SUNDAY AFTERNOON TURNED INTO A BUDGET MEETING between my Husband and myself. Four hours later we shut down the place. Tired brains. Made very good progress in which we rabbit holed as we went. We didn't stay on a strict format which meant we talked about things not related to this budget.
Remembering the day when our phone bill was about $30.oo a month compared to today's prices makes me see how expenses have continued to rise when I wasn't l👀king. Our wifi expenses are on today's phone bill which we didn't have back in the day. Still the use of a landline phone is more than yesteryear.
AFTER 4 hours WE have a working plan. Seeing the numbers on paper brings good things to life. I believe we can manage. As Husband and Wife, we haven't always been on the same page when it came to a working budget. This caused a lot of issues with a great deal of tension. Wore me out, but I'm still here.
After 50 years of marriage, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This planning session was round one. More time is needed to make a printed page showing all the expenses. This shouldn't take long since we have the brunt of it done. I am hopeful, we will succeed.
THANKFUL to start a new budget in January. I wrote up a list of expected monthly expenses, then we figured the actual amounts of money we need to set aside for each category. I believe there are some expenses we can tweak so we save more money.
Trying to project how much money we will probably need to get us through old age is a mind bender.
Now, I will fine tune the expenses we have and see where I can cut back on certain areas. Being frugal is a must.
One of the bosses my Husband was blessed to work for, told him when he was a young man to live within his means. I've heard wise people say, "Don't spend more than you make." THIS IS a good way to save money.
In the past, we slowly entered into serious DEBT and it kept growing to where we couldn't keep up. We had more expenses than we knew what to do with. The lack of cash flow and not having a sizable savings didn't help. We went deeper and deeper in debt as the years went by with large medical expenses that insurances wouldn't pay, large mortgages, moving expenses due to multiple relocations, job lay-offs, etc.
Inflation didn't help with getting ahead. When we did manage to pay off debt, we didn't stay there long. Back we sunk. Over and over again. Like a broken record.
I came to believe 'the system' is designed to break you. The little guy becomes a debt slave. You can get so deep in debt that it chokes the life right out of you where it seems like there's no hope of getting out of it.
In our case getting out of debt required prayer, thought, doing without, laying down bad habits, planning, sacrifices, hard work, lifestyle changes and years of taking action to slaying the debt. STICKING TO IT. I gave up on giving up.
Knowing why you are in debt must be looked at in a truthful light with taking responsibility for your actions. What caused the debt in the first place and could it have been avoided? What shall I do to whittle the debt away in a honest fashion? Is it something that can be done on a modest income? Yes, sometimes it can and then sometimes it can't.
The VICTORY in living debt-free can become a reality. Many have succeeded. Praise the Lord.
For now, we have a BUDGET. We'll need to honor it. This alone is a huge accomplishment for us as a married couple. Working together to stay out of debt, having similar goals with similar spending habits and being on the same page can be a workable solution.
