How Can I Make Every Spending Decision a Conscious Choice?

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Do you ever feel like your money just vanishes?

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Now I'm not talking about in one big splurge, but in a slow drip coffee here.

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Impulse by there until you look in your account is nearly empty.

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And then you're wondering where did it all go?

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What if that could change?

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What if every dollar had a purpose and you were the one that was finally in control?

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Imagine making spending decisions that reflect your values, not just your urges.

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Well, stick with me today 'cause I'm gonna show you how to stop the money leaks and

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start living with financial intention.

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That's what we're gonna cover on today's show.

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Hey there, friend.

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Welcome back to your daily, financially confident Christian.

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I'm Ralph, and it's great that you're joining me here again today as we

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answer our continuing question.

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How do I become a financially confident Christian?

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And right now we're in week three of our series.

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Beyond the Budget, we're working to find financial freedom

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through intentional living.

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If you've been joining me every day, I just wanna congratulate you, and if

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you have missed any episodes, you can always find them right on our website.

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Now, yesterday we talked about how joy often comes more from experiences.

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Then stuff, we had a long discussion about how experiences or the things

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that you take and you remember for a very long time, whereas stuff,

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Hey, it's here today, gone tomorrow.

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Well, today's question is, how can I make everyday spending decisions

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a conscious, faith aligned choice?

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We really want to talk about how to be intentional in our spending decisions.

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So let me start by asking you something real.

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If you're like me, you're often thought about this.

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Have you ever checked your bank account at the end of the week and thought,

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wait, I didn't buy anything big, so why is there so little left in my account?

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And you start to dig in a little bit.

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Maybe it's $6 for coffee or maybe $12 for that lunch out, or $9 for that streaming

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app that you totally forgot to cancel.

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You've been talking about doing that for a while, but you've never

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gotten around to it and it doesn't seem like much in that moment.

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When you're buying that coffee, you're stepping out for lunch.

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It doesn't feel like it's this big, huge thing, but what happens over time

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is it adds up and it steals your peace.

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I spoke to a listener last week.

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She said this.

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She said, Ralph, I'm not blowing money on designer handbags or vacations.

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it's just Amazon boxes showing up with stuff I didn't even remember ordering.

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can you relate to that?

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The truth is most people aren't bad with money.

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we're just not always aware of where our money's going, but

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here's where it gets even deeper.

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See, every dollar that you spend is a decision.

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A lot of people don't understand this, but every dollar that you spend is a decision

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and every decision that you make in life reflects your values or your habits.

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What scripture says this in the book of Proverbs, chapter 21, verse five, and I

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use this one frequently on the show, it says this, the plans of the diligent lead

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surely to abundance, see decisions, plans, diligent plans, what do they lead to?

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They lead to abundance.

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Let's look at the book of Ephesians, chapter five, verses 15 and 16.

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Be very careful how you live.

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Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

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But what are they saying there?

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Every opportunity, every decision.

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And there's this warning about being careful how you live and

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being wise in those decisions.

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And see that's not just about other things and choices about life.

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It includes opportunities with your money.

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And in the end, here's the big takeaway from today.

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Intentional spending is faithful stewardship.

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It just is because it's saying to God this, it says, Lord, I

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see every dollar you've given me and I want to use it on purpose.

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See, it's that decision to use it on purpose.

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So now you're asking Ralph, how do we stop the slow leak?

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How do we move from that autopilot spending to intentional living?

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And I've got a simple but powerful way to do it, and it's called the Sacred Pause.

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And I'm gonna encourage you to create a sacred pause before you spend.

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Just a ten second window of clarity and a moment to ask this really deep question.

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Is this what I really want my money to say about me?

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I wanna say that again because this is so important.

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During that ten second window, I'm gonna talk about how to do that in a second.

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But you want to ask yourself, is this what I really want my money to say about me?

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So let me get right to my one action step for today.

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Let's talk, about this together.

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The first step is, this is practice the pause and plan rule.

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So next time you're standing in line at the store, you're right there at

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the target counter or the Walmart counter, or maybe you're hovering

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over that buy now button online.

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You're just, you're just so close to clicking on buy now.

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I just want you to go back and remember that pause.

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I just want you to pause and I want you to count to 10.

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Once you get to 10, then I want you to ask this question, is this in my budget?

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Is this decision in my budget?

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And then the second question is, does it align with what I value?

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See, that's the two pieces to the puzzle.

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Is it in my budget and does it align with what I value?

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I I used an example from last week.

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Somebody had talked about these great new earbuds.

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Everybody's have gotta have these new earbuds.

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And I was like, you know what?

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I could go buy these earbuds.

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And I got on Amazon new, a really cheap, like 40 bucks

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and I wanted these new things.

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Everybody had 'em.

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I thought about it for a second.

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I said, Hey, let's take that pause.

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So I took the pause myself.

