Kelly Hancock
About the Author

Kelly Hancock is a wife and mommy...full time. Foodie, coffee addict, amateur photographer...part time. Savvy saver...big time. Kelly left her job as a successful sales rep for a Fortune 500 company when her daughter was born. Because her family (and her mortgage) had depended on two incomes, this exile from...

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
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    • If I had an extra $250 a month, I would l start paying my past due bills..emergency fund.. Snowball.. Ect..

  1. If,I had the extra $250.00.I would give half to my sister, and used the other half towards bills. Giving without not having,and doing for others right now is my main thing. “GOD IS GOOD”

  2. When You are living on one paycheck with a mortgage payment, bills, food among others to take care of, I don’t know how I can save. I was just talking about this in my post “A Weary Heart”

    But if I have an extra $250 a month, I would put away in a savings for the rainy days, you don’t know what could happen the next day.

  3. Tithe first then use this money for paying our mortgage. We are praying now for a loan modification as we are so behind in our mortgage due to losing our business.

  4. This is SO timely for me. Thanks for sharing! If I had an extra $250/month, I would give a portion and use the rest to begin rebuilding our savings, which have been eaten away after a period of unemployment.

  5. If I had $250 I would probably use it to pay for a missions trip I want to go on but can’t quite afford…if that didn’t pan out I would use some of it to pay for all the expenses required for college and the rest to try to bless people.

  6. So many places $250 could go. We’d like to sponsor Compassion children again. Also, paying off the mortgage quicker, or even putting it into savings. We haven’t any at this point, as we’re digging out of a tough period with our business.

  7. gym membership, put it toward my mortgage, sponsor another compassion child…. those are some of my possibilities… working towards financial freedom.

  8. My husband and I have been talking about setting a budget… I needed to reminded that the Lord cares about every detail of my life.

  9. i would save some, pay off my credit card, then start using it to put towards my student loans.

    i am very much looking forward to this week! one of my goals this year is to eliminate my credit card debt and be able to save money.

  10. If I had an extra $250 a month I would give some and save the rest in our Roth IRA that we never seem to have enough for.

  11. Put it in my daughters college fund ,as she will be graduating this year! All of you reading this, sava,save,save for your children’s college! You will be blown away by how expensive it is these days even for a state school. This is the biggest mistake we made ,not putting enough away! You will not want to saddle them with that kind of huge student loan! Save so you can pay cash!

  12. Would love to read the book – thinking of staying home but scared of lowering our income.

  13. If I had an extra 250 I would save it so that I could build on that little extra and not be to strapped in the little income I currently have….

  14. I would put it in a savings account. We are currently going thru bankruptcy and our oldest daughter is in college and our youngest daughter is entering high school!

  15. keep putting it towards our current debt (home equity loan, student loans) to continue working our way out!

  16. I would tithe first. Hopefully pay off some debt. It sure is hard sometimes I always have good intentions but we always have surprise expenses. My goal for 2012 is to pay off debt on credit cards. I am excited to follow you this week! Just the hope I am looking for in 2012!

  17. I would let my son take theater classes with part of it, sponsor a child, and put the rest toward our debt. 🙂

  18. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would use half to pay off debt and the other half I would save to replace my current vehicle – the one I’m determined to drive until the doors and wheels fall off!

  19. With $250, I could pay down my debt – 3 hospital bills, I could pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy so I could stay healthy, I would buy groceries so my family could eat regularly, I would get 3 missing crowns replaced, I would tithe more at church.

    I am on disability, so I get “paid” this Wednesday – it will cover my mortgage, My husband is searching for employment without any luck.

    Pray for our survivals until the plan God has for us comes to fruition.

  20. pay for my dd’s medical expenses. Now I can: I just got a very pt job that still allows me to be home!

  21. With $250 extra a month, we would increase my husband’s TSP contribution. He is only 5 years away from serving 20 years in the Navy, and we would like to put away as much as we can before his first retirement.

  22. With $250 a month, I would give some away, save some, use the rest to pay debt. Nothing exciting, nothing glamorous, but it would be such a blessing!

  23. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would use part of it for a sitter so my husband and I could go out together once a month. The balance would be divided between a new car fund and my daughter’s education fund.

  24. Right now we are working to get out of debt, so today I would finish it by saying,

    “…I would pay off debt.”

    Once that is done, it will be,

    “…I will build up my emergency fund.”

    And then…

    “…I would apply towards children’s college fund.”

  25. First, I would increase my tithe then I would use the money to knock out credit card debt. My desire is to be able to use my resources to further Gods kingdom but right now I am a slave to my own debt.

  26. I would look for ways to give it away and bless people – I never feel like I can be generous because we always live pay check to pay check.

  27. I would sponsor another child from Compassion, pay my awesome babysitter a little bit more and add a date night or 2.

  28. If I had an extra $250 a amonth. I would put it into the debt we recently accumulated during the recession. Although with two incomes in our early marriage. We used one on debts and lived on one. By the time we had children, we were debt free and I could stay home with our kids. Now with the recession, we are blessed to be in a select group that have kept that one job. However it has dropped the income more than 30% and we’ve accumulated debt for the first time. I would pay that debt; and continue learning and practicing my couponing to stock pile for donations to our favorite places – church nursing home adoption home etc.

