A godly view of money

At church yesterday it was 'seminar Sunday' so there were lots of different talks going on and you could choose which you were most interested in. I went to the one on money, as I always feel a bit breathless and panicky whenever it comes to our finances! J is usually in charge and then he tells me if there is a problem (which I then try to forget about as quickly as possible).
Anyway the talk was very good and challenged me on lots of things. Here are a few:
- Being a mum is a sacrifice in many ways and you shouldn't try to maintain your pre-baby lifestyle at the cost of your family. I believe that working 2 days a week is a nice break for myself but also Chloe so doesn't impact negatively on the family. I have been thinking about upping my hours but this has challenged me to examine my reasons for it and not be focused on money.
- God does not owe you a middle class lifestyle. This is a very challenging one in the south-east where we live. There is a lot of pressure to have the 'right' baby accessories, two cars, a house in a nice area etc etc. Working in a private school makes this worse! There is a certain element of 'keeping up appearances' but also it's such a wonderful school to be a part of, I had been half-hoping I could send Chloe there eventually. Even if we could afford it, I'm not sure that would be the best stewardship of our money.
- Keep good records. God calls us to look after our money well (Provebs 27:23-23) and that means knowing where it all goes!! This prompted J and I to create a proper budget, accounting for everything! It was quite a scary process for me and when we entered the formulae in excel to work out the balance for each month we were both holidng our breath! But we were in the black with some savings and contingency money so that's very reassuring. I feel a lot more in control of our money now and happy that we have some idea how we'll be doing each month.

As a mum I hope to pass on these good lessons about money to Chloe. I want her to learn to save and to make a budget and modelling it and talking to her about how we manage our money is the best way.