So, I have been following Dave Ramsey (RamseySolutions.com) and Clever Girl Finance (Clevergirlfinance.com). Both have similar takes on budgeting, and paying off debt. There are some differences in Retirement saving in the beginning. I’m not sure how I feel about it but I haven’t stopped putting money into retirement so I guess I’m following Clever Girl a bit more.
Dave Ramsey’s book “The Total Money Makeover” is an excellent book to read or listen to if your considering changing your ways with money. It covers budgeting, saving an emergency fund, paying off debt and so on. He calls them the baby steps.
I have created a budgeting workbook on Excel. If you are interested in it, contact me and I will send it to you. It contains all the months of the year and a year to date at the end. I do a zero based budget where I assign my money to different categories until every dollar is spent. Somehow, I usually end up a little in the hole but that is okay because one of my jobs my pay fluctuates so I just figure low and I usually end up evening out.
I have saved $1500 in an emergency fund so that if something should come up I don’t have to use credit cards to cover the emergency.
I am currently at the “baby step” of paying off debt. At my current rate, I should be able to pay off my car and personal loan in the next three years. All debt would be gone except for my house. That will be so nice having my money in my pocket. Actually, it won’t be in my pocket. I will then start putting in more toward retirement and maybe try investing. I have a solid plan in place. Let’s hope nothing trips me up.
If you have any questions or comments or know of other great finance sites let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
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