New Financial Focus

You know what feels really good? Having one of our frequent budget meetings (we don't quite follow Dave Ramsey's suggestion to have one every month, but we have a budget meeting about every three months it seems) and being able to shift our financial focus.

Our first focus was two fold: paying down our credit card debt while building up 3 months of expenses in savings. Daniel's is officially paid off and mine is at it's lowest balance since my junior year of undergraduate college.  That feels REALLY good!  It isn't totally paid off, but it will be in the next four months! :) :) :) :) :) Annnnd we got our three months of expenses in savings (albeit this doesn't include a rent/mortgage payment because we don't have that expense right now).

Our second focus was to start saving for retirement.  This entailed many financial planning meetings (we went to a professional for this one!), lots of discussion, lots of reading on my part (I was woefully uneducated about investments and life insurance), and realigning our budget.  This was the first "big money bill" as a married couple that we had to add to our budget.  This took quite a bit of adjustment, particularly on my part!  But we finally figured this out and have settled into a routine where this "bill" no longer scares us nor do we freak out about making sure our bank account can accommodate this bill, because we know we have the money in the bank.

So now it was time to shift our focus for a third time in seven months of marriage (man we've made some great financial progress already!). Time to start getting used to having a mortgage payment.  We don't own a home yet, but we felt it was a good idea to get used to having an even BIGGER bill that we'd have to pay every month. And until we own a home, this money just goes straight into savings.  So we're seriously boosting our savings account while getting accustomed to an over-inflated mortgage payment (we chose to pay more than what we expect to actually pay for a mortgage so that the actual mortgage is less frightening and easier for us to meet emotionally).  I'm pretty stoked about this!  We'll build up three months of mortgage emergency fund money, and then we'll begin saving up for any necessary home renovation projects for whatever home we end up buying.

It felt really good to sit down with our budget and be able to make our money work for us, to be able to shift our financial focus once again.  It feels good to know that we CAN handle a mortgage while living comfortably (albeit with a budget that has zero room for errors).  It feels good to be in control of our money instead of our money ruling us.  And it definitely feels good to know that my husband and I are on the same page with the same plan of action!

Budgeting works folks.  Get on the same page with your partner.  Talk about it.  Set goals.  Work your ass off. And meet your goals!  Because YOU CAN!