Making Over Our Money

My husband and I have been reading through the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We bought the book a few years ago, read it, placed it on a shelf, and promptly forgot about it. Surprisingly, financial freedom did not follow. With all the job and income changes of the past year, and with an eye toward my husband being back in school this year, we pulled the book out, dusted it off, and are reading it again.


Here is what we have learned so far: We are blessed to have no car payment and a lot less credit card debt than most people - but the fact that we still have credit card debt means that we are not patting ourselves on the back. Any credit card debt is too much. We need to get back to budgeting. For years we had a detailed budget - everything down to love offerings and gas for the vehicles was included for each month of the year. In the last few years we have gotten away from that. We need to find extra sources of additional income and work more diligently to maximize the sources we do have. An excellent opportunity to work on my goal of being diligent this year!

Long term goal: Be debt free, of course!

Short term goal steps to reach our long term goal: By the end of the week, we will have our budget for January drawn up and have a draft for February completed. We will also have a spreadsheet detailing exactly what we owe to every creditor. By the end of the month, we will have our emergency fund in a safe but accessible location. By the end of the year, we will have all of our medical bills, credit cards, and a small loan paid off.