How to Handle a Lifestyle in Limbo

The Rothacher “lifestyle” has been in a world wind of changes over the past few years. We had babies 18 months and 12 months apart. We moved to a new town with a new job, church, and home. And the biggest change of all came when God changed my husband’s heart about style of youth ministry, and inevitably ministry in general. This eventually led our entire family to yet another big lifestyle change- church planting.

Our life right now is in major limbo. We are attempting to manage planning for a new life in a different town, home, and stage of life all while staying focused on the day-to-day of our life here and staying committed to our current town, home, job, and church family. I would love to share with you a couple things that God has taught us over the past couple years that made this leap of faith seem less crazy.

FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY

When we moved to our current town and job we were horrible with finances! We had student loans, baby bills, and were sinking quickly in bounced check fees.

Through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, God taught us many things about handling money God’s way. We now have NO debt and have a substantial savings {3 months income}. What will you learn in Financial Peace University? There is so much more to learn than what I can share with you here! You can even attend online.

I have provided you with my 2 homemade printables that my husband and I use every month to tell our money where to go. THESE have been the springboard for the rest of our financial success!

Monthly Cash Flow Plan

Allocated Spending Plan

DAVID PLATT’S RADICAL

The basic premise of Radical is to deny the American Christianity which is basically the American Dream with a twist of Christianity and instead, live authentic Christian life as Christ would have us live.

I whole heartedly agree and long for the message of Radical but at the same time knew FPU was full of biblical principles as well. I had to figure out how to use the logistics of FPU and the mindset of Radical.

Through learning to manage the money God has entrusted us with, we have learned what it really looks like to live debt free and that it’s okay to obtain wealth. Through Radical, we have learned what it looks like to live frugally and simply by always keeping the bigger picture of God’s kingdom in mind. One Dave will teach you biblical ways to manage and invest financially while the other Dave will teach you biblical ways to manage and invest spiritually. BOTH are biblical so therein lies the struggle; discovering what God has for our family.

Here are some of the things we now understand about our finances, possessions and how God would have us manage them that have changed our family’s entire lifestyle:

1. Make, stick to, and LOVE a budget
2. Sell or give away EVERYTHING we don’t “need”
   Confession: I’m a hoarder…No more hoarding clothes in case we have another boy/girl. No more hoarding crazy amounts of different dishes to use at random occasions, if we even break them out then. No more hoarding crafting supplies for that someday {we do have supplies, just not ridiculous amounts of it}.
   • Consignment shops/events, yard sales, Ebay, Craig’s List
   • Friends, family, church members, charities
3. Don’t buy anything unless we have the money right then
4. Live debt-free and have savings
5. Use cash for several budget items

And eventually we are excited to put the bigger learned lessons into practice including:

1. Saving for retirement {better} and college
2. Investing our savings properly to enhance our return
3. Live a VERY minimalistic life so we can reach our Ultimate Goal…
4. Make a lot of money so we can give it all away!
   

Have you gone through either of these resources mentioned? How is your family gleaning from both and learning to glorify God with your lifestyle?