LOSE THE DEBT!
This is getting hard I must say. Up until now I really was into this. Its difficult when you visit just how much debt you have. This debt has allowed us to have nice things, convenience and fun. Now we have to pay it back and when you look at how big the mountain is, it kind of makes you want to go back to the "easy" life. I know, I know its only easy because I carpet swept the fact that we didn't have the money to spend but we wanted to spend it anyways and that one day we would have to pay it back.
I keep asking myself, do I want to really live within my means? If I do it means that I can't have a lot of things I would like, for example a boat or a cottage. Right now I feel like by the time I pay off the debt anything could happen for example, I lose my job or my husband does and then those dreams will never come true. Its like I want it all now just in case I can't have it in the future. OOps think I just figured out what the problem is. I want it all now!! My bad!! How pessimistic is that!! Maybe I will win the lottery in a few years, maybe I will get a better job and by that point good money is coming in and the debt is gone!!! Yep, this is my new way of thinking from now on! Its not a mountain I am climbing but a challenge I will overcome!!
See this blog is good. If I wasn't yappin about poor me I would never have figured it out.
I do get excited every payday now to pay the bills that have been assigned for that week. This is a big plus.......instead of dreading the bills I am looking forward to reviewing them. This is soooo for real, I am not making this up!!
I highlight in my book now things in pink for the days I get what Gail calls "debt fatigue" I know exactly where I have to go to get some inspiration!!!
Also like the knowledge about debt. Seeing how dangerous revolving credit is really makes me open my eyes to the kind of debt we get into. We love revolving, SO DO THE COMPANIES GIVING IT TO YOU!! Yep lesson learned, if we need to go into debt for something it will be through a loan with a fixed date, and fixed payments to pay it off without any doors open to use it again!!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
O.k so I went back and reread and found that in my anticipation I missed some details about how you do your budget. Really glad I went back and reread, found some other things that I needed to hear again. For example you pay only the bills for which you have money in the bank during any period. No wonder things seemed a little harder, it almost felt like I was following behind instead of catching up. But its o.k and all fixed.
Now we, and I say we because my husband is involved (for the most part) are trying to learn the habit of checking with our budget before we spend. This is our Wednesday thing
Now we, and I say we because my husband is involved (for the most part) are trying to learn the habit of checking with our budget before we spend. This is our Wednesday thing
Friday, March 12, 2010
DAY NINE
Yes day nine!
Set backs and I couldn't post. Actually I had to reread. Still having trouble with my budget. The problem is the back debt. Don't exactly know how to handle the debt that we owe on variable spending like propane. Since it is $800.00 how do I show that in a monthly budget when I can only afford $160.00 right now and payments for the next three weeks? Should I start my balanced budget in April? I get paid weekly and my husband gets paid every other week as opposed to biweekly. I also want to try to move the bill dates around however there are no set dates in the month where we get paid so how do we move them?
Sooooo! it looks like I have to go back and reread the chapter on balancing your budget. I know I am missing something probably because I got too excited and remember how I like to charge forward and go go go.
Give me a few days to study this and I will be back with the answers.........promise!! (cool! just found out how to use the color on this!)
Set backs and I couldn't post. Actually I had to reread. Still having trouble with my budget. The problem is the back debt. Don't exactly know how to handle the debt that we owe on variable spending like propane. Since it is $800.00 how do I show that in a monthly budget when I can only afford $160.00 right now and payments for the next three weeks? Should I start my balanced budget in April? I get paid weekly and my husband gets paid every other week as opposed to biweekly. I also want to try to move the bill dates around however there are no set dates in the month where we get paid so how do we move them?
Sooooo! it looks like I have to go back and reread the chapter on balancing your budget. I know I am missing something probably because I got too excited and remember how I like to charge forward and go go go.
Give me a few days to study this and I will be back with the answers.........promise!! (cool! just found out how to use the color on this!)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
DAY SIX
Its about the pie people, Life pie that is!
