My heart is racing because I just wrote out a budget for my family...and my head didn't explode!
I have been bitching and moaning about the recession. Money is so tight right now and since the rest of the country is having money problems (the little guy and big corporations alike) I chalked up our new found poorness to 'the recession'. It's not our fault. Everyone is hurting. Well now. Except that Jeff reminded me last night that our money pinch is from our own personal stupidity and overspending and oh yeah, those nasty evil tempting little credit cards.
He is right. As of now, his job is better than ever. All of our problems stem from us sweeping the reality of our debt and our excessive spending under the rug. When I pay bills every month, I go into my automatic bill pay and just guesstimate how much I owe who. Actually looking at my statements every month in the past was just too terrifying.
I have decided that enough is enough and I went out and bought the new Dave Ramsey book. I'm so brilliant...I spent $12 in order to start saving money! Ugh, perhaps therein lies the problem. However, the book has inspired me. I'm going to be a gazelle and I'm going to dodge the 'lions and tigers' or whatever the hell eats gazelles. My debt is eating me up. My runs to Taco Bell are eating me up. Jeff's cigarettes are eating us up. (Yes my husband still smokes. gross, huh?). My fear of looking my attacker in the face is eating me up.
Today I actually sat down and filled out the forms in the book. I budgeted. I was real about how much grocery, gas, and 'blow' money we need and truly use. And no, I'm not really buying blow...but we are party people and we like to eat yummy food and drink yummy drinks with the neighbors.
You know what I realized? We are going to be okay. We really do have enough money but we need to be mindful of how we spend it. I have no idea how I'm going to save my first $1000 of emergency money or how we are truly going to start 'snowballing' our debt. However the process is so simple that I actually have HOPE. hmmmm...look at me with my Obama catch phrase again. I am personally against stimulus packages but if the big O does send $1000 to my mailbox, well then there is my emergency fund. I hope I hope I hope...and I hope some more!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
400th post! (and my heart is racing)
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5 comments:
Yay! I actually paid off almost all my debt this passed year and am working on a budget so I don't get right back in. I have this terrible habit of going into a ritzy store just to "look" and then spending far too much on a purse i like just so the employees won't know I'm really broke. terrible right? lol
I've got a copy of Suze Orman's new book at home... downloaded it from Oprah's site... I can send it to you if you'd like...
Budget has been my new word since the fall when we were looking at houses. I feel like I live with that word but it is so hard to budget when your other half is super tight lipped about his money and I legally have no right to harass him about it! ARGH!!!
Wait, I just went on that rant because I am pissed today that we are still not engaged and yet another girl at work came in with something flashy.
oh god, I am becmoning that girl!
Sorry....I guess I should have used my own blog;) But good job with the budget. How you budgeted for Wii games. Call od Duty world at war is EXCELLANT!
what Matt and I did to start saving, was we opened an ING direct savings account. We can access it in times of emergencies, but what we did was start putting a certain amount every week in there directly (50 bucks) - it's helped a lot! I have enough saved to help on mat leave, and after i go back to work, we'll keep it open and start paying back his mom with what we save.
it helps to have it in an account you can forget about..and only check the balance once in a while, instead of trying to remember" ok i have this much in our savings, dont spend!"
it might help
I love Dave Ramsay I always listen to him on the am radio and he always makes sense and it really does sound simple! It's hilarious I know I am a talk radio junkie, but when I saw that you got his book I felt better :-)
Love ya hot mama!
Melissa :-)
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