00:00:00 Welcome to episode 750 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hey, I'm Matt ham, author of redefined rich, and I challenge you to live richly by listening to the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader. And then of course you need to track against that plan and then make a decision. Is it that the plan needs to change or is it that my behavior needs to change?
00:00:33 Which one gets me? The things that I really value, which one gets me the freedom that I'm actually after. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:01:01 We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. Today's episode about developing your influence through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about why a budget isn't handcuffing, but freeing, why you need a budget for your money and why you think a budget handcuffs you instead of freeing you, as we talk about stewarding your treasures,
00:01:37 wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime, it turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon,
00:02:00 just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. One of the most common pushbacks that get from people whenever they're first starting out on budgeting or looking at their finances, and they want to sit down and make a plan for the month or for the year or for a couple of weeks. And look at what they're going to do with their money is again, this idea that it handcuffs them.
00:02:23 It, it locks them into decisions that they've made early, and there's no way they can change them. And the truth is of course, that a budget is a plan, but plans don't always work out exactly the way you have them. And so there are the ability to make changes. Plus within the plan you can actually build in some money to do flexibility.
00:02:50 The interesting thing is, is what a budget really does is lets you sit down the reality of what's been going on with your money. It lets you see if you make a plan and then you track back against that plan. How good are you doing at living towards what you say your priorities and your values are? You know, for example, one thing that most people find out when they start budgeting and planning with their money and then tracking against it is that often they spend way more on food than they really thought they were.
00:03:25 And they can manage to make some small cuts in that without dramatically changing their lifestyle and then free up money for fun money or entertainment or other activities that perhaps they've been doing anyway. But they've been doing it by going into debt instead of by spending the money that they already had, or they can begin to put some money aside and save for the future by just making small changes in their behavior.
00:03:51 Oftentimes not huge dramatic changes, but small ones, things that they don't even miss once they've made the change. The only reason they haven't made the change is because they weren't aware that it was needed because they hadn't yet been paying attention to the plan and tracking against it. It allows them to put some money aside for spontaneous activities like vacation and just go on the trip without any guilt because the money's already set aside for it.
00:04:21 And it's been given that job. And so now instead of being spontaneous and then having to struggle to figure out how to pay for it, you just do it and don't even worry. And so the interesting thing is by living to a plan, they begun to become more free with their time, more able to give more able to do spontaneous spending, more able to do things that really move the needle and get them the things that they really want.
00:04:52 This is why no matter who you are, no matter how much you make, you need a budget for your money, you need to be able to find a way to make a plan and give the dollars a job before the month begins. And then of course you need to track against that plan and then make a decision. Is it that the plan needs to change or is it that my behavior needs to change?
00:05:17 Which one gets me? The things that I really value, which one gets me the freedom that I'm actually after time, after time, after time, I've worked with literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of clients, couples and singles, all different kinds of people. And in every single case, the budget, when they push back against it and say, it's going to handcuff me,
00:05:44 it's going to keep me from doing the things that I really want to do. And then they actually live it out and try it as an experiment for three or four months, they end up coming back and saying that the budget, nothing but free them. It gave them more flexibility and more freedom with their money. It gave them more peace of mind.
00:06:05 It gave them the ability to do the things that they really wanted to do. So I encourage you if you've never tried it, try it for three months and see if it frees you as well. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
00:06:34 but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S four four two two two treasures tips. And we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time,
00:07:08 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world..