New Approach to $ in 2012

[StitchesGr8Fan]

I'm excited to start 2012 and take a new approach to money. Reading the Total Money Makeover now and and while I'm not going to follow it to the letter, I'm going to use its concepts to help DFH and I make sure we have are preparing for our future. Anyone else taking a new approach to money next year? What tools are you using?

 

[Kitzka]

I don't have a 'plan' per say but I want to be more agressive with my savings and spend less. DH is out of work and will be collecting unemployment. According to my data, we can live on my salary and one of his unemployment checks. Hoping to put the other into savings so we can live off of it should he run out of unemployment and not have a job.

We haven't cut anything out but we can certainly do that should it come to that.

But i am interested in hearing people's plans.

Lara

 

[EmmyT]

We started the TMM last January and have been amazed. By lots of overtime, selling a few things and cutting back a bit we've paid off over 40K in debt! We expect to be debt free (except for the house) this spring! It is amazing what can happen when you focus, and by God's grace.

 

[jmac323]

We also started a modified TMM last year and we were able to pay off: one credit card, our truck and our timeshare loan and save $10k (I know it was more than DAve suggests but we knew we'd need $ for moving this January). We definitely got lazy here and there and we are going to implement monthly family meetings to discuss where we're at in the debt snowball and try to stay on track. Would be great to have some partners in crime to share tips and tricks with and to motivate. Maybe we can get a thread going on that? GL to you!!!

 

[KristinU]

We started with TMM in 2007 and it literally changed our lives. I'm still forever grateful to have heard about it here on the DIS!

 

[AnninIowa]

My plan is to save more, spend less! I have a designated account for savings that I am actively contributing to. Also going to start saving for next Christmas.

 

[mrodgers]

The end of 2010 was to start a budget. About all I learned from TMM as most of what it talks about works for people who have a decent income. Doesn't work for someone struggling just to put food on the table for years with nothing to sell and cut because most debt comes from life (groceries, diapers, formula, gas to get to work, car repairs, home repairs, etc.)

With the help of a huge bonus (to me, after the recent bonus thread, obviously you folks would laugh at what I call huge...) it jump started the budget at Christmas time. Goal for 2011 was to stay current on monthly bills as well as having the money for things that don't occur monthly like heating oil and car insurance. There was some hiccups, some car repairs that happened that was a struggle, but by the end of the year now, we just had an emergency septic pumping that we weren't planning on and an emergency furnace repair just 2 days ago that we weren't planning on having and was able to pay for them. Far better shape than we were this time last year.

Reorganizing bank accounts so I have monthly bills and weekly grocery and gas expense only to pay out of the local bank and money being saved from the rest of the paycheck in the credit union with a checking and savings account tied to each other. Plan is to finish off 2012 with several thousand $$ sitting in the bank as opposed to a $500 heating oil bill due with no way of paying for it like past years. Going to be a big difference.

So, TMM certainly did help me out in the fact that it opened up my eyes to financial budgeting, something that no one ever taught me at a younger age as I moved into adulthood, but it is kind of hard to follow the "sell everything" suggestions when you have nothing or the "sell the car and buy a beater" when living up here in the snowy north, a beater will cost you in car payments the same as a brand new car or else you are spending all of your spare time fixing a rustbucket so it doesn't fall apart on you driving down the road.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Maybe I will start a thread next year where we can share our successes (& voice our frustrations).

 

[DawnM]

We also started TTM in 2007. We are into the paying off the mortgage step now and our goal is to get some serious funds set up for future cars, kids in college, and paying off the house.

We did go from a 30 year to a 15 year mortgage and have a 3.37% interest rate, so at least we are doing that.

Dawn

 

[Sagginit]

i just watched a suze orman special on pbs not that long ago. it was interesting b/c she was talking about the new american dream and how EVERYONE needs to re-evaluate their expectations. i am one of those people since i went off to college before the current economic crisis and expected to be in a much different place in my life.

i just bought a car and did not want to fork over all cash for it so i will be working on paying off my small car loan. $600 in interest over three years (if it lasts that long) was a small trade off for the comfort of knowing my savings are intact if needed. overall i want to work on tightening my budget and planning better. last year i did really well with paying off my loans, this year i had a lot of expensive set backs and want to work on getting back on track with moving towards a debt free life.

 

[bearzabout]

We've been living well below our means for a long time. What it has bought us in the long run is less stuff but much more happiness. I love my 20 year old car. I value the possessions I have and take good care of them. I'm proud of our small, energy efficient house and have grown to love clipping coupons and getting stuff for free at CVS and Walgreens.

I may not have fancy clothes or jewelry, but I was able to retire at 45 and get to do the thing I love best - spend time with the person I love instead of work all the time so I can buy more stuff.

