Budgeting, Be Damned

Emily from "Not that You Asked" has put up a great post about how to live on a budget, or well, possibly a little "please help us live on a budget" discussion. Either way it's a great post, the commenters are very helpful, and the subject is something very near and dear to my heart.

As I've mentioned a few times here and there on this blog, we have followed the Dave Ramsey snowball way since February 2007. In that time we have paid off a considerable amount of debt (nearly all of it), reduced the amount of money we would have paid in interest by the thousands, and reached a point where we could live on one income so theMan can stay home with our kids (our most important goal to date), all the while building our retirement fund for our future.

I didn't ever get to see Dave Ramsey in person, but his books and the help of two of my best friends (Jen and her eerily expert skills at Excel and Heather & Nick's overall "don't be an asshole and just pay off your bills" pep talks) have put us on the right track. Yes, we had a few ups and downs, but so far we have shaved 7 years off of our overall debt and brought us to an overwhelming sense of calm and glee when we look at our cashflow going out every month.

Let me just reiterate: WE SAVED OURSELVES 7 FREAKING YEARS WITH NO ADDITIONAL INCOME OR LOTTERY WINS. We shaved off 7 years where we could have been paying cash out the door every month on interest on shit we bought like 5 years ago, just using the money we had (with a cost of living raise thrown in here and there). GOD. That keeps me up at night.

Plus, bonus, I just paid off our Mastercard (1 of 2 cards left) and am getting ready to call and tell them to suck my balls. Let me tell you, that feels good. That is worth not having a new car or $100 jeans. I love hearing them squirm and beg while the power is finally in my hands.

SOOOO....since I've had such great luck with it, I thought I would offer something to you guys, just for putting up with my blathering. I have a blank debt snowball spreadsheet that my expert Excel pro gave me, tweaked by me, and I will happily send it to you and answer any questions you might have about using it.

You plug in your budget and bills every month and it's all color coded so you know exactly what to pay, when. How much cash to put in each "envelope" and you can clearly see when things will be paid off if you do x.y.z. with your money. The best part, should you get extra money or less money during the month, it's very easy to adjust.

Email me at mizvoid(at)gmail(dot)com if you'd like me to send it to you. I'd love to help everyone tell debtors to get fucked. It's a dream of mine. We could all stand in a field, holding hands, around a big pile of cut up credit cards and financing agreements. Sigh.

P.S. I also thought I'd pass along an interview I did about how we became debt free.

Listen, I know I'm vain, but I'm just stoked I am now immortalized as 29.