Budgeting

Sister Phillips did an amazing job at teaching us about budgeting. Here's a link to the budget and the debt-elimination calendar that we went over:

http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7417-1-4006-1,00.html

On the budget, use your last month's bank statement, credit card statements and your checkbook to determine what your expenditures are. If you are married, make sure that your spouse is able to review and agree on the budget with you. Don't forget to include expenses that may not be monthly like taxes, HOA's, medical expenses, etc.

Sister Phillips told us to be GOOD- it stands for "Get Out Of Debt". The debt elimination calendar at the link above shows the snowball effect of paying off your highest interest rate debt first and then once that's paid off, rolling that payment into the next debt payment. You can see how quickly, when we pay extra on a debt, it can get paid off. There's also a bunch of financial calculators on the provident living website where you can input all of your debts so you can see how soon you can be debt free. Check it out at http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,6657-1-3438-1,00.html

For those of you who want more information on budgeting, check out the church's publication "One for the Money" at http://providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/88720_33293_OneForTheMoney_pdf.pdf

Want to do a FHE on finances? Here are a few more resources from the Church:
http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7444-1-4022-1,00.html