Without a financial structure, life can feel chaotic. I believe God wants to pour out blessings on His people, but it is important to have a structure or system prepared to receive them. The first step to any new system is awareness. If you don’t know where the hole in the boat is, you’ll keep sinking. Find the hole, fix it, and steer in the right direction.

This is not a strict budgeting system.
It’s not about controlling every dollar or living under pressure.

This is a practical structure that helps you:

• cover your life
• build safety
• grow wealth
• and give with purpose

It brings clarity, but it also brings peace.

The Core Principle

Give, Save (Invest), and Live on the Rest

This simple idea guides everything:

• Give → keeps your heart open and outward
• Save/Invest → builds your safety and future
• Live on the Rest → allows you to actually enjoy your life without guilt

Before We Get Started

Before I share how this works, I want to start with a testimony about how God desires to partner with us to bring stability, freedom, and financial wealth. We were barely living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet with no room to breathe. It felt as if we were living just to pay bills. Even when money came in, expenses followed, and it seemed as though it was already spent before it even arrived. Additionally, this was our first job where we had to handle taxes ourselves. In ministry, everything is taken care of for you, including the home. A great package for sure, but in the long run, it didn’t prepare us for “real life.”

Living paycheck to paycheck is an exhausting way to live. Not only do you forget how to enJOY life, but the emotional guilt you can carry for wanting to purchase even a simple cup of coffee is brutal. The worst for me was wondering whether I would have a roof over my head each month. We were late with rent many times, and things started to feel tense. Tired of staring at the problem all the time, I decided to ask God for a practical solution.

God’s Practical Solution

I told God I needed to feel secure that I would have a home each month. He advised me to move my personal quarterly income (separate from my husband’s) into a separate checking account and use it only for rent. Ultimately, that made me nervous since we had been using my quarterly check for big expenses we couldn’t cover with our regular income, like filling the propane tank or paying for school tuition—things outside our usual essentials. Obediently, I opened a separate checking account, and the next day I received a notice that my quarterly check would be increased to the exact amount of three months’ rent plus tithing money. Hallelujah, holy cow!

This showed me that God’s heart deeply desires to support us financially and meet my need for security. Eagerly, we let go of other parts of our finances, and God began providing according to this same approach for my husband’s income. Although we’re still working through the tiers (as you’ll see below), I have hope for the first time in years. Eventually, I plan to move my quarterly income into an investment and fully fund our lifestyle from my husband’s paycheck, but for now, we see a way forward. I feel like I finally have a structure to partner with God on, and I feel like I am being a steward of our finances rather than being controlled by them. I hope this will help you too.

1. Start With Your Real Living Number

Before anything else, get honest about what it costs to live your life.

Break it into three categories:

🏡 Essentials

What it takes to run your home:

• mortgage/ rent
• food
• utilities (gas, electric, phone, internet, water, trash)
• gas, car maintenance
• insurance (life, car, health)
• household needs (paper products, cleaning supplies, toiletries, home maintenance)
• pet (food, medical)

Key Point:
This is your foundation. These are not luxuries—this is what it costs to care for your life and your family well. When this category is funded, your home feels steady.

Example: $8,400 total

📄 Base Obligations

Your fixed commitments:

• debt payments
• subscriptions
• minimum payments

Key Point:
These are promises you’ve already made. Instead of letting them feel like a constant weight, this category gives them a place to live—so they stop spilling into everything else.

Example: $1,200 (If the majority of this is debt, once it is paid off, then this number decreases and can be directed into the buffer, giving, or investing category).

🌿 Breathing Room

A small, intentional space for:

• eating out
• coffee
• simple family experiences/ projects
• gift giving

Key Point:
This category matters more than most people realize.
Without it, life starts to feel tight, restrictive, and joyless.

This is where you give yourself permission to live without guilt.
Not extravagantly—just freely.

Example: $400

2. Give First (With Intention, Not Pressure)

Giving is not an afterthought. It is a choice.

Set a percentage (3–10%, depending on your season) and give consistently, with the intent of raising it as you move through the tiers (generosity).

Key Point:
Giving reminds you that money is not your source—it’s a tool. God is the source. The Source never changes; only the resource does.
It keeps your heart from closing in on itself and invites you into something bigger than your own needs.

This is not about pressure or obligation.
It’s about living with open hands.

3. Set Aside Taxes Immediately (if it is not already deducted from your paycheck)

Depending on your situation and tax bracket, a rough guideline for federal tax withholding after basic deductions:

• 15-20% lower income
• 20-25% moderate income
• 30%+ for higher income

What you pay in taxes will vary by state and situation. You will have to look up the tax laws for your state. For example, my husband has a 1099 job, so he has self-employment tax (15.3%) as well as federal income tax. The state of Tennessee does not have income tax. With all the exemptions (child tax credits, mileage, and business expenses), it is safe to set aside:

• 20-25%

Key Point:
This money is not yours, and separating it brings peace.
Instead of living with a quiet fear of what you’ll owe later, you create clarity now.

4. Build Safety (Your Buffer)

On weeks when income exceeds your needs, build a buffer category. Most people use this money to raise their standard of living. You are intentionally building a system that will support the lifestyle you desire. It may be tight at first, but we are establishing a system that will build financial stability, freedom, and generosity. Give yourself grace to ease into this.

