Appendix 2: A One-Page Money Plan

This is a simple monthly plan. You don’t need special software. A sheet of paper, a pencil and an honest hour are enough. If you are married, do it together.

Step 1: What comes in

Write down your total income for a typical month, after tax. Include wages, benefits, pensions and any other regular income. If your income varies, use a careful average, or plan on your lowest typical month.

Step 2: What goes to God first

Decide the percentage of your income you will give. Write down the amount. This goes first, before anything else.

Step 3: What you need to live

List your essential monthly costs:

• Housing (rent or mortgage)
• Utilities (energy, water, phone, internet)
• Food and household supplies
• Transport
• Insurance
• Minimum debt payments
• Health, childcare and education costs
• Other essentials

Step 4: Saving

Decide how much you will put aside each month. A good first goal is a small emergency fund. Then build toward three to six months of essential costs, and then save for future needs such as a home, old age or your children’s needs.

Step 5: Freedom from debt

If you have debts beyond your mortgage, list them here, smallest to largest, with their interest rates. Decide how much extra you will pay each month, and which debt you will pay off first.

Step 6: Everything else

Whatever is left can be spent on other things: clothing, gifts, eating out, hobbies, holidays. Decide amounts for each in advance.

Step 7: Check the balance

Add up Steps 2 to 6. The total should equal Step 1. If it is more, you are spending more than you earn: go back and cut until it balances. If it is less, decide where the extra goes, perhaps to giving, saving or paying off debt faster.

Step 8: Review

At the end of the month, compare what you planned with what actually happened. Adjust the plan for next month. It usually takes three or four months to get a plan that works. Don’t give up.

A prayer for your plan

Lord, all of this is Yours. Thank You for what You have given me. Help me to give first, to live wisely, to stay free, to provide for those I love, and to give all I can. Make me faithful with little, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.