I wanted to write the rest of my last post, since I am so wordy I figured I should break it up. So, this post will be about our new budget, my dad coming to Arizona, and my job interview!
David and I have been blessed to have little to no expenses while in Arizona and a steady income. We decided to call USAA and use their free financial planning service to set up a budget for savings and debt that would help us get closer to reaching our goals. We thought that with our anniversary and looking back on what we had done over the past year, we had a lot of improvement that could be made in the financial department. We are suckers for going out to eat and traveling and realized we were spending a ridiculous amount of money on those things, often times money we didn't really have to spend. After talking to USAA and getting hooked up with the planner we felt really good about where our money could take us over the next year. Currently we have student loans, a little credit card debt (mainly from traveling to Arizona which we don't get reimbursed for until October), and minimal bills such as car insurance, food/gas, and Bones expenses. As I said we are blessed to not have any expenses right now because the Army pays for most everything while David is training (housing, health insurance, and dental).
So after we evaluated where we were with our money we decided to make some goals for the future. Our biggest goal was probably to buy a house. We also know we will be needing a car and would like to either pay cash for the car or be able to pay it off within a year so we will need plenty of savings for that. Our financial planner also wanted us to be sure to have an emergency fund of 3-6 months income and suggested we not purchase a home before having this in place. With all of this advice we ended up making a 4-way plan.
- 10% is put to tithe (before taxes)
- We believe in tithe before taxes for the simple reason: God comes first
- 30% of our income is put into savings
- We split savings into emergency fund and "house fund" (house fund gets 2/3rds, emergency fund gets 1/3rd of our allotment)
- 30% of our income is put into debt
- Primarily paying down student loans and building credit (we payed our credit card down to 25% balance and are making regular payments on it)
- 30% is put into living expenses
- We budgeted our expenses like food, Bones, gas, and misc (to include some entertainment since we are in the middle of the desert) and anything that is left over from this amount at the end of the month is rolled over into savings
So far we have done REALLY well budgeting. This month we are definitely on track to roll over a good bit of money into savings (primarily thanks to good meal planning and not going out to eat). I think it is more thrilling to have a purpose for our money and know where it is going than it ever was to go out to eat all the time and plan fancy trips. Now, I am not saying it isn't hard to not go to Outback all the time and Buffalo Wild Wings and think about "oh look those cruise deals are so cheap" or "ya we definitely should buy this thing on Groupon its only ___ dollars!!". Those things do come up and tempt us but when we think in terms of "that is x amount of dollars that could go toward our future home it is a lot more manageable. We also do let ourselves little cheats like going out to eat once a week and going bowling or something like that. I will keep you all updated on how we do!
Along with our budgeting there is the question of "what about life after Fort Huachuca?" David and I have been applying for jobs and hoping we can continue our budget and "plan" when we get back to Virginia. Thankfully, we are SO blessed to have our loving family take us in for the next little bit and we will have much less expenses than we would have had trying to live on our own in some overpriced apartment. Anyway, back to this "plan". First off let me start by saying how ridiculous it is for me to even say we have a "plan". Only God knows the plan we will embark on and only he can make our plan. We are the clay and He is molding us to fit into His plan and carry out His will. With that, we have been trying to do our part in applying for jobs and keeping our opportunities open. We pray about the jobs we apply for know that the right opportunity will present itself. Currently, I am in the interview process for a position in McLean, VA as an event planner at a private corporate conference center. I am really hopeful about this opportunity and should find out this week if I get the position!
Well, this once again is a really long post and I still have not gotten to my dad's visit. I will just go ahead and admit now, if you are going to read this blog you will have to put up with the fact that I am long winded. I will post again this week about my dad's visit and some cooking adventures!
Until then... you can laugh at this ridiculous picture of me buying Bones food!
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