Ditchin' Debt

I thought it would be cool to show you what the blank slate for my budget looks like for the next month. I'll point out some interesting points in the budget to give you an idea of where my heads at. November Budget: So we're starting out with a good amount In our checking which is great/ a tease because that amount is going to drop fast soon. Week 1 11.1 L's School: L's School is good at letting us skip a week if we need to . Gas: We try to stay as close to to our weekly goal as possible. we go by when the car gets to half a tank. Fitness  Reimbursement: A nice surprise! 11.2 Week 2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Ah, my bank account can take a nice breath before it gets beat up 11.6 11.7 11.8 C's Credit Card: L’s School: Gas: 11.9 Mortgage: This will be going down soon once the paperwork for the refinance goes Groceries: through Week 3 11.10 11.11 Loan #1 11.12 11.13 George’s Credit Card 11.14 Work PayDay. This week is going to be tough because befo...

When getting out of debt, people often choose a side hustle. Now if you’re just starting out like myself you may be like: WHAT THE HECK IS MY SIDE HUSTLE?? I listened to The Ken Coleman S how, who gives you advice about getting your dream job, and what he says is to choose something that you’re good at and that makes you happy. So I thought, why not apply that to my side hustle! HOW DO I CHOOSE MY SIDE HUSTLE When thinking of things I’m good at all I could think of is: *I like playing video games *I like making people laugh *I enjoy cooking Then while at work, I decided I was going to grow some plants. For me, Basil is easy to grow and smells awesome! I then thought to myself, I want to try and grow black beans. So I did just that! My manager and a co-worker came over to me the other day and asked me “why aren’t you a Gardener? You definitely have a green thumb!” So they made the decision for me! Gardening was going to be my side hustle. HOW THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO T...

There is a limbo that nobody talks about in the baby steps. Or at least, one that I'm currently hitting right now.  We have the $1,000 in our emergency fund, but we don't have enough money in our checking to make additional payments to debt! This is the limbo I am referring too. But, we aren’t in hell...I don’t think. *pinches self* nope, I am very much alive! So we have the option to do something about this!  Here are some of the ways I plan on getting out of limbo: - do even more Overtime - cut expenses - Sell sell sell! Overtime As much as I’d love to relax with my family on the weekends, my work offers overtime on Saturday and Sunday.  https://pixabay.com/vectors/work-overtime-over-night-stress-3992714/ If I work 5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday, that would give me $242 more that week (before taxes). I earn time and a half on Sundays (because who wants to work on Sundays). The great thing about doing overtime on the weekends is I don...

As I listen to Dave Ramsey talk on his podcast, I often wonder if I would ever consider trying to become a millionaire. I mean, it would be pretty sweet to be a millionaire, but I'm not sure if I have the right smarts to invest or do anything that he suggests to do with Roth IRA’s, real estate, or the stock market. I understand a little bit about what he's talking about, but I'd be so afraid to mess up with the stock market or choosing the wrong real estate property, that I don't think it would be worth it. I read a book called The 30-minute millionaire by Jeff Cox and Peter Tanous and that did clear up some stuff about the stock market that I was a bit confused about. There is so much chance in the stock market that I'd rather just put money into my 401k and have my company match that or set up a Roth-IRA. A Roth-IRA seems the less risky move because if I dumb it down for myself, it’s a fancy savings account that I can’t touch until I'm 60. Real...

A few months ago, before my wife and I started budgeting, the unthinkable happened. Our checking was down to $500 and we had to pay for day care, which is $225, and we had one of my loans to pay which is about $300. At this time, we had about $500 in our savings and I’ve never heard of Dave Ramsey or knew anything else about saving money. So, we did what any other person in our situation would do, we moved half of our savings into the checking so we could pay the daycare bill.   I knew something had to change and that’s when I realized we had to get our financial plan in order. I sat there and listed all our payments and ordered them from what was due when. That’s also when we made our budget like I referred to in my earlier blog post here .                  I had a plan and we were sticking to it! But, nobody’s perfect and just a few days ago we went food shopping at BJ’s and spent almost $300 on g...

When we started the long journey to saving up $1,000 we were already about $250 shy of reaching $1,000. I like to think that most people have a good sense of saving at least SOMETHING in their savings. Even though we only had $250 to go until we met the amount, we couldn’t just drop that much from our checking to our savings because of our budget. We spend about $4000 a month on our debt, including our mortgage and we bring in about $4,200 (we found that out by doing our budget, we were very sad https://pixabay.com/photos/coins-currency-investment-insurance-1523383/ to see how close we were to not being able to afford anything) There was only one thing I could think of doing in order to get ourselves out of debt, and that was to do Overtime. If you are trying to get out of debt, overtime is your best friend. I’ve been working overtime an hour extra every weekday for the past few weeks and my check has increased a couple hundred dollars. The way my work does over time...

I just started getting out of Debt about a month ago. I haven’t even started paying anything off yet. But by doing this one item, a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Do you stay up at night, moving money around between your checking and savings accounts worrying about the next payment that’s due in a few days? Are you living in a constant state of panic, not knowing if your check will make it in your bank on time to pay your mortgage? I have, and it’s not fun. I would go ahead and say it’s in my top 5 worst feelings in the world.                 There is hope though, and most people do not do this. According to an article with CNN, in 2016 only 41% of Americans have this, and that’s a budget. A budget lifted a heavyweight from my shoulders and that’s why I think people should start off budgeting so they can wake up from their Debt Coma.           ...