I am so excited to start this blog. I think I will start by giving you all a little background information. My name is Renee and my husbands name is Grant. My husband and I got engaged right before Christmas of 2011 and just got married on June 30th, 2012. Quick engagement but we did it! We are both now 26 years old and so in love. I can honestly say that I am lucky to have found my soulmate and other half.
Throughout our engagement we attended a pre-marital class and counseling through our church, which we both consider to be one of the best things we have done. For many reasons, but one in particular. Finances. We learned that for many married adults that finances are a cause to most marital problems. Before our class though, Grant, my husband, had heard from a co-worker about Dave Ramsey, a financial advisor. He started to do a little research and then a month or so later, in our class at our church, they mentioned Dave Ramsey multiple times. We knew then that we had to dig a little deeper and get the details of exactly what Dave Ramsey is all about. So we did. Okay, he mainly did! But he relayed the information he collected to me. We had to miss a session of our premarital class, so one of the couples took a night out of their busy lives to have a 1:1 session with us to catch up. Just so happened that topic we missed was finances. So, we did our homework, a mini budget and had to talk about whether or not we were going to combine finances. I do believe that getting married, everything becomes ours instead of mine. So, that included our finances. To be honest, I was scared of what lied ahead. I have to admit that I have always been pretty good with my money. Not perfect, but pretty good. I had one credit card in college and only got approved for $300, a huge blessing. I got that paid off over the time of our engagement. Then last minute I needed alterations on my wedding dress and didn’t have the whole amount available, so David’s Bridal approved me for a credit card. I am not going to lie. I know credit cards are a huge no, no, but I was so happy that I was going to be able to get the alterations I needed because with those, my dress fit me absolutely perfect! So, I walked into our marriage with $300 in debt. Then there was my husband. Don’t get me wrong, I love him with all of my heart, but I was not looking forward to the number we were going to determine once we got back from our honeymoon of the debt we were in. I was beyond blessed that my parents were able to put me through college. And I seriously thank them all the time for that! Unfortunately for him, student loans had to put him through college. So starting out life together as a new married couple, we had the debt of David’s Bridal credit card, some debt to his parents, a best buy credit card, a visa credit card, a car payment and 3 student loans. With our debts combined, we found ourselves at the super, super scary number of $98,031.34. Once we found that number, we knew we could not start a family with that hanging over our heads. And that my friend is where Dave Ramsey became a huge part of our new married life.
So who is Dave Ramsey you might be wondering and how is he playing a role in our life and relationship. He is a financial advisor that came up with The Total Money Makeover. We purchased his book as an audiobook and learned what it was all about. It is a plan to get debt free. Basically, there are 7 baby steps. Baby step 1 is to save $1000 as an emergency fund. Luckily, this step was taken care of for us. We were given a wedding budget and we stayed under it. So, our $1000 is in our savings for an emergency. Next step, baby step 2, is where we currently stand. PAY OFF ALL DEBT! I won’t go into too much detail but basically you list your debts (not including a mortgage, if you have one, luckily we do not yet) in order of smallest to largest. No matter what. Even if the largest debt has the most interest. So, how do you pay off your debt? That was the first question I thought. A budget. We started a strict budget in an excel spreadsheet. And that worked, but we wanted access to Dave Ramsey’s tools online. So even though we were already starting to pinch pennies this month, we decided to pay roughly $90 to get his total money makeover kit. And I am so glad we did. His online budget is very simple and easy to understand. There are percentages given that let you know if you are over or under what you should be. So then you get into the details. We literally budget for EVERYTHING. You make all your normal minimum payments. Then every single dollar you have left over goes towards your smallest debt. We haven’t gone through our first month yet. Our budget has been made and starting in two days, it is going to be implemented. It is a little nerve wrecking knowing that no matter what, if you want to do this, you can’t steer away from your budget.
Call me crazy, but I feel like this is something that we need to do. We both really want to start our family before we get too old. And someday I would like to be able to just work part time so I can be a housewife but still contribute. So, it clicked. If I want these things, this is the only way. I want our family to be able to live in a house and have a good life. I want to be able to pay for them to go to college. That is a huge goal for us. We do not want our children to have to go through this crazy student loan business. So, in a way this is easy for us. I have my eye on the prize. Our future.
The hardest part of this all for me is going to be not going out with my girlfriends or out in general. I often would go out to eat with my girlfriends and currently, our budget doesn’t allow for that. We decided if we are going to do this, we have to go all out. So, hopefully, dinners at our place with what we set aside for our grocery budget will suffice for awhile. Another difficult thing for me is going to be gifts, especially at Christmas. Honestly, Christmas is my all time favorite thing in the world. I absolutely love it. And I love giving gifts that people really enjoy. This year, it is going to be a little harder. Yes, I made my husband already talk to me about what we would do for Christmas. So, I am going to work on making homemade gifts. I love doing crafts so in a way I am looking forward to it, but at the same time, I wish I could buy nice things for those I love. But then I remember, if we can finish this, we’ll be able to buy the family nice gifts down the road. Basically, my theme is going to be eye on the prize.
This month, July, we tried to save as much money as possible to prepare for this. So, that meant we already got a taste of how hard this is going to be. I got invited to go out with co-workers to go line dancing. I absolutely love country music and line dancing. It was so hard to say I couldn’t go because of our budget. The cover was only $10. But that is $10 for our future. We also got invited to go to a cabin trip with a couple that has become very close to us. There were about 5 couples going. And although it would probably only be roughly $50 for food, that is half of our grocery budget for the week. Plus that weekend is the wine festival out in Arrowhead. And my husband and I would not be able to resist that temptation. We love our wine. So, we had to pass. We knew that we couldn’t fit everything into our budget, so we had to decline a super fun weekend. It is so hard.
The goal and plan of attack to reach that goal. Our set goal is to be debt free by August 2014. It is going to be so hard. But I know we can do it! I am going to start looking for any side work possible. I love event planning. It is something I truly enjoy doing. So, I am going to try and plan as many events as I can. I also have an obsession for health and nutrition. So, I am going to try and get as many clients as I can. I am also crafty in the sense that I could make invitations or greeting cards, so I am going to pursue that if the opportunity knocks. I am also looking for a second job for nights and/or weekends. On top of that, my husband and I are recycling everything we possibly can for a little extra money. A coin jar has also become a huge part of our life. We have had a coin jar together since we started dating, but now the money we save in that jar will go towards our debt. My husband is also being a superstar and over the next 8 months or so, will be working to get his CPA(Certified Public Accountant License). So, I see light at the end of the tunnel. It is going to be such a challenge, but we accept the challenge and are excited to start our married life strong!
As mentioned before, we were able to stay under budget for our wedding. So, we were able to knock out a few debts in July already. So far we have paid off my David’s Bridal credit card, the money we owed his parents and the best buy credit card. We already feel so accomplished and we haven’t technically even started! It is seriously the best feeling when you make a final payment on a debt. A huge weight lifts off your shoulders! Every little victory counts and makes such a huge impact on our motivation level. We are determined! Our remaining debt starting in the month of August is $94,945.62.
So follow along and watch us as we succeed and struggle throughout this new journey in our marriage. I hope that if nothing else, we inspire someone to get out of debt and live their life the Dave Ramsey Way.(mytotalmoneymakeover.com)
