Paycheck to paycheck

One day, after packing the kids into the car to head who knows where, Abi says to me, "Mommy, I'm so thirsty!" Now, we had literally JUST pulled out of the garage. So I say to her, "Abi, why didn't you get something to drink before we left?" Her response? "It's ok, we can just stop and get something." I had to catch my breath. Look at what we have done to our child? We have set the worst example parents can teach and she has no respect for the dollar! It was that day that got this ball rolling. Not only because of the unnecessary spending, but because that specific day, when my daughter was thirsty, I couldn't afford to buy her a drink even if I wanted to.

A few days later, I was having an honest conversation with one of my fabulous girlfriends, Brittany (you can follow her blog here).  We were discussing my family's current financial situation and she said she had something I should read. You see, my husband and I have found ourselves strapped to a mountain of debt, spending everything we make on bills, with little to nothing left over. Granted, we did this to ourselves so we have no one to blame but us. A few weeks later a book came in the mail and it has totally turned our world inside out. One of the first things Dave Ramsey says is to look in the mirror, that is your number one problem with money.

Ouch! Me? How could I be our problem with money? Could it be because once I graduated nursing school we finally had two steady incomes? Could it be because we got comfortable with excess and spent it without looking back? Or because we were stupid and instead of paying off the debt we had and padding that savings account that up until just recently had an average of $0.00 in it, we ignored it? Yes, the reflection in the mirror, myself and my husband, we were the problem.

That's the harsh reality. No magical job, no magical raise, no magical wand exists to erase financial stupidity. Our problems with money were never going to go away until we faced the fact that we have put ourselves here; we made our choices and now we have to live with the consequences. Part of those consequences are the painstaking process of having to dig our way out of this hole. And so, our journey has begun. One month down and we have successfully stuck with a, get ready for this....BUDGET. The dreaded "B" word. We never realized how frivolous we were with money and how unneeded the things were that we chose to spend our hard earned pennies on until we wrote it all down and had to assign each dollar. 

We are tired of paying bills every other Friday and looking at each other with weary eyes wondering how we are going to make it for another two weeks. WE are making our money work for us. WE are taking control. 

More info on Dave Ramsey can be found here