Still trying to balance my budget. I get it balanced and then oops I find out I actually spent more on groceries than I thought. Yes I used the jars, and boy did I use the jars.........EMPTY every single one of them. I like Gail interactive budget on the web since it calculates how much needs to go into each jar. (Finally someone else to do the math!!)
I’m hoping my jars are completely empty because of all the debt we need to catch up on like propane, hydro, telephone, satellite (which by the way we cut all the specialty channels! Hooray for me!).
I’m not going to lie though I fight the temptation everyday not to spend on credit. For example we ripped out the carpet in the kitchen (yes! Carpet in the kitchen!) and can’t afford the items to put the tiles down which have been sitting in our basement since we moved in. You see old me would convince my sweet, sweet husband that we need flooring. I do this quite well apparently. He is says he can’t say no to me, funny before I would have thought that was true. Now I’m kinda thinking its his excuse to buy things as well and blame me for harassing him.
Is true what Gail says......"once you start keeping track of your money, you spend less"
The lesson I learned from this chapter was paying my bills three days early. I never thought of doing this which is silly because I use online banking and it always says it could take two days to process. Brilliant, now I did my Bills to be paid list and marked everything three days early unless of course it comes out automatically. Well, we will see if this works!
Oh ya and I have a new favourite quote! Ya ready for this one..............it hurts!...."Unexpected is really just another way of saying, I don’t want to have to think about it" Come on now, the truth hurts but we love to do this one don’t we?
Still trying to balance my budget. I get it balanced and then oops I find out I actually spent more on groceries than I thought. Yes I used the jars, and boy did I use the jars.........EMPTY every single one of them. I like Gail interactive budget on the web since it calculates how much needs to go into each jar. (Finally someone else to do the math!!)
I’m hoping my jars are completely empty because of all the debt we need to catch up on like propane, hydro, telephone, satellite (which by the way we cut all the specialty channels! Hooray for me!).
I’m not going to lie though I fight the temptation everyday not to spend on credit. For example we ripped out the carpet in the kitchen (yes! Carpet in the kitchen!) and can’t afford the items to put the tiles down which have been sitting in our basement since we moved in. You see old me would convince my sweet, sweet husband that we need flooring. I do this quite well apparently. He is says he can’t say no to me, funny before I would have thought that was true. Now I’m kinda thinking its his excuse to buy things as well and blame me for harassing him.
Is true what Gail says......"once you start keeping track of your money, you spend less"
The lesson I learned from this chapter was paying my bills three days early. I never thought of doing this which is silly because I use online banking and it always says it could take two days to process. Brilliant, now I did my Bills to be paid list and marked everything three days early unless of course it comes out automatically. Well, we will see if this works!
Oh ya and I have a new favourite quote! Ya ready for this one..............it hurts!...."Unexpected is really just another way of saying, I don’t want to have to think about it" Come on now, the truth hurts but we love to do this one don’t we?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Day Five
Decide What you really want:
This is probably the hardest chapter yet. Funny I thought the spending analysis was eh? But really, GOALS. Its a hard thing to wrap your head around, not dreams but Goals. Never had goals when it came to money because it was just a matter of getting by and making it until next pay (maybe this was my goal!)
Not now though. This was fun, my husband and I who I always thought are opposites have a lot of the same goals. We laughed a lot talking about this and we learned a lot too! We learned how to aim high! This took a long time to narrow things down. But mainly, are ya ready folks we are going to build a garage, a spanking garage. Never thought I would be excited about a garage but by golly I can't wait. (This is my number one fault!! I roll with it hard and fast) I was so excited about this I couldn't stop thinking about how to afford it now!! OOPS big set back, forgot to pay debts and be debt free!! Don't worry thanks to my husband I am back on track. I find that sometimes I just need to say..........lets buy it, lets get a line of credit, but its o.k when he says no no no no. just had to get it out there!
Yep we are paying off our debt and we are going to do that hard and fast instead and in the meantime we are planing our spankin' garage!! This was a main part of the chapter....to plan small steps so you can see yourself advancing!. Never did this before I like to jump.
