I am a terrible money manager, am even worse at time management, and have zero discipline when it comes to eating. Contrast this with the fact that I am blessed with a good income, have very flexible time commitments, and access to any and all food I could want.
Not a good combination.
The end result is that left to myself I tend toward debt (credit cards), being overweight (I weight 229 lbs at 6’2″. Down from 235, after a week of Weight Watchers), and a life of disorganized crazy-busy-ness. I have little discipline, or latent management skill when it comes to these areas. I am in need of outside structure and accountability to keep me on track.
In college I discovered the necessity of a regimented schedule (or “time budget” as I like to think of it). I have all of my commitments and appointments plotted out in a calendar (iCal, to be exact, and it syncs with my BlackBerry). The degree to which I stick to the starting and ending times I have set up for myself (or have had set to me) relates directly to the sanity of my life. It is important that I follow it.
Nancy and I have kept a budget ever since we’ve been married that has kept us relatively on-track. With the help of Larry Burkett’s Finance Guide for Young Couples, steady work, and God’s grace, we fashioned a plan that allowed us to live without a lot of financial stress (except for a few bad decisions on my part). About a year and a half ago, we discovered Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University, and are now attacking all of our debt, and Lord willing, will be “debt free except for the house” in about 12 months.
Last week, Nancy got me started on Weight Watchers. In essence, I see it as very much related to the schedule and the budget. It’s a “food budget” of sorts, and fits very nicely with the way I think about things. As I mentioned above, sticking to their plan, I have lost 6 lbs in just a week (I hear you lose more in your first week or two, and then it slows down to about 2 lbs / week). In about 6-10 weeks I’ll be down around a weight I think I should be at.
I see all of these things as God’s grace. I don’t deserve to keep commitments and appointments, I’m too disorganized. I don’t deserve to be out of debt, I’m a terrible money manager. I don’t deserve to be in shape, I’m a glutton. However, the common graces of budgets, schedules, and Weight Watchers (or other diet plans…) are helping me to be all these things.
October 19, 2007 at 9:32 am
Good luck with WW. I have done it in the past and have been very successful. Let me know if I can help you out with resources…I have a ton of websites that made a HUGE difference.
October 19, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Remember… changing one’s self for the better is verry hard… you CAN do it but you must stick with it… none of this “well I can let it slide just this one time” krap.
For what it’s worth… I have faith in the Heeremas to acomplish these goals.
October 23, 2007 at 8:30 am
I can relate to your feelings. I’ve been realizing that of all the fruits of the spirit that I don’t have, self-control is my biggest downfall, and my lack of control in eating is directly related to my lack of control in spending. 100% of the time I angry with myself for overspending it’s because I overspent on snacks and dining out at work.
October 24, 2007 at 7:59 am
When I paid off my student loans (gotta love that Dave Ramsey FPU course), it was a tremendous relief to my soul. It was as if the future was a clean white canvas just waiting for me to freely splash color on it.
Other than my mortgage and the loan I made to myself from savings for the mortgage down payment, I am debt free. It’s a great feeling! Keep it up Heeremas!!!!
November 16, 2007 at 9:42 am
Love this article! I have the same sort of problems, need to budget myself too in all those areas,it really does help! Mary