One Year To An Organized Financial Life: May Week Two

I’ve mentioned before that my dh and I went through a bankruptcy.  Our credit spending changed drastically after that!  We have chosen not to have a credit card unless it is a pre-paid one.  This week Regina and Russell talk about curbing our credit card spending.  Firstly, you need to figure out what the total debt load is currently.  Next, find out why you are buying on credit; the author state three main reasons: unconscious spending, major illness and “magic money”. 

Just prior to our bankruptcy we were very close to having our credit cards paid off.  The trouble was that my dh’s job “fell out from underneath us”.  The work just wasn’t there anymore.  So we put a lot of living expenses on our credit cards.  We used our credit cards as “survival”.  Part of our problem was that we had matched our spending to what his current income was.  When that current income changed (dropped drastically) we were stuck; we were stuck with cc debt, two brand new vehicles (making payments), and a new (to us) house that needed a tonne of work.  He found work within a few short months, but the wage was less and we were so far behind that there was really no way out for us (that we could see at that point).

Since then we have taken a couple of courses as well as pointers from our bankruptcy trustee office.  The main course that we took (twice now) is Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.  Many of the same principles are presented in both Regina Leeds’ book and Dave Ramsey's material.  I encourage anyone in financial trouble to find someone “who speaks your language” and get the help you need before you get to a point where you see no way out and have to claim bankruptcy as we did.  (Dave Ramsey is not a proponent of bankruptcy at all!  He says that all those debts need to be repaid; they were contracts and deals that you signed and the correct thing to do is to fulfill those commitments.  At least that is my understanding from what I’ve learned taking his course.)

Habit: Save Pocket Change – I “caught” dh throwing change into the piggy bank this week!!!!

Tool: Dream Board

Have a great week!  On to next week’s material.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,