Causes Worth Supporting: Your Family

Photo credit to the amazing Lauren K. Photography of Cleveland

This week's Cause Worth Supporting is a simple one that not many of us think about. We forget how important it is to support ourselves and our families, to make effort and sacrifice for the betterment of their future - to invest in ourselves! So today it's all about how you can support your family by saving more, spending less, and paying off debts as quickly as you can to become debt free!

My husband and I have been in debt since we got married (we both came into the marriage with debt from college - his credit cards, mine student loans) and it's only snowballed as the years have passed. I have made a lot of progress on our little mountain in the last year using Dave Ramsey's Snowball Method and paid off about $8,000 worth of debt (in total we probably have around $120,000 - though the majority of that belongs to my student loans and the car we purchased last year and make payments on each month). So while things like that are on hold and we're burning through what little savings I held built for us - a lesson learned that won't ever be forgotten - I'm working to eliminate any extraneous spending (which is really hard sometimes) and do what we can to keep all of our bills current.

What you see up there is Dave Ramey's Baby Steps to becoming debt free. For at least the next few years Step 6 won't apply to us except that we'll be saving for a home in our future. Regardless, this is the pattern I follow for our goals (steps 1-3 in particular). When I was working on our savings and debt last year, I would take a few hundred dollars of our flex paycheck each month (the first paycheck was devoted to almost all of our bills, the second would be focused on debts and other needs) and put it towards paying off some of our debts (while paying minimum amounts on our other debts/bills). Another $100 would get put into our savings account and then I had a little cash savings I was building at home that I would add to any time I went shopping at Target or to buy groceries by getting $10 or $20 cash back and just taking straight home to the little billfold I was keeping it in. When things were going according to plan, I could save $2-300 a month. I'll be honest, that didn't happen for as long as it should have and it several times would get spent on minor emergencies or needs - hey, we've got kids and they need some pretty expensive stuff sometimes. Anyway, that's how things were and we'll return to that style again when we're back on our feet. My husband and I have also agreed we're going to try out the cash envelope concept from Dave Ramsey (can you tell I'm a fan?) and I'm also considering the idea of opening a savings account at a different bank from The Nester - or just a different account than our usual savings - so that your savings don't get touched as easily as when they're attached to your checking account.

Below are a few other links I've found in the last couple years that I really found helpful or interesting about paying off debt, managing finances, and/or savings -

A Starter Post for Saving Money Tips & Couponing

'And Then We Saved' - a great blog on becoming financially solvent

The Spending Diet from ATWS - or the more intense & quickly successful Spending Fast

All Hail the Life Changing Ecstasy of a Home Management Binder
 *a note on the HMB - there are a thousand different styles and free printables for these available on the web (just search it on Pinterest and you'll be set for life really). I've used one for a couple years and it's insanely helpful. Invest the time to set it up right and you'll love having everything all in one place!

Enjoy your day and your family, everyone. Here's to a 2014 where we all get a little closer to being debt free and having the life we want!