Heck yeah!
I'm bragging tonight.
Memorial Day weekend, the hubby and I are taking our first official family vacation that does not involve visiting distant family. (Well, there's a tad bit of that, but that's the next post I'll do tonight.)
We're going to Atlanta-- we are going to visit the Aquarium, a Braves Game and the Bodies exhibit. We're staying in a hotel, with two rooms--one for the teens, and one for us and the babies.
And, drum roll please, I have paid cash IN ADVANCE for AALLLL of it!!! And I have money set aside for food and gas for the trip, and all the bills are paid this month. AND I'm going to be paying off some bills.
This from the people who, four years ago, had to make up some serious whoppers of lies to our children for why our car disappeared overnight. And all those pesky 800 numbers trying to sell us stuff. (For those of you fortunate not to have been born and raised money stupid, those would be bill collectors.)
Now, we have a written budget, where we plan out every dollar we have coming in each month. We take cash with us to the store, to force us not to overspend, and everyone is on an allowance.
To what do we owe this beautiful budgetary situation? Dave Ramsey. If you aren't religious, ignore that part of his message, but his basic message is common sense, straightforward and easy--even for a math retard like me!
I am so proud of us... and given how lovely some of our children are turning out, it's nice to have something positive to be proud of!!
--stands with shoulder slightly popped up, awaiting all the congratulatory pats--
ba-deep ba-deep ba-deep . . .
13 years ago
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Awesomeness! Good on you guys!!!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! It's such a nice feeling to have your financial situation in control. It was the best feeling, last year, when we had paid off the last of our commercial debt. We'd managed to pay off our credit cards, car loans, everything but the mortgage.
ReplyDeleteThe only debts we have are our mortgage and a small interest-free loan made from a family member so FosterEema could go back to school for a few months to get a necessary certification. We'll have our family member paid off by the end of the year, though the mortgage will take much longer.
Although Dave Ramsey has some good stuff to say, I really dislike him because of the religious message that's inserted into his writings. For that reason, I liked Ramit Sethi's book quite a bit better.
But all the financial guys have the same ideas: spend less than you earn, pay off debt, save for retirement and create an emergency fund.
Anyway, good on you for getting your financial house in order. You and your husband should be very proud.