Establish an “On-Purpose” Cash Flow Plan!

Do you know that feeling you get when you put your hands in the pocket of your favorite pair of jeans and you find money? That is awesome isn’t? The crucial part of this new find is deciding what to do with it. Some would go and spend it on a cup of coffee at ‘fivebucks’. Maybe it was a 20-dollar bill and it will help offset another pizza night this month…or you could save it or use it to help pay off debt.

If you could find extra money each month, what would you do with it? Deciding to ‘Establish an “On-Purpose” Cash Flow Plan’ is the fifth Biblical Financial Principle in our series.

1. Understand God’s Ownership (Psalms 24:1)
2. Learn to Save Money (Proverbs 21:20)
3. You Must Live on Less Than You Make (I Timothy 6:7-8)
4. There is Life After Debt (Proverbs 22:7)
5. Establish an “On-Purpose” Cash Flow Plan (Luke 14:28-30)
6. Prioritize Your Plan Around the Four Walls (I Timothy 5:8)
7. Giving is the Goal to Financial Freedom (II Corinthians 9:7)

Finding extra money is something that is almost guaranteed when you start working and living on a budget. How is that possible? When you decide ‘on-purpose’ where your money is going, you gain control of how your money is spent. You won’t be wondering where that money in the jeans came from, because you are now going to be the boss of your money, instead of the other way around.

(Luke 14:28-30)
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it – ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ”

From the scripture passage above, you can see that a successful financial plan, really has two parts. The first, sitting down and actually putting the plan together. The second, implementing the plan. If you have never put a successful budget together, there are many different ideas about what you need to do. Whether you use a software package, a spreadsheet, or paper and pencil, the process is basically the same. Take your income and allocate it (or spend it) until it is gone. The goal is to have all your necessities covered first and then if there is anything left over, start applying it to other areas of your life. The two most important areas would be savings and debt.

In my next post, we will look more closely at the nuts and bolts of developing a working, successful budget