Cold Weather and Dave Ramsey....

It is so yucky outside today and it will be cold this whole week. I am very grateful that I get to work from home in my jammies and warm slippers. And I pray for the safety of everyone that needs to be outside and if you don't have to be outside, then please don't but be careful if you have to. Geez..I sound like my moma...lol...
For some of you that have been reading my blog, I  have been thinking about what to blog this week. So I turned my iHeart radio on and started listening to Dave Ramsey. I don't know why but he gets my adrenaline going about budgeting and saving every time I listen to him. Those of you who have never heard of him, I encourage you to check him out. His principles are all common sense. And here is what I will blog this week. 

First of all, it takes a lot of determination and persistence to get to where you want to be in life. If you know where you want to go in life,  you have to write down your game plan. ONLY YOU can make the decisions in your life!! Dave teaches about financial planning and how you can incorporate this into your daily life.

So here's what I learned from him:

Budget -- Nope, not fun but well worth it. Yes we overspend and will tell ourselves that it is alright, well I know I do it sometimes but then I would turn around and ask myself again...is it a NEED or WANT? Trust me, I can persuade myself very well when it comes to things that I want. So I always visualize my game plan in my head and that will be the answer to myself. PUT IT BACK IF IT IS NOT A NEED!! I will walk away heart broken at the same time I feel proud of myself. I gained self-control.

Cash -- If you listen to Dave, he is always saying Cash is King!! It is amazing how you can actually tell where your money is going if you carry cash. For example, I setup a budget for my gas every month and I set it aside which in Dave's term, the Envelope system. I use my little Post-It-Note. And I can actually see how much I spend on gas. Even for groceries, I have never master this task but with this setup, it helps me to plan my meals and what needs to be on my grocery list. Ta--dahhh!!! Cash also helps you to spend within your means lol!!

Savings -- Cha ching!!! It is very hard to save but it is very important to save. Before listening to his show, I was already a saver but didn't know what I was saving for. And with his principles that he teaches that is relevant to our daily lives, everything makes sense. We will have rainy days like it or not so we have to save for those days. In his Total Money Makeover Book, he came up with 7 Baby Steps:

• Baby Step 1 $1000 to start an emergency fund
• Baby Step 2 Pay of all debt using the Snowball system
• Baby Step 3 3-6 months of expenses in saving (For rainy day!!!)
• Baby Step 4 Invest 15% of household income into retirement plan (Saving for retirement)
• Baby Step 5 College funding for children
• Baby Step 6 Pay off home early
• Baby Step 7 Build wealth and GIVE!!

Now, I have my financial goals where I know to allocate my savings to and to give when I can. Because when I retire, I want to live in a house paid for and enjoy my retirement money.

It's alright if you haven't done so, but if you can start to save today it is not too late :) Sometimes I wonder if the term, "The older you get, the wiser you will be;"is true and now I can totally agree with it!! That doesn't mean that we will not make mistakes but we become stronger and wiser.

I hope this is not too crazy boring but it is something I truly believe in and always love to share.

Thanks for reading!!