.....on paying off debt and cash envelopes

Debt sucks. Anyone with a pulse knows that. You may have no debt, very little debt, or you may be like us and up to your eyeballs in it.

Once we discovered that we were expecting, I felt this overwhelming desire to get us completely out of debt.  I didn't want our debt to take away from things we could do or get for our baby. This debt I'm speaking about is not a small amount. It was enough to make me want to bang my head on a desk repeatedly or kick & scream like a toddler. We're talking double digit grand.

The ONE good thing about Quez's career is that deployment or any other kind of overseas tours means a little more money for us. We decided that we were going to make the most of this bull crap, unexpected, stupid  nearly 16 month separation by paying off these costly bills.

I had heard lots of wonderful things about a man named Dave Ramsey, a financial guru. I decided to visit his website a few months back and what he had to say made a lot of sense. It was a good plan so I put that plan to action. We sat down and looked at our bank statement. We wrote down what Quez got paid, what bills came out when, and made allotments for other expenses such as gas, groceries, date night, etc. I'm the type that has to write something out to remember it. Mama Burd is a list maker for sure. Our budget gets written out every single month because a standard budget doesn't really work for our family and I am not a fan of excel or other computer programs  Different months have different expenses because of birthdays or various holidays.

So far since he's been in the desert, we have paid off our king size mattress, Walmart credit card, care credit bill, and HIS CREDIT CARD! We're both very proud of the other expenses we paid off but that credit card and care credit were the most expensive thus far. All of that combined is nearly $8,000 worth of debt that we no longer have to fret about. THANK YOU, LORD! We're using Dave Ramsey's "debt snowball" method to pay all of this junkity junk off. The concept is simple, really. You just list all of the debts that you owe and pay them off from the least amount to the biggest amount. I love Dave's 7 Baby Steps to Financial Peace. We're only on baby step #2 but we're well on our way to financial peace. Next debt to pay off is my student loans. We're crossing our fingers that we'll be done with those 3 beasts by April of next year (That's nearly $20,000! YUCK!). The only thing we'll have to conquer after that is my car payment. You don't even want to know how much we were forking out on bills each month. We've eliminated 4 in just a few months! I am so proud of Quez for being such a wonderful provider and I'm proud of me for being such a kick butt budgeter.

I am fully aware that we're blessed to be able to pay all of this off so quickly and that this isn't realistic for most people. I am incredibly grateful that my parents are letting me stay in their house relatively rent free, minus the power bill. We wouldn't be able to do this without them. Thank you, Mama & Daddy!

We've also adopted the cash envelope system as a way to save money and really concentrate on what we're spending the moolah on.*I used to use regular paper envelopes but I eventually grew tired of the million paper cuts. I ordered fabric envelopes from etsy. I ordered her basic envelopes, not the more expensive cute ones. Here's the link to the shop I ordered them from: click here. I was very much taken aback when I realized how much we were basically wasting. Yikes! The cash envelope system is where you have a certain amount of envelopes in various categories with an allotment of money in each envelope for each category. Your categories are whatever you want them to be. Ours are: Groceries, gas, gifts, household supplies, leftover money, and fun money. Quez gets paid biweekly so I budget that way. To give you an idea on how we work it out, here's the amount of cash I put in each envelope:
Groceries: $150 (I normally only spend $60-$70 per week at the store but I allow a little more money just in case I catch a good sale on something we eat a lot of).
Gas: $80 (Once again, we don't normally use this much in gas. We do have two vehicles but my only outings are grocery or baby related outings. Also remember that this is based on a 2 week period)
Gifts: $20
Household supplies: $50 (We typically purchase our paper items such as paper plates, toilet paper, and paper towels in bulk. This category also includes cleaning products, cat litter, cat food, diapers, wipes, and personal hygiene items.)
Fun Money: $40
Left Over Money: --- (We almost always have some sort of money left over. This extra amount gets put into savings.)

This system makes sure that I don't overspend. I just grab my little envelope and calculator when I head to the grocery store. I HAVE to stick to what's in my little envelope. I don't bring my debit card so that I'm not tempted to overspend. Fool proof. Go me!

**DISCLAIMER** I currently only use 3 of the envelopes since I am living at home: groceries, gas, and left over money. My budget is obviously halved since Quez is overseas. Also, NEVER leave these cash envelopes in your car or where they can be easily accessed by anyone who may enter your home.