Beginning a Journey

This is my blog about trimming the fat, both literal and theoretical, in our family's life.  When we begin the journey into adulthood many of us (my family included) are overcome by new-found independence and income.  As we grow, so do the credit card balances, the accumulation of crap, and, after popping out our allotted 2.4 kids, the scale.  This makes for a very unhealthy, selfish lifestyle.  This blog is to keep me honest; here I will lay it all out...the weight, the money (or lack thereof), and the stuff.

Let's start with the weight.  I used to be thin.  I was never the skinny child but my weight was healthy for my height.  Enter college, and unlimited access to Krispy Kreme doughnuts, ice cream, and pasta (all included in your meal plan), I put on both mine and my roommate's freshman 15.  Fast forward to 2009 and the birth of my daughter.  What a blessing, she gifted me with an additional 10-15lbs.  Here we are now after another pregnancy and another 10-15lbs heavier.  I swore I would never see the scale tip 150 and there I was at an all time high of 193.  Buckling down with the help of Weight Watchers and an expensive gym membership, I have shoved aside 10lbs in the last month.  I do not know exactly where I want to end up but I know I have a long way to go.  In the short term, I plan to lose an additional 10lbs by Christmas!  This will make my total 20lbs lost; it is a little slower than my weight loss this month but with all the holiday food in there it is realistic.

Next, the money.  My motto used to be that money was there to be spent and credit cards were there to be filled.  Can't afford the college you want to go to? Take out a loan.  Buy as much car(s) and house(s) you can so that there is nothing left at the end of the month (but you have the appearance of wealth).  My new motto....who cares about appearances?  Eventually, steam will run out, the wallet will dry up, the credit cards will max out.  After making several stupid financial decisions (BMW, expensive house we would only live in for a couple years, etc...), we learned the art of budgeting and that there is a better way to live.  A friend introduced me to Dave Ramsey's program My Total Money Makeover.  Now, I will never follow all of his advice (although I'm sure it works great for many people) but the basic concepts are great.  With some diligence, we have worked out way out of a ton of debt.  But...there is still a lot  to go.  My tracker has us debt free in November 2014...still two years away.  My goal is December 2013!  The last credit card will be paid off by January 1, 2013.   How am I going to shave 11 months off of this plan?  That brings me to the next area to trim....

CRAP!  Moving every 2-3 years has taught me a few things...#1: don't buy anything nice, the movers will ruin it.  #2: if it is still in a box two moves later, you can probably throw it out. And #3: do we really need/use that?  Also, why do you need the latest model and highest trim vehicle, granite counters and an HOA?  How is paying an extra $150/month for a storage garage full of stuff you never use worth it?  This is what we are finding out.  Last month we traded in our 2009 Hyundai Veracruz Limited (bought new for approx $36000) for a 2009 Mazda 5 ($11900 with only 30k miles). This brought our payment from $682/mo to $290/mo.  We refinanced our underwater (thanks housing crash) expensive, ridiculous house under the HARP program, saving 2.5% on interest and about $600/mo in mortgage payments.  This is good since we don't even live in the house.  Currently we are selling a washer and dryer, extra couches, and a big screen TV amongst other smaller things we no longer need.  We dropped cable to local channels only and cut the home phone.  Cutting the phone cut some stress out also since the only people who called other than my mother were telemarketers and creditors for the person that used to have the phone number.  This move saves us over $60 a month.  My goal for the next move is to not have anything we don't actively use (with the exception of a small amount of sentimental things).

I encourage everyone to examine their own lives and see what areas need to be adjusted.  I'm still learning as I go and the road ahead is filled with pot holes and flat tires but in the end I ask myself...
Do I want that cookie more than I want to be thin?  Do I want that new thing or do I want to go on vacation/live well in retirement?  Do I use this? Where would I put that?  If I cannot answer the question, it stays where it is!