Like most Americans, Josh and I have quite a bit of debt to our names. Most of it comes in the form of student loans (both federal and private-damn you, Sallie Mae!) and a mortgage, but we also have a bit of credit card debt. We have very, very, very little in saving, and have not started saving for retirement yet. I don’t think our situation is unique, but that’s little consolation.
For the past two or three years, we have *sort of* implemented (some of) Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover plan. We’ve made a bit of headway, only to make more mistakes. This time, after sitting down with our budget, we’ve decided that we’re going to dive in; not half-assed like in the past, but, uhm, full-assed, if you will.
I borrowed The Total Money Makeover from the library earlier this week, and I’m blowing through it. Josh is going to start reading it soon as well. I’m really glad we’re on the same financial page, and I’m looking forward to having “financial peace” one day… hopefully in the not too distant future.
I’m having some internal conflict regarding staying at home. It is NOT something I want to give up, and beyond that, I don’t think I have the earning potential to offset childcare costs. Additionally, I don’t want to miss out on this time with Jude. I don’t think it’s something I’m willing to sacrifice. It sounds silly to say it this way, but professionally, I finally feel fulfilled. I dig this mothering thing. I even dig “keeping house” and cooking. I don’t contribute (much) financially to our family, but I honestly feel that what I do contribute is priceless (though I could come up with a figure if someone would like to offer to finance my work!). Working opposite Josh is a nice idea, but with the very inconsistent schedule of a church worker, it makes that prospect nearly impossible. For now I’m going to focus on cutting our food costs where I can, finding items to sell, and keeping a really close eye on our day-to-day purchases. I’m also going to add a level of accountability to our spending/saving/debt payoff by writing about our journey to financial peace here. Hopefully my web guy (read: Josh) will add a “Total Money Makeover” category to my right-hand side bar for me tonight. Keep an eye out for that, and please, feel free to leave your words of encouragement in the comments section of my TMM posts!
And I’m wondering…have any of you ever found yourselves in our position? Have you tried/been successful with Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover? Have any tips to share?
Well, I haven’t done TMM, but you know I have been there/done that (STILL). Congrats to you guys, though. It’s tough, but I feel like I am finally seeing something of a light at the end of the tunnel, so we’ll see!
We are also doing the Total Money Makeover…though we have sort of slacked (once baby came along, the debt payment sort of plateau’ed). Now that I am reading this, I think I will try to get our TMM in gear! The best thing I’ve found: Use cash. When we are on a cash system, we feel like we’ve received a raise because we find it’s harder to spend cash than use plastic, if that makes sense.
Question: You are still paying the mortgage in Scranton? Wow. That must be very hard, considering you are a one income fam. Good for you!
Jen-Are we still *paying* the mortgage in Scranton? No. When we had renters who were paying we were, but now that they’ve broken their lease and left us high and dry, we can’t afford it. Trust me when I tell you, there’s no way a youth minister’s salary could support a mortgage payment and rent in Chicago. One thing on our “TMM to-do list” is to call the mortgage company and see what our next step can be for selling the house.
And yes, we are going to go to a (mostly) all-cash system. We’ll still do online bill pay and will probably use our debit cards on occasion, but I agree-cash is definitely the way to go.
Red-So happy that you’re finally seeing that light. We should talk soon.
Boy do I have a TMM story for you. My husband’s aunt and uncle won Dave Ramsey’s TMM challenge almost 5 years ago–a cruise, and $50,000, for having the best get-out-of-debt success story. They gave us an autographed copy of TMM when we got married, and we’ve done that budget (mostly) ever since. Right now, we have student loan debt, a small car payment, and our mortgage, so we’re in a better place than most since we don’t have credit cards.
We should form a little TMM support group.
Erin: That is sooo cool! That is inspiring. Good for them!
Kat and I are knee deep in the TMM, and loving it – it has kept us from, as Sufjan would admirably say, “making a lot of mistakes…all things go…” What about a Frank/Willis team up? Wouldn’t it be fun to have a TMM cheering section for our families? Money is the last taboo topic in our culture, and it’d be great – not necessarily through formal accountability – but in casual inspiration – to have partners in cheap-ass frugality!!
Erin-That is a *fantastic* story! Kudos to them! I hope you’ll stick around and join in the TMM conversation as it unfolds. I think a little TMM support group would be fabulous. Is it something you’d be interested in writing about on your blog?
Mark-I think a Frank/Willis team up sounds lovely. What do you have in mind?
I think simply knowing another couple is open to talking without pretension, shame, or whatever about their finances and financial goals would be very exciting for us. When we hang out, just bringing up our TMM, including tips, techniques or other wisdom learned with each other. That’s what I had in mind – generally knowing there’s another couple out there not afraid to be honest with their finances with another caring couple. I think it would force greater honesty with myself to know someone might just ask me how I’m doing in that department. Shared burden = lessened burden!
I am tempted to make up t-shirts for us:
“Partners in Cheap-Ass Frugality”
Those would be sweet. Now, does that come out of my fun money envelope? *wink*
I’d be up for at least knowing it’s OK to talk about it with you guys!
Woohoo! That’s awesome. congrats on your baby steppage.
I’d be totally happy to blog about this. I’m taking a two-day blogging hiatus, but I’d love to write a post over the weekend and get things started! Maybe even an interview with the hubs’ TMM-winning aunt and uncle would be in order.