Confession Time. (Haven’t I done that quite a bit lately?)

I’ve always been inclined to give. Or to want to give. That’s the stickler.

I was raised from an early age to give to my church, which I have done willingly so. One aspect of Dave Ramsey’s financial system is giving, which I love! When I think about what our needs/wants are, they are so…almost ridiculous in comparison to what half the world is experiencing. Thinking about our situation:

We want a house of our own! (At least we have shelter, and are blessed to live with incredible parents, and can tuck in to a warm bed at night)

We would love a bit of a boost in salary (At least we currently have a regular income, unlike so many)

Blasted Car Repairs…again?! (At least we have transportation, while many have never ridden in a vehicle before)

Peanut Butter and Jelly for the upteenth time? (Feeds our bellies! Quit complaining!)

I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

On top of our tithing, I’ve always wanted to give more, and have a few times…but not every time the mood has really struck; not every time I feel that God Whisper. When budgeting, I tithe and then make room for the bills…and there is rarely anything left over. However, 5 bucks, taken right out at the top of the budget, isn’t going to make or break us. I often forget that!

Therefore, I have made a vow, and challenge you to do the same. When talking to God about having a shop of my own, I fantasized about giving part of my earnings to some worthy cause. (And then thought that maybe I’d begin when I actually started making a profit…then kicked myself for even thinking that thought).

I am going to start giving 10% of my earnings (at first, and I hope to grow that percentage!) to a cause that is very near and dear to my heart. It can be found at www.childshopeinternational.org. Brother Jeremiah has a heart and passion for Kenyan refugees and orphans. They have tugged at my heart for a long while, so I’m excited to begin this little giving adventure.

Other worthy causes?

• Food for the Hungry
• Good Shephard Food Bank
• donating to local organizations that are collecting money for heating oil (So many families are having a hard time staying warm this winter!)

Anyone else have some causes they are passionate about giving towards? Comment away! Get the word out! If not, consider researching a cause and giving. Either money or time. Working at a soup kitchen is a pretty unforgettable experience.

(I am not trying to “toot my own horn”, here…it’s more of a “let me tell you how I’ve failed and what I’m going to do about it”, keep-me-accountable post!)

Have you seen the Feed the Pig commercials? Truth be told, they give me the willies. Not to swift on a life-size-human-pig-thing being my conscience. The message is good, though; it’s all about thinking before spending and keeping “saving” a priority (hence the pig, aka freaky piggie bank).

When Erick and I first moved to Virginia, I often thought of putting money in savings but didn’t figure 5 bucks a check would add up to much. We were paycheck-to-paycheck for the most part anyhow. We’ve never been big spenders and didn’t purchase needlessly, so I thought we were on the right track. What is that they say about hindsight?!

If we had put 5 dollars a paycheck away for the 5 years we were living in VA, we could have amassed 600 dollars by the time we left. Might not be much for some, but that’s no chump change for us!

Luckily (better late than never, right?) we were introduced to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace course at our church. It was such a life changer. Let me tell you our first step-what really got us on the right track.

If you are anything like us, you have been planning what to do with your income tax return since, well, your last income tax return. Although recently we had to change things up since we need the money to live on day to day, for the longest time we had them take the max out so we could get a lump sum come the first part of the year (not the smartest thing financially, but we enjoyed it). Actually, we didn’t really get to put it to fun use-it always went to pay off credit card debt. And our credit card debt was never anything but car repairs. Those blasted car repairs!

A couple of years ago, the light clicked on when we heard Dave mention the first step in achieving financial peace was coming up with an emergency fund. Fortunately that tidbit of info coincided with receiving our tax return, so we plopped the money straight into the fund. Best decision we ever made! If a mini financial crises arises, we have the money available instead of falling back on credit cards.

We learned so much through DR…he’s been such an encouragement to us, and has really changed our thinking. I might post a money tip from time to time, but in the meantime head over to his site to gather some fantastic information.