More Money Talk

We had another message at church about money yesterday. It was about the importance of getting your financial life in order so you can go from someone who needs help to someone who is able to help. How do you go about doing this? 1. BUDGET 2. Deferred gratification- wait for something you want. Boring. Who wants to do that? I'm a sale shopper most of the time. If I wait it's going to be gone. This is why we have credit card debt. And as for the budget, I've tried to do it, but I NEVER follow through. It's not fun if you know there is no money for the things you want. A budget makes it crystal clear and it makes you realize you cannot afford it. I would use the approach of not knowing and that is also why we have credit card debt.

It was very interesting reading the comments from the last money post. I am amazed at what little families are spending on groceries! I was very surprised the majority of the answers were between $50-70 dollars per week. Just for fun, I went through my receipts from the last 3 months and my average was $130. What the heck am I doing wrong?

Recently our credit card company changed our terms so we don't have a locked in interest rate. It would be a variable rate, i.e., HIGH. So we cancelled our credit card. It is scary not having that cushion for just in case. But it needed to be done because I have a broad definition of emergency or just in case. Now we have to budget. There is no room for "but it was such a good deal!"

Here are my answers to the money questions from last post:

I am the money manager.

I do not balance the checkbook. Once again, it would not be fun to know what you have in your account, especially right before you go to Target.

We no longer have credit cards, just balances.

I must really suck at grocery shopping. I even use coupons here and there! I'm not sure what happened in September, but I managed to spend $689 dollars on groceries. Jake and Tyler barely eat! What is my bill going to be when they are 15 or 16?

My parents did not teach me anything about money. I've always had a job since 16, but I wasn't taught money management. I don't blame them for our financial situation, it just makes me want to try really hard to teach my kids good money management skills.

No separate bank accounts for us. Considering I have no job, I don't think a bank account for me necessary. I do think it is important for each spouse to have their own "free" money when setting up a budget.

We are going to try Dave Ramsey. Our pastor recommended this book. I'm going to do the cash in envelope system. I have to see the cash going out or it just doesn't register that is leaving our bank account.

We do not have college savings. The kids have bank accounts with money from birthday and Christmas. They also have stock in Exxon from my Grandpa. We put money each month in our retirement instead. I have learned that your children can borrow money for school, but you cannot borrow for retirement. Hopefully they are good at sports!