Budgets budgets and more budgets

I can't even count how many times we have done budgets in our house, how many times we are onboard to fix our money and spending habits and how many time we are going to do it this time. But I swear this time, it's not that we are 'going' to do it. It's that we HAVE to do it or we have some more issues that I don't even want to think about.

Our family consists of different thinkings on money:

Quinton - He thinks that money is there, and that everything can be bought with 'monies' ie pennies, dimes, nickles, ect. And that sometimes treasure is just spare change Papa had in his pocket.

Kyler - Knows things cost money. He is starting to realize (with our help) that he has to have money to buy things. Now how money works and how much you need of everything is TOTALLY not there yet but he is getting it. He gets an 'allowance' of 25 cents a week. He puts 5 cents into spending, 10 cents into saving and 10 cents into God. We started this a while ago and he is doing ok at it. Any extra/random change he finds he tosses into saving or the God container. We are really enjoying this. He knows that his God container could be used for cans for the food bank at church. It's great.

Arnold - wants to save. He always tells people that when he started university he had no credit cards and over $5000.00 in saving. When he ended university he had a wife, a credit card and no money in saving. Now he is a firm believer in 'sleep on it then get it' mentality. He also wants me to have whatever I want but he also wants to know we are safe as far as money goes. And he is my reason for doing what we do all the time.

Me.... well as I'm sure you can see I like to spend. But not on me. I like to buy good food, clothes for the kids, gifts for Christmas, dessert for when friends are over, things that make our home comfortable, and things that make my family happy. I like to show my love to people by way of gifts. The gifts don't have to be matterial (but more than not they are) but they cost money none the less.

Since I married Arnold ad weh had been together for just over a year or so we began to realize we had to get our money wasn't going to last forever and we really needed to be careful how we spent it. We did our own budgets, our own plans, or own everything for a while. It worked, but then with extra money I would want to spend it (see a pattern) and it just got worse and worse and worse. We bought a book by David Ramsey. It was GREAT! We desided when we moved (since we got it *just* before we moved) to Ontario and were own our own we would work on it and try doing it just as he suggested. While our plans didn't work out the way we wanted (we thought we would be on our own in 3 to 4 months instead of just over a year) and we never did start the program. We worked on it, really worked on it, in 2008. Arnold and desided we were going to buy a house and we had to get our money in order. I had *tried* starting it earlier (I think October) or so to get a handle on it and I'm glad I did. There were so many questions, concerns, things didnt' work perfectly for us. anyway we finally got it to work and really focused on it in Jan of 2008.

I am proud to say we paid off at least 3 of our 5 credit cards. It was great! We did so well (our tax refund helped ALOT) and then things went south, or into the red, depending on how you look at it. It was hard to handle. We had gotten off the DR program and were spending like crazy.

I can honestly say we feel as if we have hit rock bottom now. I'ts horrible and hard to take but I'm just not too sure what to do. We are focusing again on the DR program. We have had a 'new chance' at things. We have had to do some cashing in of my investments my parents made when I was little to stay afloat lately. I'm so frustrated. But I know that this time, with Gods help, and a whole lot of prayer and careful planning we can do this.

And so our crazy budgeting starts again. We are trying to scale back on everything. The DR program suggests cutting things you don't need. Well to be honest, we don't have much to cut back on. He suggests things like cut cable package (we don't have it), sell cars (we only have one and use it all the time) cut cells (we don't have a home phone) ect. Anyway he does great with his suggestions.

For those interested here's his site www.davidramsey.com

These are his babysteps. We are on #1 and part of #2


Baby Step 1

$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is for those unexpected events in life that you can’t plan for: the loss of a job, an unexpected pregnancy, a faulty car transmission, and the list goes on and on. It’s not a matter of if these events will happen; it’s simply a matter of when they will happen.

Baby Step 2

Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
List your debts, excluding the house, in order. The smallest balance should be your number one priority. Don’t worry about interest rates unless two debts have similar payoffs. If that’s the case, then list the higher interest rate debt first.

Baby Step 3

3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Once you complete the first two baby steps, you will have built serious momentum. But don’t start throwing all your “extra” money into investments quite yet. It’s time to build your full emergency fund.

Baby Step 4

Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
When you reach this step, you’ll have no payments—except the house—and a fully funded emergency fund. Now it’s time to get serious about building wealth.

Baby Step 5

College funding for children
By this point, you should have already started Baby Step 4—investing 15% of your income—before saving for college. Whether you are saving for you or your child to go to college, you need to start now.

Baby Step 6

Pay off home early
Now it’s time to begin chunking all of your extra money toward the mortgage. You are getting closer to realizing the dream of a life with no house payments.

Baby Step 7

Build wealth and give!
It’s time to build wealth and give like never before. Leave an inheritance for future generations, and bless others now with your excess. It's really the only way to live!



I'm sure this will take us quite a long time but we are working on it. I strongly suggest you check out his site, and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

This time, with Gods help, we are going to do this!