12 Ways to Be Discerning with Your Finances
Finances
Audio By Carbonatix
9:00 PM on Wednesday, March 11
By Carrie Lowrance, Finances
Our finances are one of the biggest aspects of our lives. It’s something we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, from paying bills to making purchases to that splurge once in a while. No one is perfect, and many of us can do better. If one of your goals is to become wiser and more discerning with your finances, these tips should help.
1. Budget
Setting a budget is the number one key to becoming wiser with your finances. Experts always harp on this, and many people think it’s a drudgery, but it helps. Being able to look and see where your money is going makes life much easier than winging it and then being in a panic.
Many people think budgeting is hard, so they don’t do it. It’s not. You can use software to plan your budget (I use the free version of Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar) or plan it all out with pen and paper if that works for you.
2. Tithe
The Bible tells us we should tithe our money to God. He owns everything, and everything we own is because of him, meaning he blesses us with our jobs to have the money to pay our bills, tithe our money, buy groceries, etc.
3. Grocery Shop Online
We used to spend 2-3 hours on a Friday night or Saturday morning at the grocery store before grocery shopping online was popular. Now, I grocery shop online, and I love it. It is easier, keeps me on budget, and I’m not distracted by items I don’t need. (I’m a sucker for anything chocolate, and if a craving hits, it’s hard for me to resist.) I can look at my cart, see how much I’m spending, and adjust from there. Having it delivered is great, too.
4. Distinguish Between Wants and Needs
Learn to distinguish between wants and needs. This can be hard because it can be very easy to justify a want as a need. For example, you may want that 80-dollar dress, but do you need it? You have clothes in your closet; five other dresses fit fine, as well, to be exact. No, you don’t need the $80 dress. At least not right now.
Let’s say you work with kids, and the shirts you wear to work now have little holes in them because of getting bleach water on them, and some have paint on them. You need extra shirts for work.
5. Add a Little Fun Money in the Budget
If you can, budget $20-$40 a month to have some fun. Having a budget doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. Use this money to order a pizza one night when you’re too tired to cook, buy a new book you’ve been wanting, or save up for a more expensive purchase, like that dress. Having a little fun money will help you not feel deprived.
6. Pray about Your Financial Struggles
When financial struggles come, pray and ask the Lord to help you. Ask him to show you solutions or bring you one, whichever is in his will.
7. Thank God for Financial Gains
When you get a new job, raise, promotion, or a new client, thank God for it. Even better, if you are trying to get either of those things, thank him ahead of time for it and watch how he works.
If you don’t get it, thank him for that as well. This sounds strange, but there have been many times I have applied for a job and didn’t get it. Even though I wanted several, I’ve learned to trust that he was sparing me from something by not getting it. Like a toxic boss or coworker, the business going under at some point, or something else I would not have enjoyed. During these times, trust that what he has for you is much better, no matter how long it takes that job, raise, or promotion to come around.
8. Trust God with All of It
As I mentioned above, everything we own is the Lord’s since he blesses us with all of it. In saying this, we should trust him with all of it. We need to trust him implicitly when things get stressful in our finances.
9. Help People When You Can
Using our money to help people is one of the best things we can do to honor God. Buy a meal for the homeless person. Get a gift card for the single mom at work who is struggling. Donate to your favorite charity or organization, even if it’s just one dollar. Every bit helps.
10. Look for Ways to Save Money
This sounds like a simple decision, but it can be easy to overlook. Sometimes, we get so stuck in the services we use that we don’t want to shop around until the bill gets too high. This happened to me with auto insurance and phone and Internet service. I shopped around, found some better deals, and we saved some money.
In addition, there are ways to save money everywhere. Save restaurant coupons to use on date nights, use an app like Gas Buddy to find the lowest gas prices near you, and sign up with sites like Rakuten to get cash back on the items you buy. The opportunities to save money are endless.
11. Look for Ways to Earn More Money
If your finances are getting tight, look for ways to earn more money. This could mean delivering pizzas or taking a part-time weekend job besides your regular job if that fits your lifestyle.
If not, there are tons of other ways to make money, especially online. Deliver food through Grubhub, Uber, or DoorDash, write articles, make crafts and sell them, create printables to sell, or become a pet sitter through Rover or Wag. These options are more flexible than a traditional weekend job. If you have a talent or know how to do something specific, you could give lessons and teach people. This could be anything from cooking, baking, car mechanics, or jewelry making.
12. Look for Ways to Cut Back on Expenses
See where you can cut back on expenses past shopping around for services and insurance. Look and see how many of the six streaming services you are signed up for you watch. How often do you go to the gym? Instead of buying five new books every month, get a Kindle Unlimited subscription where you can check out 20 books a month. For the price of one book, you can read to your heart’s content. Using your local library is also a great option to reduce entertainment costs.
Learning to be wise and discerning with our finances doesn’t come overnight. It takes time, mistakes, and learning from those mistakes to master our money. Choose one tip above and take the first step to becoming wiser about your finances today.
Carrie Lowrance is a freelance writer and author. She has had her work featured on Crosswalk, iBelieve, Huffington Post, and the Penny Hoarder. She is also the author of three children’s books, three clean romance books, one romance novella, three books of poetry, and one non-fiction book. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and baking, reading, and hanging out with her husband, and sweet cat, Cupcake. You can find out more about Carrie and her writing at www.carrielowrance.com.
