We really do need a new system. Our current system is this ~

Get paid (and get rent payment from other house)
Pay car payment
Pay mortgages
Pay utilities
Pay credit cards

We always have enough left over for food and gas and put in a set amount for those. With whatever is left we do whatever! Not a good thing.

We do still have the emergency fund and need to replenish that after our car troubles. I need to do the debt snowball again and start putting our whatever is left onto the debt!

The spreadsheet doesn’t track where our money is going - groceries, gas, etc. - it is just a running balance. We do online banking for all of our bills but two - and for some reason those businesses just don’t take anything but checks or cash.

The section I am working through in FPU Online is the cash flow part. I know I’ll have a budget in place by the end of it - but finances is the one place in life that my husband and I can’t seem to settle on an agreement. What I mean is when we were first married and he was gone, I was in charge of paying bills and such and he came home to not that much in the savings account. Though that was years ago, he hasn’t gotten over this and always reminds me that I spent a lot of money while he was gone.

Though I balance the spreadsheet every other day or so, sometimes there are surprises in the form of him not remembering to give me a receipt for something he buys. Neither of us spend very much without the others knowledge, but the one dollar here, six dollars there adds up over a couple of weeks.

A budget does not stick in place for very long around here. We may say okay let’s spend $300 on groceries - but if the cost is $350, we aren’t going to put something back. Okay groceries is a bad example because that is the one area where my husband has issues - meaning he always wants the fridge, freezer and pantry to be well stocked. I actually haven’t been grocery shopping in almost two weeks - except for milk and a few other things - because we are so well stocked. We are moving soon and I hope to not go grocery shopping but for a few things. I don’t like the idea of spending so much money and then getting rid of the food - it’s like throwing money away.

By the end of this lesson I plan on having a draft of a budget.

By next summer we will have no credit card debt and no car payment. We will have the baby emergency fund fully funded, more savings being added to it and the automatic savings started again.

It’s hard to look beyond that.

We should also save so we can buy another car in a few years. We should save for various things like airline tickets home, things we want like a new dining room table and such.

There is a variety of ways to spend the money that is left over. I’ve always wanted to spend every dollar on paper, but can’t seem to transfer that thinking into action. Maybe it is because I do use the bank card, maybe it’s online banking, I’m not sure.

Typically the money just ends up spent. Spent on going out to eat (though that is still a rare event - once a month) or at Target on ’stuff’ or on books. Yep, books are still my downfall. I have done great not shopping at the craft store.

I did set a budget for Christmas gifts and have stuck to it! And sticking to the budget has helped me do my shopping, I just have a couple more gifts to get and then am finished.

I fully believe we can find $100 a month to save. Up until about a year and a half ago we were saving 10% a month - more then $100 actually - and we did not miss it at all. We made the mistake of buying a huge house and had to adjust our savings - which meant not having any. Big mistake, huge. We realize that now and have been making better choices.

It’s all about the choices we make.

We are choosing to not move with my husband initially because … well because I don’t want to be in an entirely new place, settling a home alone and not knowing anyone. Sure I will meet people, sure putting together a home isn’t that hard - heck I’ve done that before a couple of times! But I have a choice this time and I choose to spend time with my family. I choose to live next door to my Grandma and pay nothing in rent because my Mom owns the house. I choose to live with my Dad and yeah I’ll buy groceries but I don’t owe him rent.

Just another reason to be grateful to have the family that I do.

Is it going to be hard - yes. Being a single parent is hard work and being a single parent for just a little while because your partner is gone is even harder - because once they come back you are not single and your way being the only way doesn’t cut it.

But the payoff is going to be huge. No debt. No car payment. Savings. Starting to save, at least, 10% again.

Looking down the road makes me smile and I’ll have to remember that.

I’m glad to be able to take the FPU course online. We are moving and not only will our finances change (the military pays different amounts depending on the job you are doing), but my husband and I won’t be together. We are renting the house out (again). We are still renting our other house. We are downsizing to one car - but the car is paid off so I am very conflicted about that.

