Income & Outgo -- two sides of the same coin

Financial stability is a goal we must continually keep in our sights. Even if we attain it once, it is a bit like the horizon, always out there for us to keep working towards, recommitting to the principles that keep us on the path. Like footsteps one after another, here are three steps that we just keep repeating anytime we receive income and must decide upon the outgo:

• Pay it forward first (donations to causes you deem worthy! Tithing and generosity affect more than our wallets — our very character)
• Pay your future self (savings),
• Pay stores: for needs first, then wants. SPEND WISELY.

Be willing to sacrifice for the sake of stability. Realize that peace of mind is priceless.

Develop the attitude that less really can be more. Simplify! Embrace the concept of ENOUGH. 

Work together to make things work: Value ALL the work necessary to make a family successful, whether or not it brings in financial income. 

​Tie in the MomEconomy, Revolving Closets, and TheMomProject!

Creating a budget is ONE thing — living according to the budget is another… Perhaps comparable to someone’s physician prescribing lifestyle changes for better health, and then the patient actually altering their nutrition and exercise to match! It requires self-discipline, which is like a muscle and gets stronger the more you use it!
Momivate will help moms define and commit to following a budget that will bless their wallets and have ripple effects into many other areas of their lives.

Interest is a great slave but a terrible master. Be creative in paying off and avoiding debt. Make it a game — how long can you live without that item — long enough to save up for it? How much cheaper can you find it than retail? Be wary of programs that charge fees to talk to your creditors — instead, approach them on your own! Momivate helps debt-free living feel possible as well as popular!

Even if life doesn’t feel abundant, choosing to give helps us realize that we have more than we thought we did. Giving without judgment and with love towards the recipient ​can stretch our hearts in immeasurable ways. Giving anonymously is fun — think: doorbell ditching! Giving is selfless, and we can all benefit from building this trait. Momivate shows various ways to give, even non-monetarily such as Revolving Closets and Bookshelves or volunteering as a Momivater.

You work hard for your money, so pay yourself! Then let your money work for you by earning interest. Long-term savings tucked away in a hard-to-access account can be set up on auto-pay so you don’t even notice it coming out of your paycheck. It fuels the peace of mind that can lessen the sting of financial emergencies and brighten the joy of future endeavors. College, weddings, retirement, travel — much less stressful when funds have been set aside in advance. Short term savings can give us motivation to stay out of debt and earn the cost of larger purchases in advance just by setting aside a bit of each paycheck.

This is not as oxymoronic as it sounds! We all need to spend money, but we can pick up tips and tricks and habits and, ultimately, a frame of mind that allows us to be frugal and get the biggest bang for each buck! This can become a fun game — finding the best deals and discounts! In a Momivate MomUnity, you’ll all share the “wealth” of sales and clearance racks — just shooting out a text to the group when you’ve found a store that’s got mighty markdowns! Also, the MomUnits app is being designed to help you earn and spend MomUnits, something other than money so that the money is available for needs that require it.

Our children are always watching us, learning from our example as well as from our explanations. As we include them in discussions and decisions on a family level, we are helping them gain knowledge that will serve them their entire lives! We can also run a “Family Economy” where they learn to connect work with earning money. They can practice (and safely make mistakes!) making their own monetary decisions starting at a very young age, and the lessons they learn will influence them throughout adulthood.