I’m doing a series at Venue called Rebound which is largely about how to rebound financially from this disaster we find ourselves in and my thoughts turn to one of the best decisions my wife and I ever made, which was to go through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. 
Oh my goodness what where we could have been at right now if we’d have done it in our twenties instead of later thirties!!
We have Financial Freedom Groups that run at Venue nearly every term which is open to anybody to join (and honestly the best way to get your finances on track by far), and part of the huge success we’ve had has come from creating a good budget. 
From the day we downloaded the goodbudget app on our phones though, we started fighting about money, so just a heads up, but it’s a fight we’re glad we had. 
“Corey. We could put our kids through college with your Starbucks account!”
“Erin! Nobody can eat forty seven cabbages that you bought ON SALE!”(one of these is a complete fabrication and you can guess which one:)
There are many budget apps, but this one works the best for us. 
The main reason for creating a budget, is to feel a little pain every dollar you spend (everyone says they’re great at budgeting, but I’ve found two questions in that most people who say so don’t actually have a budget at all. They just mean they don’t spend as much as their neighbour does on dog food because they have cats instead). 
Dave Ramsey is also a huge believer in paying cash for everything you can. Why? Because handing over cash hurts Corey’s feelings. My dad is Dutch and my mom Irish and NEITHER sides of me like handing over money. 
Heck, I can’t remember paying full price for anything I’ve bought on Kijiji, even if it was ridiculously low in the first place! “____ is what I have in my BUDGET, would you consider taking it?”
When credit card TAP came into existence it just took the emotion out of spending money on something. I don’t FEEL anything until the heart attack at the end of the month. Or maybe four simultaneous heart attacks? 
Spending has to hurt. And if you’re married, your spouse’s spending has to hurt if you want to do well in the area of your finances. 
We follow a zero based budget with the following envelopes that are meant to be spent (zero out) by the end of every month: 
Giving (we always give away a minimum of 10% of every dollar that comes in to our home. This comes out BEFORE bills or taxes are paid because it reminds us that we’re blessed and our lives are not about us. Game changer:)Living (Groceries. Haircuts. Bday presents). House Payment (we’re hammering this down. Only two years to go!!). Gas (for gas:). Schooling (kids activities that cost money). Entertainment (Eating out/ Movies). Utilities. Insurance. Vehicle. Clothes (mostly my fun money). Vacation. 
Need new tires? No problem. Once you’ve been at the budget for a few months money starts piling up if you do it right and I never worry if my daughter destroys my wife’s rims by hitting curbs because we have money for it. Sadly. 
Vacation? Guilt free (other than church people who think pastors who budget shouldn’t go on vacation because they don’t have a budget themselves). Our family goes on a trip every year because even the kids budget and buy their own plane ticket. We use grocery money from the budget to shop in Mexico and don’t go to resorts because we had too many kids. Erin and I do another trip at a resort because we save for that too. 
Now it takes awhile to tweak your budget when you start, and I’d really recommend going through it in something like a small group setting because then you’re doing it with people and that brings encouragement to keep it up, and also shows you the success of people who have had to get out of debt just like you need to. 
Imagine living a life without a moment’s fear of not having enough money? I love my daughters and hate the thought of them struggling because marriage and family is hard enough without the dark cloud of being in the red every month. 
I’m brutally honest with them about our mistakes too, but I tell them how money works. 
Money shouldn’t be emotional. Every dollar is a soldier that should do exactly what the budget tells them. Sure, it doesn’t initially feel like freedom, but the actual freedom it brings in just a few years is HUGE. I can’t even describe it. 
When Erin and I put a godly budget in charge we can fully expect the other person to colour in the lines because they gave their word to do it. If I overspend in the vehicle budget I should expect a good “Excuse me??” from Erin, followed by a “I’m supposed to give you utilities money now???”. She’s right. I broke my word to the budget and I should grow up. And vice versa. 
Honestly, in the first months we cut out $600 of our grocery budget and we don’t even miss it.I think we actually enjoy what we have now more than all the useless stuff we accumulated before. 
Gone are the days I need to spend big bucks on a toy because it scratches an itch. 
Gone are the days Erin has to fill the fridge to the brim only to throw out what went bad because it used to give her a sense of security. 
THAT’S freedom.