Finances

We had a great time in Sunday School today. For the past month we have been discussing finances. There were about 15 couples in class today and it was fascinating because there were several couples still in college, others who had just graduated and starting their careers, and then several more who have been married and out of school for a while. A lot of us who have been married and out of school for a few years were really able to discuss the importance of a budget and getting/staying financially fit. Brian and I mostly followed Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" and really learned how to get on track and stay focused. Between the both of us, we had car debts, small credit card debt, and student loan debt. We worked really hard and every extra penny went to paying it off, which didn't take too long, then we began increasing our savings and have a 6 month emergency fund. Dave Ramsey recommends putting 401k's on hold until emergency funds are fully funded, but we continued to contribute to ours. Thankfully we're both nerds when it comes to money, so we've never fought over it, but we definitely can see how it can cause problems. It's really great not having any debt to burden us (except our house, which we are working hard at paying off early). We're also really proud that our Italy and Austria vacation is paid for before we even go, so we can just go and have a great time and not worry about the financial part of our trip.