IRAs

So D cashed out his IRA, it wasn't a lot of money (approx. $1800) but we got to use it towards debt! The reason we decided to do this was the day I told him we had gotten his collections debt down a significant amount! Well, low and behold, we come home to another collections account for around the same amount... that was a hard blow and I felt a little defeated. So we decided to go ahead and cash it out (since it was through our banker, it was a quick transfer and we will pay the taxes on it come tax return season in 2015). We sent the bulk amount to the new collections account, so we wouldn't have to worry about setting up a payment plan with them, then we sent the rest to that initial collection account and we are going to be able to pay that totally off next month!!

It's good to know that we are a step closer to being debt free, but once a pay increase comes around (or when our debt is payed off), we will definitely be contributing more into our retirement plans to help recover that money.

In the mean time I still totally have house fever, and it is driving me crazy. I just need to reset our goals and make sure that we have those set in our mind whenever we make any purchase!

Attorney's

We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with our legal situation. And it looks like, for now, out costs will not be as high as we had thought. Due to this we will be shoveling all our excess into our first, most important debt. The collections account D has. With this being paid off he can finally start to see his credit actually bounce back! Though I continue to think, when will all of these puzzle pieces fit together for us to have our perfect financial peace? A couple things I have to remind myself:

1. I am 23 (turning 24 this month), fresh out of college... Things take time. There is no possible way I am going to take the elevator up the corporate ladder at my company, it's just not feasible. Work hard at what you do and that will show to others and help to further your position!
2. Don't compare yourself to your parents! They are about 30 years older than you! They have been in the workforce for that much longer (see above as to how hard they worked and how long it's taken them to get there).
3. Don't compare yourself to your friends. They may not have debt, they may have a home, they may have the beautiful children you hope for in the future. But each of these friends does not have the same financial situation you have. Focus on your successes and the steps you need to make to better yourself.

Now to plan for this wedding! We have planned on September 2015, and have started collecting glass jars and containers to decorate with! Thank goodness I'm crafty!

Wedding Bells

Oh wedding bells are ringing for D and I. He proposed yesterday and I could not be happier! The only concern, of course, is finances. Things are still a little tight due to legal issues, and we are moving to a 2 bedroom in our apartment complex. So our budget is being stretched, to say the least! We are currently making a little more than minimum payment, but not much more. I am just ready to get it all gone, because I now have wedding on the brain and the costs that will incur, as well as now more than ever I want us to get into a house to make it our home!

A few things I plan on doing for sure to reduce costs with my wedding (which we are planning for august/september of 2015) is:
1. My mother is making my wedding dress. My mother is a wonderful seamstress, and offered to do this for me many years ago She made her own wedding dress and she wants to incorporate some of that into hers!
2. Reception at my grandparent's house. My family is very important to me, so having it at a family house cuts down on cost and keeps it personal. I also want to have the ceremony there as well, but haven't asked yet, so hush on that for now ;)
3. A small-ish bridal party. I will have 3, maybe 4, bridesmaids. I don't have the willpower to deal with 5-10 ladies complaining about something they don't like. Hush, it's my day!
4. My Aunt is going to be growing my flowers! She is like wonder woman with plants (like a super-green thumb for sure!) so I am recruiting her to do a lot of that!

I will keep everyone up to date on my wedding plans and how my debt is looking. No more, only less!

Hospital Bills

I feel like when we get one step out of the hole, someone pushes us 3 steps back down! We got an old rental debt paid off AND I got hospitalized... it was something I was not expecting, but who expects those things other than pregnancies). Thankfully it was nothing too emergent, I was released on my 3rd day, and all of my labwork is back to normal! The positives I am taking from this experience is:

1. I am healthy
2. My experience was amazing, and I am so glad I work within the healthcare group I went too!
3. My deductible is now met (woop woop for 10% co-insurance!)
4. I know D is the one, since he stayed with me through thick and thin!

So, we got one debt paid, and accrued another :( and at the moment we are not able to put our excess money towards our debt due to other circumstances, but we are still making payments on time. If the Lord brings us to it, He will bring us through it!

2 More...

So circumstances required us to take on another piece of medical debt, but I like D with his 3 front teeth. So we had to do what we had to do. Thankfully, we were ever so blessed by God to go to a periodontist that his grandfather knows (he's a big time dentist outside our city) so we got it AT COST! Saving us $2k, and he is willing to take payments, so we are going to put his debt in with our snowball and try to pay it off as soon as possible to show that we do appreciate him performing this service.

Now on to the second piece of debt we have incurred upon ourselves. This one was not a necessity, but a want. It is at 0% financing for 24 months, and as a gift we have gotten help from my parents. This will be the last item (other than a car or home) that I want to finance anything. Even with the car, I only want to have to do that with our next vehicle purchase. I want to save, save, save to be able to pay in full from now on and not have any more car payments!

We are still plugging away on our debt, and I am currently reading Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace, which has calmed down my house fever (do I need a house right now or am I wanting a home right now because I know a lot of people my age currently getting homes?). For us right now, we will be better apt to wait on a home. And I would honestly prefer to be debt free before getting into a mortgage.

