2 weeks into the DR way of life... so far so good...

[MrMom]

Hey all,

Embarassed/ashamed to admit we lived the first 19 yrs of marriage without doing a budget or saving a penny and both of us used our credit cards often.

Well life threw a curveball in 2010 (job/house loss) needless to say we woke up real fast! My wife was let go (19 yrs working) worse she is the primary money maker - I am mr mom to our 2 kids and run 2 small businesses but combined they are less than 10K a year.

HUGE wakeup call, ended up without a place to live, (didn't lose the home but it was provided in her job so we had 30 days to move out) and suddenly had 1/5th of our normal income (from my side businesses) yet all the bills kept coming in.

Took over 6 months to find work and another place to live, making less than previously but also very thankful for a job again, with much help from our friends, family and church and with selling a lot of things to keep things paid - we are getting back on our feet again slow and sure.

At the same time ironically our church was hosting the FPU series but we were unable to attend due to having to move an hour away, no money for the classes or babysitter/gas to even get to them.

I was still very interested in this info so I checked out a few of the dvds and books from the library and have pieced together the basics of making the budget and baby steps, the envelope system, cutting up the credit cards and using cash vs debit or credit cards for that ouch cash laid out factor vs the no pain just swipe it factor.

Motivated to get back on track asap I listed and sold off quite a bit more stuff on craigslist to help us gather the emergency fund of $1000 - babystep one done in just under 2 weeks!

So now we have our emergency fund in place, our budget laid out (i realize this will need adjusting as we go), envelopes ready (just waiting for next pay period to start them) and we have all our debts listed for a snowball attack!!!!

I don't have all the workbooks and such but am finding alot of forms online, might end up buying the kit used off ebay or something to have it ALL vs what I can piece together but I think we have the gist of it going...

Our budget sheet is sadly negative (income vs total costs) BUT we are confident with more work and effort we can get it into the black and seeing it all on paper i mean everything we can think of has been added, and more will come no doubt, seeing it all now makes sense as to why we are in debt we were/are living beyond our income and obviously need to make these changes!

I do plan to do the snowball on the debt but I am also going to slowly start building the 3-6 months of expenses savings on the side in addition to the $1000 emergency fund, I know it's not "textbook" Dave in theory or following the steps to the letter, but having gone thru what we did I want to get the debt out yes but also get the expenses cushion at least slowly started on the side.

I will work more, sell whatever I have to and just work the plan the best I can to get this all reversed, a yr ago if you asked me about losing that job and such well it was the worst days of our lives but today if you asked me it might just have been the best thing that could have ever happened to us because another 5-10 yrs of living that way would have been the true disaster.

"If we aren't dead it's not too late" is my new motto...

Bill

[HappyMama]

Hi! Welcome to Frugal Village. You can also get some Dave books at the library. Good job taking the first steps, making a financial plan , goals and trying to find ways to implement them. Keep up the good work , it does get easier.

Blessings to you and your wife.

[Ceashels]

Check out the Dave Ramsey website to see if there are FPUs in your new neighborhood or new church if you have found one you like already. Some Churches offer financial assistance through donations or FPU alumni who have made the journey already.

When Greebo and I helped facilitate FPU last summer it was available but not advertised. Our church offered a 50% discount to those who expressed interest but could show that they could not afford it. (It was felt by the committee members that everyone would take advantage of something for free... but only those who really wanted the program for the betterment of their situation would be willing to come up with at least half the cost.)

I also want to congratulate you on forming a plan. Sometimes having a plan that we know works can take a lot of stress off of the day to day.

You'll pick up a lot of information here in the Village and in the DR section of the forums.

Welcome to the Village!

[Jamauk]

Welcome to FV!! You will find a wealth of information here, both about the DR plan and about how to cut costs in your daily life!

My DH & are a DR success story. I'll be posting the full story in a few days (right after I make our very last debt payment ~ just waiting on pay day!)

It gets frustrating sometimes, but it really does work!! It sounds like you have a great start. Keep coming back here to stay motivated and keep us updated, we really are like a family around here and we love to cheer one another on!

[Greebo]

Welcome to FV MrMom!

[OOwl]

I'm a total DR fan. I followed his plan to debt freedom and got a lot of inspiration and encouragement from listening to his show (streaming on my iPhone), his Total Money Makeover website, and by reading here on the Village. I wish you a lot of wisdom and success in your journey.

[tervsforme]

Welcome! Congratulations how far you have come already! You will get lots of very useful information here! Good luck!

[khaski]

Congrats on taking the first step- it's never too late to start! Sounds like you are on your way to changing your lives, for the better! Welcome! Everyone here is very friendly and helpful to answer any ?s you may have on your journey....

[cottageliving]

Just checking in -- how did week 3 go? stay focused..... we are here for you

[MrMom]

More budget adjustments - not kicking ourselves over it tho just adding it in as we go, and we knew this would happen.

The only snag we have come up with is our income vs budget is upside down by just over a grand a month. Wife's job is a small salary with commissions that do come but are varied, plus we are in her slow season so things are lean at the moment but in spring summer things triple if not more than that so we are gonna SLAM stuff I mean SLAM it vs have fun or "think" we have extra come spring/summer.

The budget will balance with our next commission (march 4th) and we haven't run into a month we didn't cover $ wise, our "goal" is to get to where her salary actually covers the budget as we eliminate debt and it can and WILL happen for us that we see on paper here!

