I have been wanting to start a blog for FOR.EVER. now and I finally decided to sit down and do it! So... here I am, writing my blog!
Why start a blog now? Good question.
First, let me tell you a little about myself. I am 25 years-old and recently married to the love of my life. We met in college and graduated together 2 years ago. Now, we both work full-time jobs and have no kids.... yet :)
Ten (more specific) things to know about me:
- I LOVE to travel. I believe it is the one thing that you can spend money on that makes you richer. I am always planning my next trip.
- I am extremely organized. Some people are disturbed by my pantry when they open it. Yes, it is that organized.
- I LOVE to shop at thrift stores for all things, and Dollar Tree!
- I am dedicated to eating healthy and working out.
- I'm obsessed with making "junk food" for others that is actually healthy.
- I always have a plan.
- I only wash my hair once or twice a week.
- I (almost) always sell my old clothes before buying new clothes, and never buy a single piece of clothing for over $25.
- I love trying new makeup techniques from Pinterest.
- When buying anything, I always do my research.
Those are some random things about me that I will be sharing more about on this blog in the future.
Currently, I am embarking on a new chapter in my life with my Husband, which is the purpose of this blog.
I have always been know by friends and family to do things differently than everyone around me. From the way I dress to the way I look at my surroundings, I am a little weird.
That being said, I wanted to create a place to share my weird ways with everyone while also sharing about the new chapter in my life.
"THE NEW CHAPTER" (this is what we will be calling it from now on)
I had an amazing college professor that had a major impact on my way of thinking while I was completing my undergraduate degree. His idea that stuck in my head (ironic because he was a professor) was that college was a "theory" we buy into our entire lives. Once we buy into this "theory" and spend thousands of dollars on our education, we ultimately have a piece of paper which theoretically lands us a job.
Once we have the job, we then buy a house, buy a car, and start living our financial lives around the job. We are then dependent on the job and basically live pay-check to pay-check (even if it is a 6-figure pay-check). We create so many financial responsibilities for ourselves (student loan payments, mortgages, and car payments) that we end up being at the mercy of one job, ONE company. This, in return, leads to so many things.
It means that if at some point you are unhappy with your job and maybe your life altogether, you really don't have the option to quit or make any changes. At that point, you have created so much financial responsibility for yourself that you are unable to do anything about the situation. You most likely do not have much in savings to use while you look for another job considering the large amounts you have already used to put down-payments on your house, car, etc. So, whatever you hate about your job (terrible working conditions, temperamental boss, unbearable co-workers, horrible hours, etc.) MUST be ignored and swept under the rug because you have no other options.
After that semester in college, I decided that I wanted no part of that. My post-college plan was to get a job, live frugally, and save every penny I could so that in the future if I wanted to change jobs, or even completely change my path, I could. I felt that I would be spending the majority of my time working and I did not want that portion of my life spent working to make me miserable. If I was unhappy with that portion, wouldn't I be unhappy with the majority of my entire life? Yes. I thought so.
Somewhere along the way post-graduation, my husband and I were mesmerized by new cars and pretty things, and eventually got consumed with an appearance we needed to "keep up". Though, we never talked about it or were consciously aware of it, that's what we were doing. It doesn't matter how much money you make if you spend 90% of it on bills every month, you will always feel like you have nothing left..... forever...... unless you make a change.
After our wedding, we sat down and had a serious talk about our finances. At the end of the talk, we decided we were not where we wanted to be, like at all. We both had pictures in our heads of how we would handle our future finances while in college, but finally realized that we were not at all doing what we thought we would do.
Many times before this very important conversation, my husband had mentioned to me this "Dave Ramsey" guy. Being the good wife that I am, I would smile and try to listen about this random guy, but would just get lost half way through the topic and eventually end up nodding my head and smiling until it was over. However, at this moment I was finally ready to listen. I knew things needed to change and if they didn't we would NEVER be where we wanted to be financially.
For those of you who do not know about Dave Ramsey, go to his website and check it out! After that, listen to one of his radio shows (go to iheart.com and search Dave Ramsey). Trust me, you will not be sorry.
To sum it up, Dave Ramsey believes in living a debt-free life. He calls this "financial peace", which I feel is a thing most Americans know nothing about, me included. Dave Ramsey understands how society can put ideas into your head that make you think it is okay to have all these payments each month. Everyone has them, right? Wrong!
There are SO many people finally living the way Dave Ramsey does. He has a plan to help people get out of and stay out of debt. Once that is done he explains how to build wealth for your future.
"Live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow."
That is the Dave Ramsey motto, and since January 1st of this year, that is our motto too!
THE BLOG
While making these tough changes in our habits and our finances I will be blogging about all the steps we take and sharing all of our experiences.
I am so happy about where we are going and so glad to have a PLAN. I sure do love a good plan :) We have accepted the challenge and we cannot wait to see the changes it will make in our future.
My hope is to connect with others who are starting their journey to financial peace and share my tips and tricks on how to live on "rice and beans" while working the baby-steps to being DEBT-FREE!
Enjoy!
Please feel free to contact me, I'd love to hear from you!
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