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Friday, July 19, 2013

Debt

It has been a while since I have posted about our finances and debt, at Casa de Crews, and I think it's time we revisit. When Jason and I were first married, I asked a lot of people in blog-land if they and their spouses merged bank accounts, and if they talked about money at all.

At the time, I received so many opinions and suggestions. It was great! And slowly, over time Jason and I began to dig ourselves out of debt, and were contacted by CNN Money for a quick interview about our debt story, as newlyweds.

You can still find that story, here.

Fast forward a year, and our financial situation has improved...and also, has not improved. How does that make sense, you're probably wondering?

....WELL

We have paid a lot of our debt down {both credit cards and my student loans}, and thanks to a personal loan from a family member, after Jason started law school, we have a decent savings, as well. We are paying that personal loan back, but at a lower interest than some of our credit, and have saved money in the long run.

Because our bills aren't too terrible, there are more times than not, that our income combined, is more disposable than it should be. We don't have a lot of money, but with little debt, we're not hurting for anything, either.

But we have goals. I want to buy a house, soon! I don't mind renting {I am sure some of you out there who own are cringing at the thought of not gaining equity as I type this}, but we have outgrown our space and our rent won't do anything, but continue to go up. Also, we don't have anything saved for retirement {each time, we have both been laid off {three layoffs between the two of us in six years}, we have each cashed out our 401k accounts}, and my baby fever isn't going away. Nikki wants a bambino, soon.

And not to mention the student loan debt we're acquiring within the next three years, while Jason finishes law school. Yes we will hope and pray that those loans will pay for themselves once Jason gets a job post college, but it will take a while to pay it off.

So, we are going back to square one {read my first posts about our budgeting, here and here}. Back to the days of cash allowances {when the money runs out, that's it, until the next check} and creative ways to save a buck. As fun as it has been to not worry about money, I want to learn from past mistakes, so that we can secure our future. If that isn't a grown up statement, I don't know what it is. ha ha.

What sort of budget system do you have in place?

XOXO,
Nichole


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8 comments:

  1. Hmm I know a good financial adviser if you want to set up a retirement plan or start investing :)

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  2. I hear you on the retirement thing: I'm in the process of cashing in my Alaska retirement because it serves no purpose locked up in a state I'll never teach in again.

    Budget is a tricky word around here. I seem to get a thrill out of depriving myself and then splurging on something I really want. Scott buys what he wants. When we got married, we had, maybe, $3000 between us and were really dependent on that paycheck of his because we had lots of loans to pay. Fast forward 4 years and 2 deployments later, our loans are paid off and he's taken up day-trading in the stock market. (Not my favorite hobby of his...but his fishing hobby isn't making us money, so...)

    Anyway, I guess the point is that I wish we had MORE of a budget. I'd love to do cash allowances.

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  3. When the spending money runs out, it runs out, until the next check! We're digging out of debt too, and I want a shore house.

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  4. Awesome job girl, I can't wait till you start looking for a house soooo exciting :-)

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  5. My boyfriend and I have been together for 7 years and live together. We share expenses, but it's still tricky sometimes to figure out what a "fair" divide is. We don't talk about money a whole lot, but I know we'll get a joint account one day. I would still like to have my account though.

    Neither one of us has high paying jobs and I hate that I hold my breath sometimes as I'm signing on to my bank account. I have been trying to follow a budget for myself, but it hasn't really worked too well :/

    I've also decided to go back to school next year so saving is a MUST right now...not sure how I will make it happen, but my motto is always "everything will work out". :)

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    1. I am a firm believer that everything DOES work out, but that doesn't stop me from worrying sometimes, too :)

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  6. Great post! I'm in nursing school right now and our savings have dwindled to practically nothing...really need to make a budget!

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  7. Ugh budgets. We have not budgeted well and we're working on it now. I'm tired of living paycheck to paycheck! The sad thing is we make enough we just spend too much!! We're working on cutting back and really analyze our spending though. We just got rid of cable and we're tweaking a few other things. Some days being an adult is a pain ;) If it wasn't for ice cream for breakfast and wine I might just want to be a kid again haha.

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