I may have stayed on too tight of a budget for most of my life but I don't regret it now. I am still very content living on a budget and cherish the freedom I feel by living a debt free life.

 

[2disneyboys]

We started DR's plan late 2010 and it has amazed me at how quickly things turned around for us. While we are not yet financially free (We still owe on our mortgage and are building on our emergency fund, we are in a different place then I ever thought we would be in such a short time. at the time we started DR's plan we had several vacations planned for 2011 and we went ahead and kept those in place as we were paying cash for all of them anyway. the only impact really is our emergency savings did not grow as much as it could have, but, we had a fab 2011 and other than a family cruise in Oct 2012 (of which my grandfather is paying most of the cost) we are not planning any large or costly vacations this year. This year will be for building up that emergency fund and then attacking our mortgage. we only have about 7-8 years left on our mortgage anyway, however, our goal is to have it GONE in 3-4 years tops.

other than the vacations, the only other way we differed from Dave's plan was we did not stop our retirement fundings while completing his other steps, but we also were not in a bad financial place, we were just simply wasting money and not realizing it. Once we tighten up that ship, it has been much smoother sailing! and it's been nice when the "emergencies" came up that we actually had the money to take care of them without having to forfeit something from our current months budget as we had in the past.

Good luck with your journey - Regardless of which financial guru you take advice from or which of their ideals you take to heart or discount, any realistic look at your budget and your family needs is guaranteed to have positive results and in the end, that's where you all win! Good Luck!!!

 

[U.P. North]

We too, budget based off a modified TMM Plan. We are debt free except our house. I hated using envelopes and paper to do my budget so about 3 years ago, I searched and found software that pretty much IS the TMM plan and in fact was developed based off the TMM plan, but modified to where you live off this month using last months money. Meaning, the paychecks I get today, goes into savings to be used next month. The total dollar amount of my paychecks and my husbands paychecks for this month equal my budget amount that we use next month. Then every dollar that amount equals to, is given a job at the beginning of each month down to a zero balance. Of that, I pay utilities, groceries, mortgage and even savings accounts. Every dollar is allocated!

Here is the software we use: http://www.youneedabudget.com/

I strongly recommend it for anyone wanting to follow the Dave Ramsey TMM plan. It made budgeting so much easier and does the same thing. I just print a report once a week that shows our budget that we agree on at the beginning of the month and then where we are at each week during the month.

Hope this helps!

D & D

 

[kinntj]

Maybe I will start a thread next year where we can share our successes (& voice our frustrations).

Absolutely! It's good to start thinking of money management as the holiday shopping winds down. We're doing better on spending this year than last, so we're working on it.

We don't have credit card debt, but we need to be more money focused. I easily get distracted and the priorities get muddy.

I wish I could do a budget software, because that one looks easy to follow. I'm more of a write it down, paper and pencil type. I tried doing a budget on the computer before and I get overwhelmed with all of the extra items they have in there.

 

[marie1203]

The only difference next year would be we will have some extra money because in February we will pay our car off . This year we caught up our emergency fund to were it needed to be. So our goals next year is put more money in retirement. The only debt we will have is our mortgage we never carried credit card debt. Thankfully my parents teach me financial responsibility all through my life and it is something I carry on to our relationship.
I prefer Suze Orman over DR. I think credit is very important as long as you are responsible with it vs. not having credit.

 

[lisaross]

i have been extremely disciplined with saving since 2007! I have different accounts for everthing from Long Term Savings, Emergency Savings, Car expenses, Water Bill, Vacation Fund, Christmas Fund etc. I like to see exactly where my savings is going. I have no debt except my mortgage - which i have about another 6 1/2 years and am not planning on paying it off any sooner. I will be saving for a 2013 Big Vacation and for my son's Bar Mitzvah in 2013 - Good luck to everyone seems everyone is doing great!

 

[jackers]

2012 is the Year of Savings! for us. I finally got a handle on my finances a few years back and have paid off all our long-term debt this past year (with the exception of mortgage and having to add a car payment this past summer due to my husband's vehicle dying). I am ridiculously excited to see what impact I can make on our savings account this year.

 

[Planogirl]

We are about to pay off a few more debts and next I'm tackling the car payments. I'm going to accelerate those payments as much as possible. The problem is that DH financed a used car for 60 payments against my advice and now the car is worth way less than what we owe. I don't like that.

I also want to save more but some money needs to be put into our house. That I'll have to play by ear but I will set up a minimum.

 

[rparmfamily]

I need to join in and get on a good budget. We just swim along!!! We had a great savings but then had a very bad year with 2 mortgages (well, 1 rent and 1 mortgage) for 15 months and that killed our savings. So back to the drawing board!

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

After our wedding I'm going to attack my car payment. There is no way I'm selling it but I am going to pay it off early.