August 23, 2010

This past year has been a huge year for Robbie and I.

It was about a year ago that we decided to get serious about saving money. The year before was a rough year for us. Robbie's company went through a reorganization... his position was cut and he was moved to a different position. It is always hard to go through a change... and this change also affected our finances. We had to learn how to live on a lot less money, real fast.

After making some changes, we found that we were able to live... but wanted to know more about how to live intentionally and how to save in case we ever had to deal with a situation like this again.

Fortunately about 6 months later Robbie got his old job back... but we still thought it was important to learn how to manage money and not let it manage us.

This was about the time our church offered the Dave Ramsey's course on money called Financial Peace University.

I cannot say that at the time I really cared... because at that time all I cared about was the day to day. In my mind I simple thought "I have money today, I am good". But I was supportive of Robbie (he is the long term thinker in our marriage). Not that it wasn't important to me to save for tomorrow... but it was definitely more important for Robbie.

Robbie started going to these classes and would come home... He was on passion to SAVE SAVE SAVE... I will even be so honest with you to say I was a little afraid of what was ahead of me. The only thing I could imagine was living on P&J and water for the next 30 years. I remember thinking... I will never get to go on another vacation in my life at this savings rate :)

I also have to say that money was never really anything that Robbie and I argued about.... but I will say that I am sure I frustrated him more than he told me.

I didn't make the money in our family, so I never thought really anything about money when it came to our family. The problem with that was... I didn't know if we had money or not. So when it came time to buy something, I put it on the credit card.

Even though I never bought enough to get us into financial trouble... I also wasn't allowing us to save for emergencies. (Which I found would have been really helpful during our job situation earlier in life).

So as much as I got tired of hearing Robbie come home and talk about saving saving saving... I knew I needed to open my eyes and see a bigger picture other than the "today".

After a long talk about where our money went, and a compromise on what was reasonable to "live in today" and still "save for tomorrow"... we started our cash budget.

The first few months were really hard. I found myself without money about two days after payday. I was realizing just how fast I could swipe a card and not think twice. However, with no debit or credit card... I thought twice!

About month three I found it very comforting to know if my kids needed shoes... I had the money (because I had saved for it). I learned that waiting and planning ahead was way more rewarding than the quick fix.

Six months in we had paid off my college loan, our timeshare, and had built up our emergency fund.

This was also about the time we had decided that now was the time to go through with our adoption. Because of this, we have been able to pay cash and will not need to take out any loans!

On Saturday we got to hear Dave in person... I didn't know what I would walk away with. We had been through his class... so what was left to know?

Let me tell you...

One of the questions I ask most in life is why did we grow up so poor... but seem to have it together now? What is the point of money, and why at a young age have we (Robbie and I) been blessed with the ability to want to manage money (and it not manage us).

My question was answered this weekend.... and I believe we are given money to serve our families and others with it.

Robbie and I have a passion to give and know that sometimes a few extra dollars in someone else's hands can mean the world to them. But to do this... we need money to give. So by having no debt... we are free to give.

Next year we will have paid off all our debt and look forward to living a life debt free. Our last goal is to pay off Robbie's student loans.... then we will forever be debt free!

We now have short term goals (how to live in the "today") and also have our future goals (how to be prepared for "tomorrow").

I am thankful for our jobs today, and thankful we are able to serve others with our income.

I would highly recommend this program. I was telling Robbie... I love Dave's wisdom and the fact that he doesn't set out for everyone to be millionaires in the end. But allows for all people no matter what they make to be debt free, be prepared for their future and give back.

For us.. we hope this is a value that we will pass down to our kids.... and it becomes a legacy that will make a difference.

www.daveramsey.com/fpu