Money, Money, Money

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.