TMMO - Plan, Progress & Inspriration

[minnie1928]

It seems like so many of us here are working on a "plan", whether it's Dave Ramsey style or your own. I thought it might be helpful to others if we could post what each of us are doing to meet our goals, what our goals are and what progress we have made. I'll start with mine:

1. Emergency Fund - Baby Step #1 Done
2. Debt - no credit card debt, just car loans. Started in January of 2005. As of today, we have paid the balances down 25%. We are on track to pay one car off by year end (2.5 years early ). We hope to pay the other car off by end of next year. We used our tax refund, sold a mutual fund (finally broke even on the thing!) and have been paying extra on the principal each month.

I don't carry envelopes in my wallet, instead I keep virtual envelopes in Quicken. I also pay whatever is left in my checking account on the night before I get paid towards my car principal. It's not as structured as others might be, but it allows me to pay on my debt without pushing myself too far. I've also dropped my 401k contribution from 10% to 6% (6% is the maximum that my employer will match at 50%). We pay cash for groceries and spending money (eating out mostly) and it has really helped. We feel it much more when we pass actual cash to the cashier instead of plastic.

Anyone else like to participate? If you want to use dollar values, you can. Or if you want to use percentages, that's fine too! I'm not looking to be nosey, just thought it might be helpful for people to see that it can be done!

 

[jay-nee]

I am giving the TMM a go, not to the letter mind you (I will not stop my 401K deductions yet, but I will reevaluate in 3 months), but a SERIOUS go!

Working on BS#1. Working on the budget portion too.

BS#2 will be selling my car and paying off the divorce lawyer (hopefully stbxH will keep his own debt that he is incuring on a daily basis - argh!). No other debt, besides the house. We were in pretty good financial shape before stbxH left, until this month (8 months later).

Can't wait to read Financial Peace - should be in this week from ILL.

 

[sap1227]

We have really been straying from our budget lately and our bank account shows it!! I am so glad I visited the budget board right now, I really needed a kick in the behind! I updated our budget today to make sure it is liveable and made a get out of debt plan.

***Emergency Fund--Will be complete by the end of the year (50% done the end of this month thanks to 5 paycheck month, may be complete by the end of the month since DH may be getting a lot of overtime due to Katrina).

***Paying off Debt--This is going to be a long process I am afraid, all of our Debt is in a HELOC. All of the money from my job will be going to paying off the HELOC. Will be compete 12/2008 (I am hoping to be able to do it sooner).

***3 months of Living Expenses--Using the 5 paycheck months I am going to work on this as we are paying off the HELOC (half of the extra money will go to the HELOC and half to the 3 months of Living Expenses). Will be complete 12/2008.

I can not believe it will take us 3 years to get to this point, but at least now we have a reasonable plan! Being a SAHM and some unexpected medical expenses really hurt us (but, being a SAHM is so worth it!).

Christy

 

[lisajl]

We are just starting the Tmmo also, so I guess I don't know what I am doing yet!!
We will be setting $1K aside when DH gets his overtime check in a couple weeks, so that will get the ball rolling.
From here on out no credit cards, only debit.

We will probably use some of the money for Christmas, but have decided only to buy for parents and our children.
That will cut out a lot of debt!
We will only use cash also!

We are going to get the braces paid off with in a month, then my DH credit card. It should probably take 2-3 months depending on any "found" money.
Good luck!
Lisa

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We're doing TMM, too. For babystep #1 we sold a car that was diesel and fuel costs were killing us so now we're sharing our minivan. We still owe on it, but I won't give it up because I have 5 kids and have to have reliable transportation when DH is deployed.

I already started babystep #2 because we knew the emergency fund would come from the sale of the car. I've paid off one cc and am halfway done with #2. Because of our high interest van loan I think it will take us approx. 2 years before we're at #3. I hope to refinance that soon, too.

There are a couple of areas we could cut down on, I'm discussing cutting our cable down with DH and our cell phone plan, but this is where we're at until he agrees.

 

[chris1gill]

Could someone explain what TMMO is by chance??

 

[travelbug]

Could someone explain what TMMO is by chance??

"Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. It's the name of his book, and the name of the plan the book is about.

 

[jay-nee]

Could someone explain what TMMO is by chance??

