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With gas prices sky rocketing, and talks of a recession all around who wants to talk about finances? That is probably the time we need to think about it the most!Hubby and I went through a course in the fall called Financial Peace University and I thought I would share one of the things that works for us.
This course changed how we think about our finances and how we plan our budget (that used to be an ugly word in our house). We started thinking about how we could plan ahead for major purchases like vacations, cars, and Christmas so that we could just pay for them outright and not have debt. Can you imagine doing that! We set aside money every month for each of those things.
When we first started, we just kept a spread sheet and set money aside for different categories. We decided those 3 categories were going to get big and wouldn't be used for a while so we decided to set up separate accounts at our bank. Our bank does not charge for separate accounts as long as you keep a certain minimum in there and we set them up as money markets to get a higher return. This Christmas we didn't have a full 12 months to save so we still had to do a little on credit but we came close to a cash Christmas!
If you have some of these same goals, I hope this will be helpful for you too. For more great Works for Me Wednesday posts go to Rocks in my Dryer.
And don't forget that you only have 2 more days to register for my 1st giveaway as we get ready for my 100th post!
5 comments:
We are just starting to do this! (Or I should say that this month will be our first month.) We now have two checking accounts and a savings account through our bank, and because we also have our mortgage through them we aren't charged anything extra. This way we can keep our savings, our weekly/monthly spending money, and our special category spending separated. This will be a great way to keep on track with everything!
We are currently taking FPU and I tell you, it has changed our lives. We have alot of debt that will take us years to pay off. We have baby step 1 completed and will be in baby step 2 for quite a while, but there is such peace in knowing there is a plan!
I've heard of this seminar, but I can't get hubs on the band wagon with me.
This year tho, I saved the money for the ski trip we took. I socked away $100 a check, that felt good, but then after I saved $600 which was what I thought we would need for the hotel and such, I didn't want to touch the money. We are bad savers, can't save to save our lives. I'm trying to be better !
CCHHEETTAAHH!! We're FPU grads and now teaching it at our church. In 6 months, we've paid off half of our $28K debt! We also had an unexpected 15% cut in DaHubby's pay...and after a 15 minute "emergency budget meeting", we were good to go!
Good for you for making it work! Keep it up!
I found your blog through Shannon, I love FPU and Dave Ramsey. Have you tried Crown Financial too? It is another one of my favorites. Life changing, really. It feels good to be working off debt doesn't it?
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