I will be honest, I am going ahead in the book while I'm still planing my small steps. Gail says, "Once you hit your first milestone, you set another" so I think this is o.k. Love ya Gail its like when I don't know where to start, I read the next line and there it is....
I will end this with my favorite quote of the chapter, "I am more than what my financial life says about me. I can have anything I want, if I am prepared to work hard. Today I want to........."
Love it!
This is probably the hardest chapter yet. Funny I thought the spending analysis was eh? But really, GOALS. Its a hard thing to wrap your head around, not dreams but Goals. Never had goals when it came to money because it was just a matter of getting by and making it until next pay (maybe this was my goal!)
Not now though. This was fun, my husband and I who I always thought are opposites have a lot of the same goals. We laughed a lot talking about this and we learned a lot too! We learned how to aim high! This took a long time to narrow things down. But mainly, are ya ready folks we are going to build a garage, a spanking garage. Never thought I would be excited about a garage but by golly I can't wait. (This is my number one fault!! I roll with it hard and fast) I was so excited about this I couldn't stop thinking about how to afford it now!! OOPS big set back, forgot to pay debts and be debt free!! Don't worry thanks to my husband I am back on track. I find that sometimes I just need to say..........lets buy it, lets get a line of credit, but its o.k when he says no no no no. just had to get it out there!
Yep we are paying off our debt and we are going to do that hard and fast instead and in the meantime we are planing our spankin' garage!! This was a main part of the chapter....to plan small steps so you can see yourself advancing!. Never did this before I like to jump.
I will be honest, I am going ahead in the book while I'm still planing my small steps. Gail says, "Once you hit your first milestone, you set another" so I think this is o.k. Love ya Gail its like when I don't know where to start, I read the next line and there it is....
I will end this with my favorite quote of the chapter, "I am more than what my financial life says about me. I can have anything I want, if I am prepared to work hard. Today I want to........."
Love it!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Day Four
So its been a while since we last talked but I have been very busy. After analysing my spending I have a new appreciation for bookkeepers!
I have exciting news folks. Gail got back to me and explained quite simply, if you put it in your mouth it is groceries!! (Won't go there!) She's is great. This is one of the things I like about Gail, she is simple and to the point. I'm glad I emailed her (an ecstatic that she returned it sooo fast) because the next step was creating a balanced budget. I looked at what I use as a budget and what Gail said to use and could not figure out how to put all my expenses into her budget but I did it because I kept it simple and used something that I find really hard to pull up............common sense.
Before this however, I had to own up to my debt. This was extremely educational. For instance I had never thought of overdraft being a debt to me it was always a "paycheck" or "security money just in case" No this is a debt folks and when I used her formula to figure out how much I had to put in my budget to pay it off I realized how much of a debt it was.........$83.00 a month!!! That is my hairdressing money, guess I better get use to the grey hair for a bit eh?
This wasn't the only debt that I tucked away neatly in my subconscious, I had more!! RRSP's used to buy the house, loans from my parents, Don't Pay until 6Months no interest (oh ya I love this because you always say, "It will be paid in 6 months so it doesn't count!" Not to mention the big whopper............my student loan that was supposedly paid by a bursary since I was on mother's allowance during school and had to spend a whopper of days writing an essay (not to mention putting my life's poor decisions on the board for everyone to see!!) then the government deciding that years later it wasn't paid!! But face reality, its the government do you really think they are going to say "oops we made a mistake"? So this has now become my worst debt!
However let me tell you, and I can, that after doing this I was upset but after a day or eight it was actually a relief and felt good to be in control of what I owe. So my advise, just do it no matter how hard or how bad its the tool you need to take charge of your life and not let others take charge of it for you. BE EMPOWERED PEOPLE!! after all it is our debt and we did it right? :)
I have exciting news folks. Gail got back to me and explained quite simply, if you put it in your mouth it is groceries!! (Won't go there!) She's is great. This is one of the things I like about Gail, she is simple and to the point. I'm glad I emailed her (an ecstatic that she returned it sooo fast) because the next step was creating a balanced budget. I looked at what I use as a budget and what Gail said to use and could not figure out how to put all my expenses into her budget but I did it because I kept it simple and used something that I find really hard to pull up............common sense.
