Hello, again. I am barely up, but I want to go back to sleep, so I thought I better get this done! :-)
My notes on BEYOND BLESSED say this book is about Stewardship. My notes say I watched or listened to him talk about it at the end of May 2019. I am trying to remember how I got these notes. It may have been something from TBN, or maybe I watched his presentation on TBN back then.
I will go through my pages as I have them collected.
The first point I have written down is to "Know your current status." That means :: Debts, Assets, Income, Current Spending. Then I have the great advice to make a budget plan.
I think Dave Ramsey and the Baby Steps started the world back on the track of living within your means. I heard the history of credit cards once, on another YouTube video. I was surprised. This whole industry was started in a neighborhood. Someone wanted to make it easier for people to buy meals from local restaurants. He got them together and then created an accounting process for those stores to provide meals to the members of that DINERS CLUB. Now we have giant interest rates, lots of bankruptcy, and devastated lives.
My next page of notes talks about SPENDING. There are six groups listed...
MANDATORY - Required, like rent/mortgage, contract payments, insurance.
DISCRETIONARY - Flexible, like groceries, restaurants, entertainment.
FIXED - Same amount each time.
VARIABLE - Changes each payment, like utilities or phone charges.
MONTHLY
PERIODIC - Varying in frequency.
In my life, food is the only thing that could be manipulated -- which means you have to find enough food to eat with whatever you have left. It's why there are always food issues in poverty families.
The next page has the headings of VALUES and GOALS. These are two of the ways we decide what we are going to buy, what we want in our lives, how we make our decisions to spend.
There is an illustration here that I remember... rocks into a jar. I had seen this illustration somewhere else, but it is a good one. In this reference, the idea is what to pay first. You have big rocks (big expenses or the most important tasks to do), gravel, sand, and water to fit into the jar.
The quick answer is you have to put the big rocks into the jar first because the gravel will fit into the empty spaces, then the sand will fit into the next empty spaces, and then the water will fit into the next empty spaces. You will have to search YouTube to find a video about it. It was a very interesting presentation.
For Christians there is an order of spending :: the TITHE comes first. My next notes, probably all my notes, are a mix of personal application and what was said. I have the next spending category listed as SAVE, but I am not sure why. There are subtitle that would be from Robert Morris, and other notes that would be mine. I will share it all the best I can.
I have evolved to have three main categories in my monthly budge - because my budget is SMALL!!! If I had more money, I would have more categories. :-) These days my categories are TITHE, SAVE, and HOUSEHOLD. My Household category has all the subcategories.
Here are the mini-categories I have listed on this page of notes ::
EMERGENCY FUND - This would be for General and Medical needs not in the budget, House repaiers, Car repairs, and living expenses for 3-6 months in case something happens like losing a job.
NEEDS - This has clothes, cars, etc. listed.
Poverty families don't have cars, they walk, ride a bike, or take the bus. You can live without cars. It is less expensive. BUT, you have to live close to public transit. The places where most people live are not near transit. They need a car, and all the expenses that go with it.
Poverty families buy at thrift stores and garage sales... hand clothes down... and trade with others to keep these costs low. I remember that every Christmas we got socks and underwear for presents. Now that I am older, I understand why. They are very expensive.
WANTS - This is noted as personal desires. When I first was on Welfare I went without because I thought it would be a short time. When that didn't happen, I had to find some way to value myself. I think it was buying gum or candy at first, then I went to the big deal :: I bought myself a can of Cafe Vienne coffee most or all months. It was something that I wanted, not that I needed, and it was a treat for me.
Little things can mean so much.
My treat for my kids was taking them to McDonald's for the kid's meal and the toy.
FUTURE - This category talks about Retirement, a down payment on a house, or other very large expenses. Poverty households don't really have any excess, they are usually struggling to make basic needs, so this category means Social Security is planning for retirement.
I think I should mention here that all retirement funds are usually based on investment incomes. If the stock market fails, like it will in an economic crisis, it means most people won't have the retirement dreams they have been building their entire lifetimes. Think about that. What could you do to make sure your retirement is still there no matter what happens.
GIVING - No notes here. I am now assuming it means other giving than the Tithe.
The next page of my notes has this title :: Know your current debt status to make a plan and see where you are as time goes by.
This looks like a chart.
Headings are ::
(TO) Who you owe money to.
TYPE Secured, Unsecured, Mortgage, Student Loan, etc.
INTEREST RATE
MINIMUM PAYMENT
REMAINING TERM (due by)
I remember one big option I heard along the way of my life. It was that you can require a bank to apply your payments to the principal only by making a note on every payment. The normal bank process is to take the interest first, leaving a few dollars for the balance deduction. This path means your money reduces the loan balance and applies the interest to the loan balance. This ends up meaning thousands of dollars in savings over time. You can add more to the payment and shorten the loan period and total interest you pay on a loan.
I am assuming this is still possible, but I have never been able to buy a house so I haven't tested it out. I remember the main issue was putting the statement on your payment.
(On the next page) Robert Morris mentions the difference between debt to fellow believers and others (foreigners). We don't charge interest (usury) to fellow believers, and we forgive their debts in the Year of Jubilee (the 7th year). But others pay interest (usury fees) and are not released from their debts. This is another way to see how GOD requires us to help each other.
On the next page, along with the notes on usury, are three scripture references on debt in the Bible ::
Exodus 22:25-27
Leviticus 25:36-37
Deuteronomy 23:20-22
I also have Deuteronomy 15:6-8 listed, with three stars - it must be important! :-)
My last page of notes has a great quote by Mark Twain that was listed in the book on page 184 ::
The secret to getting ahead is getting started.
Here is the final note ::
"... The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."
I keep trying to do this, but haven't quite figured it out yet. Maybe someday... probably when I get to heaven. haha
This is one of my older artworks that I am thinking of selling at eBay soon. It is a very hard thing to do secret good works, but it is worth the effort. :-) I still wonder about the best way to do these things, if I ever get the opportunity. :-)
