Budgeting
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Can I afford to live like this? Coming to terms with your budget
Society today says we need big houses, fast cars, the latest technology, the trendiest clothing and accessories. So most of us live above our means to keep up with the world. All of us want to live in the “right now” instead of setting our sights and our sails on the future. The two of us thought that, because we had a little money in our savings and weren’t as far into debt as some of our friends, things were going alright. We prioritized cars, vacations, too many dinners out, and just plain old crap that we really didn’t need over climbing out of debt. We tricked ourselves into believing…
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Your bills cost how much? Get rid of the ‘ish’!
When planning out your financial goals it is crucial that you start by gaining a clear understanding of where all of your money is going. Dave Ramsey said it well: “A budget is simply you telling your money where to go.” If you’re anything like us, we often talked about our finances in generalities. “The Comcast bill is around $130.” “My car payment is like $240-ish.” “I think my student loan payment is like $90?” “Insurance is $240, I believe”. The Real Cost One of the first things that we did was grab a copy of every single bill that we pay monthly and we started doing math. We quickly…