The money I could be saving (but not by switching to Geico)Folks, I am not doing well on the living lean part of my adventure. In fact, just these past two weeks I spent a ton of money. Clothes, manicures and pedicures, food, good wine, hotels, and a hefty speeding ticket somewhere between L.A. and San Luis Obispo. I've returned to my normal life and I'm attempting to turn over a new leaf in my spending habits.
I was inspired by Terri, who recently went to see a financial advisement guru named Dave Ramsey. A lot of his concepts make a lot of sense and I'm ready to try a couple. He says that our culture has grown accustomed to debt, and we view having loads of debt as okay. Remember when our parents used to make us save up our allowance before buying something? What happened to that? Dave stresses focusing on eliminating debt as fast as possible, one loan at a time. And one way to get there is to operate in cash as much as possible. It's more painful to fork over cash than it is to swipe a card. I set up an envelope system for all my non-bill items like food, entertainment, home repairs, etc. I have a budget for each one and only put that much cash in. When the cash runs out, that's it until the next refill. And I'm starting by attacking my car note full force. I still have four years left on the note, but I'm hoping to pay it off in two. Then onto the student loan. This is going to take a while.
It's only been two days on the plan but so far so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment