That's why Kay has taken a fresh approach in this latest book, with offerings such as her simple "$50,000 Money Pyramid" model that allows for fun, three kinds of savings (long-term, retirement, and short-term), and expenses.  That approach, she explains, is modeled after the short-lived 1980s TV game show “The $50,000 Pyramid.”

"[My model] has three general areas of budgeting rather than the eight to ten very specific categories that can become so restrictive that all you feel like you're doing is just watching every single penny – and you can get burned out because of that," she says.  "So we've brought kind of a fresh approach to budgeting that's still a biblical model, but one that may be a little bit easier for families that have never budgeted before."

The book also helps individuals identify their "money personality" so they can guard against bad spending habits.  "We talk about personality types so that you can understand if you are one of these 'born spender' personality types or one of the 'born savers' – and what if you marry someone who's different," the author says.  "We talk about how all those dynamics fit in so you can understand why your family's finances are the way they are, and how you can take steps to make it a little bit more healthy if it's not healthy already."

Other chapters in the book include "The Debt Diet," a discussion on credit card usage called "Paper or Plastic?," "The Pink Slip Blues," ("What do you do if your family is suddenly out of work and you have to make some dramatic changes for nine or ten months to a year out of your life? How do you handle that?" Kay asks); and "The Seventh-Day Rest."

Kay explains that the chapter on "Seventh-Day Rest" emphasizes how it is important to build "wiggle room" into a budget – not just for entertainment, but for splurges as well.  "If they're budgeted and they're part of your finances, it just gives you a tremendous amount of freedom," the financial expert says.