Climbing Our Way Slowly Out Of Debt. Step One!

I have said I was going to do this post where I opened up about our finances and what our current situation is. The truth is I’ve been scared to so I’ve been putting off but that’s the problem. Both my husband and I can get in the habit of avoiding or hiding from our problems instead of confronting and dealing with them. So I’m dealing with this problem head on and opening up about getting out of debt in this post. One thing though I know a lot of our family reads this blog, which I’m grateful for but please don’t bring up this post with Blake or I. I will struggle to remain open and honest if I get confronted in real life about it. Just follow along on our journey with all of my other readers and support us. That’s all I ask from everyone to just continue showing me the awesome support I have received so far. So here is step one of getting out of debt. Where I am going to confront our debt and make a budget. Fun right!?!

So first let’s tackle the debts. Luckily we don’t have a huge amount of debt. We don’t owe on a car and we don’t have a mortgage so it’s just credit cards and loans. Which is a stupid debt to have but we like most people have acquired some debt. We have $3100 on a loan and $4000 in credit card. So the grand total is $7100 in debt. Not too crazy a number but I can’t wait till it’s gone. We also are using a huge chunk of our income paying bills for these debts and once that’s gone life will be easier.

So I’m now going to share our budget. I just worked it out and put it together. Monthly I will fill it out and let you know what we actually spent but I need the budget as a guideline.

So our income is a combination of what my husband makes at his job, my disability and a little extra help that we receive. Right now Blake is starting to look into what he can do for full time because his job only offers part time at his level. That and disability just doesn’t pay enough. I’m also not including my blogging income or expenses in this budget. I make enough to support my blog and I’m thinking in a few months I will start doing a blogging income report post.

Our rent is actually our space rental fee for our mobile home. It includes gas/electric, trash and water and the amount varies monthly between as low as 825 and over a $1000 depending on what those fees are. So I put in 900 as that is the average.

A few months ago we cut our cable and went to subscriptions like Hulu. We pay for a couple different ones.

The Dr. Appt category is if needed and prescriptions if needed. Some months we won’t need the money and some we will. I just wanted to budget it in. Also, our medical insurance is automatically deducted from husband’s paychecks same with car insurance. So we do pay those but I didn’t budget them in because we don’t get that money and pay it ourselves.

This budget is going to be tough. We included very little fun money and it’s a really tight budget but it will be worth it to stay on track and once the income goes up and we pay off the debts we will be in a much better place. It’s really scary to put this out there and share with you all and I’m sure that it’s going to be tough to share the actual numbers each month but I’m hoping it will help keep us in check. I’m huge on the importance of insurance and how necessary it is. So I wanted to clarify that we do have it. You just don’t see it.

We are spenders and lots of little expenses creep up so having to share my numbers will keep me honest and on track. We both need to keep our spending in check and get serious about getting out of debt and building up our savings. So the plan is to post our budget monthly and show our progress of slowly getting out of debt. Also, I’m going to try to do budget friendly idea posts and posts on tips or things I learn along our journey.

So again please be kind and positive and respectful of this very difficult post and how hard transparency is. I know our money situation needs to improve and be better that’s why I’m doing this. Have you ever struggled to get out of debt? Do you have any tips? I’m open to suggestions.