  29. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would use it to pay down credit card. I am recently divorce and my income is substantially less than what I was accustomed to living on for the past 15-20 years. Unless you have never been divorced you can never comprehend the anxiety of having only yourself to depend on. You and God have to make it happen.”

  30. If we had an exra $250 a month. First, I would feel less overwhelmed about our finances. I would probably put it towards groceries and gas money. We are a homeschooling family and anything to help towards me being able to stay home is a blessing.

  31. If I had an extra $250 I would put half of it towards my credit card and the other half I would give to my brother as a payment for the saxophone he sold us so that my daughter can play an instrument.

  32. If I had an extra $250 a month I would continue to pay down our debt. It is my personal goal to get our vehicle loans paid of this year so that next year we can increase the amount we are paying on our home to get it paid off early.

  33. sponsor 2 children from Uganda, put some in savings and pay more on mortgage debt

  34. …pay off my husband’s student loans and start saving for our future child’s education.

  35. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would put it all in our adoption savings account. Every little bit extra we get goes straight into that account. I’ve just started reading yoru blog and it’s really helping us sort out our finances. Thank you so much!

  36. I would donate some and put it into savings so that we could purchase a house, while using our current money to tackle medical bills!

  37. I would be able to breathe a little easier at the end of each pay period and be able to give more to our church contribution.

  38. I would be able to give more to my church and to pay back my parents and my brother that bailed me out of a similar financial downfall in 2006 due to illness.

  39. I would be able to make a small payment towards my outstanding student loans, and to send my family to the doctor and dentist.

  40. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would save it.” I want to get out of debt not deeper into it!

  41. I’d add it to our emergency fund to get us from the initial $1000 to our 3-6 months savings quicker. This looks like a fabulous book, Kelly!

  42. After tithing, I would increase all our monthly contributions (about 9, various missionaries, Campus Outreach, Show Hope and Life House) by at least $10.00 per month and then put the rest in our Emergency fund.

  43. If I had an extra $250 month, I would give my 10% to church, get some medical tests I have been putting off, and save.

  44. I would sponsor a child, put some in savings for my kids’ future and pay the rest toward my mortgage,

  45. If I had an extra 250 a month I would tithe $25.00 and then save the rest for my 5 year old son and me! Thank you!

  46. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would put it towards a credit card bill. We are trying to get out of debt!

  47. with an extra $250 a month I could help my mom with the utilities in her home. My kids and I have had to store our things and stay with her for a little while now but due to very little money coming in I havnt been able to help her with any bills. So with extra a month thats what I would do.

  48. If I had an extra $250 a month, I would use it to pay off the stack of bills that keep piling up. With the new job my husband has we don’t make quite enough to pay the general household bills, let alone the extra bills like medical and credit cards. So with the extra $250 a month, I would pay all that off and then put it in savings after that for emergencies or rainy days.

  49. tithe, rebuild emergency fund, foster more children. Since taking my “leap of faith” at the urging of the Holy Spirit, I have left my career of nursing, work part time at CFA and am a bonifide volunteeraholic! I’m addicted to volunteering, but without the income, I can’t do as much as I would like. Since I have found Kelly, the “gap” is getting smaller. Her tips are PRICELESS!

  50. That one is easy for me. I would use the 250 to help pay down the jeep–then soon we would be debt free–YAY!!!

    I have always lived on a budget, come from a frugal family that never had/made much money. Once the jeep was paid off we could do some serious home renovations & save for a retirement.

    Another good book/saying on the subject is “Watch your Latte Factor”. They are asking people to document each & every single dime they spend period! People would be amazed at where the little amounts go & that can add up hughely!

    Thanks for a great & timely post!

  51. If I had any extra money at all It would be put in a special savings account with a decent amount of Interest to go towards a new home and also for my husband & I to be able to adopt children.

  52. I would use the extra $250 to pay our bills on time. My husband lost his job at the beginning of 2011 and was out of work for 8 months. He did get another job plus a part-time job but he still doesn’t make what he used to make.

  53. I would Dave Ramsey like never before. . .let’s pay it down. . .snowball, and more snowballing!

  54. It has been a rough year for my husband and I, and an extra $250 a month would definitely help us tackle our mountain of debt.

  55. I would give it to World Vision to buy part of a water well. Water is SO taken for grantd in the US, but it is an extreme hardship in other parts of the world. I truly have no need for more money, though we are retired, we have lived below our means for 45 years and have a contented and full life.

  56. I would take it 10% for tithing and put rest towards my retirment investments…..seeing as we are a one income family my husband is only one with decent retirement and u never know what economy will be like by time.

  57. If I had an EXTRA 250/ mo, I would put my son in piano lessons, put some aside for date night with my hubby and a sitter for that- and the rest to savings!

  58. Get a good life insurance policy for my husband and I and extra for groceries/household expenses outside of bills.

  59. If I had an extra $250 a month I would save a portion for a down payment for a house and give the rest in offering.

  60. Extra $250/month? Put it in a special savings to build up enough to replace my husband’s car that is long overdue to be replaced.