Lord knows my husband and I are...irresponsible with our finances.
And there is NO excuse for it. Jon is deployed. We have more money than we ever have. We should have a hefty savings account. We should have money left in our checking account. We should have our debt paid off. We should be being responsible and preparing our future, especially with how unpredictable our futures all are. But we aren't.
We have debt out of our ears from when Jon lost his job for a little over 8 months when we first got married. Many things we had financed ended up on our credit report fast. We always make bills now, but then the extra money is our fun money. Fun money that is spent immediately. A lot of this falls on my hands because Jon has a set amount he uses each month (sometimes more, sometimes less). An excuse I could use is that we had so little for so long. We never got to have that cute little decorated house I had dreamed of when we got married. Sure Jon had the Reserves, but often times that paycheck would be taken to pay off something or another and we would get nothing. We lived off my minimum wage job where I was lucky to get 20+ hours, random side jobs and a $300 payment from our roommate to cover everything: rent, power and water. That was our life. You would think that would scare us straight.
We both have problems with wanting what our parents have, I guess. We want to have "the good life". That is one of our faults. We look at having left over money as a way to upgrade our lives. We want, want, want instead of save, save, save. We want the new fishing or scrapbooking thing we saw the other week that we didn't think we'd ever have money for. We want a new computer. We want a new bedset. We want. And that needs to stop.
I think we have a problem with being content. We have a comfortable 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment. We don't need more. It's just us. We have a nice TV that we got as a wedding gift, we dont need a new one or a stupid 3D one. We have everything we need. We have so much that most don't. We really need to realize that.
So I have decided to get in control of our finances. And thus, start a finance series as I learn! I am taking a Crown Financial class and reading Your Money Counts by Howard Dayton. The Bible has over 2, 350 verses on money and possessions so it is obviously important. So it is long time that we take it over.
I have made some personal goals!
1. Get out of debt. We will be saving $1,000 at a time. Each time we meet this goal, we will pay off a large debt! Each month also, we will pay $100 toward a debt payment starting with the lowest debt. Making a snowball effect that will keep us going!
2. TITHE. This is really number one, but not necessarily where the most of our money will be going to. We need to trust God with His money. Everything we get and own comes from him and instead of being selfish with it, we need to be thankful and give back. That's the rule he has laid down in the Bible. We will tithe at least the 10% that is in the Bible, but if we are called to give more there will be no second doubt.
3. Save. I would like to have three savings accounts. One for debt, one for "fun" and one for the future. I'm not entirely sure how much we should be saving for the last two, I think that will be decided on when we see how much we have left after tithing and paying off debt. I know for our future savings account will be used as our emergency fund- which I would like to have at least $10,000 cash in the bank. My idea is to save for our car, save for our house and save for our futures.
4. Both have 675 credit scores. I don't have a credit score. My husband's isn't brag worthy at all. Our debt is holding us into this place. This is where I am border line with credit cards. I feel that if you use credit cards the wrong way, that is detrimental in life. If you are just charging because you don't have the money- that is bad. But when your engine breaks and you have no other way to get home or get a new engine, it can be a blessing. Granted when you have your emergency fund in place, that will be easy peasy to pay back. And that's the idea. Charging what you already have the money for, paying it back, and building credit.
That is our initial plan. Once we have these done we will re-evaluate and make a new plan that includes building more savings, investing, and starting our kids accounts. We would love to have their college paid for of course, but at least a "dowry" for when they get married :)
I also plan to take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace seminar after this and continue on. For now though, we are incorporating his Baby Steps in our plan as well :)
This is a great video explaining Dave Ramsey's study. It's worth the watch!
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