Cleveland woman saves through spending p

Budgeting For Financial Freedom

Sheri West has always been a big believer in saving. She understood the difference between a necessity and a luxury. And she was “always a person that saved for a rainy day.”

Despite her best efforts, however, she still sometimes found herself coming up short at the end of the month. “I’d say, `What happened? Where did my money go?’”

That was before she joined Daughters of Destiny, a membership group that promotes financial literacy for women, and through Daughters of Destiny learned about and joined Cleveland Saves.

They taught her about the importance of developing a budget. They also gave her a worksheet to use to keep track of how she was spending her money. “I just took that form and applied it to everyday life,” she said. She also got help from a book called God’s Plans for Your Finances, by Dwight Nichols.

Once she had her budget, she bought herself a little notebook, which she uses to write down every purchase she makes. If she buys a pack of gum, it goes in the notebook. “You have to keep a record,” she said. And, although it took some getting used to, “it’s like a habit now,” she said.

“Since I’ve been doing a budget, I have everything in perspective,” she said. “I know where my money is going.” Whereas she used to sometimes come up short at the end of the month, “I don’t have those problems anymore. I always have money set aside for different things. When I see that I’m going over, I keep myself in check.”

Since she’s seen the benefits of budgeting in her own life, she has been sharing the message. “I tell everyone, `That’s the first thing you need to do is make a budget.’ A lot of people don’t want to do that.” She said she can understand that. She didn’t think she’d like it either. “Now, I really like doing it,” she said.

She’s less patient with the people who say they don’t need a budget because they already know where there money is going. “You don’t know where your money is going until you write it down,” she said.

When she joined Cleveland Saves, her goal was to save enough money to hire someone to help her in her business, running an adult family home. She’s able to afford a part-time staff person now, and she hopes to be able to afford full-time help by the end of the year.

The biggest benefit, however, has been the sense of financial freedom she has gained, she said. “Something Daughters of Destiny and Cleveland Saves taught me is that you have to have a strong foundation if you want to be financially free. Having a budget, that’s the foundation of being financially independent,” she said.