Yep, it is time to revisit that nasty word, Budget. That word always carried a restrictive connotation with me for many years. It is actually very freeing to be able to sit down and tell each dollar where it is going before you get it. If you do that you want be wondering where it all went at the end of the month. I told you when I started this that I was terrible at balancing my checkbook and doing a budget. I had never balanced my checkbook till I took Dave's class and worse than that I had never really looked at my bank statements before either. I know, that is the worst. That is why I tell you, I have made many mistakes and I wish I knew about Dave or anybody else for that matter earlier. It would have saved me so much money and heart ache too.
Let us get down to the nitty gritty of the big B. Dave says, managed money is like getting a raise. That is so true, I would have never thought that before I put together a budget. Do not look at your budget as restrictive, look at it as spending on paper for a purpose. (another Daveism) The first thing I did was write out, longhand, what we spent in a month. Even though we are in the technology age I still like using pencil and paper when working with my budget. I took old bank statements and looked at each one and wrote down what we had spent to try and compile my budget. Group your items together for example, restaurants, groceries, insurance, car payments, house payments, utilities, and phone bills etc. . . Do not forget to put give and save at the top of your list. Remember what your grandparents always say the more you give the more you receive so, always keep giving at the top. You also have to remember to pay yourself (save). If you are at the height of your debt snowball you may think, how can I give and save if I am paying crazy to get out of debt? You may have to cut back on saving during your debt snowball period. That is ok because once you are out of debt you will be able to save and give like crazy. I did not believe it either but it is possible and we are giving and saving like crazy. We are still paying down our house but it is not like before. Dave says during the debt snowball that everything should be going to pay off your debt. He talks about using your savings to get out of debt. I guess if you were in several hundred thousand dollar debt then that would be understandable, we were not that bad off so we did not use any savings to pay ours off. We used everything else though and, we never stopped giving. To me giving was the most important part of our budget. The old adage stands true the more you give the more you receive. We are proof positive in that. I cannot tell you how many times early in our marriage that we did not know how we were going to pay bills but we never stopped our giving and we never missed any payments.
Being able to budget and get out of debt has been a huge blessing and I want everyone to know how to do it. Imagine a debt free world, imagine the amazing things that could be done if there was no debt hanging over our heads, imagine the lives that could be changed. That is what I hope for, amazing changes for everyone.
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