Financial Fast

Mount Calvary Holy Church of Winston-Salem

2020 Financial Fast

Sunday, March 1^st – Tuesday, March 31^st

Bishop Tejado W. Hanchell, Ph. D – Senior Pastor

Elder Victoria F. Hanchell, Ed. D – Co-Pastor

Elder Nathan Munford IV – Assistant Pastor

 

 

930 E. 14^th Street ~ Winston-Salem, NC 27105 ~ 336-722-3734 ~ www.mchcws.org

 

 

2019 Financial Fast Outline

 

Ecclesiastes 10:19 (NIV): A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:19 is a scripture that is not often taught on when it comes to money. We know that the love of money is the root of all evil according to 1 Timothy 6:10, but as we know, money and finances are essential to our everyday lives. While greed and selfish gain as it relates to money is certainly not of God, the desire to be financially stable and gain wealth is in fact a desire that God has for us for 3 John 1:2 states Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.

 

Over the next 30 day we will embark on a financial fast as a congregation in which we will practice several financial principles that can get us started on the road to financial stability.

 

Fast Guidelines:

• Delineate Between Needs and Wants. Before you begin your fast, write down your wants and needs as you understand them. Knowing ahead of time can help take some of the temptation away
• Only Purchase Needs. Unless you absolutely need it to survive, don’t buy it during your fast. That limits or even eliminates trips to the hair salon, eating out, in store and online shopping.  Instead, your money should only go toward food, housing, medication, and other necessities.
• Pay With Cash Where you Can. You become much more conscious of the spending process when you actually pay in cash. The cash in hand can serve as a potent visual reminder of the decisions you’re making, as you make them. When the cash stays in your wallet, you’re going to feel a lot better about your self-restraint.
• Keep a Spending Journal. Throughout your financial fast, keep a detailed log of what you spend, what you save, and where you may be struggling. You can refer to this journal when you’re all done to help identify spending triggers and habits you’d like to change.
• Get Accountable.  Find someone or a group of people that can help keep you accountable to your commitments throughout the fast.  A suggestion would be to use a fellow church or family member that is also participating in the fast
• Remove Temptation. By thinking about some of your worst spending triggers and habits, you can work to curtail them.
• Commit to Tithing.  Tithing is giving 10% of our total income back to God through your local church. According to Malachi 3, we are robbing God when we do not practice the discipline of tithing. But when we do tithe, we gain access to the blessings of God that we would not otherwise receive. Additionally, God will rebuke the devour for our sakes so that our sustenance will not be destroyed.
• 30 Day Saving Plan Challenge. Saving money is a critical financial discipline that should be practiced to be able to cover any unexpected expenses that arise.  Below is a 30-day savings challenge outline that can be a guide to starting your own personal savings plan.

 

Helpful Tips

• Find frugality in your everyday spending habits:
• Pack lunch
• Review grocery ads and manufacture coupons to find lower pricing on everyday grocery items
• Become more energy efficient
• Turn off lights when leaving the room.
• Use energy efficient items (light bulbs, household appliances)
• Adjust thermostat in home when away to prevent HVAC/Furnace from running regularly while away.
• Prepare a monthly budget
• Make smart investments
• Retirement plan
• Life insurance
• Find additional streams of income
• Decrease waste
• Cooking too much and having to throw out leftovers
• Buying in excess of what is needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Budget Template

 

Daily Spending Journal

 

Note: Get a small notebook that you can easily carry with you. I want you to write down all the money you spend, every penny. Each day (if you currently do not keep a log) you should also record any bills you pay (mortgage, credit card, car loan). The point is to record every single penny that you spend. Everything gets written down, even that pack of gum or bag of chips.

 

Copy the following columns in your notebook or you can use this template or make a copy of the page. Be sure to include the column identifying whether your purchase or payment was a need or a want.

 

Day/Date	Expense Item	Amount Spent	Was this expense a need or a want?

 

Here’s Example of what your journal entry may look like on a particular day:

 

Day/Date	Expense Item	Amount Spent	Was this expense a need or a want?

Sun./March 1^st

Sausage, Egg McMuffin @ McDonald’s

$5.67

 

Well, it was a want really because I could have eaten breakfast before I left for work.

 

Mon./March 2^nd

 

 

Starbucks Grande Latte

$3.95

 

Want

 

Tue./March 3^rd

 

Lunch at Subway (turkey sandwich supersized to drink, chips)

 

$6.97

 

Need, maybe. I didn’t pack a lunch??

 

Wed./March 4^th

Snack, bag of UTZ from vending machine

.75

Need/want. I don’t know. I was hungry!!!

Thur./March 5^th

Late fee (Was 5 minutes late picking up my son)

$10

Not sure. I needed to pay the fee to get my kid.

Fri./March 6^th

Dinner from Popeye’s

$24.35

Okay, a need. But I was too tired to cook.

 

Reviewing Your Spending Journal

 

— Use the spending journal to record what you spend. Don’t edit or judge yourself. This exercise works best if for the 31 days you simply record what you do.

 

— Make a note of where and when you tend to get off track concerning budgeted expenses.

 

— Use the information from your spending journal to make adjustments to your budget. For example, if you are eating lunch every day at work, then cut back on eating out during the weekends. If you must have brand-name coffee then something else has to be cut.