Start Small:

• $1,500 → first safety
• $3,000 → breathing room
• $5,000 → stability

Then build toward:

• 1–3 months of expenses

Key Point:
This is what allows your body to relax.
You are no longer living one step away from crisis.

This is where security begins to grow quietly in the background.

If you have a non-salary job with variable income, the buffer category can cover weeks when earnings are low. You can maintain the same rhythm because you pay yourself from this category during dry times. This removes the pressure to perform when things are slow.

5. Define Your Income Target

Determine what you actually need to earn.

Example:

If your living need is $10,000/month:

👉 $10,000 ÷ 0.80= $12,500.00 (this is your gross number before taxes @ 20%)

In addition, add giving and a buffer/investing number; this will be the amount you need to bring in each month to sustain your lifestyle.

Key Point:
Clarity removes confusion.
You are no longer guessing—you are working toward something real and measurable.

Example: $12,500+$300(giving)+$600(buffer/invest)=$13,400

Remember, the giving and buffer/investing categories are not part of your living essentials, obligations, or breathing room, but they need to be intentionally included in your system because they won’t happen automatically. Thinking of them as an afterthought or “if I have extra” will never lead you to stability, freedom, or generosity. The goal is to grow those categories once your debts are paid off and your income increases. Again, most people, when they receive extra income, increase their standard of living. That is being a consumer, not an investor. We are stewards of what God gives us.

6. Build a Weekly Money Flow System

Break everything into weeks so it becomes manageable.

Weekly Example:

Weekly income target: $3,350

• Give → $75 ($300 a month)
• Taxes → $625 ($2500 a month)
• Save (Buffer) → $150 ($600 a month)
• Live → $2500 ($10,000 a month)

---

Weekly Living Breakdown (from the Live category):

• Essentials → $2,100
• Obligations → $300
• Breathing Room → $100

Weekly Living Essential Fluctuating Categories:

• food
• gas
• some utilities
• personal and household needs (soap, toiletries, paper towels, etc.)

I break down flexible categories like food to figure out my weekly spending. For example, if I allocate $500 a week for food and buy a $400 bulk order one week, I pull money from other weeks to balance it out so I still have money for my weekly grocery spend. If the bulk category stays consistent each month, consider creating a separate “bulk” category and shifting money from the food category to it. It all balances out based on what you actually use.

Fun Tips:

To turn this into an enjoyable game, instead of viewing each category as how much you can spend, see it as a challenge to maximize your savings. Every dollar you save each month can be added to the buffer category, helping you build that safety net more quickly.

Additionally, it’s a good habit to view the money you manage as “investments” rather than “spending”. For example, when I go to the grocery store, my mindset is on what I am investing in my family, not what I am spending. Spending money creates the mindset that it’s gone. Investing, on the other hand, is the language of stewardship. Moreover, developing this mindset helps you become more aware of what you are truly investing in. Is that bag of chips or that extra entertainment subscription really an investment, or could it be redirected?

Key Point:
Weekly rhythm creates peace.
Instead of wondering if you’ll have enough, you know where everything is going.

7. Separate Your Money

Create separate accounts:

• Giving
• Taxes
• Living
• Buffer (Savings)

This is where confusion turns into calm.

8. Understand Your Financial Tiers

Tier 1: Survival

Bills covered, no margin, pressure

Tier 2: Stability

Bills covered, small breathing room

Tier 3: Security

Savings growing, margin increasing, getting out of debt

Tier 4: Generosity & Growth

Strong savings, consistent giving, investing, and building assets. Money is working for you.

Tier 5: Impact and Overflow

Passive income streams are established, assets are supporting your lifestyle, and wealth is used for God’s purposes.

Key Point:
Each level matters.
You don’t skip steps—you grow through them.

This removes pressure and replaces it with progress.

9. Handle Extra Income With Purpose

When extra money comes in, think of it as a way to build a 3-month buffer of expenses that will give you peace of mind in case of slow times or unexpected events. Once that is established, money can be spent to pay down debt or invest for future income. Allow yourself space to give and enjoy a percentage if you want, but try to think of this income as a way to move forward instead of playing catch-up. Try to stay within your means rather than expand your consumption.

• 40% → Save (buffer until you have 3 months of expenses)
• 40% → Future (debt, growth, upcoming one-time expenses)
• 10% → Giving
• 10% → Enjoyment

Key Point:
Extra money is not for catching up—it’s for moving forward. Unless, of course, it is a gift allocated to a specific purpose, such as a special date or family outing, or to pay a specific bill.
This is how you begin to build something lasting while still enjoying your life.

10. Keep It Simple

You are not tracking every dollar.

You are:

Giving money a job before it is spent

Final Principle

Financial freedom is not created by restriction.
It is created by structure, consistency, and purpose.

This system allows you to:

• give without fear
• save without pressure
• and live without guilt

This is how you move from:

• surviving
  to
• stabilizing
  to
• building a life marked by

peace, freedom, and generosity

Investing in Yourself is a Good Investment

If you are interested in gaining a stewardship mindset from the inside out, I highly recommend the Wealth with God course with James Baker. This Course revolutionized the way we steward and invest our money now. I took what I learned, set goals, transformed my mind, and now I am sharing it with you. That’s being a wise steward.

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In everything you do -eat, play, and love- may it always be seasoned with Joy!




Footnote: 1. Text generated with the aid of ChatGPT, March 26, 2026, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/chat.