A Penny Saved

Inspired by Dave and his Total Money Makeover, my Wife and I have been wading through our finances and the worksheets putting things together and getting things in order.

I really had thought that we had our finances under control. We’ve had a few issues, but mostly we keep pretty good records and pretty good track of our money. Then we began working the worksheets that are a part of the Total Money Makeover. What a shock.

What I discovered, is that we had only about a 50% understanding of where our money was going. The rest? Well, it’s safe to say that some of it was findable, but the rest was completely a mystery. Completely. No idea where it goes.

So with that revelation, we’ve been struggling with the budgetary part of the makeover. Neither of us has ever even used a budget, let alone done one as far reaching and thorough as the Total Money Makeover cash flow budget.

Last night, we finally (after two nights) managed to get through the worksheets. We’ve still got a lot of tweaking to do to get it right, but the skeleton is there. And what a relief that is. It really takes a bit of a load off of your shoulders when you have a plan like that. You don’t worry about where money is going and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It really is amazing. Now we just have to follow through and get it done.

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