Money

I love the titles of my posts.  They are so descriptive.  :-)

We have been on a financial journey for some time now.  I think it officially started two years ago...ok, I think it was three years ago in May.  Tim and I went out for our anniversary to this really neat restaurant that my nephew-in-law was the chef at.  We just stopped by for a pre-dinner drink and a little something to eat...and liked it so much that we stayed there for SIX hours!  We closed the place down.  Sadly that restaurant is closed now, but that is where our money story really began.

We have always worked on our money.  Trying to penny-pinch here and trying not to spend there.  But honestly, we have not been very good about it.  That day, when we were eating good food and drinking good wine, we decided to go get books at the nearby store and read them while we waited for the live music to begin.  I was always looking for financial books, something to help us get ahead instead of feeling so behind.  On the shelf was a book with this guy's face on the front.  It looked interesting.  It was a hard-back book and not cheap, so I had to talk myself into buying it.  We hadn't bought books in some time (the library is a great place to get books!) so this day was extra special. 

The book was "The Total Money Makeover" and it was written by a guy named Dave Ramsey.  I have never heard of him.  Well, needless to say he changed our life.  He teaches what I feel is old-fashioned money sense.  I am not sure how I missed out on learning this before, but I did.  We had credit card debt.  We had just bought a brand new car within the last year.  We had a lot of veterinarian and medical debt.  We really had very little if any savings and no investments.  I felt like we were swimming. 

What was different about this guy is that he says, start where you are.  Sit down and figure out where you are.  Then work on getting current.  We pretty much knew where we were...check.  We were current...check.  Then he said get an emergency fund of $1000 if you make more than $20 thousand a year and $500 if you make less than that in your household.  We had always had this previously, but this had slipped since Carl was born.  Ok, we knew where we needed to start. 

Then he broke down each step after that.  It seemed very black and white and finally it was clear.  It wasn't easy though and it still isn't easy.  I have realized again and again how much easier it is to get into debt, than it is to get out of debt.  It is so much easier to spend than it is to save.  But what I have learned is that it is worth it.  Our adventure in this area is far from over.  We get up in the morning and make a commitment each day.  We are not quite completely out of debt, but we work not to ADD debt.  We are almost debt free except our home though...I can see the end of that phase of our lives and that feels good.