Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Good $ense

I told you on Friday that I was going to be taking a financial class last weekend so I thought I would tell you a little bit about that today. I missed Friday nite due to the 8th grade graduation, which by the way was absolutely the sweetest thing. I almost cried. But I didn't because I knew if I did she would make fun of me so I really tried to hold it in.

So, moving on to the Freed-Up class. It was really a good class! It is a lot like the Dave Ramsey thing, only they suggest that the "Emergency Fund" is 3 months of expenses, where as Dave sets it at $1000. Another thing that is a little different is that they emphasize saving something every month. They don't say how much you should save, but they just say any amount to start with, just to get you in the habit. They had some examples of what you get if you save $100 a month for 2years and it was like $70,000, now that was at a 10% interest rate, which we all know is unheard of but you get the principal of the thing. My son just started his first job, aaaaahhhhh! This is one thing that I am going to make him do. If he would save $100 a month, which really he can save more because he still lives at home, but he is 17 and thinks I know nothing so hey. If he would just do that then it will instill in him the habit (I hope) of saving. I have to say when I first started working, I didn't save, I moved out and bought my first car, brand new even! Mind you it was a straight drive, and I didn't even know how to drive a straight drive, but my best friend did, so she drove it off the lot, and we proceeded to a parking lot so I could learn to drive it. Which I did. Man, I was crazy back then. Hee! Hee!

The plan also says you should use the snowball effect when paying off your bills and to start with the smallest and work your way to the highest. Another thing they say is to chart it out so you can see when things will be paid off. I think seeing it, makes it feel like it is really possible, not so far away. Some large bills will take a while but sometimes seeing it on paper and knowing when it will be paid off helps you stick to the plan.

You have the option of what type of system you want to use like the envelope system, or a written system. I chose envelope because I started out with that from what I learned from Dave, and it really seems to work for me, if I know I can only spend $150 for groceries and that's all that I have in my envelope then I am more likely to stick to it, than if I was using my debit card.

We have really tried to cut back on groceries, I have started making menus for 2 weeks, then I make my grocery list from the menu. That helps me to get exactly what I need. We also planted a garden this year and I am hoping to get some produce from that to put up for the winter. I am actually going to try canning. I hope I don't blow the house up! My mom used to do it when we were growing up so I think I can do it.

What do you do to tighten your budget?

2 comments:

  1. To tighten my budget I only buy one diet coke instead of two:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. I love the envelopes too. It's a lot easier for me to stick to my budget that way. I know that I have to be a few dollars under with cash but with a debit card, it's easier to splurge.

    Also, not trying to be the Dave Ramsey guru (that's Worker Man's job), you start out with only $1,000 but then after paying off your debt you do 3-6 months emergency fund. It's because he wants you to have enough to start out ($1,000) in case your car breaks down or you have a hospital bill, etc but then he wants you to focus on debt snowball and then go back to emergency fund. You may already know that but I just wanted to let ya know :)

    I like that your church did a one day thing. I think that's probably a lot more appealing to people because they can get a snapshot of everything. Pretty cool!

    Can't wait to hear (err...read) more stories!

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