Assignments:
1) Complete Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (go to www.daveramsey.com and click on "classes"). I found a course that meets every Tuesday night for nine weeks at a church down the street. So far it is LIFE CHANGING, people.
2) Create a mint.com account. Basically this links all of your bank accounts, credit cards, debt, etc in one place to help you chart spending and debt-reduction.
3) Create a debt-free-in-5-years-or-less plan. When we get out of debt (which is basically $18,000 in school loans), we are going to sock away a full emergency fund, which is 3-6 months of expenses (thank you Dave Ramsey), and THEN we will start saving for our debt-free vacation. We want to go to Florida, beach it up, and celebrate becoming debt free! This will probably take us about 5 years if we stay focused and work our butts off at paying off debt.
This is going to be a challenge for us because we're doing this on one income. But we are willing to make sacrifices, like renting a 2 bedroom apartment rather than looking for a house, and sharing a vehicle rather than paying for gas and insurance for two. I like this quote from Dave Ramsey: "If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else." So that's the plan for the semester: create a spending, saving, and debt-reducing plan to get our "net worth" in the positives over the next few years. Boom!
Mint.com sounds interesting! Can't wait to hear more!!
ReplyDeleteAwwwwww, you're checking my blog! What a pal, what a pal. And yeah, I have a friend that uses mint.com and she did a little finances seminar for us one night. It seemed really helpful. For instance, at the end of the month, it tells you how much you spent on groceries, eating out, etc.
ReplyDeleteI am totally enjoying your masters! I am going to check out mint.com. have you ever watched suze orman? She recommends 8 month emergency fund but gives a lot of good financial advice. It is Saturday's at 9 pm est on cnbc I think. I am researching college saving/investment plans for my boys and it makes my head spin. Good luck! ~Kristin
ReplyDeleteOh and does debt free include mortgages? I can be debt free of everything but my mortgage... That is gonna take a bit longer!
ReplyDeleteCan we share plans? :)
ReplyDelete