Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tracking Your Expenses
Here is a pretty good post from Pennyjobs.com about why you should track your expenses. You need to have an idea of where the money is going in order to create a fairly realistic budget. I'm already seeing that I fritter away a lot of money and that's from only ONE DAY tracking expenses!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Initial Game Plan
Now that I've made the decision to become more financially responsible, how do I do that? I need some sort of game plan. To establish some accountability for myself I have set a list of goals for the week, to be accomplished by the end of Saturday.
Last year I had the opportunity to take the Financial Peace University course, designed by Dave Ramsey. I did not put it into practice at the time though. Why? I don't really have a good answer for that. I could say I was too overwhelmed by life at the time, but that would be just another excuse. The truth is that my financial situation scared me (it still does!) and it was easier for me to ignore the situation and continue being an ostrich with my head in the sand, than to actually face my finances and take care of them. I like the idea of "Baby Steps". I'm not ready to move too fast so baby steps are about my speed right now.
Goals for the week:
1. Reread all material from the Financial Peace University.
2. Order a credit report from freecreditreport.com
3. Total all outstanding debt and categorize. (Ex: student loan, car loan, medical, etc)
4. Contact a realtor and list lot for sale.
5. Use handy-dandy little notebook to keep a running list of all $ spent to see just where, exactly, my money is going.
I know that roughly my income right now is around $2350/month, not including tips from the restaurant. My monthly bills look like this:
Rent $400
Cell phone $150 (2 lines)
Auto ins $60
Cable/internet $120
Nat. Gas $15
Utilities $150
Car Payment $250
Student loans $120
Too be honest, I'm not exactly sure how much goes out each month for food. I know quite a bit is being spent on gas as I've been driving to the big city once or twice a week since mid-May (roughly 200 miles round trip). There are other bills but those listed above are the basics. They'll also be changing once we move in August. The only bills that will stay the same are the student loans and the car payment. I'd like to lower the cell phone bill but am not exactly sure how.
I need to be very diligent in tracking where the money is going. This should be interesting.
Last year I had the opportunity to take the Financial Peace University course, designed by Dave Ramsey. I did not put it into practice at the time though. Why? I don't really have a good answer for that. I could say I was too overwhelmed by life at the time, but that would be just another excuse. The truth is that my financial situation scared me (it still does!) and it was easier for me to ignore the situation and continue being an ostrich with my head in the sand, than to actually face my finances and take care of them. I like the idea of "Baby Steps". I'm not ready to move too fast so baby steps are about my speed right now.
Goals for the week:
1. Reread all material from the Financial Peace University.
2. Order a credit report from freecreditreport.com
3. Total all outstanding debt and categorize. (Ex: student loan, car loan, medical, etc)
4. Contact a realtor and list lot for sale.
5. Use handy-dandy little notebook to keep a running list of all $ spent to see just where, exactly, my money is going.
I know that roughly my income right now is around $2350/month, not including tips from the restaurant. My monthly bills look like this:
Rent $400
Cell phone $150 (2 lines)
Auto ins $60
Cable/internet $120
Nat. Gas $15
Utilities $150
Car Payment $250
Student loans $120
Too be honest, I'm not exactly sure how much goes out each month for food. I know quite a bit is being spent on gas as I've been driving to the big city once or twice a week since mid-May (roughly 200 miles round trip). There are other bills but those listed above are the basics. They'll also be changing once we move in August. The only bills that will stay the same are the student loans and the car payment. I'd like to lower the cell phone bill but am not exactly sure how.
I need to be very diligent in tracking where the money is going. This should be interesting.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Swimming
My favorite saying in high school was my own version of “Life’s a b***h, then you die”; “Life’s a beach & then you swim”. Well, swimming is definitely what I’m doing now. Swimming in debt that is.
Of course, that’s my own fault. Bad choices, depression, and burying my head in the sand have all contributed to my pool of debt. I even went through Dave Ramsey’s Finding Financial Peace course last year, but chose to continue to keep my head buried. Why the change now, you ask? Good question. The change is in me. I’m tired of wondering where the money goes. I’m sick of worrying about how much I actually owe. I’m done with being scared of finances. Yes, I’ve been scared. I’m still scared. However, it’s time to face facts. I’m almost forty, raising three children, and there’s nothing to fall back on in an emergency. I’m also joining households with my significant other and if ever there was a time to get my finances in line, this is it.
How I should start, I wonder. Well to begin with I’m rereading all of the literature I received with the Financial Peace Course. I’ve begun reading “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. After that I’ll tackle the two Suze Ormon books I have sitting on the bookshelf but never quite got around to reading. While immersing myself in these books I also plan to write down in my trusty little notebook each and every expense that occurs daily to see where my money is going. I will also need to order a copy of my credit report (major scary here!) and compile a list of all debts and assets to form a complete profile of my financial situation. The next step after the fact-finding mission is to complete some form of budget. That will be a bit tricky as I will be changing cities, homes, and jobs over the next couple of months. First I want to see where the money is going so that I can determine an average needed for the different areas of my budget.
My guess right now is that I’m treading water in my pool of debt and I definitely don’t want to hit the point where I’m drowning. My goal is to be floating on the top of that pool, with the debt having gone down the drain and the pool refilled with financial freedom. I hope you’ll come along for the ride and be inspired to drain your own debt pool!
Of course, that’s my own fault. Bad choices, depression, and burying my head in the sand have all contributed to my pool of debt. I even went through Dave Ramsey’s Finding Financial Peace course last year, but chose to continue to keep my head buried. Why the change now, you ask? Good question. The change is in me. I’m tired of wondering where the money goes. I’m sick of worrying about how much I actually owe. I’m done with being scared of finances. Yes, I’ve been scared. I’m still scared. However, it’s time to face facts. I’m almost forty, raising three children, and there’s nothing to fall back on in an emergency. I’m also joining households with my significant other and if ever there was a time to get my finances in line, this is it.
How I should start, I wonder. Well to begin with I’m rereading all of the literature I received with the Financial Peace Course. I’ve begun reading “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. After that I’ll tackle the two Suze Ormon books I have sitting on the bookshelf but never quite got around to reading. While immersing myself in these books I also plan to write down in my trusty little notebook each and every expense that occurs daily to see where my money is going. I will also need to order a copy of my credit report (major scary here!) and compile a list of all debts and assets to form a complete profile of my financial situation. The next step after the fact-finding mission is to complete some form of budget. That will be a bit tricky as I will be changing cities, homes, and jobs over the next couple of months. First I want to see where the money is going so that I can determine an average needed for the different areas of my budget.
My guess right now is that I’m treading water in my pool of debt and I definitely don’t want to hit the point where I’m drowning. My goal is to be floating on the top of that pool, with the debt having gone down the drain and the pool refilled with financial freedom. I hope you’ll come along for the ride and be inspired to drain your own debt pool!
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