Total Money Makeover!

It's Dave Ramsey's method of creating financial peace and living like no one else today so you can LIVE like no one else someday.  I've listened to the CD's, read the book, and even started the transformation, then I quit!  Now I'm getting back into it!  The good thing is when I first started this a year ago, I did get all my credit cards, student loans, AND a car paid off.  I will admit I still have another car loan though, shhhh.... don't tell Dave!  I've also increased my mortgage by quite a bit with the purchase of our 2nd home.  This won't be such a big deal soon as we start getting rent money for our 1st house.  Here's the baby steps to get outta debt!

1.  $1000 Emergency Fund- Sold our truck, got this one covered
2.  Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball (excludes mortgage)-Since I've done this before I only have 1
     car loan totalling $9,858.55.
3.  3-6 months of expenses in Savings-This is a scary amount of money to sum up!
4.  Invest 15% of household income into IRA's and pre-tax retirement-currently investing 5% of every
     paycheck in my retirement plant.  My employer matches 4.5%
5. College funding for children-Something I fell is very important, but my husband not so much (can ya tell
    which of one of us WENT to college!), but that's for another post! 
6. Pay off your house early
7. Build Wealth and Give!  I can't imagine making it all the way to this step!!!  I am determined to get there
    though!

Another important part of this plan is the weekly budgeting or in my case every 2 week budget.  It involves organizing your money into cash envelopes.  I found this handy little folder to organize my cash in.  I also throw my coupons right in to the appropriate section.  I don't tend to use coupons often, but that's a whole other story too.  I pay most my bills online or write checks for them still, I sit down and figure out how much I will need to leave in checking for bills each month, then about how much I will need for other things, such as food, clothes, bathroom necessities, gas, etc.  

My poor little folder has a rip in the cover ALREADY, but I'm not taking cash outta my budget for a new one! LOL