For our purposes I will define stress as: Both a physiological and emotional state caused by the pressure and/or anxiety which can result from the difference or dissonance between what a person has control over and their expectations of control OR a state of doubt and/or insecurity and/or cognitive dissonance OR for those with low resilience and/or efficacy the state caused by unpredictability. It can also include the disequilibrium caused by health related issues.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
o. Manage Finances
o. LIve within your means, spend less than you make. Understand the value of a penny. Teach your children to do the same.
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Finances have been the number 1 cause of stress in my own personal life. I always blamed it on my doing daycare, where income isn't always constant. But the truth is, it was our spending habits, and our way of looking at money that was the problem--never the amount of money that my husband and I made. We spent our first 20 years of married life living without a budget, and so we never knew where our money really went. Our money controlled us instead of us controlling it. Two things for us were life changing: The first was going on a short-term missions trip with our church. First we went to Russia, and the following year to Kenya. When you see real poverty, and see that people still have joy and peace in their lives, it changes you and frees you from the bondage of materialism. The second was taking a Crown Financial Bible study. We were finally forced to make a budget, and we actually learned how to stick to it (at least for the most part!) We are still in the process of slowly but surely digging ourselves out of debt...but I am no longer living with that stomach eating stress!
This is a great piece of advice that just isn't being taught to people in America like it should be. Living in debt is being a prisoner to your debtors, and it's horribly stressful. Both my husband and I took finance management classes in college, which has really helped us to change the way we feel about money management. Some people feel that "budget" is a bad word like "diet", but it's really a "spending plan" that helps to keep you out of trouble.
America has in fact become so materialistic it is extremely difficult to get away from thinking that way, and I really commend those who have.
I personally have yet to get away from living a lifestyle in which materials don't matter, yet I have learned not to expect anything from anyone else. My husband and I work our tails off to have the nice things that we have, but I know many times we aren't able to enjoy those things because we are so caught up in working to pay for them.
I think Dave Ramsey has a wonderful program put together, and I have seen many people go that route, but I personally haven't because I am not ready to commit.
A lot of debts could be avoided if people would not use credit cards. Pay with cash! Use a card, to increase your credit score and then instantly pay off the card with cash. And shop during sales, use coupons, be sensible, do you really need what you are looking at? Go home and if you keep thinking about it after a week, then return for it, if you must.
I personally believe money causes the most amounts of stress in people all over the world today. There are a plethora of ways, or tricks, to save money bits at a time. For instance, every time I make a purchase with cash at a grocery store or wherever it may be, every five dollar bill I receive back I save and put back into my bank. It's usually not a whole lot, but it's nice to have some extra cash at the end of the month that wasn't spent on something unnecessary. LP
Money- you got it and everybody wants to borrow it (and you don't get it back)OR you need it and don't have it (but the bill collectors still call)- A BIG STRESSOR.
Sometimes it's more than just living at your means. Everybody do not abuse their funds but still fall short.
Can anyone teach my husband how to manage finances? Christina I love that you changed budget to spending plan! I may have to use that to help keep it a positive feeling.
I was taught to save my money and not buy foolish things while I grew up. Of course there has been times I really wanted something so bad I did buy it, and a few times was sorry for it for then I had to go without things I really needed.sharon
11 comments:
Finances have been the number 1 cause of stress in my own personal life. I always blamed it on my doing daycare, where income isn't always constant. But the truth is, it was our spending habits, and our way of looking at money that was the problem--never the amount of money that my husband and I made. We spent our first 20 years of married life living without a budget, and so we never knew where our money really went. Our money controlled us instead of us controlling it. Two things for us were life changing: The first was going on a short-term missions trip with our church. First we went to Russia, and the following year to Kenya. When you see real poverty, and see that people still have joy and peace in their lives, it changes you and frees you from the bondage of materialism. The second was taking a Crown Financial Bible study. We were finally forced to make a budget, and we actually learned how to stick to it (at least for the most part!) We are still in the process of slowly but surely digging ourselves out of debt...but I am no longer living with that stomach eating stress!
This is a great piece of advice that just isn't being taught to people in America like it should be. Living in debt is being a prisoner to your debtors, and it's horribly stressful. Both my husband and I took finance management classes in college, which has really helped us to change the way we feel about money management. Some people feel that "budget" is a bad word like "diet", but it's really a "spending plan" that helps to keep you out of trouble.
--Christina Pokorny, ward5672(a)gmail.com
What kind of debt repayment plan do you recommend?
http://www.daveramsey.com/
America has in fact become so materialistic it is extremely difficult to get away from thinking that way, and I really commend those who have.
I personally have yet to get away from living a lifestyle in which materials don't matter, yet I have learned not to expect anything from anyone else. My husband and I work our tails off to have the nice things that we have, but I know many times we aren't able to enjoy those things because we are so caught up in working to pay for them.
I think Dave Ramsey has a wonderful program put together, and I have seen many people go that route, but I personally haven't because I am not ready to commit.
Tiffany Gilmore
Does anyone know of a good app for this? Managing finances?
A lot of debts could be avoided if people would not use credit cards. Pay with cash! Use a card, to increase your credit score and then instantly pay off the card with cash.
And shop during sales, use coupons, be sensible, do you really need what you are looking at? Go home and if you keep thinking about it after a week, then return for it, if you must.
I personally believe money causes the most amounts of stress in people all over the world today. There are a plethora of ways, or tricks, to save money bits at a time. For instance, every time I make a purchase with cash at a grocery store or wherever it may be, every five dollar bill I receive back I save and put back into my bank. It's usually not a whole lot, but it's nice to have some extra cash at the end of the month that wasn't spent on something unnecessary. LP
Money- you got it and everybody wants to borrow it (and you don't get it back)OR you need it and don't have it (but the bill collectors still call)- A BIG STRESSOR.
Sometimes it's more than just living at your means. Everybody do not abuse their funds but still fall short.
Can anyone teach my husband how to manage finances? Christina I love that you changed budget to spending plan! I may have to use that to help keep it a positive feeling.
I was taught to save my money and not buy foolish things while I grew up. Of course there has been times I really wanted something so bad I did buy it, and a few times was sorry for it for then I had to go without things I really needed.sharon
Post a Comment