Two Is Better Than One

Finances are so much easier when everyone is on the same boat. Too many times there are personality conflicts that prevent the cohesiveness needed to run a successful budget such as one person being the saver and the other person is the spender. Yet when these two personality conflicts are able to come together there can be some financial harmony. The more and more that my wife and I dive into getting our finances back under control the more we realize that too many times people worry way too much.

Think about all the things that we, humans, worry about and how many times over those things we worry about actually never come to fruit. With that said there are many reasons that people give as to why they cannot start their budget today yet truly nothing is a good excuse. It is because of that mentality that we are getting our budget strategically in place so we can change the way we are living. It’s easier said than done especially when you claim that you’re going to live like no one else so eventually you can live like no one else.

More to come on this thought process and an update on the budget and goals.

Humbling Time Period Constructing Site

There is nothing more humbling than updating a web site and realizing that the road you were previously on was much better than the path you are currently taking. There was a time in which we had such vigor when it came to our bills, finances and savings. Sadly though it is a wakeup call as I look at the rising amount of debt that my family and I have accumulated and man do we have a task at hand. Now granted where we are sitting is not nearly as bad as what others may be dealing with so this is definitely something that I am thankful for.

I have updated the Debt Snowball with the most accurate information I have and believe it is pretty reliable. Now with all that said our debt comes in just a little over $88,000 with no money in savings, living paycheck-to-paycheck and that buck stops here. No more am I going to be stuck where we’ve been and the time is now.

Can you feel the motivation? Can you since the excitement in my voice? I look forward to being able to successfully sign off on the $1,000 Emergency Fund. I am ready to be done with the first baby step as we’ve been here before. Now though I must concentrate upon getting from zero to one thousand and as stated before….energy flows where attention goes. $1,000….here we come baby!

Focus Upon The End Result

So the more and more that I start to focus in on this financial fitness mumbo jumbo the more that I realize there are a ton of people (just like me) who are financially out-of-shape yet try to appear as if they are financially fit. Whether it be the neighbor down the street or the stranger in the grocery store the fact is there are more and more people trying to live up to the Jones’ expectations.

Sadly though I understand that the Jones’ and my expectations are going to be two totally different concepts. To be honest with you it sucks trying to save money. It is so much easier to keep blowing money but I’d rather not have fun and reap the benefits of saving money than have to deal with the stresses of having more month than money left.

In just a few days I will be celebrating Thirty-One years of being on this earth and sadly for almost all of those years I have been held captive to the slavery of debt. Now I am hoping to break through these chains with a fierceness that will leave the debt trembling into oblivion. The focus needs to be positive and needs to hone in on the baby steps of Dave Ramsey’s program. The very first thing we are going to have to concentrate upon is going to be obtaining $1,000 in our emergency fund to get past baby step one.

Now with that said in the next couple of days it is imperative that my family and I sit down and map out the dreaded budget. It is all about trying to find the right budget though because it cannot be too tough (get discouraged and quit) and not be too loose (not make any traction). If you are where I am, or have been where I am, or you are going to be getting at my starting point….feel free to voice your opinion here.

Dusting Off The Debt-Free Running Shoes

Just getting back into the thicket of this thing called becoming financially free and I must say that I am a little bit tingly about it. There are a couple of things that I realize that need to happen as I write this. The very first thing that I need to do is to evaluate where I am right now and where it is that I want to go. Obviously the end result is becoming debt free but instead of just saying this is where I want to be…I need to give great thought and detail to exactly how I’m going to get there.

There is a saying in the movie The Secret in which it states that energy flows where attention goes. How true is that? If a person wants to lose weight and they start focusing in on losing weight and putting their efforts to weight loss….what happens? They lose weight, right? Typically the answer is yes. So with that said….it is definitely time that I put my focus on losing debt. How great does that sound?

Secretly I am smiling on the inside as I write this tonight with my wife sitting next to me as we are watching the tube. Other than deciding that I need to become more active with the blog, I have also decided to pick up the Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey off the shelf. The first thing I had to do was blow the dust off the cover but the pages are crisp and ripe for the reading. Here’s to the start of what will be many, many blog posts (hopefully).

If you’re reading this I hope you are able to help keep me and my family accountable with our daily grind and battle with debt.

300 days since last post…

Let’s see here…it is November 11th, 2012, and the last post that I have on here came back in January. Doing some simple math here it has been over 300 days since my last post and I am going to make a conscious effort to get my gazelle intensity back when it comes to our finances. There have been some changes in our family that I will address later as I initially just want to make sure this post gets posted.

There is going to be some changes made and it’s going to be brought forth through this blogging site and unfortunately I have been absent with my presence on this site as well as absent when it comes to making my family’s finances a main issue that we can beat. Anyways, there will be more to come….just not tonight.

Weaving the Web

It is amazing to me how easy it is to fall off the wagon of life. When I mention this wagon of life you can almost insert any word pertaining to that wagon. Whether it be working out, living on a budget, eating right, doing better at work, whatever that list might pertain the fact is it is easier to go back to slacker ways than to keep moving forward. I cannot but chuckle to myself as I looked on this site to realize that my last post for this site was almost one year ago. In fact it was 10 months ago the last time that I thought to myself I want to get back on my budget.

