There's a reason people like Dave Ramsey are popular - people suck when it comes to money.

You do a Google search for "financial advice" and Google tells you there are 1,230,000 web sites related to that.

That's ridiculous.

We all know spending money is super-easy, and saving it is akin to high-school trig - dang-near impossible (at least for me it was.) And of course spending money is fun, and saving it is something resembling torture.

And then when people start talking about "charitable contributions" and "tithing" we tend to just tune it out because how are we supposed to take care of others financial needs when it can be at times so daunting to take care of our own?

Good question.

But what if we flipped this conundrum on its pointy, little head? What if for just a minute (or maybe 5) we pretended to give our money away first, and then took care of our own needs?

What if we gave away our "first fruits" to serve the community at large, and then made do with what was left?

Well, we're going to make it easy on you. We've got the spreadsheet all set up for you, ready to download and open in Microsoft Excel, or import into Google Spreadsheets. And it's pretty easy...

1. Download the spreadsheet here.

2. Open the "FirstFruits.xls" document (or import into Google Spreadsheets).

3. The first sheet is called "Income" - it's pretty self explanatory, and allows for you to input up to five monthly income sources and it automatically tallies up the total. This should be your take-home pay.

4. Then, you can adjust your "Percent To Give Away." We've preset this to 10% -- start here to see if you can give 10% away each month, and then if need be, back it down a percentage point at a time.

5. This will give you your "Working Budget" - your total per month to take care of all the rest - bills, food, gas, iTunes singles, etc.

6. Next, click on over to the "Liabilities" sheet - here you'll fill out all your monthly expenses, from your cable bill to your water bill, and everything in between.

7. And if you wanted to try out the ever-popular envelope system, there are spots for envelopes that you can edit to your specific needs.

8. Once you've input all the outgoing cash, you'll see at the bottom of the page whether your budget is in the black or in the red. If you're in the black, congratulations - you just proved to yourself (and your cynical spouse) that it's feasible to give 10% of your income each month to a deserving organization. If you're in the red, do one of two things - go back to the "Income" sheet and adjust your percentage until you see black. Or, stop spending so much money on lattés and take-out and adjust your spending habits.

9. And finally, the final sheet in the file is called "Giving." This is where you really get to feel good about redirecting some of that hard-earned scratch to others in need. This sheet will show you how much you get to spend on others each month and divvy it up by percentage amongst those organizations, churches or movements that you believe in.

See now - that didn't take long did it? And if you need ideas on where some of that money can go, check out GivingMatters.com to learn everything you need to know about organizations and non-profits in Nashville. For broader ideas, check out GiveMeaning.com. We also suggest giving money to any of our partners.

Once you prove to yourself you can get along with a little bit less, and start to feel the intangible warmth of giving to others, all those money squabbles might just seem a bit less worrisome and you and your community will be the better for it.

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Ingredients:

• A computer
• Income
• A Desire to help others

Caring Time:

• 30-60 minutes

Cost:

• Free

Results:

• Fiscal Fitness
• Satisfaction of helping a non-profit or community concern