Check-up

Even though finances seem to be somewhat of a personal issue, we are pretty open about it. I have, through reading other blogs, found encouragement from others and hope that maybe my successes and failures could help someone in the same situation I have found myself in. Being in Financial Peace is very important to my family and one day we will be there!



I decided to go ahead and post my financial check-up even though June was a crazy month.
Before I knew it, it was over. However, all in all, God truly sent the blessings our way! Here is the recap:

• We went farther into debt due to lawn mower situations....which was our biggest downer for the month.


• We still managed to pay a little bit on our credit card debt. To the tune of: $150. We're dwindling it down slowly...but atleast it is shrinking...right?!


• We had some medical bills that came in, and instead of letting them pile up, we took the money out of our EF (emergency fund) to pay for them. This left us with only $850, instead of the $1000. We plan on replacing that as soon as we can...although I just got another medical bill in the mail this week!


• In looking back through our bank statements, I "found" $100 that we just spent. I really thought we were doing good on our budget...apparently not. That would've been very beneficial on our CC debt!

So..my goals for July would be to have better control on our spending and hold ourselves more accountable. Cash is a must in this family! The extra money that was spent last month was due to debit card usuage...and in all honestly it is probably higher than $100 if I really analyzed it, and would make myself more accountable. June was rough for us though because we had to make 2 trips to the "city" almost 2 hours away for doctor visits. I didn't add those expenses into the "found" money...although I probably should have...I'm afraid of that figure..so we'll dismiss it! Well hopefully this little check-up will come as a reminder to me during this month, and remind me to do cash only and to give every dollar a name. When FPU first started we were much more strict with this, and as time has went on, the newness wore off. I see now why it is so important to do check-ups...you see exactly what is going on, instead of what you have fooled yourself into believing.

Also, our goal was to be completly credit card debt free by the end of August so that we could begin to dwindle down Willie's truck payment with gazelle intesity. Now that we have the new debt of the lawn mower it will come first (after the cc)...which pushes everything else back. Hopefully not too far! In order to have the credit card paid for by the end of August we will have to pay $600 for both July and August. With school just around the corner, I just don't know that we can accomplish that. We're going to try. Afterall, God IS amazing!

If you have been thinking about doing Dave Ramsey's plan, but just haven't taken the step forward to do so....I highly recommend that you run to go buy his Total Money Makeover book, or you enroll in his FPU courses. It is worth your time, effort and investment. Hands down.