"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” - Romans 13:8

"The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none" - Deuteronomy 28:12

Last week we moved on from establishing a start to your emergency fund and then looked at cutting down debts with a debt snowball.

There is a big issue behind all of this, the idea that we should be finding a way to managing life without debt. That means a rethink of how and why you do things. Like most of us I want things now. That is the point behind getting credit. Loan companies know we want things now and that we want better than we currently can afford.

Our aim is to give you a method to remove your debts. We can’t, at this moment, deal with where you are in the way you live your life – but we can at least help you at the point when you realise, “I’ve got a problem. Help me get out of debt!”

So. You have sold things, you have taken extra jobs, you have a budget that you review every month. You have paid off all of your debts and you are debt free.

This is where you are supposed to say, “But you only gave me a week to pay of ALL my debts.” The process doesn’t take a week. My friend Gordon, not his real name, took just over a year to be debt free. He is on a good wage. His wife is on a good wage (from a job that God found her after years of joblessness to help pay off family debts. My friend Sid, again, not his real name is on a brilliant salary but took two years to demolish his debts. I took 18 months to iron out my indebtedness.

You may take as long, longer or you may manage in months. When the debts are gone then you move on to strengthen your position. You will take your baby emergency fund of £500 - £1000 up to a full emergency fund. I’m still working on my full emergency fund. It will take time. My aim will be to have 3 months money in the bank to cover 3 – 6 months wages if I were to be given the sack. That should be your aim too.

What is an emergency? An emergency is something you had no way of predicting. An emergency is something that has a major negative impact on you and your family if you don't cover it. Emergencies include job loss or cutback, a major car fault, a death in the family, excess payments on house or car insurances after a claim.

Something on sale that you "need" is not an emergency. You may want to buy a new car or a new sofa but that is not an emergency. If you've gone to the trouble of creating an emergency fund, make sure you are crystal clear on what is and is not an emergency.