One of the topics I wanted to start covering on my blog is our new budget.
A few months ago Chris and I really started focusing on getting out of debt. Mainly because it disturbs me when I hear that certain Supreme Court Justices just paid off their student loans or President Obama didn't pay his off until he got the advance from The Audacity of Hope. I do not want to be paying for my law school education when I am 45 or 50. We both dream of having a beach house on the SC coast and it drives us crazy that if it wasn't for my student loans we probably could swing it. This drove our new budget.
We largely stick to Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball Plan. Dave Ramsey's plan is a nutshell is to put a $1000 emergency fund in the bank and then use all extra to get out of debt paying off the smallest debt first and so on. We both get nervous about only having $1000 in the bank because that would not cover even a months expenses for us so we do like to keep more in the bank; however, we do stick to the plan otherwise.
Right now we are in what I like to call Phase 1. Phase 1 includes living on a very tight weekly budget only purchasing what we need and not making any significant purchases (no clothes, no furniture...). After we meet our first goal and finish renovating the bathroom, we are going to increase our weekly budget and indulge ourselves a little more. Phase 1 leaves no room for error. Sigh.
It's no fun but beach house here we come!