Money Money Money Moonneey... Money!

My "money" story... First of all, I think that all high schools should mandate students to attend a 'Real Life Finance' course of some sort. I mean not once in the 12 years of school did we get taught about money and how to save, invest, and wisely spend it. I blame that as the reason I ever got into debt :) Everywhere you look it seems like getting into debt is normal. I mean you have to get into debt to even get a credit score! But then you see all the commercials about debt consolidation, bankruptcy, and the evilness of being "chained" to debt. So I've read some of Dave Ramsey's book 'The Total Money Makeover' and I subscribed to his weekly e-newsletters and I'm hearing unbelievable, inspiring stories about families in mountains of debt (some with only one income) who follow Dave's plan and become debt free in usually just a few years. Dave's motto is "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else". What it boils down to is, if you can live like no one else now (ie. cut up credit cards, pay cash for everything, sell things to gain money, get a second job, cut back on unnecessary spending), then later (after you have paid off your debt) you will be living like no one else (since debt free living is so unheard of). I love that quote! So as you can guess (from the first listed goal), I'm in debt. Well, my husband and I are in debt. I'm not going to give a number (I'll save that for when I've paid it all off), but I can tell you it's in the thousands. So since I'm the "bookkeeper" for the family, I started to put together a plan (in a spreadsheet). I love spreadsheets! I then met with a trusted friend, Jackie, who also is a big Dave Ramsey fan, and asked for her opinion about my "plan". She gave some great advice and feedback (and was very excited for me) . I then put together the many spreadsheets I had created and was ready to propose this idea to my husband. Steve greatly appreciates the fact that I handle all the finances (there seems to always be one in the family who handles the money) but when I tell him we need to talk about money, well he rolls his eyes and trys dodging the subject. Later (after I noticed he couldn't find much more to do), I finally got him to sit down with me and I unveiled the 'Master Plan'. I mean I need him to be on board or this "plan" wasn't going to work. I was getting totally excited about the "plan", even though I knew it wasn't going to be easy (I mean I love to shop... what girl doesn't?). Well Steve was easy, and really I wasn't surprised. He usually agrees with most things I say/do. He accepted the "proposal" although he wasn't "excited" like I was, but he knew it was necessary and he seemed happy with the idea.

So now it was time to begin Dave's steps to financial fitness... Step 1 was to cut up all the credit cards. Step 2 was to put aside a $1,000 emergency fund, and Step 3 was to create a budget, debt snowball plan, and an envelope system for cash spending. We did all three of those steps that night (I've attached a picture below as evidence) and it felt great!



So... it's been over a week and I'm happy to say that it went by pretty easy. I was slightly tempted earlier in the week by my co-workers/friends... First with a jewelry party catalog, then with a Thirty-one catalog, and today with a run to Starbucks, but I easily swayed from all of that. We'll see how I am after one month. Tammy (my co-worker/friend) stated today that she was going to start a pool to see how long it will take before I cave. Thanks Tammy :) Actually, she's going to be the one by my side reminding me not to spend if I'm tempted... she scares me, so it will be easy... all she'll have to do is give me "the look" or "the tone", and I'll know I'm in trouble :) I'll be thanking her later when I reach my goal... New Year's Eve... 12/31/2011!