Before this however, I had to own up to my debt. This was extremely educational. For instance I had never thought of overdraft being a debt to me it was always a "paycheck" or "security money just in case" No this is a debt folks and when I used her formula to figure out how much I had to put in my budget to pay it off I realized how much of a debt it was.........$83.00 a month!!! That is my hairdressing money, guess I better get use to the grey hair for a bit eh?
This wasn't the only debt that I tucked away neatly in my subconscious, I had more!! RRSP's used to buy the house, loans from my parents, Don't Pay until 6Months no interest (oh ya I love this because you always say, "It will be paid in 6 months so it doesn't count!" Not to mention the big whopper............my student loan that was supposedly paid by a bursary since I was on mother's allowance during school and had to spend a whopper of days writing an essay (not to mention putting my life's poor decisions on the board for everyone to see!!) then the government deciding that years later it wasn't paid!! But face reality, its the government do you really think they are going to say "oops we made a mistake"? So this has now become my worst debt!
However let me tell you, and I can, that after doing this I was upset but after a day or eight it was actually a relief and felt good to be in control of what I owe. So my advise, just do it no matter how hard or how bad its the tool you need to take charge of your life and not let others take charge of it for you. BE EMPOWERED PEOPLE!! after all it is our debt and we did it right? :)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day Three
Very tired, very confused.....help I’m drowning in numbers.........but I shall keep at it. One chequing account is finished, now I have one more, one more savings and then credit cards.
Must say, I am confused I seem to be missing catagories. For example I pay $20.00 a month for my daughter to eat at school so what does this go under? Dining out, kids activities?? Education maybe... just don’t know (funny always thought I was kinda smart) and what about when my lovely boys come home from university and college and I buy them groceries, does that go under gifts or groceries. Think I will have to email Gail and ask her.......do I sound stupid because you know how much I love Gail and I don’t want her thinking I’m not smart..................however, I need answers so I will ask and look stupid so whoever reads this and asks the same question (hopefully) will look smart. Glad I can help.
Must say, I am confused I seem to be missing catagories. For example I pay $20.00 a month for my daughter to eat at school so what does this go under? Dining out, kids activities?? Education maybe... just don’t know (funny always thought I was kinda smart) and what about when my lovely boys come home from university and college and I buy them groceries, does that go under gifts or groceries. Think I will have to email Gail and ask her.......do I sound stupid because you know how much I love Gail and I don’t want her thinking I’m not smart..................however, I need answers so I will ask and look stupid so whoever reads this and asks the same question (hopefully) will look smart. Glad I can help.
Day Two
Analyse your spending. I am so glad Gail said that this is going to be a long and bumpy road but what really kept me on track was....”if you skip this step, your lazy, uncommitted, and looking for an easy way out.” Does she have a crystal ball or what!!! I read the chapter title and was about to pull the usual ....I know where my problem is and where I’m spending... but remembered ..COMMITMENT. So I read the chapter buckled down and started searching for bank statements. I now have them, after words with my husband who “knows where are problems are and where we are spending..” Haha love men! So I am climbing the mountain now imputing six months of my bank statements and his and credit card statements. I must admit that my lazy bone kicked in and I am inputting them with Microsoft Money to get the job done faster. (Remember...old habits... you know what I mean!!)
Climbing my mountain, when I am done in the distant future I will check back. In the meantime lets remember a Gail moment “ Your going to have to do the work yourself. I’ll warn you again, this isn’t going to be easy. In fact, its going to be bloody hard, and only the strongest and most tenacious people will make it” - page 5. I love page 5..............see you in a week or two! Tenacious.... it actually sounds ...sexy!