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I waited 10 seconds and then I realized I had already had, I actually

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had two pairs of working Bluetooth headphones and I didn't need these.

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This was just a want.

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This wasn't a need.

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So what did I do?

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I took that 40 bucks I was gonna spend, and my wife and I went out and had a nice

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dinner together and see that one decision.

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That one pause, that one saying to myself, Hey, do I really need this?

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That conscious choice brought way more joy than that $40 pair

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of Bluetooth headphones, which honestly would've sat on the shelf.

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'cause I've already got two pairs.

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That's step one.

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Step two, if you battle this, one of the things I really encourage you to do is do

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what I call a cash only in one category week, I want you to pick your weak spot.

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Maybe for you it's that takeout or that's stepping out for lunch or those coffee.

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I pick old coffee all the time, but maybe that's what, or those quick

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target runs, you know, it's gonna go ahead and cut a couple things.

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Maybe just one thing.

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Here's what I'm gonna encourage you to do instead.

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Withdraw cash.

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Kinda like using that old envelope system.

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Only use that amount this week.

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So for example, one listener told me she gave herself a $40 cash

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envelope for snacks and for fast food.

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she saw this as an area where she was struggling with trying to stay

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on point with her spending and staying on point with her budget.

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So she said, Ralph, here's what I did.

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Real simple.

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I took $40 out.

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I put it in an envelope.

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I wrote snacks and food on it.

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And when the cash was gone, she says, I was done for the week.

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And then she reported back to me, she said, Ralph, I didn't just save money.

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That would've been big enough.

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She says, I felt free, and I love the way she ended her comment to me.

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She said, Ralph, I was back in control.

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Hey, if you want to gain that control, there's something you can do.

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Another thing I'm gonna encourage you to do, step three in the three step

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process, I. I want you to do a daily, two minute review, so at the end of

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your day, whatever that looks like for you, maybe you're unwinding for

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the day, you're checking your emails.

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Before you go to sleep, I want you to get out your phone or maybe keep a notebook.

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I think notebooks are actually good for this.

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And write down what you spent just for that day.

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Write down what you spent.

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No judgment here.

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Just write it down because I want you to start to build this awareness.

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My wife and I were having this very discussion with

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our youngest son yesterday.

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He was talking about, Hey, everything is so expensive and I, he's living in

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a house with a bunch of other people that're, sort of renting rooms and, he

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said, dad, I really want to get on my own.

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And I said, okay, well what does that look like?

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And he goes, well, it's so expensive to do it right now.

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And I said, okay, well, where does your money go?

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He said, well, how would I figure it out?

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I said, son, it's not complicated.

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It's why two for a living?

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I said, listen to my show once in a while.

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I said, just take each, at the end of each day, just write down where you spent

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your money, not about judging yourself, but about awareness, because I know

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this tiny habit builds mindfulness and it's that mindfulness that will help you

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break that cycle of asking that question.

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We started off with, you get to the end of the week and you're

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like, where did my money go?

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Let's pray together.

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Father God, we just thank you for every dollar that you've entrusted to us.

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And Lord, we ask that you would forgive us for the times we spent

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without thought, not even thinking about it, not even planning it.

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And Lord, right now, we want you to teach us to pause, Lord.

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Teach us to plan and to live with that intention that you want for our lives.

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And we just ask that you would let every financial decision be a reflection of

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our faith, a reflection of our values.

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Lord, we ask you to make us wise and make us faithful in even the small things.

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We just ask this in complete confidence.

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In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen.

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Friend, here's the thing I want you to hear today.

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It's the little choices that shape a big life.

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When you pause, when you plan, you're not just saving money.

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That's that's a big enough piece, but you're building peace.

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You're becoming the kind of person who walks in confidence.

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Not just in confusion, and I wanna just encourage you right now if this

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episode has been impactful to you, if you're getting value from this

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show, I would love it if you would share this show with somebody else.

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Other people can learn.

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Other people can grow.

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Just like you're growing by picking up this show on a daily basis, I'm just

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gonna encourage you to send them to financially confident christian.com.

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Hey.

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Text him, send him an email and just say, Hey, I listened to this guy, Ralph.

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He's got a lot of good ideas.

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He's really helped me with my finances, and he's done it from a place of faith.

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Again, just send him to financially confident christian.com.

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Hey, while they're there, get a copy of my book.

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I'll give you a absolutely free copy of my book.

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It's called Mastering Your Finances.

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You get to that by going to financially confident christian.com/master.

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Get it for free.

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No strings attached.

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Now tomorrow we're gonna get into another powerful topic.

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We're gonna talk about the beauty and savings of secondhand simplicity.

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You're gonna love this one.

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We're gonna talk about how you don't necessarily have to buy

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that new, flashy, shiny thing.

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You've got this.

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I believe in you.

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Believe in yourself, and let's go be those financially confident Christians.

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Stay financially savvy.

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God bless you and you have a great day today.