Getting on track

Wow! I haven't posted for a few days. I'll try to make up for it today. ~lol~ I've been walking every day until today. I'm taking a recovery day off today. I've been busy with the finances again (that online course and the Dave Ramsey stuff) so that's why I haven't been blogging on here. I have everything ready for our meeting on the 19th. David just needs to complete the online course (he'll do that tonight). I'm feeling really excited about following Dave Ramsey's babysteps to financial freedom. Here's what we'll be doing:

BS1: $1000 baby emergency fund (this is where we are starting)
BS2: pay off all the debts from lowest BALANCE to highest (Cork, the Jeep, the house) - debt snowball
BS3: save 3-6 months EXPENSES in emergency fund
BS4: start contributing 15% of paycheck to retirement
BS5: save for kids college fund (since we don't have to do this we can move on to BS6)
BS6: pay off house early
BS7: give and build wealth

There are other mini-steps involved but I won't list all of those here. These are Dave's major babysteps. Basically he wants you to live a debt free lifestyle. Not that you never use credit, but that you don't go into debt AT ALL.

I had David listen last night to a call to DR and he really enjoyed it. I went over the babysteps with him and he agreed that it was do-able for us. So, we stopped the 401(k) contribution for now and we're going to work on building up a $1000 emergency fund (EF). All of this dovetails nicely off of FlyLady's FACEing Finances and the FlyLady system. The important part of doing this is having a written budget. I already have a written budget, but it doesn't include the things that it needs to include (clothing, entertainment, etc.). I've basically said that we have this much money, we have these bills and whatever is left over will go to groceries and gas. No EF allotted for, no plan for flexible or periodic expenses and no ideas for basic needs such as clothing. I guess that I don't really need to worry about getting money saved for these things until after I get the EF going anyway. And until after the debt is gone. All monies should go to the EF and paying off bills (from what I understand) at the start. Every penny needs to be budgeted to a category. No EXTRA money. There is no such thing when you're in debt. I'm listening to the Dave Ramsey show on KRDO right now. It's really interesting.

I've been doing a "Frugal Week" inspired by Mary Hunt ("Money Rules, Debt Stinks"). I'm trying not to use the debit card, drinking only water (no paying for other drinks, such as juice) and eating meals from what we have on hand (no grocery shopping). So far it's going well. I did use the debit card (to sign up for something online) but nothing was charged to it. I did have to charge the online course, but since there is a deadline for that, I couldn't avoid it. However, I'm not going to let that throw me off track. I'm going to keep going through the week to meet my goals. I've saved a lot of money so far by NOT using the debit card. I never realized just how much of a habit it is, using the DC. It's also way too convenient. It's so easy to use it but I'm doing well so far. I actually had a dream last night that I was paying for something for David that cost $12 and I was going to use my DC, but then I realized that I had $14 in cash and I could pay for it with cash. Even in my dreams, I'm trying not to use my DC. ~lol~

FlyLady introduced us to Jonathan Roche, a personal trainer who suggests using interval work outs to lose weight and stay in shape. I called Jonathan's BTR show yesterday and asked him how his plan could help me. He was very helpful. I listened to the show again this morning and took some notes.

Jonathan suggests drinking 64 ounces of water per day. I'm not doing that so far so I need to work on that. He stresses eating breakfast every day. That I'm doing. I'm going to incorporate his 25 minute interval and No Excuses work outs into my week. I sent Jonathan an email and asked him if the plan I was thinking of was a good idea to start out with. Here's the plan:

Monday: 25 minute interval work out
Tuesday: No Excuses Work Out
Wednesday: 25 minute interval work out
Thursday: No Excuses Work out
Friday 25 minute interval work out
Saturday: long walk
Sunday: day off to recover

I asked Jonathan if I should eat breakfast before or after my morning work out. I'm waking up hungry now because my metabolism is 'cranking' (as Jonathan says). I decided to take today off because I've been walking every day for about 2 weeks and I really should have built in a recovery day once a week.

Gotta go run an errand for David.