As summer comes to a close...well at least our summer holidays...I realize that this is a good time to take a look at our (read my 5 year old and mine's) finances. To say this is depressing would be the understatement of the 21st century at this point! But alas, I will get a better grip and the goals will be realistic as well as free flowing because let's be honest, I'm a single mom and a shopaholic so I need to be realistic.
The first step is to decide what my financial goals are. And it must be specific. And within a time line. (Are you seeing the background of writing IEP goals over the last decade?) So I know I want to get out of debt. How should I go about it? What needs to happen to make this occur? Well I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey so my plan is to follow his procedures.
Step 1: $1000 emergency fund.
Had it, spent it and don't have all of it left. As of right now I have about $700 left....I think. The problem with living in 2 countries is I split things so my cash emergency fund is at home in the UAE and the rest is in my checking account. So this is my guess.
Step 2: Do a BUDGET
What is this? Only the scariest thing in the world! It means I have to plan out my money and I can't just spend on randomness, this is a work in progress....seriously. I've been doing a budget for a few months but I am pretty consistent at going over. Now the key is getting my daughter on board. Not always the easiest but we've been discussing it and she seems to be on board....here's hoping she and I can figure it out. But I'm using www.everydollar.com by the company Dave Ramsey runs. This program is great and free so it's helping me get organized. Plus there's an app - it just is a bit difficult using the 2 currencies...
Step 3: Start a Debt Snowball
What is this? Dave Ramsey describes this as putting the debts in order from smallest to largest (except the mortgage) and paying them off from there. I can honestly say I have paid off 2 cards at this point...many more to go but I believe this is helpful.
So that's where I'm at. I'm working with the budget and doing what I can with what I have. It's a process but one that will help us accomplish the rest of the goals in our life.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
4-F Upgrade 2.0
The 4-F's
Family, Finances, Fitness and Food
Every year life changes...with change comes a new outlook and goals. This year the goals include the 4 F's (fitness, food, finances and family). Why choose these? It's time to get a grip! I've been giving advice on all these areas but haven't put my "money where my mouth is" up to this point. So now it's time to put it all out there...well at least in writing at this point.
The joys of living overseas is that the advice that is given (when looking at US websites) are for those that live in the US and are able to obtain those resources. Well, not all of us are able to do that for one reason or another. My case is that I live in the Middle East and no I'm not talking about the Middle of the East Coast in the US, I mean outside of Abu Dhabi/Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This makes my lifestyle a little different but still in need of an upgrade. So upgrade it shall...once I get off of holiday and back home (the joys of living overseas is that I spend 5-6 weeks on holiday in the US every year so right now I'm enjoying my holiday time).
But what is the first step? Each of these areas are HUGE and can and will overwhelm any one person...much less an entire family. So I'm using the rest of my holiday to break each area down into manageable goals. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not necessarily. Will it be worth it? Yes, yes it will. When my daughter goes through life without debt. When I finish my first marathon and triathlon. When I am able to completely vacation without credit cards. When food isn't a constant struggle. This next year will set it all up so that I can accomplish this and change my future as well as my daughter's.
So the next few posts will describe how each of these areas will be accomplished but lets look at what the goals are before we figure out how to get there.
1. Family - this year we'll just plan on having 2 meals a week without electronics. Sounds easy right? Well there are just two of us so it's a bit harder than it looks. And of course I'll add to this especially in the area of chores and consistency of expectations and schedules (yep - I may be a teacher but I truly fail at this in my own house.)
2. Finances - get out of debt and start savings to accomplish my long term goals. (So much to say here but I'll leave that to another post but please know I firmly believe in this and want my daughter to have a different financial future than what I currently live).
3. Fitness - to drop my 5k to under 30 minutes, my 10k under 60 minutes and my Half Marathon (13.1 miles) to 2 hours again. (I was close if not at these goals two years ago but now need a lot of work to get it back.)
4. Food - get off sugar and on to clean eating. (This may sound lofty but I firmly believe I can accomplish this but will need support throughout this - and yes that's part of the plan.)
That's it - that's the whole goals. My goal is to put together an action plan for all of these and document it. It CAN happen and it WILL happen but there are going to be problems and reality says that'll happen and it's ok.
The joys of living overseas is that the advice that is given (when looking at US websites) are for those that live in the US and are able to obtain those resources. Well, not all of us are able to do that for one reason or another. My case is that I live in the Middle East and no I'm not talking about the Middle of the East Coast in the US, I mean outside of Abu Dhabi/Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This makes my lifestyle a little different but still in need of an upgrade. So upgrade it shall...once I get off of holiday and back home (the joys of living overseas is that I spend 5-6 weeks on holiday in the US every year so right now I'm enjoying my holiday time).
But what is the first step? Each of these areas are HUGE and can and will overwhelm any one person...much less an entire family. So I'm using the rest of my holiday to break each area down into manageable goals. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not necessarily. Will it be worth it? Yes, yes it will. When my daughter goes through life without debt. When I finish my first marathon and triathlon. When I am able to completely vacation without credit cards. When food isn't a constant struggle. This next year will set it all up so that I can accomplish this and change my future as well as my daughter's.
So the next few posts will describe how each of these areas will be accomplished but lets look at what the goals are before we figure out how to get there.
1. Family - this year we'll just plan on having 2 meals a week without electronics. Sounds easy right? Well there are just two of us so it's a bit harder than it looks. And of course I'll add to this especially in the area of chores and consistency of expectations and schedules (yep - I may be a teacher but I truly fail at this in my own house.)
2. Finances - get out of debt and start savings to accomplish my long term goals. (So much to say here but I'll leave that to another post but please know I firmly believe in this and want my daughter to have a different financial future than what I currently live).
3. Fitness - to drop my 5k to under 30 minutes, my 10k under 60 minutes and my Half Marathon (13.1 miles) to 2 hours again. (I was close if not at these goals two years ago but now need a lot of work to get it back.)
4. Food - get off sugar and on to clean eating. (This may sound lofty but I firmly believe I can accomplish this but will need support throughout this - and yes that's part of the plan.)
That's it - that's the whole goals. My goal is to put together an action plan for all of these and document it. It CAN happen and it WILL happen but there are going to be problems and reality says that'll happen and it's ok.
“The voice inside your head that says you can’t do this is a liar.”
— Unknown
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