Dave Is Taking Over

well, it's in full swing.
our new budget, that is.
it's happening in a fierce way.
meet dave -

this is dave ramsey and he is quite the financial advisor.

he has a proven plan that works.

and while we've been playing with dave for 7 years on and off now, we've never embraced the program to it's fullest. we've just picked bits and pieces.

but dear friends, the time has come to completely commit to the entire dave ramsey total money makeover.

the joke this weekend was that i wasn't sure i'd be able to implement a budget and revamp the healthy lifestyle in the same week.

i know myself all too well and while i've had no need to spend money, the fact that it's all divided and spoken for in all these envelopes did something to me. and so last night i needed some fried chicken. it's been almost a year since i had true fried chicken. and since i knew dave would not approve of my spending at chick-fil-a or zaxby's, i was a good budgeter and came home and made it!

yep, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy.

it was delicious.

and gym time is in desperate need to work it off.

back to dave.

so yes we're on dave's plan fully.
envelopes have been created.
allowances given.
a new lifestyle in place.
3 days now of not eating a single meal out....for me at least.
this is huge.
and it's hard.
not the actual budget or the plan.
but the implementation of the budget.
it's hard to change your way of living.
but here's how we're looking at it......
we want to bring a baby into the picture soon, and well we want to make sure that everything is in place and ready to go.
we're going to need money to move when that baby comes along.
we're going to need a savings account that's fluffy for when i'm out on maternity leave.
we're going to need to be able to live month to month and not have that as an additional stressor.
we're going to need to be able to set up a college fund....my child will not go through what i am going through with trying to pay for school and pay back student loans.
and while none of these things are happening in this moment, we need to be good stewards with our money enough to plan for them.
and i believe that god wants to bless those who are faithful with what he provides.
faithful meaning using our gifts to be blessings to others.....not spend it all eating out every meal or buying random crap.
and so, here we are.
living on a budget.
or like dave says - temporarily living like no one else so that you can live like no one else.