Proverbs 31 - Week 8

First, let me apologize again for the delay. My summer routine is not yet established, but I am working on it!

This week's lessons begin with a remarkable passage from I Thessalonians 4:11-12: Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. (NIV)

Let's break that down a bit.

1. Lead a quiet life.
2. Mind your own business.
3. Work with your hands. (and do what you're told.)

And the results are:

1. Your daily life may win respect.
2. You will not be dependent on anybody.

Well, that sounds just fabulous to me!!! Where do I sign up?

Although there is some room for inspiration here, you could say that "mind your own business" refers to gossiping or nosiness. I am taking it to mean attending to my own line of business, whatever God wants that to be at this time in my life. For some time now and for many reasons, I have had a desire to have my own business. To be able to assist with the family budget in more ways than clipping coupons and shopping for sales. To have the sense of accomplishment that comes with making something to sell or to be consumed by others. To simply have conversations with other moms/adults that don't involve cartoons or crayons :) I can't quite figure out what to do. I would love to bake bread, cookies and pies to sell; have an online Christian book store; make beaded jewelry for sale at a local consignment shop. There are so many ideas.

Donna imparts so much wisdom this week, here are a few of her highlights:

• "...women start twice as many businesses as men and are far more likely to succeed."
• "...God intended the home to be the center of our lives, not just the place we come to recover from our lives."
• "...any woman can make extra money from home is she is willing to work."
• "...include your children in your business so they learn to be entrepreneurial and self-sufficient under God's sufficiency..."
• "...the Proverbs 31 woman had multiple streams of income...She operated various manufacturing and direct-selling enterprises: 'She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.' She invested in real estate: 'She considers a field and buys it.' ...she reinvested the profits into yet another income-generating business: 'Out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.' ...she diversified her income streams. If we are wise, we will do the same."
• "In direct selling companies, the person who does the work earns the money."
• "The best part about joining forces with an existing business is that you don't have to start from scratch."
• "Just $250 per month, beginning at age forty, will yield $330,000 for your retirement."
• "...there is no hard-and-fast rule that applies to all investing - except one: to profit from your investments, we have found it is vital always to diversify them. ...Ecclesiastes 11:2: 'Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth (NRSV)." -Tamera Aragon
• "There are two ways for investors to make money in real estate: appreciation [when you sell or refinance; buy and sell] and cash flow [month after month, as long as you own the property; buy and hold]." - Tamera Aragon
• Real estate investments to consider: Rental properties, Lease options, Fixer-uppers, Vacant land, Forced appreciation, Preconstruction, Foreclosures.
• Internet Marketing: eBay, Craigslist, Amazon, etc.

Suggested reading:

• Homemade Business: A Woman's Step-by-Step Guide to Earning Money at Home - Donna Partow
• www.donnapartow.com/homebasedbusiness
• Multiple Streams of Income - Robert Allen

Next week, a true need for improvement for me, we will discuss Household Management. Hold on to your hat Martha!

Get out of debt

There are several options for getting out of debt. One popular option is to payoff the largest balances first, another is to payoff the highest interest rate first. While both of these are good options, they do not give a sense of accomplishment very quickly like the next option I will show you. This is from The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

The "Debt Snowball"

1. Lists your debts in order with the smallest payoff or balace first.


2. If you have two debts with similar payoffs, list the higher interest-rate debt first.


3. Pay off the smallest balance first. Anytime you get some extra money, put it toward paying off your debt rather than acquiring more stuff to clean, stow, and eventually give away. Meanwhile, be sure to make your [minimum] monthly payments on all your debt.


4. Once you've paid off the first debt, apply the entire monthly payment that you used to pay toward the first debt toward the second debt on the list. (You will be paying out the same amount of money each month, but you will be paying down this debt twice as fast.)


5. When you've paid off the second item, apply the entire amount you were paying on debt number 1 and debt number 2 toward debt number 3.


6. Continue until you have paid off all consumer debt.

This option can allow you to focus your money to eliminate the debt quickly. It is very important to stop using the cards when you begin this and remember, once you payoff that card, put it away and don't use it anymore. It's understandable to have a credit card for medical expenses and emergencies, but a huge sale at your favorite department store is not an emergency! Then, you can easily save and pay cash for things that you want rather than charging them and them being no longer useful by the time you have finished paying for them. My prayers are with you that you live within your means and your soul will prosper along with your pocketbook!

Proverbs 31 - Week 6

This week was definitely full! Here are a few of the highlights:

• John Wesley - "'Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.' Christians shouldn't be financially broke. We should be financially wise."
• "Which is greater: 90 percent plus God or 100 percent minus God?"
• Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) - "The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them."
• "...an asset is somthing that puts money in my pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket." - Robert Kiyosaki
• "Put the income into an income-generating asset, then you can spend, not once, but as long as the asset keeps generating income."
• "Lord, I know you work miracles. You can bring stones back to life from heaps of rubble and you can enable me to get my finances in good order."
• See a separate post about the "Debt Snowball."
• "When you get an offer in the mail, declare out loud: 'I know what this is. It's an invitation to the valley of Ono [Nehemiah 6] - and oh no, I don't want to go there!'"
• http://www.optoutprescreen.com/ or 1-888-5OptOut
• "How many items fall into the 'I never would have bought it if I had to save up to get it' category?"
• "'The secret of financial success is to spend what you have left over after saving, instead of saving what is left over after spending.' We all know there's never anything left over."
• "Over the past fifty years, the stock market has averaged an 11 percent annual return. That's no guarantee for the future, but stocks have never lost money over any ten-year period - and that includes the decade of the Great Depression. Your best choice is an index fund."

Recommended reading: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki; The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach; The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

It's obvious to most of us that we live outside of our means and it can be very overwhelming to think about getting out of debt, but there are many small ways we can help ourselves. This week's study gave very specific ways to take small steps and make a difference in your finances while getting a sense of accomplishment quickly. You can do it! Start today!