Till another time! Thanks again for reading my ramblings, I hope that knowing we are going through something similar to so many other Americans will help you to realize you can make changes like we are! Good luck!

House Fever

Boy do I have it bad. D and I are in an apartment and for some reason I am just wanting to get into a home, with a  lawn, and the space, and the sweat equity to be put into it! But I must continue to stay focused. There are more important things for us to accomplish prior to making the big leap into a mortgage. BLEH!!! stay focused, stay focused, stay focused (maybe if i keep saying it it will happen!)

Paying Bills and Accountability

D gets paid twice a month, where I get paid every other week. So far, we have lucked out with us having our paychecks close to the same days. Here soon though it will get to be almost every other week. Things are going to be a little tight this pay period... which I can't say I'm too proud of, but that is why I started this blog. To help others and to keep myself accountable. So my question to you is how do you keep yourself accountable? Do you confide in a parent? Friend? Coworker? Do you keep track of your goals on a projection chart? Do you share your conquests with your friends?

I hope to get to share all of my achievements and financial goals with you and I hope they will happen sooner rather than later! Thanks for checking in!

Folders Folders and More Folders

If you are a person who goes by "everything has it's place" then this part will be fairly easy for you. D and I went through tons of options for how we wanted to organize our income, debt, budget and payment plans/options. We wanted to make sure we used something that would be effective and that we could easily keep track of. I started with a folder from my work. It has a few spots to put in different papers. I made a space for:

• a yearly check off on what was paid each month (to make sure we didn't forget to pay something)
• a list of our debt (we put it in our snowball order, smallest amount to largest)
• a monthly budget that displayed all of our expenses, the total of those expenses vs. our incoming money
• a calendar with the bills written out on the day (I like to see things written out this way, this may be something you can forgo if the yearly check off is enough, especially if it is written in date order)
• a list of our payment plan, the snowball debt payments that would be made to each debtor and the approximate payoff date, I love playing with numbers on excel and made an excel spread sheet. I will put up an example of one in a future post, this helps to keep me on track with my budget and to keep my goals in site!
• the last section is extra papers, in case something gets messed up or I need to rewrite something due to a mistake or something having changed

This is what works for us, and as always take as long as you need to figure out what works for you. If you don't find something that works, you are less likely to use it! There are tons of options for financial planners out on the internet, and I will be working on my own to hopefully provide to you all shortly! but in the meantime make one of your own, or find something by a quick google search!

First Steps First

Today's post will be all about goals. Like in weight loss, you have to have a goal and, just as importantly, the appropriate time to achieve it. You can't lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks, just like you can't scrounge up a $50k downpayment (unless you win the lottery/have liposuction).

So the first thing to do is to figure out what your goal/goals are. If you have a significant other, sit down with him/her and talk about what you all wish to achieve. For D and I, we wanted to have all of our debt paid off so we could save for a house. This included:

• approx. $2000 in medical debt
• approx. $3000 in credit card debt
• over $6000 in D's car loan left
• around $3000 left of my car lease, plus yearly taxes on the car that I haven't paid
• over $32,000 in student loan debt

As you can see, that is quite a bit in "the hole". We knew we wanted to see some daylight and eventually fill our hole and start building a mountain! So the first thing we did was schedule an appointment with D's local bank branch's financial counselor. We did decide to join accounts, but that is not for everyone. That took a lot of conversation and a lot of agreements and we had to come to an understanding that if we are going to combine our money then it was truly going to be our money. 

With a joint account we decided to create a budget. We wrote out everything we had to pay each month, about how much we used in gas each month, then decided to give ourselves an allowance/fun money. We took this budget to the appointment with the financial counselor and he really liked what we had done. He told us that the best thing that we had going for us is that our income is more than our outgoing, but it could be better. We decided to take a look at what we could cut. He also agreed with our goal of getting our debt paid off and introduced us to the Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball. We took the debt that we owed and put in smallest to largest order. We started putting all of our extra money towards our first debt (which was really only a small $100 bill owed to an old hospital visit). It is a marvelous plan and I am glad we decided to go with it!

Next post, I will show you how I created our household bills and budget folder. Thank you so much for reading my ramblings, and I hope it can be of some help to you!

Welcome!

Hi my name is Courtney. I am starting this blog to show others that today's economy allows for people to get out of debt and to be autonomous in their financial decisions.

The name of this blog comes from the fact that I will be the third wife of my future husband, D. He will be my first. Through the help of each other's experiences we will be achieving a successful life and getting our finances under control.

We currently reside in a one bedroom apartment with our two dogs, O and T. We get to spend every other weekend with his very rambunctious 7 year old DJ. I have recently graduated with a bachelors and have been working full time at a local healthcare facility. D works at a local Catholic school/church.

In my next post I will let you know the simple start to getting your finances together. It wont happen over night, it definitely didn't for us. Thank you for reading and hopefully i can help you to get a little farther along with your financial freedom!