Getting the Ball rolling

It feels good to know that we really are trying to stick to the year long budget we have planned out.  I'm not gonna lie --  this is going to be tough.  We wanted to get the tuition for daycare caught up and then start trying to get ahead by paying every week, one from my paycheck and the other from Johnny's paycheck.  However, I did the math wrong and wound up OVERpaying to catch up and now we are a week and a half ahead, and we are still going to give them more so we don't get behind.  We never know when something is going to come up and having some cushion is a good thing.  We also paid our 2010 property tax and some $13 bill from a bill collector.  I don't even know what it was for, but we paid it so it is now out of our hair.  Currently, we are a little ahead in our budget, but there were some things we calculated incorrectly so we'll keep an eye on it.  It feels good to get some of this stuff paid off.  Today the plan is to catch up on the TV/Internet bill.  I guess the lesson here is to never get behind because it is so hard to catch back up. 

Here is a tip.  We have started taking $20 out of Johnny's paycheck and $10 from mine and setting it aside.  We don't even count that money as part of our paycheck.  That money that we set aside is for emergencies.  We put enough cushion in our yearly budget that taking out that $60 every month and putting it aside will not effect us. 

2011 plan

I just did a zoom out on the year 2011 with our debts.  Basically, I made a HUGE game plan... and I really hope we can stick to it! Basically, if we are smart and play our cards right and do what I know will work (which involves a lot of smart decision making), 25% of our debts will be paid off by the end of the year.  It's not the 66% I was aiming for, but at least I know how to be realistic.  I mentioned in a previous blog that there was something to do to help pay off debts a little faster and will keep you motivated.  Here it is -- pay your smaller debts off first.  Here is our game plan: Pay off the smaller debts first (and ours should all be paid off by July), while simultaneously making payments on some of those big debts, whenever you can, to help bring those down a little.  I suggest doing this so that when all your small debts are paid off then your big ones won't be as intimidating. 

... but why should I pay off my small debts first? Wouldn't it be simpler to make big payments on the big debts and littler payments on the smaller debts?  It may seem that way.  However, you want to feel like you are accomplishing something... so get rid of those little debts so they aren't hanging on your back!