Planning Holiday Giving Together

We decided to do the craziest thing this year. We gave all of our Christmas gifts out already to our family members. They have been bought, paid for and delivered to their recipients. We decided to do it over Thanksgiving to really emphasize the "giving" part of the holiday. People were definitely surprised  and that was the point.  They had another reason to be grateful and our hearts were full from giving. After paying off all of our credit cards not too long ago, we realized that debt had us enslaved. Never again! Yeah we know, it is a little non-traditional and different to spend for Christmas this way, but let us tell you why we did it.

One of us, {Anita}, is the spender of the couple. The other one is the saver. In order to really enjoy the Christmas season (which for a lot of Americans begins the week of Thanksgiving), we decided to do something different in order to focus on each other, the real meaning for the season and less on money.
Many married couples struggle with their finances. We didn't want this to be a burden and so we needed to be proactive. By making a plan to pre-purchase all of our gifts and to give them all out, it curves the tendency to keep buying because we see sale signs everywhere. In most instances, opposites attract in marriage. This goes for most financially as well. Usually one person enjoys the opportunity to save money so that they can purchase later.  The other person enjoys spending and can barely contain  their shopping habits.
We can use our financial habits to refine us or to  divide us.

Managing money is huge in marriage. Some couples have budgets, some don't. Some couples combine all of their finances together and some choose to have separate accounts. The Bible speaks to oneness. No matter how you govern your finances, there should be mutual agreement.

How you plan your money together is similar to how we should be in our spiritual lives. We know that we have an enemy. We know that the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy us. We know that we need to be proactive by making sure we put on the whole armor of God every day. We need to tuck scripture deep in our hearts and save it in advance for the appropriate attacks that we know are coming!  This applies to marriage, to finances and to everyday life.

Financial accountability is a spiritual discipline!

So here are 3 suggestions for any married couple:

1. Make a money plan for now and for the future. It is wise to determine how money should be spent and saved, earned and invested for now and for the future.

2. Bring about what changes need to be made and your family finances. Perhaps you need to reevaluate how money is being spent on a daily basis or start a savings account that will be used later on.

3. Since financial accountability is a spiritual discipline, the Lord must be Ruler over it. Keeping God as first in your finances means that you are somehow helping the kingdom of God to grow whether that is through tithing, offerings at your local Church or Ministry giving.

You may not be radically led to purchase all of your Christmas gifts in advance like we did, but do be willing to make great changes in your finances in order to stay close to the Lord and keep your marriage financially sound.



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