A New Dad’s Guide to Building a Christian Family Budget

Stewardship isn’t a term we use a lot in today’s culture, but it’s incredibly important for godly men seeking to follow God’s heart. Learning to make a household budget isn’t easy, but it has the twin benefit of honoring God and opening the door for greater generosity.

While there is never a bad time to start learning how to handle money well, financial planning for dads who are just starting out will smooth the path in the future. If you lean into God’s perspective on money early on, you can avoid a lot of roadblocks in the future—and you can give your kids a blessing as they grow.

Key Takeaways

Biblical stewardship begins by recognizing that everything we have belongs to God, and we are responsible for managing it well.
A Christian family budget is simply a spending plan that aligns your finances with God’s priorities and your family’s real needs.
Prayer, teamwork with your spouse, and clear giving and saving goals form the foundation of a God-honoring household budget.
Creating detailed spending categories and planning for both expected and unexpected expenses keeps your finances on track long-term.
Including room for fun and avoiding unnecessary debt allows for greater joy, less stress, and more freedom to be generous with God’s resources.

What Is Stewardship?

Simply put, a “steward” is someone who takes care of something for someone else. We might think of it today in terms of a property manager or a financial advisor. In each case, the owner commits a resource to the steward, and the steward is responsible for increasing its value.

For example, in Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus told a parable about three stewards. Their boss gave each of them a certain amount of money to tend while he was gone. The first two stewards doubled their investment, while the third buried what he had received. In the end, the owner blessed the two faithful stewards and condemned the one who had done nothing with his resources.

When it comes to making a household budget, the first step is to recognize the Owner. The Bible says that the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord (Psalm 24:1). While we might be tempted to think that our stuff is our stuff, the truth is that all stuff belongs to God. Using stewardship imagery, He is the Owner, and we are responsible for using His resources well.

You really can’t move forward with financial planning as a dad without acknowledging God as the Owner. We are called to steward His resources His way for His glory. Accepting that truth is your first step, and it’s a big one.

5 Keys for Creating a Christian Family Budget

Financial experts have dozens of ideas about how to create a household budget. But all of them boil down to one truth: a budget is really nothing more than a spending plan. It’s a written strategy for allocating your financial resources—or, more precisely, the financial resources God has entrusted to you—with integrity.

But household budgets don’t just magically appear. You’ve got to put in the work to make it happen—and then you have to put in the work to stick to the plan. With that in mind, here are five keys to creating a budget that provides for your family and honors God.

1. Start with Prayer

Honestly, budgets take courage and wisdom—two things that don’t come naturally to human beings. So, it makes sense to invite the God of the universe into this conversation. He gives wisdom on any subject to anyone who will ask (James 1:5).

And, as we’ve said, He owns it all. These are His resources, so you really need to get a sense of what He wants to do with them. Prayer helps you zero in on the Owner’s plans and purposes.

2. Involve Your Spouse

Your wife needs to play an active role in building your financial budget. That’s true for three big reasons. First, you are a team, and teams work best when their members work together. Second, your wife has skills and insights that you don’t have. God brought the two of you together because you complete one another.

Finally, financial stress can damage a marriage. So, communicate with one another about where your money is going and why.

For example, my wife is better with numbers, details, and organization than I am, so she maintains the spreadsheets and fills in the categories (which we’ll talk about in a minute). I know what’s in the budget and can make suggestions. But she is great with the details, so it’s logical to let her work in her strengths. Bottom line: we build it together and don’t put a dime anywhere until we’re on the same page.

3. Set Your Priorities

Eventually, your household budget will have several categories, but you need to start with two. Before anything else, you need to determine what you’re going to give to your church and what you’re going to put in your savings. It’s easy to save those items for last, but that’s like filling a jar with sand then trying to squeeze the big rocks into place. It’s much better to start with the big rocks and let the smaller pebbles fill in the gaps.

When it comes to financial planning for dads, your gifts to your church and your savings are the two biggest rocks you’ve got. As in every area of life, God needs to be your priority, followed closely by your family’s security. Admittedly, those numbers might not be as big now as they will be later on. But you need to pour as much as you can into those areas.

4. Create Your Categories

Once you’ve settled on your giving and your savings, you can start figuring out what the other categories of your spending plan should look like. In a basic budget, you’re going to have things like housing, utilities, clothing, groceries, and transportation. These categories will cover things like rent/mortgage, property taxes, car repairs, home repairs, internet, cable, gas, water, electricity, school uniforms, and so much more.

Once those are covered, you can set aside money for things like entertainment, restaurants, travel, or gifts. You also should identify and budget for particular issues that you need to save up for over time, like replacing your roof or an appliance. Some experts call this an “emergency fund.” While many of your expenses are predictable from month to month, this sets money aside for the unexpected things that will happen.

Some people will also set up a category for medical expenses. That’s a great idea, but here’s another option. If your company provides a Health Savings Account (HSA) through its insurance plan, consider using it. This takes money out of your paycheck on a pre-tax basis and puts it into a special account that builds over time. When you have a medical situation, use your HSA to pay the bill. If that’s not an option, create a budget account that will help you save that money each month.

5. Include Some Fun

I mentioned categories like entertainment and restaurants. Don’t miss out on those opportunities. Many people think household budgets are restrictive and water down the joy in life. To the contrary, these financial plans relieve stress by setting aside a certain amount of money for family fun stuff.

This includes “personal” money just for you. Each month, as part of our budget, we set aside some cash for me and some for my wife. It’s not a huge amount, but it’s enough to go to lunch with co-workers or spend on anything else we want. It’s money budgeted just for us, to spend as we like.

Debt and Generosity

When it comes to financial planning for dads, you have to take a serious look at any debt you might be carrying. Some experts will talk about “good debt,” and I’ll admit that some debt (like a mortgage) is better than others because it’s directed at an asset that appreciates over time. But, in general, my family steers clear of debt as much as possible.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think debt is an unforgivable sin or a financial red letter that carries shame. But I do know two things about debt. First, the Bible says that love is the only thing we should really owe anyone else (Romans 13:7-8).

Second, the Bible also says that a borrower is a slave to his lender (Proverbs 22:7). In other words, my stewardship is limited when I owe money to someone else. I can’t be as generous because my money has to go toward settling my debts. Without those debts, I have greater freedom to move with the impulses God spurs in my heart. I can use His stuff for His glory to the fullest extent.

That alone is a great reason to avoid debt, and a budget can help get you there.

What does the Bible say about family finances?

The Bible encourages families to manage money with wisdom, generosity, and contentment—providing for their own (1 Timothy 5:8, Proverbs 3:27) and honoring God with what they have (Proverbs 3:9).