Sunday, July 24, 2016

Financial Fitness



I love Dave Ramsey and You Need A Budget. Dave Ramsey is a constant source of inspiration for me. I love when he shares stories on facebook about families getting rid of hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. I get goosebumps. I feel like, we can do this! Another friend introduced me to YNAB for budgeting. It's been really hard, I still suck SO BAD. At least I have a tool that I like.




Taking honest stock.
We owe someone (lots of someone's) about $55,000, not including our house.
I'm willing to take out the car payment and the school loans for the sake of not being totally overwhelmed, so let's say we owe $13,000 somewhat urgently. It's half credit card debt, a quarter unpaid taxes, and a quarter medical bills. Ugh.

I have a plan.
Goal #1, We are going to use some of J.'s severance to pay off those medical bills. Pesky little things, they gotta go.

Goal #2, We run a guest house and have been nonchalantly spending that money. We need to put it to better use. I think we can easily pay off those outstanding taxes by the end of the year (maybe faster?!).

Goal #3, The credit card. I have to be honest, I feel the most demoralized by this. It's always there. I have struggled for 2 years to pay it off and it always comes back. I'm strongly considering cutting them up. We need a hard reset. Any tips? Until then we'll keep chipping away; however, pointless it feels.

Having money for emergencies and to put towards retirement is worth the work!
Now let's do this!

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Starting over...

Somewhere between some minor health issues that became major health issues, and the seasons transitioning from spring to summer, I lost myself. I became engrossed in just coping with the day to day. I stopped exercising. I started sleeping more. I haven't totally gone back to the early days of 2 kids where I would single-handedly demolish a pack of Oreos, but I am addicted to Boom Chica Pop, Sweet, Salty Kettle corn. Then J. lost his job, and we took stock of our financial situation and I realized, I need to find myself. Fast!

Enter my friend (facebook friend, real life acquaintance) Carla. She's a Beachbody coach. More than that she used to be a body builder, then got pregnant with twins and has shared a very real, public journey back to fitness. If she can do it, I can do it.

My goals ::
1. Headspace, time each day where I do something for me, that's not work and that's not family.
2. Fitness, I want to be able to run with my girls this fall (when it's not 100°). I need strength, core, arms and legs. I want to regain some muscle definition, I don't need to loose weight, but I'm flabby.
3. Financial Fitness, we have debt. We need to get rid of it.

Starting on re-building core strength I joined a PiYo challenge through BeachBody. Today is day 1.