Friday Finances

It is no secret that I am a big fan of Dave Ramsey. I would love to get my husband on the plan with me but he doesn't want to work with me. He doesn't spend a lot of money until he wants something big. He gets irritated every time I try to talk to him about it. He insists that he doesn't spend money that I do. I don't spend that much money either but he seems to think that paying the utilities, rent and mortgage and buying groceries is my expense. I am not sure how to get him on the same page as I am on. He is fine with parts of the plan he just doesn't want to help or talk about it. So I am stuck working on it myself and having to change things when he feels like putting in his 2 cents. I asked him for one thing for Christmas and that was for him to read the The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness with me and get on the plan. He still responds with I don't spend money and didn't get me anything for Christmas.So I just asked to go out for pizza for Valentines day because I am craving pizza and I won't be disappointed.


Anyway I canceled all the credit cards and the only debt we have is the mortgage on the duplex we are trying to sell. My goal is to save enough cash to only take out a small mortgage on the next house we buy or pay cash. We will not move until the duplex is sold because we don't want to house payments. Right now we rent from my mom and step-dad because they had an extra house when they got married and it was bigger than the unit of our duplex we lived in. It was empty for awhile so we moved in.

So we just don't borrow money anymore and we have some of the Baby Steps finished.
Baby Steps
1. Save $1000 (we have this done)
2. Pay off Debt with the Snowball method except the house. (I think we have this done too unless the duplex would be counted since it is not our residence.)
3. Save 3-6 months of expenses for you completed emergency fund (we have more than that but the extra is for our housing fund)
4. Invest 15% of income for retirement. (I want to talk to my husband about this before we start and he won't really discuss it. So I have not done much I started myself a small IRA)
5. College Funding for Children (we are not having kids so we can skip this one)
6. Pay off home early
7. Build Wealth and Give

So we are doing pretty well but it is hard to move on without my husbands input. I don't want to tell him what to do or be a nag. I can't do his retirement for him they won't let me and he doesn't like to make decisions. So I think when I am going to sock away all my earnings from the next three months and see how much I have. Then talk to Ryan about this again. I will at least put 15% of my earnings into my own IRA.

I am trying to relax about the money thing because the problem is not that we don't make enough money. I don't need to work a full time job and I don't need to try so hard to make money at home although that would be a dream of mine. The reason I have such a hard time relaxing is because I like to have a plan and I can't make a plan without my husband on board. I want his opinion and I want to include the things he wants to save for.

I highly recommend any books by Dave Ramsey and I am also a member of My Total Money Makeover where I can work on a budget and track my progress. The best thing about this is that I get all three hours of the radio show and can put them on my ipod.