We aren't behind on anything and when commissions come in we do cover things, but for us and our "carry" envelopes (Groceries $300 a month, Gas $300 a month, Eat Out/Entertainment $40 a month), well we got paid and have the budget made out but didn't have enough to fund the envelopes (since there was no commission on this check) and we do have an accordion style thing we are gonna use for the budget stuff (car insurance etc) but we have to make an IOU sorta sheet (irregular income sheet) for the things we can't fund till commissions check comes.

This aspect (having to fund things from commissions/irregular income) will be our biggest hurdle so far, trying to keep the balance of paying the big stuff (house, electric, food, car etc) yet also not forgetting to fund the smaller things we have allotted for in that accordion file.

Overall tho wife and I have so much of a clearer vision on what we have what we dont have what we need to do what we have done and altho we are a bit yo yo ish on how the income comes thru we are gonna figure a way to make this work, at least we aren't fighting or worrying or wondering, we sit down a few times a week for a few mins and review adjust budget, talk about how we can do the envelopes where or how to fund them etc.


It's been very helpful to start that emergency fund, eliminate the credit cards, make and see the TRUE full budget sheet, and altho it hurt to see the negative balance, it's also motivating to help me sell MORE stuff and do what I gotta do (not spend money, trim corners etc) to get it back in the black.

Still working on it daily tho and even if we don't get it all 100% right we sure are trying and are open to suggestions on trying to get this budget/envelope system stuff a bit easier (due to the irregular income).

Bill

[MrMom]

BTW the groceries and gas budgeting are done based on us reviewing the last 7 months of our debit cards, doing some math and whatnot and gas average was $278 a month (knowing gas is going up we budgeted for $300) and groceries end up averaging 291 per month so we budgeted $300 but are gonna do our best to shop sales use some coupons be smarter on choices and combine car trips (most gas is for wifes work travel) to try and get both to have extra at the end of the month.

Entertainment we just put in $40 a month $20 for each of us, that we can use as a combo thing, this is our blow money/entertainment/eat out/try not to go crazy by not having a dollar to our names fund. Love to see that grow but we figure $20 at start of month in cash (vs swiping debit card) is realistic yet won't make us feel 1000% deprived of any choices, just be more aware of a want etc.

The rest of the budgeting is divided based on what the costs are divided up into 12 months, one thing we have to factor in tho is we started this in Feb, and we budget out say $18 a month towards a particular thing BUT that thing is due in full say in August....

Our "plan" is to temporarily add extra to those we know about and fund those folders come spring with the extra we get from the sale of things on craigslist and from her commissions, then next year as it rolls around the monthly amounts WILL cover those things.

Taxes are turned in, and we did a quick estimate we should get just over a grand back from that we hope, so our idea too is to split that between debt, and the extra funding a few envelopes will need to keep those envelopes in balance for those that have certain dates.

Wife has really gotten into this too, made a nice excel sheet for us, 12 months of tabs across bottom and each month has the budget and our total debit and goals, man this helps me more than anything, i can flip forward to 4-5 months and SEE what we are on track for, SO very helpful!!!!!!!!!

[mauimagic]

What I really love is the strong team that you have with your DW!! You two have done so much on your own that you are totally commited to success. Looking forward to hearing more about your journey!!

[larabelle]

welcome to FV...if I can do Dave Ramsey then anyone can....including you!!!
Welcome...you will learn alot from the folks here in Furgy Ville!!

[Ramona]

BTW the groceries and gas budgeting are done based on us reviewing the last 7 months of our debit cards, doing some math and whatnot and gas average was $278 a month (knowing gas is going up we budgeted for $300) and groceries end up averaging 291 per month so we budgeted $300 but are gonna do our best to shop sales use some coupons be smarter on choices and combine car trips (most gas is for wifes work travel) to try and get both to have extra at the end of the month.

Entertainment we just put in $40 a month $20 for each of us, that we can use as a combo thing, this is our blow money/entertainment/eat out/try not to go crazy by not having a dollar to our names fund. Love to see that grow but we figure $20 at start of month in cash (vs swiping debit card) is realistic yet won't make us feel 1000% deprived of any choices, just be more aware of a want etc.

The rest of the budgeting is divided based on what the costs are divided up into 12 months, one thing we have to factor in tho is we started this in Feb, and we budget out say $18 a month towards a particular thing BUT that thing is due in full say in August....

Our "plan" is to temporarily add extra to those we know about and fund those folders come spring with the extra we get from the sale of things on craigslist and from her commissions, then next year as it rolls around the monthly amounts WILL cover those things.

Taxes are turned in, and we did a quick estimate we should get just over a grand back from that we hope, so our idea too is to split that between debt, and the extra funding a few envelopes will need to keep those envelopes in balance for those that have certain dates.

Wife has really gotten into this too, made a nice excel sheet for us, 12 months of tabs across bottom and each month has the budget and our total debit and goals, man this helps me more than anything, i can flip forward to 4-5 months and SEE what we are on track for, SO very helpful!!!!!!!!!

Does she get reimbursed for mileage?

[MrMom]

I wish she did but we double checked with the tax guy and it was a no...

I haven't even had time to go thru all the areas of this forum yet, but wife did call today and has another commission going on the march 4th check so OMG that is gonna help SO much in starting this whole envelope system and giving that debt another BIG kick in the butt!!!!!