Truth be told I am not alone in my battle against debt. Let me take that back, I am not alone in my personal war on debt. So I am hopping on the wagon again and this time I am hoping that I can maintain my focus on slimming down my debt as well as slimming down my waistline. I love the lay out of my site here and I have decided to use this as my thoughts on everyday life. I am sure that we will laugh together, we will cry together, maybe disagree with each other, but one things for sure I plan on expressing my ideas and my goal in 2012 is to be able to claim that I am, “Debt Free!” I have made the mistake in the past of falling off the wagon and to be honest I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I’m taking the financial challenge in Twenty Twelve to becoming more financially fit as well as physically fit and this is going to be my stomping ground in doing so. Also I plan on setting the stage here as I grow as a Christian. Like I said this is going to be a mixture of all things in my life because I cannot grow in one area without growing in others. Here’s my spiderweb, let’s weave this web together!

Saying No to Wal-Mart

I recently read an article in which it stated the 8 reasons that people overspend.  Not surprisingly on the list were such things as: paying with plastic, shopping without a list, and falling for clever tactics.  I was surprised when I read that tracking exact costs was on the list.

My wife is notorious for making a list when going shopping and she is pretty darn close to within a few pennies of what she is going to spend.  In fact it was because of overspending in the dreaded Wal-Mart that we made a New Year’s Resolution to stay out of the shopping venue for all of 2011.  So far so good as we have been Wal-Mart free for 2 months 26 days and we have no plans on going back any time soon.

The overspending that occurs in such stores as Wal-Mart has helped lead to the demise of the American savings plan.  I must admit that in 2010 we were guilty of walking into the shopping stores with a specific plan but would end up spending $50-$100 more than what we had originally planned on.  Why you might ask?  We were tempted by the various items strategically placed throughout the stores.

Since the resolution to stay out of Wal-Mart we have been able to maintain our weekly allotted budget and have been able to put more money towards bills.  Though do not get me wrong life can still be frustrating when we run into more month left than money but the transition has been easier.  I do not miss the days of the long check out lines, the dreaded expectation of what the final grocery bill will be, and most importantly the rat race going on inside of Wal-Mart on a daily basis.

A New Adventure

After starting and stopping then starting and stopping again my wife and I have finally decided to make a solid push to the gazelle intensity of being debt-free.  In fact with the way we have our finances set up we should complete the first baby step (saving $1,000 as an emergency fund) by the 8^th of April.  At that point in time we will be looking at our snowball and what we can do to make the debt decrease to where it is nil.

We’ve also started considering and have decided to partake in a home-based business for my wife of selling jewelry.  There’s an initial upfront investment but we have several friends of the family who have been able to make a steady profit from the business.  One of these individuals grosses a monthly income of $15,000 per month from the line of work and I must admit I was skeptical at first until I saw the numbers myself.

With that said these people do not treat this business as a part-time job but attack it as a passion to do well.  Now does everyone make this kind of money per month?  The answer is simply no but I do believe a person will reap the benefits of what they sow.  Ideally I would like to build the business up to about $8,000 per month.  I figure this would be a solid way to change the rest of our lives.  With that kind of money coming in would mean that my focus on employment would turn to this line of work.  I expect to get to this level would take us some where between 6-8 years of steadily pushing the business.

I think to myself what we could do with this amount of money and if we take the Dave Ramsey method of living simple I can only imagine the amount of money we could put back.  I understand it doesn’t hurt dreaming but I am bound and determine to make this a success.  I would love to be able to stay-at-home with my wife and master this business working it daily together.  Only time will tell but I must admit I am excited to get started!

Time to get started…

The realization has hit me that the longer we live the more expensive life becomes.  I’m trying to maintain my focus upon getting out of debt but I must say that it is so much easier trying not to worry about the fiscal catastrophes that are crumbling down all around us.  I’m trying to get back into my motivational money craze to see what I can do to get out of debt.  As Dave Ramsey has said before, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

I’ve got to rethink my position and see what it is I can do to get the cash rolling in and make a difference.  Next step is to start praying for some guidance and the following step will be putting my ideas into action.

Getting more for our dollar?

Here lately my wife and I have been looking at ways to cut expenses.  One of the most recent areas we have been looking into is with our cell phones.  There was a time in which we had cell phones and a home phone but then we decided to do away with the cell phone.  My wife is a stay-at-home mom and my previous job required me to be on the phone for 8 to 10 hours a day.  Needless to say when I got home I had no desire of talking on the phone.

Then came our move to Alabama and this is when we decided to drop the home phone and go with the cell phones.  We signed our contract with a major carrier and recently we became aware of Wal-Mart’s Smart Talk plan and the concept has me scratching my head at what is the catch?  There’s got to be a catch as the plan seems too good to be true.  We’re talking about a yearly savings of $720 in comparison to our current phone plan.  $720, wow!  I don’t know about you but there are a lot of things I could do with an extra $720 laying around like paying off another medical bill or paying down our debt snowball.

My question for those readers is what have you done to help decrease your expenditures in reducing your monthly bills?