Here is the info I posted on the other TMM thread yesterday:


Ok, here's some info from the book (TMM):

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, here's the deal, you need to read the philosophy behind the words. There is a chapter for each of these baby steps devoted to the philosophy of each step and why they are in this particulatr order. We can discuss these in more depth too. I know I have trouble, personally, with some of it too, but I am going to give this a GO!

Also, order this book from your local library via ILL (Inter-Library Loan), usually they can get it in a week (at the most). Don't buy it if you have no money, it sort of defeats the purpose. Ask for it as a birthday present or christmas present instead, but read it. It's good stuff.

So, here are the baby steps:

(1) save $1000 to start your "emergency fund" (keep liquid/available)

(2) pay off all debt using the "debt snowball" (except the house)

(3) put 3-6 months of expenses into savings (your expenses will be smaller now because you paid off your debt before you hit this step)

(4) invest 15% of household income into Roth IRA's and pre-tax retirement

(5) college funding

(6) pay off your home early

(7) build your wealth (mutual funds & real estate) & Give!

According to his plan, you need to make a full commitment to each step in order to succeed. This is not a plan for someone who can not fully commit. If you are in a committed relationship, your partner needs to be committed as well, otherwise, it will not work.

I have a real problem with putting off my 401K deductions, but I can understand the rationale here (not agree, understand). Once you have your emergency fund, debt paid off, and your fully funded emergency fund, you will jump back in and it will not be a stretch, but... (yikes) The premise is that those 1st 3 steps should take about 2 years (maybe more, maybe less).

Also, involved in this plan is a budget. There are worksheets in the book to copy and you work these month to month. I will be starting this process today. Also, you need to redo the budget each month, and it might take a few months to get it right.

Let's see... I guess that is it for the moment. Get the book and read it, even if you don't use it now, it may change your mindset.

My quest started when I listened to "Start Late, Finish Late" on audio book. It got me thinking. And, now I am reading everything I can get my hands on to do with personal finance.

FYI, I think libraries don't have much personal finance because it truly changes minute to minute in our culture, it's like guidebooks for traveling. BTW, the personal finance books are in the non-fiction section 332.__.

I hope this information helps! Good luck!

Happy Monday!

 

[minnie1928]

Here is the info I posted on the other TMM thread yesterday:


Ok, here's some info from the book (TMM):

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, here's the deal, you need to read the philosophy behind the words. There is a chapter for each of these baby steps devoted to the philosophy of each step and why they are in this particulatr order. We can discuss these in more depth too. I know I have trouble, personally, with some of it too, but I am going to give this a GO!

Also, order this book from your local library via ILL (Inter-Library Loan), usually they can get it in a week (at the most). Don't buy it if you have no money, it sort of defeats the purpose. Ask for it as a birthday present or christmas present instead, but read it. It's good stuff.

So, here are the baby steps:

(1) save $1000 to start your "emergency fund" (keep liquid/available)

(2) pay off all debt using the "debt snowball" (except the house)

(3) put 3-6 months of expenses into savings (your expenses will be smaller now because you paid off your debt before you hit this step)

(4) invest 15% of household income into Roth IRA's and pre-tax retirement

(5) college funding

(6) pay off your home early

(7) build your wealth (mutual funds & real estate) & Give!

According to his plan, you need to make a full commitment to each step in order to succeed. This is not a plan for someone who can not fully commit. If you are in a committed relationship, your partner needs to be committed as well, otherwise, it will not work.

I have a real problem with putting off my 401K deductions, but I can understand the rationale here (not agree, understand). Once you have your emergency fund, debt paid off, and your fully funded emergency fund, you will jump back in and it will not be a stretch, but... (yikes) The premise is that those 1st 3 steps should take about 2 years (maybe more, maybe less).

Also, involved in this plan is a budget. There are worksheets in the book to copy and you work these month to month. I will be starting this process today. Also, you need to redo the budget each month, and it might take a few months to get it right.

Let's see... I guess that is it for the moment. Get the book and read it, even if you don't use it now, it may change your mindset.

My quest started when I listened to "Start Late, Finish Late" on audio book. It got me thinking. And, now I am reading everything I can get my hands on to do with personal finance.

FYI, I think libraries don't have much personal finance because it truly changes minute to minute in our culture, it's like guidebooks for traveling. BTW, the personal finance books are in the non-fiction section 332.__.

I hope this information helps! Good luck!

Happy Monday!

Couldn't have said it better myself!