Financial Peace!

So its confession time.  I can't remember if I said it before, but just in case, I'll say it again--deployment #4 was my hardest deployment (this one is #5).  I don't know what happened, but I went into retail therapy overtime.  I spent soooooooo much of our money.  Danny had a bonus, plus deployment pay, etc.. and when he came home we had no money in savings and still had our debt.  It was a rough deployment and probably one of the roughest times in our marriage because I wasn't honest with Danny about my issues with money and my struggles to keep it together.  At any rate, we got it all fixed and Danny dug us out. 

However, we never got rid of credit cards and still never did a budget.  We weren't in horrible debt--just what everyone considers normal.  When Danny came home and told me he had to deploy again one of my first thoughts (okay--after all the pity party thoughts and the not again temper tantrum I threw LOL) was that we can't do another deployment with no financial structure.  I NEEDED to have a budget so I wouldn't feel guilty or worried about spending too much.  Plus, even though Danny didn't say it, he NEEDED me to be better and have a plan.  He never spoke it out loud, but I know that one of his biggest worries in leaving us again was that I'd fall into the retail therapy trap again.

So, I pushed him into watching Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace and for the first time in years I felt that Danny and I were seeing eye to eye about credit cards and saving and budgeting.  We didn't get through all the videos before he left, but I read The total Money Makeover shortly after he left and reaffirmed everything I wanted to do.  With some help from a good friend, I got a budget that is working.  I have friends keeping me honest about my spending and am slowly trying to start using cash envelopes for my spending.  

I feel so at peace about how I am handling the finances that it is a huge relief.  I think the best moment was last week when Danny told me how proud he was of how I was handling everything--kids, house, and finances.  And, I am just giddy that I got to do this:

All of our credit cards are paid off and cancelled!! The cancelled is the biggest thing.  I've had my Military Star account since 1998 and it had an outrageous limit.  It was also really easy to use since gas was always cheaper when using the Military Star.  In addition to those being gone we also paid off one student loan and half of another.   Its an awesome feeling!!

If you haven't checked out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace yet they are both great resources.