so yea, 7 weeks of unpaid maternity leave and a few hundred dollars loaned out later, i'm pretty much up the financial creek and it's not cool. so things are evening out now and i just found out last week that i'm getting a whole 3% raise so i figured it was high time to get back on the band wagon and get my shiznit together.
for the sake of pretending like i'm having a conversation with you, whoever you happen to be, i'm going to list out my efforts:
1. made my pathetic excuse for a "gazelle budget" http://www.daveramsey.com/tools/budget-lite/ based on my monthly income of about $2000. discovered that the outflow surpasses the income by about $150.
2. called the bank with my car loan to find the payoff amount - about $17,500 in case you're curious (just keepin it real). looked up blue book value - about $28,000.
3. researched used car trade ins that might give me a snowballs chance in hell of being able to buy as much food as i think i should buy every week. called husband to consult. was advised to keep plugging away with current vehicle. requested budget pow wow asap.
4. re-worked budget to ensure that all bills were paid and made realistic goals and devised a plan to accomplish them. for some reason making a budget is actually very easy but making it REALISTIC is not. this is why i thought i could make ends meet by taking a $4 an hour paycut last september. good times. so i now have a REALISTIC budget.
5. prepare for life in realistic budget mode. i can do this! i CAN do this! i can DO this! i can do THIS!
.............
yea. should be interesting.
3 comments:
Yeah. I struggle with realistic budget. I always forget things like the kids outgrowing their shoes at inconvenient times. We keep on refining. I suppose we will get it eventually.
You can do it!
Good for you trying out the Dave Ramsey stuff. I haven't read any of his stuff directly, but moneysavingmom.com is a huge proponent of his system, so I'm somewhat familiar with it. Matt has us doing the envelope system for cash related purchases, and while I don't always remember to bring enough cash with me (still feel kinda nervous carrying it around, which I know is silly) I just use the debit card if I go over the amount in my wallet and transfer the appropriate amount to a "spent" envelope at home. I'm by no means perfect at it, but it sure helps curb the "I know it's not on the list but that sounds tasty/fun/like a good deal/would look super cute on the girls" impulse that I'm so often struck with while out and about. Good luck on your financial endeavors! It'd definitely a challenging journey to travel.
(i'm way behind on blogs, obviously.)
i always think the dave ramsey stuff is so inspiring. i'm sure you guys working together can get gazelle intense and lay a solid foundation for your family's future. our biggest struggle is keeping tim and i on the same page with things.
Post a Comment