Print off these top tips and keep them in your wallet, your bible or put some of them into your phone to remind you to think and pray about how you can be a good caretaker of God's money.
Budgeting
Talk2God: ask God to help you become a good steward of all that He gives you. Ask Him to help you worship him with your money as well as your voice.
- Write down everything you spend your money on in a notebook for four weeks. Mark each item with either an N for Need or an L for Luxury.
- Fill out our on-line Budget Buddy to see clearly where all your money is being spent.
- Review your Needs and Luxuries list. Are any Needs really Luxuries, if so change them.
- Can you save money on any of your Needs? E.g. No-name brands, monthly travel card instead of a daily or weekly one?
- Save up for luxuries, or ask for them for Christmas or birthdays.
- Avoid buying luxuries impulsively. Apply a 14 day window-shopping rule and shop around for the best price in that time. After 14 days ask yourself, do you still need it? Be honest!
Spend in cash. Stick to your weekly limit.
Giving
Talk2God: ask God to help you become a cheerful and generous giver. Ask Him to show you where you are putting your wants before your relationship with Him.
- Ask Him to show you how much you should give to Him via your church. 10% is a good start but not a box to be ticked.
- Would you give 0.7% of your income to help eradicate poverty? That’s 7p in every £10. Tearfund are challenging the UK government to give it in aid, why not set them an example? Click here to sign up to give 0.7% of your money towards Tearfund’s projects worldwide and then send a postcard to Alastair Darling saying ‘I’m giving it, please will you?’
Saving and investing
Talk2God: ask Him to show you how much you could be saving each month. What people, projects and passions has He put in your heart that you could invest that money in for Him? Write them down and pray about how to invest in them.
- Let your bank account for the poor. Visit the Cooperative Bank www.co-operativebank.co.uk, Smile www.smile.co.uk, and Triodos Bank www.triodos.co.uk to find out about the ethical bank accounts they offer for young people who want to make their bank account for the poor.
- Click here for a list of questions you can ask your bank about how they invest your money.
Spending
Talk2God: how hard do you find it not to get caught up in the latest clothes, phones and gadgets. Ask Jesus to help you follow Him and not the crowds. Think about the people who make our clothes and produce our food, and who gets hurt by our society’s clamour for more stuff. Ask God to show you how you can become a Christian who consumes with a conscience. Ask Him to remind you each day to choose to help the poor with your cash.
- Buy food with the Fairtrade mark at the supermarket
- Ask shop managers to stock new Fairtrade products
listed at www.fairtrade.org.uk
- Challenge your family, friends, school, uni, youth
group and church to support Fairtrade. Click here to find out how.
- Fill in a customer comment card every time you buy new clothes or shoes and ask the shop if they are a member of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and how the workers who make their clothes are treated.
- Find out more about the ETI and how you can challenge high street shops to put people before profits by clicking here.
Borrowing
Talk2God: in the desert, the devil tempted Jesus with wealth so He knows what it feel like to feel the desire for more money. But He rejected it knowing it could never replace His relationship with God. Ask God to give you Jesus’ attitude to money.
- First budget and think about how much money you need each week to live off.
- Borrow as little as possible for as a short a time as
possible.
- Spend cash and avoid using credit cards and debit cards
- Avoid the shops if they’ll only tempt you.
- Share costs with house mates – cook together, stay in
and hang out instead of always going out, buy three for two items with friends.
- Turn off lights, stereos, computers etc… and keep
bills low at uni.
- Stick to your budget, remember Needs not Luxuries!