tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8000289624100588478.post6298370368209628004..comments2016-02-15T17:44:48.421-05:00Comments on Monica Joy Designs: From $78,000 to $0... We are debt free!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11325713022485472902noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8000289624100588478.post-44184540599667125312013-12-22T13:09:22.727-05:002013-12-22T13:09:22.727-05:00Hi Alyssa! Thanks for feeling free to ask questio...Hi Alyssa! Thanks for feeling free to ask questions and congrats on your coming marriage that is so exciting! <br /><br />One thing we did a lot throughout the whole process was listen to Dave's radio show on podcast. You can download it from itunes, but it was a huge encouragement and definitely a motivator that helped us stay on track. Every Friday he does debt free stories, where people who have just paid off their debt call in and he asks them a couple questions about their journey. Its so fun to listen to and incredibly encouraging! Also just seeing that debt number go down each month was a big motivator. <br /><br />We honestly don't have a category in our budget anymore for pleasure. Originally we had set up a category for my husband and I to each have some spending money each month and then after about 6 months we realized we were just spending it on stuff we didn't need, and it was ultimately just holding us back from our goal, so we took it out. What we have set up now is a little extra breathing room in our grocery budget so we know we can eat out somewhere small once or twice a month if needed. And then we have a blow fund set up in our budget as well. The blow fund is like a safety net for all of our other categories in case we go over a little in one category we have a little bit of a cushion, it also helps when unexpected things come up during the month. The blow fund is also there if we want to spend a little extra we will pull some money out of there, but we only have it set at $250 so there isn't a ton of breathing room. We just have to watch what we are doing. We do have a separate gift category built into our budget that goes for birthdays and such but we don't actually have a specific amount of money set aside for pleasure. <br /><br />In Dave's plan the first step is to save $1,000 and put it in an emergency fund, and then from there you start paying off debt and you don't put any more in savings until you are done paying everything off. We followed this advice with the exception of when we were pregnant with our daughter, during my pregnancy we stopped paying down debt as fast and saved up money. Once baby came and we had everything we needed ( honestly we hardly used any of what we saved up, we had a ton of stuff given to us and we borrowed other things) we took our saving back down to $1,000 and paid off a bunch of debt with what we left over. Now we will start building up our emergency fund since we've paid off our debt. Dave goes through all of these steps in the money makeover so you'll get to see his reasoning behind it all. <br /><br />Our original goal was to be debt free before we had kids, that obviously didn't happen. If you can do that, I would say definitely go for it, but I certainly wouldn't say you have to be out of debt before kids. Life happens and there is never going to be a perfect time financially or otherwise to have kids. So I would say go with the flow. <br /><br />Hopefully that answers your questions, if I missed something please let me know, or if you have any follow up questions I'd be happy to answer more!<br />-MonicaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11325713022485472902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8000289624100588478.post-8449253722432318302013-12-19T16:14:12.498-05:002013-12-19T16:14:12.498-05:00Wow Monica!!! That is so great! We did FPU earlier...Wow Monica!!! That is so great! We did FPU earlier this year. It's really hard to stick with it when there are so many bills! I can't wait for the day all our debt is paid off... :) Happy Holidays!Lindseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17542012227699016313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8000289624100588478.post-62070130306178704032013-12-18T12:25:03.997-05:002013-12-18T12:25:03.997-05:00Monica- Firstly- congratulationsI cant help but be...Monica- Firstly- congratulationsI cant help but be inspired by your journey! My fiance and I will be getting married in May, own our home and have no children. Both our vehicles are paid for but we are going to have to buy a new one in the semi-near future. We currently have no budgeting and are getting behind. We probably have around $6,000 in debt which doesnt include my school loans which will need to be paid starting Nov 2014. I just purchased Daves money makeover book and look forward to reading it. <br /><br />My questions for you are- what helped keep you on track? How much of your budget is a pleasure budget now? What was your pleasure budget when you were paying off your debt? how much (%) of your budget goes to your emergency fund vs other savings? Advice before we start on our journey? Also, it seems so unrealistic to be debt free with children- what are your thoughts on this? <br /><br />Thank you in advance!<br />AlyssaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08609777650277895160noreply@blogger.com