“Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” — Habakkuk 2:2
Lesson
What You Will Learn
- Assemble a 12-month household spending plan in phases
- Connect the first-90-days plan, savings goals, and sinking funds into one timeline
- Use a monthly review checklist
- Explain how budgeting skills can help others
Lesson Notes
Planning in Phases
Life after release changes in stages: a bridge period, a first job, a better job, a move. A 12-month plan does not need twelve different budgets. Build one budget for each phase and note the month each phase begins.
For each phase, list income, every budget line, and the total, and prove it equals zero.
Tracking Savings Across the Year
Add a savings timeline: for each goal, the monthly amount in each phase and the running total. Mark the month you expect to reach each goal. When a goal is reached, move that money to the next goal instead of letting it disappear into spending.
The Monthly Review Checklist
- Record actual spending and compare it with the plan.
- Reconcile the check register with the bank statement.
- Check sinking fund and emergency fund balances.
- Look for unknown charges or signs of fraud.
- Confirm obligations are paid and receipts are filed.
- List next month's irregular costs.
- Write next month's zero-based budget and giving line.
- Pray and give thanks.
Passing It On
The skills in this course can bless your family, your church, and women still inside. FFS 234 will prepare you to teach stewardship to others. Even now, a budget that works is a testimony of God's faithfulness.
Key Terms
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Phase | A period of months with the same income and budget |
| Savings timeline | A month-by-month record of each savings goal |
| Monthly review checklist | The steps you repeat every month to keep the plan on track |
| Running total | The amount saved so far, updated each month |
In-Class Activities
Phase Check
Exchange your draft phase budgets with a partner. Check that every phase adds up to zero, that obligations and giving appear in every phase, and that savings goals have target months. Mark any math you could not verify.
Savings Timeline Practice
Renee saves $100 a month for emergencies in Months 1–3, then $235 a month in Months 4–6. (Renee is a composite example.) What is her emergency fund total after Month 3? After Month 6? Did she reach $1,000 by Month 6?
Assignment: Final Project Submission
Submit your 12-Month Household Spending Plan (see the Final Project section).
Graded with the Final Project Rubric.
Reflection Journal
Habakkuk 2:2 tells us to write the vision and make it plain. Read your 12-month plan as a vision for your household. What do you see God doing through it? Look back at your first journal entry: what has changed in how you feel about money?
Prayer focus: Commit your 12-month plan to God, thank Him for His provision, and ask Him to direct your steps.
Weekly Reading & Devotions
Write the Vision
Habakkuk was told to write the vision and make it plain. Your 12-month plan is a vision written in numbers: what your household will live on, what it will give, what it will save, and where it is going.
Plans meet real life. A shift is cut, a child gets sick, a bill is higher than expected. A good plan is not one that never changes; it is one you return to every month, adjust, and keep following.
Renee, a composite example, built her plan in three phases: part-time work while living with her sister, full-time work while saving, and her own apartment. By Month 9 she had one month of essentials saved. “It wasn't magic,” she said. “It was the same small steps every month.”
Look at how far you have come. You can count the cost, plan for seasons, protect your household, and teach others. That is stewardship, and it is a testimony of God's faithfulness.
Think About It
- What part of your plan are you most proud of? ______________________
- What will you do when the plan meets real life? ______________________
- Who could you help with what you have learned? ______________________
Daily Devotions for Week 8
Make It Plain
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.— Habakkuk 2:2 (KJV)
A written plan lets you run with purpose.
Reflect: What vision is God giving you for your household?
Pray: Lord, make the vision plain.
Do: Read your 12-month plan aloud.
He Directs Our Steps
A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.— Proverbs 16:9 (KJV)
We plan; God directs. Hold plans with open hands.
Reflect: Where do you need God's direction?
Pray: Lord, direct my steps.
Do: Pray over each phase of your plan.
Do Not Grow Weary
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.— Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
Faithful months add up to a harvest.
Reflect: Where are you tempted to give up?
Pray: Lord, keep me from growing weary.
Do: Write your monthly review checklist on a card.
Many Counsellors
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.— Proverbs 15:22 (KJV)
Wise plans are strengthened by wise counsel.
Reflect: Who will you ask to review your plan?
Pray: Lord, give me wise counsellors.
Do: Ask a classmate or mentor to check your math.
He Will Finish It
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:— Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
God finishes what He starts, in you and in your household.
Reflect: What good work has God begun in you?
Pray: Lord, finish the good work You started in me.
Do: Write a note of thanks for how you have grown.
Module Quiz
- 1.
A 12-month plan is easiest to build with:
- 2.
Which belongs on a monthly review checklist?
- 3.
$100 a month for 3 months, then $235 a month for 3 months totals:
- 4.
When a savings goal is reached, that monthly amount should move to the next goal.
- 5.
Name four items on a monthly review checklist.