It’s not exactly a new word to me. But I’m pretty sure I’d never actually used the word “pre-determine” in a sentence until my pastor referred to it recently — and in a way that turned on a bright light in my noggin.
To pre-determine is to make a decision in advance. That describes perfectly what it means to budget. You get your paycheck, and before you do anything with it, you pre-determine where every dollar will go. You give each dollar a job to do — in advance. You pre-determine!
Here we are on the cusp of one more glorious, fabulous, exciting and joyful holiday season. How can we do this without going into debt? Pre-determine. That’s it! Decide or establish in advance what we will do, how much you will spend, where you will go, what you will do. Yes, I know that sounds very much like a spending plan, and it is. The way to get to a spending plan is to — you guessed it — pre-determine….