Figure out why there’s always more month left at the end of your money. Develop a monthly budget and make it your guide to financial freedom.

“Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3).

Whatever you think your financial goals may be, you will not successfully achieve them without first understanding God’s financial principles found in the Bible. When you do understand those principles, develop lifestyle goals that reflect God’s principles and work out a written plan to implement them. This plan is called a budget, and it will lead you to financial freedom.

Set your priorities straight by first making some contributions.

• Give to God’s work; it’s His money anyway.
• Loosen up those purse strings; it will help loosen the grip money might have on your heart.

“Be rich in good works. . . be generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:18).

Don’t give in order to get. However, you’ll find that when you do give, God will provide you with more to give.

“Let us not love in word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).

Don’t use your credit card so much.

• Develop discipline in your spending habits.
• Take away any security you might be using in case of emergencies, like credit cards or other avenues of borrowing. If needed, cut up a few credit cards.
• Commit to go no further in debt and you will begin to reverse the process that produced your debt.

“The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave” (Proverbs 22:7).

Spending (especially for indulgences) doesn’t lift depression. In fact, after the initial rush it can make things worse. (Yes… like right after Christmas.)

“He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich” (Proverbs 21:17).

It’s not the cost of an item that determines whether it’s an indulgence; its utility determines that. Do you really need it?

Write the bottom-line number down, and then spend less than that.

• Personal savings rates are lower now than during the Great Depression.
• You can’t spend 104 to 112 percent of your income and continue to get away with it (although some people try for a while).

“I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your practice from your youth, that you have not obeyed My voice” (Jeremiah 22:21).

The key to staying out of debt is no secret. Spend less than you make, don’t borrow, and you’ll be on the road to financial freedom.

Discover the kitchen more often and reduce the number of restaurant visits or takeaways.

• Your spouse might enjoy meal preparation more at home if some help were provided (is that you?).

“Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline, but he who regards reproof will be honoured” (Proverbs 13:18).

Almost everyone enjoys eating out occasionally, so make it part of your “entertainment” budget. Then stick to the budget. Save to eat at a nice place for special events rather than squandering it on fast food non-events.

Take a local holiday this year.

There are interesting things to see and fun things to do within a day’s drive of where you live.

“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

People spend hundreds of dollars they can’t afford to travel thousands of miles to see things they might not remember next year. Has it occurred to you that people are doing just that as they come to visit areas within a three-hour drive of where you live?

Go local this year. Use the road to Financial Freedom.

They’re in debt, too (and you can be sure they won’t make your payments for you)!

“Every labour and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbour. This too is vanity and striving after wind” (Ecclesiastes 4:4).

Envy is the desire to achieve based on the observation of other people’s successes. Don’t set your goals based on what others have. In the long run envy and covetousness will still leave you empty, because you’ll never have enough.

You know…the one that’s paid for.

Think about how many cars you need. Is public transport or even walking or cycling to work a possibility?

“Which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28).

And the number one thing you can do to find Financial Freedom in 2019:

Emotional and spiritual balance will lead to Financial Freedom.

So ask God to guide you and give you strength to follow the first nine steps.

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Don’t be resentful for what you don’t have. Instead, be grateful for what God has provided. Financial freedom will bring contentment, and contentment grows out of an attitude of gratitude. Thank God for each day and ask him how you can serve him that day.