Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Financial Advice - Journal 25
My husband and I have been through a lot. We have had financial success and failure. Right now we are trying to overcome financial failure! My husband’s income is 50k(+) a year. So for 5 years I have been a stay at home mom and handled the finances. He use to always kids around and say “I make it, she spends it” which was true! You would think that amount of money would be sufficient for living, and it is, but not if you don’t know how to budget! We had a total of 7 credit cards! (WHAT WERE WE THINKING GETTING 7 CREDIT CARDS?!) My husband was not at all aware that on our Wal-Mart shopping trips I would just slide a credit card instead of our debit card from the bank! He would check the bank and see we were doing really well and we would frivolously spend money, nakato, shopping, mini-vacations, etc. Before I realized it I was putting gas, groceries, clothes, everything on credit cards and we were blowing the rest of my husband’s income! In May it came to a head where I had to sit down and budget and I finally realized all of our credit cards are maxed out and we are strapped really tight! We were talking to some close friends from church and they referred us to our head deacons! They came over on Memorial Day and helped us figure out a “Dave Ramsey” plan for our life! We are excited to say that right now we have paid off AND CLOSED 4 of our credit cards and only have about $5000 in debt remaining! I started working to contribute to paying off those credit cards, and if things go as planned, by June of next year we will have ALL DEBT paid off, and $15,000 sitting in the bank for savings! In 3 months of donating plasma, working, and praying we have our emergency fund established and feel confident and excited about our financial future! I recommend to any and everyone to read Dave Ramsey’s book. Find out about “Financial Peace University” because it established peace in our home and in our heart to know if something happened tomorrow any Brad lost his job, we would be covered!
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Lauren,
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is WOW! The majority of your story sounds so familiar. My husband and I are also trying to recover from financial failure, and it has not been an easy road. As you know, it becomes very easy as a stay-at-home mom to just swipe a card and get the things you need; or at least "think" you need. We took the Dave Ramsey course at our church, and I thought it was amazing. But I have to confess that at this time, we have not been successful at putting it into play. I have thought about going back to work but with 3 out of the 4 children still needing some type of child care; I have not been able to justify it because everything would go to childcare. I have also considered donating plasma but was not sure what all is entailed in that or where to start. I hope to find myself in your shoes someday; debt-free and emergency/savings funds established.
With our kids, 5 and 3, we would need childcare too. I am working overnight from 11pm-7am and it is exhausting! Between school, work and the kids during the day. When I get off work, they are waking up, so there is no rest for the weary! But, the success we have outweighs the tiredness I feel!
ReplyDeleteLauren - Good for you! You have learned a very hard lesson indeed. I hope that you continue to write beyond this semester as future students will benefit from your honest voice and strong disclosure. ~Ms. A.
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