Moneymoneymoney

Here's a cool post from Get Rich Slowly, a money blog I like to read. It talks about the 25 Useful Financial Rules of Thumb and makes me happy that J. and I worked so hard to get our finances in order. A lot of the things on the list we already do which means we get a big YAY!!! And a gold star:)

So last year J. and I decided we wanted to pay off all our debt (ring, car, 2 college loans) that totaled about $37,000. This involved lots of hard work, including me tutoring each day after work. Let me tell you, getting all that money was not fun or relaxing. But if you know me, you know once I set a goal for myself, then damn it, I WILL REACH THAT GOAL!!! So I pushed myself really hard and we paid off everything the end of December. The fun part was we took our families out for a big celebration dinner and paid the entire bill:)

I'm not really sure what made us want to be out of debt back in the end of 2007. It just kind of occurred to me one morning and I mentioned it to J. A few days later, I heard about Dave Ramsey and thought, hey, this guy has a good idea. This is what I thought of the other day!! Debt seems ridiculous now; it's ludicrous to take out a loan for something like a car. A house, sure, but a car? J.'s car burned up early 2008 and we used our tiny $3,000 to get him a cheap used one. Even that early on, a loan wasn't right to us. But back before paying of debt began, loans and debt seemed nothing but normal. Everyone has debt, right? I love that my mindset has changed from that!!!

So now we are 2 1/2 weeks away from having $10,000 in an emergency fund. Both our jobs are stable for the next couple of years so hopefully we won't have to dig in to that at all. After that we're saving every penny for a new house down payment and then we'll really focus on retirement funds.

Since I am such a freakish planner, I also know how much we will save through the end of 2010. I know how much we'll probably have for our down payment in 2011. Also, I know when we can retire (50) and when our retirement investments will make us millionaires (57). I think that is awesome:)

Who knows how things will really turn out in the end? Maybe all my lovely calculations will crash around my lovely feet. Whatever happens, I've learned so much about responsibility and maturity when it comes to money. Live well but don't spend more than you earn!!!