We owe to four credit cards and I am updating the amounts in a spreadsheet this week. I am an authorized user on a couple of the cards so my husband has to be on the line saying it is okay to talk to me in regards to … well, just about anything! I called to lower the interest rate on two of them and was told he needs to be on the line. Of course that just means it needs to be done now since he won’t be available to make the phone calls!

The amazing thing about living apart for a little while is we will probably be able to pay off all the credit card debt and possible our car. I would love to see him again and say we have zero debt and a mini emergency fund and cash to buy whatever for the new job and new place we’ll live.

The Emergency Fund: Last weekend was the first time we had cash on hand to pay for an emergency. Our car broke down on the way home from an out of town trip. We got help from a highway patrolman and made it a lot closer, but in the end sill had to pay for towing and of course the next day, pay to get the car fixed. We saved on labor by doing installing ourselves.

Dave says in the video he can remember the first time they had money to pay for the car - I know we will be remembering this because we have been keeping such good track of our credit cards and paying off the debt, not putting it on the credit card felt good.

And we paid cash for everything. We had step one finished ($1000 baby emergency fund) and now need to switch from paying heavily on our credit cards to putting the money back in there. That won’t take us long and we’ll be back to the paying stuff off mode.

Cash Purchases: On not hearing people say, “I’m saving up to buy ____” ~ true, I never hear that. Even with people who I know are living paycheck to paycheck they still go out and spend every dollar. We’ve been doing so great the past few months and not using our credits cards but just using cash - though it is hard to think of it as cash when you swipe a bank card.

We started the kids allowances at the beginning of November and give them cash. They took it with us to a fair and counted their money out. I struggle with paying cash for things because it is *easier* to swipe that card - but it is not a credit card, it is a bank card attached to the cash. I have to remember that.

Dreaming Big: If I were debt free but the house and had $10K sitting in the bank - I would not worry. I would know I’ll have enough if the car breaks down, if an emergency trip has to be taken. That is enough for plane tickets, car rentals and hotels.  Enough said, I would just not worry.

I am all good if I never borrow money again.

I’ll talk about what we do owe later.

I’m just starting and they ask you to journal - on the honor system, but hey I’m here so let’s get started.

I was motivated to enroll because I love listening to Dave Ramsey - I agree with his way of thinking about finances and he way ‘clicked’ with me when I was looking for a financial person who had books available to read. I have tried others in the past but didn’t get the same feeling of ‘yes, exactly’ I did when I found Dave. I actually called into his show once too.

At this point I don’t have any goals for the program. I know to save, I know the baby steps he teaches. I think I’m just looking for reinforcement of that during our time of moving and being away from my husband for an extended amount of time. We have talked a little about our financial goals for when he is gone and I am nervous we won’t be able to meet them. I am sure we will - but the nervousness is there nonetheless.

The holidays are not a temptation yet either. I took a handmade pledge this year - to buy handmade and from the ‘little guy’ vs a big box store. I am doing well so far but do need to take another look at our Christmas list and see what I have left to buy or make. I know I need more fabric for a few projects and my parents are always hard to shop for.

We will end up spending money on the car this week, whatever is wrong with it has to be fixed and fixed soon!

Not only are we getting ready for a move, preparing the house to rent out and everything that goes with these two things - yesterday we started having car problems. We were driving down the interstate and the four tachometers we have started going wacky and a couple of lights came on. We pulled over, turned the car off, sat there for a bit and then started it back up. Nothing unusual happened so we kept going (we were meeting friends at the park and of course this is the one time we didn’t take a cell phone with us!). Once we got into the park the same thing happened, but the car was still running fine.

We figure electrical problem but it is a weekend and a holiday weekend at that, so we can’t get it looked at right away. A quick call to my brother who suggests a couple of auto supply stores that do diagnostics for free and I’ve got some phone call to make tomorrow. Of course it is a holiday weekend but these days that merely means it’s a great time for a sale.

I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that this is nothing big.