Get FINANCIALLY Fit: Getting Started

This summer, my big focus was weight loss.  Check.  Now, our big focus is our finances.

To be honest, I'm a little lot uncomfortable blogging about money.  Even if you know me, (and depending on our level of friendship), it's unlikely I have talked to you about our money situation, other than the off-handed "we don't have any" sort of comment.  I sometimes feel more comfortable writing about something than I do talking about it, but in this case, both are equally uncomfortable.  How much money we have or don't have really isn't anyone else's business, and spouting it off can make the listener feel awkward.  In most cases, I would therefore decide not to discuss it.  However, one of the best things about blogging is accountability.  If I lay out a weight loss plan, say I'm going to stick to it, and then don't, I have just shown my entire readership (yes, all four of you) that I am full of hot air.  However, if I say I'm going to do it, I am constantly mindful of the fact that these four people know I said I was going to do it.

It's an accountability thing. That said, I am going to try to be as specifically vague as possible.

In a nutshell, our financial situation is this: we got married debt-free and lived that way for four years.  In the last three, we have added two cars, a house, a (third and fourth) college degree program, and (thanks to an unforeseen loss of income) a credit card.  Translation?  FIVE loans.

This is so depressing.  I hate thinking about how we went from completely self-sufficient to having FIVE loans in three short years.  Miraculously, our debt total is relatively low, especially considering the national averages.  (Have you looked at those?  They are scary.)  So in July, Rick and I sat down and mapped out a finance plan - a way to pay off our debt and save money.

And then we started Financial Peace University at church, and realized our plan, which we thought was so brilliant, was actually crap.  We scrapped it and went with Dave Ramsey's actual plan.  The bottom line is this:

Tell your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Sounds simple enough, right?  Um...wrong.  It's a TON of work.  It's sitting down EVERY WEEK, and some weeks more than once, and going through ALL of it.  It's tracking every single dollar that comes in and designating where it goes before it ever gets to you.  It is a RIDICULOUS amount of maintenance.  And discipline.

But we have a few things in our favor:

1. We aren't starting with that much debt, really.
2. I am the cheapest person alive.  Recently an acquaintance posted online asking for input on which diaper bag she should buy.  The cheapest one was $88 and the most expensive one was a Coach.  She was serious.  I can't imagine spending $88 on a bag.  I wanted to shake her shoulders and say "It's a BAG! Do you realize it's a bag? It's going to hold poopy clothes and bottles are going to spill in it and there will be cheerio-powder in the bottom.  YOU ARE CRAZY?!"  But then I remembered I am the cheapest person alive.  Maybe I'm the crazy one.
3. We don't spend money on stuff we don't need, and for the stuff we do need, we usually get it 2nd hand.  This is a fact that some people might try to keep on the DL, but not me.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this.  Reduce, reuse, recycle applies to clothes, kitchen appliances, shoes, electronics, and pretty much everything else!
4. We are both committed to getting out of debt ASAP and beginning to build wealth.

We have only been in the class four weeks, but we have already crossed a few things off our list and set some goals:

1. Establish an emergency fund of $1000 We already had this in place, but I like to write things down on my to-do list even if I've already done them because it looks like I accomplished more.
2. Pay off Loan #1.  Yep!  We officially own my car as of this month!
3. Pay off Loan #5. GOAL: Paid off by Christmas 2013.

It's going to happen, people!