only consume a small part of our time, our stewardship responsibilities should always be in the forefront of our minds. For many of us, if we were stewards for anyone else, they would no doubt take everything we had and give it to a trustworthy steward. Fortunately, God has mercy on us and, in my case, allowed me the chance to turn things around before it was too late.

There is another verse which strikes me every time I read it because I know I was in the same situation and deserved the same outcome.

“There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and this steward was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give and account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward”

-Luke 16:1-2

If you were like I was for much of my life, I would encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and put in the time needed to develop your abilities as a steward. In the next few posts I will be offering advice on how to start down that path. True Stewardship is something that applies to every area of our lives and while we will mainly be talking about it from a financial perspective, the basic understanding of it will radiate throughout your walk with Christ.

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We all have a weakness. Most of us probably have several. That one small thing that we know we don’t need that keeps us from sticking to a perfect budget. For some, its impulse buying at the checkout counter, for others, it’s not being able to pass up a deal on eBay or Craigslist. For many, it’s simply the convenience of fast food. For my wife and I, it’s takeout and delivery.

                Shelly and I have been married for almost 6 years and we have a 10 month old daughter. I work full time at the office and am currently slowly remodeling my house in the evenings and weekends. She watches children from home and takes care of keeping the house clean. If you have ever watched other people’s children or know people who have, you understand that your house is very rarely neat and organized. At the end of the day we are both tired and just wanting to relax. By dinner time neither of us feels like cooking and, after the long day, making another mess (or adding to the mess) just doesn’t seem worth it.

                I first realized that ordering dinner was becoming a problem when I found out that the lady at the Chinese restaurant down the street knew our address by memory. Considering that’s one of about 3 different places that we order from on a regular basis, I figured we must be calling too much. It really took me by surprise because I thought my wife and I were doing better on eating out. We have almost completely cut fast food out of our diet (we weren’t big fans of it to begin with) and now that we have a baby, we only go to restaurants on special occasions. Still, it seems that convenience wins out all too often.

                This next month, I’ve cut our dining budget in half. After going thought our spending for the last few months, I realized that our current budget left too much room for convenience purchases. In fact, the one time that my wife and I went to an actual restaurant to celebrate her birthday; it put us over budget because of all the takeout we had ordered last month. Now we have to make a decision; either spend an evening together in a nice restaurant eating food that we like and enjoying each other’s company or grabbing a few cheap and easy (not to mention tasteless) meals on the couch while trying to clear our head of the events of the day.

                We all have something that tempts us to break our budget from time to time. Now that I know what mine is, I have something to work on over the next few months. Besides, I’m sure the extra cash will come in handy this summer, and I could afford to lose a few pounds before I hit the pool. What other kinds of weaknesses are out there? I’ve heard of garage sale impulse buys, morning coffee at the coffee cart, vending machines, and many others. What’s yours?

          The most common reason that people give for not saving money is, “I just don’t make enough”. From a perspective, this is almost always true. It’s been said that your lifestyle will rise to meet (or exceed) your income. If that’s the fact, then no one really ever makes enough money, and they never will. But those of us who are conscience about our finances understand that it is important to budget savings first and then live within our means. Otherwise, there is never enough left over. I’ve done some simple math to compare the virtues of cutting expenses vs. making more income, so if you’re one of those people who are just waiting until your next pay raise to start saving, you may want to pay attention.

          Let’s assume that Person X is currently making a steady salary. He finally has his life in order and his budget is perfectly set so that he has exactly what he needs to pay his bills. He is only waiting until his next pay raise so that he can start saving. Let’s also assume that person X also has the uncanny ability not to be tempted to increase his lifestyle when the raise comes. That super power alone is enough to show that person X better belongs in a comic book than in the real world, but still, let’s just assume. At the beginning of the year, Person X is given a salary raise of $10,000 per year. Utilizing his super powers, he puts %100 of his pay into savings. But there is one problem, taxes. Person X doesn’t get to keep everything that he makes. Assuming that he gives 20% of his income back to the government he only gets to take home around $8,000 more per year.

          Now, let’s assume that Person Y is in the same situation. The only difference is that instead of waiting for his next pay raise, he changes his lifestyle to allow him to start saving now. He sells his newer car and buys an older model for cash; he cancels his satellite TV and subscription to “Yacht Magazine”, he starts clipping coupons and buying only what he needs and at the end of the year, he is able to budget $10,000 per year to go directly into savings. Sense his budget was based on his take home pay and not his salary; he doesn’t have to figure taxes into the equation. He has effectively given himself a 20% return on his savings over person X, and the only difference is the taxes that he didn’t have to pay on the money he saved.  As much as I would like to start computing the interest that each person earns over the years, I think that it’s clear who is going to come out ahead.

           The numbers that I chose for this example were picked to make the math simple but the point is clear. A penny saved is worth more than a penny earned because you don’t get to keep the entire penny that you earned. In fact, depending on your tax bracket, a penny saved may be worth 1.1, 1.15 or even 1.4 (or more) pennies earned, and when those pennies turn into dollars, the difference is astounding.

