What we have learned about finances in the past two years.

Here's how our story goes.  When Dan was in dental school we just didn't spend money.  That was basically our budget!  When Dan got out of dental school, we had a budget but it lumped all the daily sums into a big category and when we got to a certain amount we just needed to stop spending.  It seemed smarter that way so we weren't always having to look at our budget.  It seemed simpler but it was actually way more confusing and frustrating.  There was no parameter for me to know how much I should spend on anything.  This produced a kind of guilt anytime I spent anything and also just getting things when we thought we needed them and not really looking at the number in the bank, so when the end of the month came we just had to stop spending.  It just wasn't a great set up and even though we talked all the time about paying off school debt quickly and putting lots in savings it just wasn't happening.

We just weren't doing what we said we wanted to do and we were constantly thinking it was okay to spend money on things because all of our friends around us were.    

We listened to a talk by a financial guru and the phrase that stuck out to me that he said was, " If finances, always look intently into the matter".

The Bible says "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:25
Freedom is being debt free. It makes us free to follow God where He is leading us.  We also read many verses about living simply and not above our means.

Finally, we read a great book called "The Millionare Next Door".  It said that of the millionaires they interviewed, one spouse always had a tight hand on the budget and knew basically where every cent was going.

We have just started using YNAB ( You Need A Budget) software again and we love it!  It is basically like envelope budgeting but totally paperless.  It follows the Dave Ramsey approach of having three month's of income saved and paying off debt.  It also has an awesome App for your phone that lets me manually put in how much I spent at a certain place to see how much I have left in that particular category.

We are excited to keep our eyes focused on what God has called us to do with our finances.  Here's to the fun adventure!