During the budget discussion, it was as bad as I thought.  Like many Lutheran schools and Churches across the nation, we are hurting.  We continue our spending freeze for the second straight year.  There is talk about decreasing the staff and combine classes.  There is talk about taking a salary cut.  There is talk about how much fat can we cut.  We have cut a lot out already, how much more can we cut?

How do you as a teacher stay motivated?

When we as a voter vote on these issues, I get frustrated at times.  Some voters forget that their vote is impacting people lives directly, with mine being one of them.  When they vote not to give us a raise, that affects my life greatly when cost of living continues to rise.  I am not in it for the money, but it would be nice if people think a little before they decide to fire some teachers.  If they fire, who do they fire first?  Last Hired? Those who are the least effective?  Those who are contracted versus those who are called?

How do you stay motivated?

It is hard!  you can’t do it by yourself, that is for sure.  If you think about King David and all that he did that was good and bad.  Anytime David did something on his own accord or for himself, bad things happened.  We need to put our prayers to God.

This past weekend I went to see “The Book of Eli” with our DCE and a few high school students. I don’t promote the violence or cuss words, but I do promote the message and think the movie was really good.  In the end Eli talks with God about his quest.  That he fought the good fight, he ran the race, he had faith!  The main message of the movie is walking by FAITH not by sight.  Throughout the movie it was his path and keeping the faith that kept him motivated to complete his quest (a 30 year journey)

How do you stay motivated? KEEP THE FAITH

So here is your plan to keep motivated

1. Pray
2. Pray
3. Read your Bible
4. Confide in POSITIVE friends that will ENCOURAGE you
5. Pray
6. Write your doubts on paper
7. Write positive plans that will counter your doubts
8. Rip up and throw away your paper of doubts
9. Tell Satan to stay out of your head and do not plant seeds of doubt.
10. PRAY!

Am I missing anything?

If you are married, you are probably adding a little more stress, and if you are like me with kids, you do not know how it is possible.  For me living in California cost of living is a little outrageous.

My wife and I have many discussions about money and it is always a thought in the back of our head, if we will be able to make it from one pay check to the next.

First off, what we need to do is trust the Lord.  Anytime we put it in His hands we will be fine.  Of course that means we might not get to buy a new toy or have to make another sacrafice, but you will make it.  I am living proof.

I have spent money a few times for the latest Microsoft Money, and it is great and complex, almost too complex.  I also always had issues of things counting as double.

A little over a year ago, I found Mint (http://www.mint.com).  I love it.  It is FREE!  It is easy to add accounts, and you can add a lot of accounts.  Creating a budget is easy to do (plus you can have roll over categories). You can create your own categories.

Mint has easy to read graphs and allows you to follow trends of your spending.  It has a neat little reminder how much you can save a month (3,6,or year).  Recently when my wife and I sat down to really start using this tool, we are shocked how much we can save each month, if we are true to our plan in our budget.  It will keep track of your credit cards and even your Student Loans.

The best part is you can also down Mint for your iPhone/iPod.  Although it is not as interactive.  You can only view your current status and can not change anything.

Take a look at it and see what you think.  If you have another program you use and other Teachers will find it useful please add in comments.