One of the best way to save money is to know what you are spending each month. If you don't know what you are spending then you usually don't know that you are exceeding your income until you are in over your head with excessive debt. Today I gave a talk at my church on how we can be financially independent and not enslaved to our debt. With the down turn in this economy my husband & I have lost 70% of our income compared to last year. Needless to say things have been really tight & life has gotten a bit more complicated.
My husband and I finally sat down & revised our budget (we had done a budget but with the new baby I really hadn't been on top of keeping it up. Also it was depressing to realize that we didn't have enough money for bills. I realize that by not doing a budget we were spending more money & making things even worse). A budget really put our finances into perceptive & we couldn't hide from the reality that we needed to make some significant changes. I am a bargain shopper so we didn't spend tons of money but we did realize that anything outside necessities (true necessities ~ food, utilities, gas for work, etc...) would be the only thing we can afford now.
We have decided to sell our house since we can no longer afford it. We put a substantial amount of money into our house since we paid for our backyard & pool in cash and paid off our 2nd mortgage, but because of the market we are still $150+ upside down. (Sidenote ~ If you know of someone that wants a beautiful home in Las Vegas for an awesome price e-mail me.) I have learned that money can't make you happy. My house & backyard is amazing but it is just a thing. The true things that matter are my family. I am so grateful that we are healthy and we all love each other. As long as I have my family I will be just fine.
Here are a couple of tools to help us all become debt free & not enslaved by money.
Click here for the Family Finances Pamphlet
Click here for debt-elimination calendar and a family budget worksheet
Click here for Family Home Storage: A New Message
So join my family in setting your budget today!! Together we can make a better future.
Sunday, April 26
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Awesome Jen! I too need to pay closer attention to our family budget. Any little thing seems to set me off track, and once that snowball starts rolling downhill it takes me awhile to stop it. What a great reminder!
Jen, I'm so sorry to hear about your house! It seems every time I turn around, someone else I know is selling for the same reasons.
We've been trying to buy, but are having a hard time finding financing. We have less than perfect credit, so we expected as much, but have still been lied to, ignored, or treated poorly through the process by the banks. I don't understand why it is so hard for them just to be truthful up front!
Anyway, you hit a chord with me. Hoping you are able to sell quickly and get back on your feet!
Post a Comment