has given me a new perspective of not only getting out of debt, but becoming wealthy as well. I believe the key to the wealth is lesson 3, keeping a portion of everything you earn. This wasn't the first time I had heard this advice, but it clicked this time. The goal is to build a nest egg. Put 10% of your income away somewhere to collect interest. The thought of accumulating money is far more motivating to me than seeing a debt go down, but of course we must do both. There is a line in the book that says, "I can't save that much..." and that's exactly what I am thinking. I wrote down our total income for a month, deducted 10% for tithing, 10% for our nest egg, and all the debts we owe...and that put us $73 in the hole. Do we get to eat? Put gas in the car? Buy other necessities? Not that I can see. So we need to start smaller at this point, consolidate some debt, and think of a way to earn more money...which is another lesson in the book. But the good news is that Matt and I both want to build a nest egg and get out of debt. This morning, Matt suggested that we start declaring our desire for wealth together as a family every morning...which is suggested in the book, only on an individual level. As we talked about this this morning, Zoe asked what wealthy means. When I said, "have a lot of money" she perked right up and was all for this new declaration and plan. I do hope that our children apply in their life what they learn from our experience of getting out of debt, from our teachings of not getting into debt and establishing good financial habits, and having them more involved in our bill paying and financial goals to give them experience with finances.
"Today I decide to be wealthy".
What's under the bed?...
A broken bracelet
A picture that I suspect Zoe colored
Happy Birthday wrapping paper
A box filled with older pictures and negatives...I would like to organize these pictures...someday.
4 comments:
It sounds like your family is headed in the right direction. Yesteray we went to the store, just Feisty and I - the others were in school (the only way I'll go to the store, if I can manage it). We got to the parking lot and she said, "Do you have money?" So cute!
I feel your pain on this one. It's kind of hard to build a nest egg and save money every month when it seems like every penny you get goes to the necessities of life. And once in awhile it'd be nice to have some to do something fun.
Recently our Sunday School class did "Financial Peace University" with Dave Ramsey and it had some awesome ideas on getting out of debt and saving money. Applying them is the hard part. I have the tools to do it; now it's just a matter of doing it. :-)
Good luck! Sounds like you're on the right track!
We struggle with debt too. We're making the same goals. I hope we can both pull out of our holes! Debt sucks!
I've been meaning to read that book. I know what you mean about the struggle between paying off debt and trying to save, all while meeting the bills. It sounds like you are on the right track!
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