Back where I started (the blog)

Hey Y'all! I'm working on the consistency of the blog and I've been putting some ideas in place in terms of content. When thinking of where to start again, I thought it was important to get back to the beginning, the whole reason I started this blog. It was because I believed that I had discovered something life changing that I wanted to share with family, friends, and really anyone who would read it. The purpose was that I care about others and want them get more from life. This was all based on financial freedom. I honestly feel like we have the formula for living a much less stressful life and future in terms of finances, and I want to share it with all of you.

When I use the term 'financial freedom,' I use it as a term to describe the ability to not be chained by banks, loans, debt, and other items society tells us is necessary that really restricts our ability to have freedom. Megan introduced me to Dave Ramsey when we started working together and I didn't really pay attention to what she was saying. Once we started dating, she shared a little more about him and I started to learn his principles in regards to finance. His entire plan is to avoid debt and live on a specific financial plan consistently. I read his books, listened to his radio show/podcast and began to utilize his budget app 'Every Dollar' to manage a personal budget for the first time. After only a few months, I began to see a huge difference in my budget and Megan and I had very healthy conversations about finances and our future plans. This was a very important time for us considering we were engaged and planning a wedding. We worked on our finances independently before we were married, then combined our finances when as soon as we tied the knot. We paid off debt, planned for trips, cash-flowed a destination wedding and even began saving for a down payment on the house we now live in.

Life had truly changed as I was getting into my 30's at the time and the things that excited me became building our future together, instead of the next large bar tab that led to a hangover. I wanted to share our story and why these principles work for us. Remember, the reason I write this blog is almost always because I want to help others and believe that we all deserve more from life. This includes removing stress and living happily.

I don't want you to have money stresses such as if you will have enough money for food, mortgage, student/car loan, day care, and all the things you need or want in life. I want you to live a happy life, that allows you to be in control, but also not feel like every day includes additional stress from work only to buy more things you don't need, or at least not right now. Part of this entire process is realizing what you actually want out of your life, then how to put a plan in place to make it a reality. The more we have stuck to this plan, the more we have avoided life's stresses related to money.

We are currently in Dave Ramsey's baby step's 4, 5 and 6, which are done simultaneously. Step 4 is to save 15% of your income towards retirement. Step 5 is to save for your kid's college, which we utilize a 529 plan and contribute towards monthly. Step 6 is paying off your house early. We're working on contributing beyond our base mortgage payment very soon. However, we are also saving up to pay cash for our next used car, which we have begun looking for.

Finances can be a scary, frustrating, and simply unknown topic for many of us. I barely knew anything in my 20's compared to what I know now. I only know more because of intentionally learning about it. While it may not sound appealing, or fun, it is important to our future. Think about what you want your future to look like, and what it will take to get there - different house/car/school system/set of bills to pay. You don't want to wake up 5, 10, 20, 30 years from now to realize you're in the same spot financially as you are now. Finances take small action steps for improvement and don't happen overnight, but good decisions consistently make for a whole new stress-free life. If you would have told me at age 30 the progress we would have made in the next five years, I would have said you were crazy. However, we just kept following the plan and everything else continues to fall into place.

With all of the above said, there is a lot more I could share, but I want to keep things simple and quick. However, if you are interested in talking more, please ask (text, call, DM, email) and I would be happy to chat to discuss what I can do to help.

Getting Personal: I've gotten a start on my 2020 goals and wanted to provide an update and be accountable to this group, but also to myself.

• Read one book per month - Currently reading 'Love Your Life, Not Theirs' by Rachel Cruze. I'm on page 119/225. This book is all about paying attention to your life and your goals as opposed to comparing your life to what other people have. While I don't think this something I do often, the book has given me a new perspective and how to focus on what we are doing in our family and how we achieve our goals. I think it is a great book for anyone who feels like they need to 'keep up' with what society or others have made us feel is important, but is realizing that they are no longer interested or it society's method is not working. Full disclosure, Rachel Cruze, the author, is Dave Ramsey's daughter, so she does discuss all of their principles, but in a younger, women's perspective, as opposed to older, male perspective. 

• Update my journal every two months - This is more of a family update so we can share with our kids and remember what we were doing in each stage of life. No progress yet.
• Write 1-2 blogs per month - Blog 1 done!
• Meet & have conversations with a mentor. No progress yet.
• Be a mentor - I have sat down with one couple to discuss their future specifically related to their situation and plan to continue working with them. This is an area I don't plan to share any details on as it is a private situation for any individual or couple I meet with. I think we made some significant progress and am very excited for their future! I am open to have discussions with others, so if you are interested, please let me know.

Packer Sunday - we all wore Packers clothes to work and school Friday (but didn't save that photo)!