The big truth behind my budget is one that we can probably all relate to. I was making pretty good money, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was falling more into debt, not paying off things I could have been, and I was living frivolously, but still stressed because of cash.
My husband and I were bringing in between $90,000-$110,000 per year, which is pretty solid for an Indiana couple. We had moderate rent or mortgage, normal car payments, and no excessive lifestyle changes, yet we were drowning. It took me getting laid off from my job of 6 years, being posted up without a job for 6 months, then getting a job that I love, but pays about half of what I was making previously to put on my big girl pants and tackle my budget head on.
About a year before I met Brett, so about 5 years ago now, I started getting serious about getting myself out of the financial hole I had put myself in. I didn’t have a credit card, and yet I still managed to screw up my credit by opening accounts and then ghosting them just because I didn’t want to pay. I had a series of unfortunate events regarding my car, so I was upside down on a loan for multiple cars, had been sent to court over one I wrecked and didn’t have in my possession anymore but still needed to pay off! I had quite the shopping habit. I NEEDED all the “sale clothes” and newest beauty products. I would say most of my money went to my shopping habit and food.
On top of all this, I had student loan debt that I SHOULD have been paying with my steady abundance of income, but just wasn’t. I let some of them go to default, was ordered by court to have a certain amount taken from my check every time I was paid, and yet I was still making poor choices. I was falling into online “payday loans” and living by them, skirting by on paying everything late, and mind you, I was making over $55k per year during this time! It happens! It was a horrible place to be in, but I know someone can relate to this story, so I am here to share.
I began to get my shit together, I ditched my life-sucking ex-boyfriend, and I met the man of my dreams. He was financially responsible, I had raised my credit score from a 402 to probably 450, and things were going great. We got married, and don’t you know it? Our wedding and honeymoon was paid by credit cards. We decided to buy a house in the middle of it all with basically no cash in our pockets, so any cash we had coming in was going to that, to the bills I was still paying off, and our credit card bills began to rise and rise.
While we never missed a payment, we kept adding to the cards instead of sorting out our budgets, and we racked up over $25k in credit card debt. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I still am not too sure. I don’t really see the money immediately, and I don’t think we would miss most of the things we put on those cards, including our wedding! (Keep it simple, people!)
EMOTIONAL TOLL = BAD PARTNER ALERT!
Throughout this time, I did a terrible thing and I let my husband carry that financial burden. I wasn’t interested in the bills, the income, the payments, or the interest! I knew he was good at it, so I let him do it by himself. I saw him be stressed about it, and didn’t do much to help him out. (I probably managed to make it worse, if I’m completely honest.) I wasn’t doing my part simply because I let myself believe I didn’t really need to, but I found that my organizational nature, my tendency to do my best to FIX broken things, and my ability to put together and execute a plan was VERY much needed in this situation. I had to make strides to be the equal partner in our financial situation.
In July of this year, I stepped up to the plate and I made a thorough plan. I decided we would track every dollar, stick to budgets, build sinking funds, and really get our lives back on track. And you know what? It’s working. My only regret is that I didn’t take control of things faster, so I urge you to BUILD A BUDGET. If you don’t know how, read about it. Educate yourself.
I have a post I did with an overview of how we budget everything. You can use the same spreadsheet I use to track your income and spending, build your savings and pay off your debt. It’s the simple way we have been able to PAY OFF OVER $4000 IN DEBT and SAVE OVER $2000 in 6 MONTHS all while having 2/3 of the income we had the year previously. We also had a 3rd person living with us who generated no income and actually cost us MORE than we expected for 3 months of this time. There are no get rich quick schemes, no side gigs, nothing DRASTIC in our plan, just becoming mindful, frugal, and educated.
You can see my budgeting posts below, and look forward to posts where I break these easy steps down into smaller bites to keep you educated and motivated and on your best track to being mindful of your own budget and spending. If you have requests for posts, videos, etc. LET ME KNOW! I will be happy to give you my advice, research other examples, and do my best to help educate to build and stick to your budget!
What an awesome tool to give your readers!
I’m so here for this. I totally struggle with buying ALL the stuff. We are getting our shit together this year babe!
Britt! Your budget portion of your blog is one of my favorites. I love the honesty behind this post too, because let’s be real.. no one ever wants to talk about debt. It’s stressful, “embarrassing” and tough to tackle. I downloaded your budget spreadsheet the fist time you posted it and enjoyed plugging in my expenses to see what I was spending. It helped me to SEE it on paper (or computer) to actually realize.. “Hey, maybe I don’t need that $60 gym membership that I never go to..”. Thanks for sharing and I hope this helps other people too!
Love your budget spreadsheet!!!! It’s so organized and so easy to follow.