Resolutions

I'll be honest, I don't think I've ever made any New Year resolutions. I think it's just something companies come up with to make a profit. What's America's number 1 resolution...weight loss! When January rolls around exercise equipment, juicers, and Nutrisystem is going to be forced fed upon the public through commercials, home shopping networks, and stores. Maybe if you didn't eat yourself stupid November-December, you wouldn't have to make a silly resolution to "lose the weight".

Why are resolutions made at the beginning of the year? To set the year off right? Who actually sticks to a resolution throughout the whole year? (Seriously, look on craigslist and you can see all the exercise equipment being sold because it's only been used once).

I sound really negative and that's not my intention. If you want to change something in your life...go for it! I'm going to be making a change this year, and it's not called a New Year's Resolution (in fear of quitting after 2 weeks)...it's called a life change. It is a diet...but it's not for my body, it's for my wallet. See, I have this extra fat called loans that I need to lose!

In a previous blog, I talked about how expensive it is to move. Moving right before the holidays is not a smart idea. We had no choice thanks to some orders. Well, all these expenses have finally caught up to us. A few weeks ago, I grabbed all my family's receipts from November and wrote down how much money we spent and what we spent that money on. Turns out we ended up spending more than what we made. We didn't notice because we have money in our checking account, but if we keep this up...our checking account is going to go in the red!

Off to the library I go to find Dave Ramsey's, The Total Money Makeover. I've been trying to find this book in thrift stores but have had no such luck so I was thrilled to find it at our local library! It's an easy read and takes about 2 days to finish it. I totally recommend this book if you 1)are broke, 2)want to pay off debts, 3)want to learn a little bit more about investing for your future and your children's future, 4)want to learn a little bit about retirement planning, 5)want to never worry about money again!

The month of December, I've been keeping track of how much we spend and where our money is going to. This way I can begin a budget for January. We don't have credit card debt but we do have 2 vehicle loans that we would love to pay off early! We would also love to increase our savings and start investing! I'm super excited, Nathan could care less but is open to paying things off early so that we can actually own them and we're both excited to have more money in the future to do the things we want!

If anyone wants to hop on board with us, go for it. You have nothing to lose but a crap load of debt! Yeah, you might not get to go out to eat, or buy that pair of $70 Silver Jeans, or even have your house feel like Florida in the winter...but it'll be worth it in the end.