Going to be working on finances.

(I'm going to post new follow up pics on that table and bedroom soon. I've given my Hubby 3 choices for what we need to do to make date night better for my back - sitting on the bed to watch his big screen TV is killing my back and legs - and one of the options is to get rid of the table and get 2 comfy used chairs at a thrift store. We'll see what he decides. )



Ok, so! we are getting closer to being debt free!  I paid off my truck Saturday!  WOOHOO!!!
OMG that felt good!  We got a week behind on the house, but we've got it and are going to pay it in person tomorrow. Hubby has asked me on a date YAY!  He's still got gift cards from Christmas and there's an Olive garden one and a Starbucks one, so we're going to the big town and having a nice lunch and we'll pay the house payment in person while we're there.

We're still a little behind on some bills, but most are paid on time, and we're almost to getting everything paid before it's actually due. That's something normal people probably already do. We've never been known for being normal.

But I wanted to post about this not only because I'm so thrilled to have all the vehicles paid off, but because Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons has the Weekly Challenge this week of Finances. She follows Dave Ramsey as do a lot of other people I follow. I do have his book, and have tried the envelope thing, but I'm not quite to that point yet.  But soon. Got to get caught up first, then we'll be implementing it.  That's one of the reasons I am really hoping I can win her giveaway this time.  She's got a TON of Dave Ramsey stuff to giveaway and some nice printables which would help as well.  I've been doing a budget since before I got married, and I can't imagine living without one.  I've always done a zero budget and was shocked to learn most people don't use one. WHAT do they do with the money left over?  Well...  there were several years when we didn't have leftover. Lord Above I am hoping those days are long behind us for good.  Anyway, Toni has requested that even if we already have a budget that we revisit it and maybe rethink it.  I need to do this anyway.

The budget I'd made is a bit off because we ended up helping our oldest out with her car repairs and she didn't pay us back when she said she would. That ended up affecting when we got our own bills paid, plus our truck had a $750 repair bill not long ago.  So we're still getting past that, and the budget I'd made a couple months ahead of time has been marked out and scribbled next to it with new bills and amounts and postponements etc. Also the notebook I have it in currently is not ideal for the budget, so tomorrow while we're out in the big city, I'm going to look at Target or KMart for a new one that I like to look at and will be better for organizing the budget. I still want it to be in my HMB, but I'm thinking maybe I need a separate binder for finances. I used to have just a "Budget book" binder for years, ad it was ugly and beat up. That's why I decided to put it into the HMB, plus I wanted everything together. But I'd like something a little more portable and easy to handle.  My HMB is pretty hefty. I can still use it for old stuff, like when a month is over.  I saw on a blog about a Budget Review page and a spending log. I'm going to think on those.

Also, since I like to keep it real on here, I may be showing my actual budget.  Not sure yet. It's hard to really help someone when you just give generalizations though.  I want to show the reality of a budget for a family trying to get out of debt while fixing life long bad habits.

So, later I'll be posting again about my finances and hopefully have some pics of a pretty new binder and the budget in the works.

Check back soon!

Comments

  1. I sent you an email a little bit ago - to the email account associated with your blogger account. Hope to hear back from you soon!

    We are still working on this area in our lives as well. Good luck to you as you work to get to where you desire to be!

    ReplyDelete

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I love getting comments, and I read every one. Thanks for coming by my site and reading my ramblings. I hope you have a wonderful day! -Patty