Budgeting

Maybe you've heard of Dave Ramsey but don't know exactly what he advertises! Let me give you a quick overview of my experience following Dave's advice....

I bought his book "The Total Money Makeover" and read it in one weekend. It had some common sense advice but outlined in a certain order for great motivational success. I was certainly fired up after reading it because it seems so doable no matter your financial situation or starting point.

That was five years ago. Out of a total of seven baby steps we are on baby step three which means we have $1000 emergency fund, no debt (except the mortgage), and are now saving to provide a fully funded emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. At the same time we know one of our cars needs to be replaced so we'll try to save for that too. We started tithing too since we finally found a church to call home.

I must say this step seems to be eluding us. With all the extra money we now have that are no longer going to debt all these birthdays and holidays keep coming up. I've looked at every way to cut some expenses and we are saving every way we can except.......our biggest bill now besides the mortgage is our cable/Internet/phone. I can't convince my husband to eliminate the cable but he makes a good point that it wouldn't bring enough of a savings to matter.

We are crazy enough that we looked at downsizing our home. We can afford our current one just fine but only if we remain a two income family so if one of us were to lose our job it would be scraping once the emergency fund dried up. To reduce our mortgage low enough to make a difference we would be looking at purchasing a house at $75,000 which around this area would a dumpy house in a shady neighborhood. I'd prefer to not raise my 13 month old daughter in that environment.

On to the next idea...one of us could get a second job. This could work but we won't be able to test it until my husband's current job schedule changes to normal 8-5 so one of us can be with our daughter because paying child care would eat up the third job income. So where does that leave us? At a stand still! Sure the problem is we aren't willing to sacrifice enough. We can still accomplish all the baby steps but at this rate it will take us longer than most. That's where it can be tempting to give up and lose motivation. My solution to that is subscribing to Dave's online budget software at www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com instead of using my excel spreadsheet. Here you can chat on forums with other money saving fans, track your progress, use great calculators and find ways to stay motivated.

Overall we are in a great position at a young age that at the end of our road we can have our cake and eat it too. Dave's plan allows me the freedom to dream BIG and know that it will become reality, someday if I stay the course. I highly recommend visiting Dave Ramsey's website.

This was rather long, if you read the entire post then take a break to reward yourself and know I appreciate you ;). Also know that I am not getting paid to promote anything and have no affiliation with Dave Ramsey so I can't speak for him. I'm just a fan!

Happy Weekend!

Dave Ramsey's Website