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You may see this title and think "the holidays are over, how will this help me now ?" But keep reading! I think it's fair to say that most of Americans are stressing about money at the start of a new year. Why? Because they have overspent at the holidays and are now seeing red and spend the new year playing catch up on the money they were down from over-spending. I used to be that exact same way. I LOVE Christmas. I especially LOVE Christmas shopping. I'd buy, buy, buy all Christmas season long. Then January would hit. And the credit card bills were due. And it's typically a lower time of year for Aflac sales. Less income + higher bills = one stressful way to begin a new year! Zach and I buckled down and got serious about "spending smart" a couple years ago ( you can read more about it here! ) Y'all. It's SUCH a less stressful life! Yes, budgeting takes work and it takes patience and it takes time but it's SO. WORTH. IT. We are still...
When I first read Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover it became a life changer . It's my favorite gift to give to people who are graduating or, heck, even getting married. I wish I'd read it when I was in college. I wish I could go back and undo a lot of the choices Zach and I made financially early on in our adult lives. But you can't go back! We keep our focus on what is ahead and these past couple of years have been so amazing now that we are in control of our money! You can read about how our journey started here ! Our first step was to pay off all of our debts. We didn't have student loans or credit card debt, we had medical debt. Being self employed our major medical coverage is never that stellar. Between babies, and back surgeries, and foot surgeries...medical debt adds up quick . Up until we started the Dave plan we were paying the lowest monthly amounts possible. We also had a couple personal loans we were paying on. We snowballed it all and pa...
I hate that I can't remember who first introduced us to Dave Ramsey...I seriously have thought and thought about it and can't put a finger on it! If you were the one who first told me about him, please remind me so I can give you the props you deserve ;) Anyways, a few years ago I read The Total Money Makeover and I was pumped about it. His method for paying off debt is awesome . Again, this is one of those posts where you NEED to read the book FOR YOURSELF. But basically he suggests writing down all of your debts and how much you owe for each one. Do not consider how much interest you have to pay, just the amount you owe. You list them with the smallest debt first and the largest debt last. You pay the minimum payment on each debt every month and put EVERY extra penny towards the first (lowest) debt. Once that is paid off then you take the amount you were paying on that debt and put it all towards the second one then the third etc etc etc. It's a snowball effect...