Climbing my mountain, when I am done in the distant future I will check back. In the meantime lets remember a Gail moment “ Your going to have to do the work yourself. I’ll warn you again, this isn’t going to be easy. In fact, its going to be bloody hard, and only the strongest and most tenacious people will make it” - page 5. I love page 5..............see you in a week or two! Tenacious.... it actually sounds ...sexy!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
O.k. first thanks to my sister for making me this blog site because I am totally useless at this stuff. Also thanks to my daughter who so bluntly pointed out that I never keep my commitments to myself. She is absolutely right and this is the reason for my blog. I figure if I keep a journal of what I am doing and how I am progressing I will stick to it. Its like having an imaginary “trainer” to own up to.
I love Gail, I love how blunt she is and how she makes you responsible for your choices. So I made a choice to get debt free. I love jumping into things heels over head!!!Slow and one step at a time is not in my vocabulary.....hence my problem!! This is one of the main reasons as to how I got into debt. I am the one who picks up a novel reads the summary on the back, the first chapter and need to know the end so I read it!! Who does that????????????
Gail knows this. Item number two in her introduction of her newest book “Debt-Free Forever” is actually “Do one thing at a time”. I love her! She even describes me...”shooting off in all directions and achieving nothing!” That’s me! How does she know so much? This must mean there are more people out there like me. I take comfort in that. The funny thing is I am totally organized with everything I mean down to what goes in what drawer in the kitchen and what goes on what shelf in the fridge (ah thanks momma!! You taught me well) so why, why do I shoot off in all directions. Hopefully this blog will help me stay focussed and take baby steps! (Which is actually item number three..... can you believe it?! Honestly, Gail your too much! Luv ya!
So here we go..............................
Day One:
Went to Gail’s website and got information on how to get financially organized. I’m very confused!!! My file box has all my bills alphabetically, folders for all my children, me and my husband, folders for warranties, miscellaneous items, important documents, etc... (did you forget I’m extremely organized?) Gail wants me to reduce it all to less than half of what I have. O.k. maybe I was doing overkill? Who knows but what has become my favourite saying applies...”Gail says”. I trust ya Gail. Gone are the files (well most of them...old habits are hard to break!) I love my inbox though. The idea of separating bills from due on 1-16 and 17-31 love it!
This took about two hours to do.
I love Gail, I love how blunt she is and how she makes you responsible for your choices. So I made a choice to get debt free. I love jumping into things heels over head!!!Slow and one step at a time is not in my vocabulary.....hence my problem!! This is one of the main reasons as to how I got into debt. I am the one who picks up a novel reads the summary on the back, the first chapter and need to know the end so I read it!! Who does that????????????
Gail knows this. Item number two in her introduction of her newest book “Debt-Free Forever” is actually “Do one thing at a time”. I love her! She even describes me...”shooting off in all directions and achieving nothing!” That’s me! How does she know so much? This must mean there are more people out there like me. I take comfort in that. The funny thing is I am totally organized with everything I mean down to what goes in what drawer in the kitchen and what goes on what shelf in the fridge (ah thanks momma!! You taught me well) so why, why do I shoot off in all directions. Hopefully this blog will help me stay focussed and take baby steps! (Which is actually item number three..... can you believe it?! Honestly, Gail your too much! Luv ya!
So here we go..............................
Day One:
Went to Gail’s website and got information on how to get financially organized. I’m very confused!!! My file box has all my bills alphabetically, folders for all my children, me and my husband, folders for warranties, miscellaneous items, important documents, etc... (did you forget I’m extremely organized?) Gail wants me to reduce it all to less than half of what I have. O.k. maybe I was doing overkill? Who knows but what has become my favourite saying applies...”Gail says”. I trust ya Gail. Gone are the files (well most of them...old habits are hard to break!) I love my inbox though. The idea of separating bills from due on 1-16 and 17-31 love it!
This took about two hours to do.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Starting Off
No one wants to be in debt, least of all us. Four children, a new home that needs A LOT of work and a husband who doesn't think outside help is necessary. Well I do and I've gotten it by reading a local author's amazing book: Debt Free Forever!
So this is where I'll jot down our ups and downs and trials on the road to being debt free...forever!
So this is where I'll jot down our ups and downs and trials on the road to being debt free...forever!
