Module 7
Family, Goals, and the Monthly Budget Meeting
“She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” — Proverbs 31:27
Lesson
What You Will Learn
- Plan for children's costs and child support obligations
- Set short-, medium-, and long-term financial goals, including retirement basics
- Compare planned and actual spending
- Lead a monthly budget meeting, alone or with family
Lesson Notes
Planning With Children and Family
Children bring joy and costs: food, school supplies, clothing, activities, childcare, and gifts. Add these as budget lines or sinking funds so they do not become emergencies. Guilt can push mothers to overspend to make up for lost time; presence, consistency, and keeping promises matter more than things.
Child support orders, payments, and changes are handled through the court or agency in your case. Rules vary by state. Consult your caseworker or the child support agency about your order, pay through the official channel it names, and keep every receipt. If your income changes, ask the agency about your options right away.
Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Goals
- Short-term (within a year): ID and documents, a starter emergency fund, move-in costs.
- Medium-term (one to five years): a reliable car, three months of essentials saved, paying off old debts.
- Long-term (five years or more): a home, education, retirement, helping children.
Write each as a SMART goal with a monthly amount and target date.
Retirement Basics
It is never too late to start. Many employers offer a retirement plan, sometimes with a matching contribution. You can also open an individual retirement account (IRA) at a bank, credit union, or investment company. Rules and limits apply, so ask the plan administrator or a qualified professional.
Growth over time is powerful. For illustration only: setting aside $50 a month and depositing the $600 at the end of each year for 20 years is 600 × 20 = $12,000 deposited. If it grew at 5% a year (real results vary and can be lower or even negative), it would be about $19,840.
Tracking and the Monthly Budget Meeting
Track spending through the month, then compare planned vs. actual. Example: Denise planned groceries $325 and spent $348 (+$23); fun $48, spent $30 (−$18); personal care $35, spent $41 (+$6); household $30, spent $22 (−$8). (Denise is a composite example.) Net: 23 − 18 + 6 − 8 = $3 over plan.
Hold a monthly budget meeting (alone, with a spouse, or with older children in age-appropriate ways): pray; review last month's planned vs. actual; celebrate progress; note what is coming next month (birthdays, bills, short months); write next month's zero-based plan; set the giving line; and agree on one goal.
Key Terms
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Planned vs. actual | Comparing what you budgeted with what you really spent |
| Monthly budget meeting | A regular time to review last month and plan the next |
| Retirement plan | An employer or individual account for saving toward later years |
| Employer match | Money an employer adds when you contribute to its plan |
In-Class Activities
Planned vs. Actual
Find the difference for each line and the total: rent planned $800, actual $800; groceries $300, actual $286; bus $75, actual $75; phone $40, actual $52; fun $50, actual $71; personal care $35, actual $29. Was the month over or under plan, and by how much? What would you adjust next month?
Family Money Talk
Write a simple script for explaining the family budget to a child (choose an age). Include one way the child can help and one way you will give, save, and spend together (for example, three jars).
Assignment: Goals and Monthly Meeting Plan
- Write one short-, one medium-, and one long-term SMART goal with monthly amounts and target dates.
- List the children's or family costs you will plan for and whether each is a monthly line or a sinking fund.
- Write the questions you will bring to your caseworker or child support agency, if this applies to you (optional and private).
- Write your monthly budget meeting agenda: the day you will hold it, who will be there, and the steps you will follow.
Graded with the Module Assignment Rubric.
Reflection Journal
Proverbs 31:27 describes a woman who looks well to the ways of her household. Who is in your household, now or in the future? How can planning your money be a way of loving and protecting them?
Prayer focus: Ask God to bless your household, heal family relationships, and give you wisdom to provide for those in your care.
Weekly Reading & Devotions
Looking Well to Her Household
The woman of Proverbs 31 looked well to the ways of her household. She planned, worked, and cared for the people around her. Budgeting is one way we do the same.
Children add joy and costs. When you plan for school supplies, birthdays, and visits in advance, those moments become gifts instead of crises. If child support is part of your life, your caseworker or the agency is the right place for questions, and keeping every receipt protects you.
Goals give the budget direction: a starter emergency fund this year, a car in a few years, retirement someday. It is never too late to start, and small amounts grow over time.
The monthly budget meeting keeps it all together. Pray, look at last month, celebrate, plan the next month, and set your giving. Thirty minutes a month can change the direction of a household.
Think About It
- Who is in your household, now or in the future? ______________________
- What is one long-term goal you have never dared to write down? ______________________
- When and where will you hold your monthly budget meeting? ______________________
Daily Devotions for Week 7
Her Household
She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.— Proverbs 31:27 (KJV)
Caring for a household is honorable, faithful work.
Reflect: How do you want to care for your household?
Pray: Lord, help me look well to my household.
Do: Choose the day for your monthly budget meeting.
Live on the Rest
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.— 2 Kings 4:7 (KJV)
God provided for the widow and her sons, and gave her a plan to pay what she owed and live on the rest.
Reflect: What provision has God already placed in your hands?
Pray: Lord, provide for my children and me.
Do: Write one family cost you will plan for.
Teach Them Diligently
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.— Deuteronomy 6:7 (KJV)
Faith and wisdom are passed on in everyday conversations.
Reflect: What money lesson do you want your children to learn?
Pray: Lord, help me teach by example.
Do: Write a simple give-save-spend plan for a child.
Walking Together
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?— Amos 3:3 (KJV)
Households work best when people agree on the plan.
Reflect: Who do you need to agree with about money?
Pray: Lord, bring unity to my household.
Do: Write how you will invite others into your budget meeting.
For Children's Children
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children:— Proverbs 13:22 (KJV)
Faithful planning can bless generations.
Reflect: What legacy do you want to leave?
Pray: Lord, let my faithfulness bless those after me.
Do: Write one long-term goal.
Module Quiz
- 1.
Questions about a child support order should go to:
- 2.
A medium-term goal is usually reached in about:
- 3.
Planned groceries $325, actual $348. The difference is:
- 4.
A monthly budget meeting should include planning for costs coming next month.
- 5.
Name four steps of a monthly budget meeting.