LDS Employment Resource Services (LDSjobs.org) has created a Family Finance Workshop that is designed to teach financial literacy and well-being.
The Facilitator’s Guide contains teaching and discussion resources for the workshop’s 5 main sections: Introduction, Use a Budget, Build a Reserve, Eliminate and Avoid Debt, and My Financial Plan.
The Participant’s Guide contains step-by-step activities, forms, and other resources to help participants apply the principles from the Family Finance Workshop.
The Spending Register is a checkbook-size spending register organized by category to help participants ensure that their expenditures and available income are in harmony with their financial plan.
These materials are available for individuals or wards from store.lds.org, or just click the links above.
Related item: One for the Money: Guide to Family Finance
I want to know how to use the FFW Spending Register. My questions: How do you use the small box on the left of the Check Register? (Like in A-B) It has 4 places to record check numbers, cash or debit card entries, then 6 places on the right, which is larger. What do I do if I have more than 6 entries for that month in some of my categories, like food and gas/car maintenance, etc.? I’m assuming the check register is designed to cover one month. I need to keep track of cash, visa entries, debit card entries, as well as checks. Does one keep a regular check register in addition to keep track of deposits, transfers, etc.? I’m really anxious to figure this out because I have a wedding coming up in Dec and we’re remodeling a house, and I’m trying to keep track of the spending before it becomes runaway spending. Thank you.
I am teaching this workshop in our Stake as the Stake Family Finance Coordinator. The second round starts this week. The first round, I had about 6 people, but this time, I have 17 signed up. We are asking spouses to attend together and providing child care. We had positive comments at the end of the first series – one couple said it was the first time they were able to talk about money without fighting. A single sister went home and sold all her old college text books for $157 to get her “Debt Snowball” rolling. A young couple decided to stop buying gum every day and start saving for their retirement. It’s all baby steps, but people realized they COULD take control of their financial situation – even if it was in a small way.
Bishops are being asked to consider assigning members of their ward who are having financial difficulty to come to the class as part of their financial plan. I have several people signed up who indicated their Bishops asked them to attend. This is a GREAT program that should probably be taught in every stake in the church. It’s as good as that other program being taught in non-LDS churches that costs $95 to attend. One For the Money pre-dates the “Debt Snowball” but is exactly the same concept.