Mondays and Money... A Double Whammy!

I've been talking to a couple of friends lately and MONEY seems to be hot topic around most households. Well, the lack thereof would be a more fitting topic it seems. I'm so sick of hearing about the economy and how the country is getting deeper and deeper into debt. What do we expect from our government when any one of us on any given pay period has to "steal from Peter to pay Paul?"

Most everyone I know lives paycheck to paycheck and none of us ACT like we do. We are all out buying new cars, traipsing all over town while paying out the wazoo for gas, and indulging our every whim with a little retail therapy. And that's just the grown-ups. We run out the first chance we get to buy little Johnny and Jane whatever their hearts desire, or worse: make sure they have whatever the brat down the street has so our little sweets won't be "left out." Pathetic. To coin a Dave Ramsey phrase, we are going broke trying to keep up with other broke people. Well, I'm DONE.

Last week I sat down and made out a budget (I know... it's such an ugly word) and frankly, I was SHOCKED to find how much of our hard earned money gets put into the "miscellaneous" category, and even MORE SHOCKED to tally up the balances on ALL of my credit cards. I had not done this in a while and it was sobering. I suggest you do it too and then we can both look around together and compare what we actually have to show for all that spending. Here's a hint: A BIG FAT BUNCH OF NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT!!!

I'm mad, can ya tell? And it's at myself, mostly. I KNOW what to do, WHY don't I do it?!?! I mean, I have already taken Dave Ramsey's seminar on Financial Peace SIX years ago. Sometimes you just have to get sick and tired of being sick and tired (another one from Dave) and I guess I reached it today when after carefully budgeting our moolah for the next two weeks, I find a lonely little bill that somehow slipped into obscurity and did not get paid. UGHHH!!! Don't you HATE it when that happens?! I know I'm not the only one. ;)

So after ranting on and on (sorry, I can get wordy) I'm on the wagon again. Yep. I'm on a budget ((wince)) and I have calculated that it is going to take approximately FIVE years ((gasp, gasp)) to become totally debt free (excluding the house). I'll dedicate my Mondays to blog about my Fiscal Fitness (did you see what I did there?? :D) and other money matters I may be facing. C'mon, let's get out of debt together!!! Who's with me??? To print out a sample budget to get started, head on over to www.DaveRamsey.com. It's an amazing website.