I know a lot of people are going to laugh when I say this, but I work in accounting. Numbers are my thing and yet this happened. I learned, it’s not about the numbers it’s about behavior. That’s probably why it was easy to get in so deep. The instant gratification of our society has made it even easier than 20 years ago. Just scroll through any social media app and you see that not only are there ads every 30 seconds or so, but they’re also ads for exactly what you’ve been desiring. An item that will solve your problems or be the last purchase you’ll ever make. The marketing has gotten extreme, and I have definitely fallen prey to it more than once.
I had a dream the other night that we paid off our house and it felt amazing. I told my husband about my dream, and he agreed that it would be a great place to be. Now we have a long way to go to get there but at least we are getting back on track.
If getting out of debt was our only goal, I know we could sell our truck and home and be completely out of debt in less than 6 months. That is not what we are planning to do though. We tried that the first time 20 years ago and it didn’t solve the real problem, which is our behavior. So, this time we are going to keep our truck and home, both of which are within the recommended amounts considering our income and focus on budgeting and changing our habits. Don’t misunderstand me, I want to get out of debt as quickly as possible so I will be selling things, but I don’t want it to be a quick fix. I want to work the debt snowball and see every victory. I want to learn the correct way to budget, not just now how to on paper, but know how to apply it and follow through. On paper this all seems simple, applying it to everyday life is the real struggle.
Along this journey you will see me talk in ratios and percentages rather than amounts. This is because our exact numbers are not as important as the process. I may post an amount on occasion if it fits in with the purpose of the discussion, but not as a rule. I grew up in a family where a 30k annual salary was pretty normal. Now I’m making much more than that, but I want the purpose of this blog to help those that make 30k and those that make 300k. I used to think more money would solve our problems, but as our salaries increased so did the problems. My prayer is that everyone will be able to learn from something that I have to share.
This blog will contain posts of where we are at in the baby steps and if there’s been any major movement in our progress. There will also be posts, which may include struggles I’m having, information I want to share, bible study topics or tips & tricks I have learned. Throughout this process I will be referencing a lot of the Dave Ramsey plan as well as some additional books. You can find a list of books and material that I recommend on my Resources Page.
To provide an idea of where we stand, we have 9 credit cards, student loans, a truck loan, and a 1st & 2nd mortgage. The payments from our 1st & 2nd mortgages combined is less than 25% of our take home pay so we know that our house is not the problem. We only have one vehicle, and its value is less than half of our annual salary, so while we still owe quite a bit on it, we are going to tackle it in the baby steps instead of selling it. The minimum payments on our credit cards total more than our 1st mortgage, so it is definitely out of control. As we walk through the baby steps and prepare our debt snowball, I will have additional information to share, just don’t want to overwhelm everyone all at once.
The more I write this out the more absurd our situation seems. If I saw the situation I am in now, 15 years ago, I would have found bankruptcy to be the answer. This time is different, because even though we were not following Dave Ramsey’s advice throughout the years, I have listened to his radio show enough to hear hundreds of others with stories similar to ours that were able to make it work. Now it’s time to put down my princess crown and get to work.