The Weight of Money

We’re finally pulling our head out of the sand and taking a look around at our financial situation. I’ve been frantically collecting information and data so that we can get back on track with our finances. No more looking the other way and no more just hiding from reality — nothing is going to get better if I keep ignoring everything.

The partner is also on board for paying more attention to what’s going on and not leaving me the only one aware of our finances. I did a great job with our money when it easy, when progress was being made, when I felt like we had control. But the past two years, everything been a huge struggle, one that I just gave up and walked away from. Now we’re back to getting on track for erasing debt and getting the things we need.

When we were really on top of the money game, we made great progress on our credit card debt – going from $30,000 to $13,000! Being able to buy a house was the prime motivation and I’m said to admit that since buying said house, we’ve added back at least $7,000. This has been a combination of things going wrong, poor money choices, personal business purchases, and economy fall-out. Since buying the house, we’ve not really made any positive progress on paying off debt as most month’s have felt like we’re lucky to be eating. But now we’re looking at $20,000 in credit card debt that has to get paid – and we’re going to!

The other big money buster has been the eating out habit. I’ll be honest, this is my problem. I’ve gotten in the habit of always going out to eat and not spending any time working up meal plans or menus. I’ve let various excuses get in the way and am always quick to play the “we have to eat” card when everyone is starving and going somewhere is then the easiest option. In fact, I manage to eat out almost once a day — I’m a stay-at-home mom that lives in the country. It’s at least a 20-30 minute drive to get somewhere to eat — there is no excuse for this. So, we’re going with the envelope system for eating out and groceries to curb this habit – wish me luck.

Oh and the money group plans are actually moving forward, yay!

As I’m trying to get our finances back on track, I feel myself really longing for a money group or some sort of personal support in this venture. I think it would really help me stay on task and dedicated to have someone to be honest to and to get feedback from. Honestly, I used to feel this blog sort of fit that need, but being inactive for a couple years, I’m thinking I’ll just be talking to dead space now.

We’re looking into the Dave Ramsey system and I know their courses do provide this sort of mentorship – but I’m not spending money to save money at this point. I think the partner and I can get on board and make positive changes without outlaying cash for courses. The small online group I was hoping to work with doesn’t look like it’s going to pan out – they’re probably just going with a format that I won’t be able to follow along with due to a lack of structure and easily accessible support. I do have my hopes that they’ll move to a slightly different format so we can make it work, but since I’m not in charge, I can’t force that change.

I just have some questions and issues I’d really love some supportive feedback on, especially the ones that seem pretty obvious what the answer should be but is hard to accept or follow through with. I’ll probably just end up posting them here eventually, but feel like the possible comments I’ll get in return won’t offer the supportive feedback that will make it easier to make necessary decisions. I’m not looking for someone to tell me “yes, make that stupid decision” but I do want something more than “well duh, it’s obvious that you shouldn’t do that” as well.

Perhaps for now, it’ll just have to be the partner and I supporting each other.

I’d love to say that I’m jumping back in the financial saddle again, but I’m afraid a statement that bold will invite instant downfall. So lets just say that I’m cleaning tack and getting the horses ready.

For 2 years (guesstimate), I’ve stopped watching our finances. My head has been in the sand and it’s time to get it back out. We have some goals that we’ve been talking about eventually getting to, but they aren’t happening because we don’t have a real plan for how to make it happen. I’m considering doing the Dave Ramsey method for the next year to help get us in better financial shape. I’m not sure how the partner will feel about that method, but I know that he’s also feeling the strain of wackadasical finances.

I have some friends that are trying to come together to support each other for reaching their financial goals and am going to use this opportunity to get back to being honest about our money. Right now, the situation is pretty scary and it’s been that way for quite a while. I’ve been trying to hide it from myself and the partner and it’s time to get out of that destructive pattern.

So, hopefully I’ll be back here soon to give an honest assessment of where we’re at financially and where we want to be in the short-term.