(Originally Written on December 28, 2008)

For those of you who like to do their Christmas shopping be out dateearly, there is no better time than now to get moving.  While many presents like electronics could d by next Christmas, other, more personal Christmas themed gifts will only be available for another couple of weeks and are a safe be for next year. I’ve devised a short list of presents to start stocking up on ASAP and a list of things to wait to buy until closer to next Christmas to help you know what to look out for.

Things to wait on

Electronics – There are a couple of reasons not to buy these as gifts for next year yet. First, most electronics that are considered a luxury this year will already be a necessity next year and there is a good chance that whoever you bought it for will already have it. Let’s face it, we don’t have a lot of patience when it comes to having the latest electronic gizmo. How many people did you know two years ago with digital picture frames? Now compare that to this year. That goes for cameras, mp3 players, cell phones, video games and home theatre equipment. As soon as it becomes popular, available and cheap, they will buy it, and chances are they aren’t going to wait another year to see if they get it for next Christmas.

Secondly, technology advances are likely to make whatever you’re buying cheaper by next year, that is, if it isn’t already obsolete. Take a look at the cell phone you bought a year ago. Even the newer iPhones are down to below half of the original iPhones price, and the technology is much better. That 7” digital picture frame that you were looking at last year was only $70 this year and now you can get the 9” for not much more. This is just the way of technology. You’re better off waiting to see what newer, better, cheaper stuff comes out next year.

Lastly, depending on who you’re buying for, their electronic tastes may have changed. The guy that was stocking up on HD DVD’s last year is most likely trying to replace them with Blue Ray this year. The kid that wanted “Call of Duty 3” for Xbox last year wants “Call of Duty 4” this year. The way electronics go in and out of style; it just isn’t worth trying to pick them out a year in advance.

Children’s toys (12 and under) – This is for some of the same reasons as electronics. Children’s interests change so fast that there is a good chance that when the school year starts next September, they will be into something entirely different. There are some exceptions to this though. Things like summer sporting equipment for the kid that plays baseball every year are probably a good buy now. Most stores don’t keep this in stock for most of the winter because it just doesn’t sell but they will bring it in just before Christmas, then try to get rid of it to make room for more seasonal equipment.

Food or candy – Every family has one, the person who stocks up on fruitcake and the ultra-mega-vacuum-packaged cookies or chocolate that could survive a nuclear holocaust and gives them out next year. Yes, some of it may survive and be somewhat edible but everyone knows and you really don’t want to be “that guy/girl”. That same rule also applies to anything that you would need to keep in your freezer for the next year. “Just say No!”

Clothes – This is a tricky one. In a lot of cases it’s better to wait and make sure that you’re loved ones New Years resolution to lose 30 lbs falls through before picking out clothes for them. But if you know someone who has stopped growing (in either direction) and hasn’t changed much in the last few years then you’re probably safe picking out a couple of sweaters for them. The same goes if you have several prospects that the gift could go to instead.

Gift Cards – It won’t really matter when you buy these because it’s just a dollar for dollar exchange anyways. But if you’re thinking you might be strapped for cash next year and want to stock up just in case, be sure to do your research. Read the back of the cards. Most cards will deduct a certain amount of value from the card each year if it isn’t used up. Some of them will even expire.

Things to buy now

Ornaments – Thoughtful, sentimental, and cheap, at least right after Christmas. If you have friends or relatives that like to collect ornaments, now is the time to get them. They’re on sale and won’t be back on the shelves again until next Christmas.

Candles – Just like ornaments these can be thoughtful gifts that can be stored easily. The only difference is that, with the exception of Christmas themed candles, most of these will be available all year. You can usually find some good sales on really nice ones right after the Holidays though.

Any winter décor – The stores are clearing out their wreaths, Christmas tablecloths, runners, artificial holly, bows, candlesticks, ect… Many of these things are not just used for Christmas decorations but can keep a house cozy all winter and wouldn’t be out of place as a Christmas gift next year.

Christmas Cards – Everyone uses them, they store well, don’t change much from year to year, and they’re on sale now.

Books – Most books are kept for many years so it’s not usually a big deal if you get one that’s a few years old and the best books stay relevant for decades. They store well, (as long as you don’t keep them in a wet basement) and they can be extremely meaningful. The only downside is that, with the exception of this year’s hot buys, the holiday sales on books tend not to be quite as good as on many other gifts because bookstores aren’t really trying to clear the shelves of them for the year.

Things to buy for yourself

A new artificial tree – Last year my wife and I got a brand new, pre-lit artificial tree (from Home Depot) for $30 because of the after Christmas sales and the fact that it was the display model. After getting it home, we realized that the tag on it said $299! The only bad part was that we had to get all the fake snow off of it because it was part of the display. Still it was well worth it. If you think you might want a new tree next year there is absolutely no better time to get it than right now!

Decorations/lights – You’ll use them for years to come and the stores want to get rid of them all.

Wrapping paper – You can find paper for birthday presents or graduation gifts throughout the year but the Christmas stuff will be gone soon. And face it, it’s just a long sheet of paper that you’re  going to rip up and throw away anyways. You might as well get it for as cheap as possible.

Storage containers – Me and my wife were lucky this year and got some plastic ornament and decoration storage bag thingies for Christmas and I already can’t tell you how much they have saved me in time and space. These are usually specialty products that are made specifically for Christmas decorations so the stores have them on sale after the holidays. The best part is that you won’t have to wait until next Christmas to use them.