Monday, July 18, 2011

it's time to get serious

over the past month or so, i started to follow online blogs that were focused on getting out of debt.  it was nice to know that i wasn't alone and now i think it's time for me to start my journey and to share my journey with others.  whether or not you are in a similar situation, or if you're just interested in following and supporting me on this journey.  i should start from the beginning, how i got to where i am today.

as a young adult, i was very financially independent.  i worked and took out student loans to put myself through college.  i started working full time in my field of study at the age of 19.  i was very lucky and blessed to find employment immediately after finishing college.  i was still living at home with my parents, and with my salary i shopped, ate out, travelled and pretty much did whatever i wanted or more like bought whatever i wanted.  and i didn't have any financial obligations.  no mortgage, no car payments.  but i spent alot of money, and i started using credit cards.  i made alot of poor financial decisions.

then i met R-man, and life was really good.  about 1 year into our relationship is when life started moving really fast for us.  since 2007, we've gotten married, bought a house and furnished the house, had our daughter, traveled, had our son in 2009 and traveled some more.  during this 4-year time period we had 2 periods of maternity/paternal leave which meant a reduced income, a couple medical emergencies and i still had existing debt from prior to our marriage.

so now, i'm ready to take control of our finances and work towards being debt-free (excluding the mortgage) within 4 years.  i've always had a budget, a spreadsheet that listed our incomes, monthly expenses, and payment schedules.  problem is, i tend to not always follow that budget.  and we tend to eat out more than we should or shop more than we should.  i'm hoping that will all change.  and it's already getting better. 

let the journey begin.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for adding me to your blogroll! I think you'll find it encouraging when a bout of financial fatigue hits to look back at your blog and see just how far you've come toward your goal. I might not comment often, but know that I'll be here cheering for you to cross that debt-free finish line!

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