As many of you know, my husband and I are giant Dave Ramsey fans and have been for a very long time. Back in 2006, we attended Financial Peace University and agreed that we would do everything that Dave told us to do during that course and see what type of impact it would have on our family’s finances.
We started by creating the monthly cash flow plan where every single dollar that came into our home was given a job on paper before the month began. It looks like this:
INCOME – EXPENSES = $0
We did it. It was really hard (you can read just how difficult it was here). We had to do a bunch of work to find all of our bills and then figure out how we were going to pay all of these bills and other expenses with our income. It felt like it would never actually work the way Dave describes in Financial Peace University, but we stuck with it.
We committed to not changing the plan that was laid out in FPU. We switched from using our credit card for all purchases (and paying it off in full every month) to only using cash and our online bank account. We started saving for future purchases, like our life insurance premiums, property taxes, and home maintenance. We built a strong emergency fund.
Within about three months, we realized that this “monthly cash flow plan” thing works. And works really, really well.
We actually had enough money to pay all of our bills on time. We weren’t fretting about where the money was going to come from to pay for a car repair. We weren’t accidentally spending our water bill money to buy clothing.
And, most importantly, we weren’t fighting about money anymore.
You read that, right? WE WEREN’T FIGHTING ABOUT MONEY ANYMORE.
The monthly cash flow plan absolutely transformed our lives. I feel almost silly professing the transformative power of a spreadsheet, but it’s true. Creating and living on a plan for our money has brought peace, control, and stability to our finances in a way that no increased income, budgeting app, or coupon ever has.
I want you to experience the same sense of peace and control over your money. Check out our FREE online web class, “5 Keys to Making a Budget That Actually Works.”
In this FREE online class, I’ll show you what it takes to live on less than you make, save for upcoming purchases, pay off debt, and (most importantly) experience peace in your home when it comes to money. I’ll also show you my family’s actual April budget so you can see how this thing works in real life.
The webinar is running two times later this week. You can choose the one the works best with your schedule:
Click the link above to register for the class (it just takes your first name and email so I can send over the link to the class).
Make sure you read my other budgeting posts:
- How to start telling your money who’s boss
- How to figure out where you’ve been financially
- How to start creating your first budget
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Hi I signed up but it wouldn’t let me log in and now I want to watch the replay and nothing are you going to post this on u tube I want to access it but if keeps telling me I need to register