Finding Our Financial Footing

Patrick and I have successfully been budgeting and watching our spending for a whole two weeks!

Yes, in the grand scheme of things two weeks is not that long, but compared to how we were spending to how we have been doing is amazing and I am really proud of the two of us. Unfortunately we ended this pay period with not a lot left in our checking account, but the bills are all up to date and we are feeling good about the next two weeks.

We did end the week in the positive, but not with enough to roll over into our house savings. He and I agreed on an amount that we would like to keep in our checking at the end of the pay period. Anything over that amount will go directly to savings. Again, bills are all up to date and since they usually come around the same time I wasn't expecting to have much left over.

I will admit that I am a little nervous about Patrick's paycheck. He closed his bank account last weekend and joined me at my bank. We are now functioning financially 100% joint. So far, so good... But, since his paycheck was on direct deposit he had to make sure to cancel where the check was going. It was after the pay period had ended, so I'm a little worried that 1. His check will try to go to his old bank because he didn't cancel it in time or 2. He will receive a "live" check but it will get delivered to one of the other three stores he's worked at in the past 6 months.

I know I'm probably worrying about nothing and it's really not that huge of an issue if something did go wrong, but I'm the type of person who needs to worry about something for a few hours and then I'm over it and can work on a solution.

It will not be the end of the world if we have to wait a couple days to get a check. We can live off of my check until we are able to deposit his, especially since all of the bills have been paid. Groceries will just have to wait until the check is received and since we've gone longer than 2 weeks between grocery trips I know we will be fine.

The fact that we are both so ready to be financially stable has me very excited. In the past it has always been me pushing the issue and trying to get Patrick to jump on board. I was able to get him to pay off the majority of his debt over the past six months to a year and I am so proud of him for doing so. Now it's time to tackle the rest of it, improve our credit scores and build up our savings.

After talking to the gentleman at the bank about home loans, Patrick and I became curious about our credit scores and decided it was time to check them. They're not bad, at all, but there is room for improvement and that's our current goal. We are going to pay off the rest of his debt and begin to make some conscious purchases using our credit card. We have decided that we will save for big ticket items (a dryer, a small television for the kids for Christmas and DVD player for their room, etc). Once we have the money in our checking account we will purchase those items on a credit card and then pay them off immediately.

The other thing we are working on is building our savings accounts.

I'm obsessive compulsive and we have a total of 10 savings accounts, each are nicknamed and have a set amount that automatically transfer each payday. Isabel has a college fund, Leah has a college fund, Kaleb has a college fund, the cat has a savings account for vet visits, we have a retirement savings account (on top of each of us having a 401k, we have a vacation fund, a new car fund, a savings account for Christmas (so that it's not as much of a financial burden, but we still don't have to do the bare minimum), I have a savings account for The Dopey Challenge and of course a savings for our future home.

Our home savings is the one we are most excited about. It is fun to put money into it and watch it grow so that we can start looking sooner rather than later. Patrick and I are very lucky people and we will most likely be able to borrow money from our parents. He and I have decided that we will be saving a certain amount before asking them for help so that we can also contribute to our down payment (we are set on paying the 20% down payment and no less) but also use it as an emergency fund since it's very rare you can buy a house without at least a few headaches.

I think he and I are both antsy to have this happen as soon as possible, but we both know that we are doing it the right way. We will financially be in a great place and I just know that "our home" isn't ready for us yet (believe me, I've looked in our price range in the area we want to move to...)

All in all, I am feeling very positive about where we are and where we are heading and I am absolutely loving tracking our progress. I see good things in our future. Very positive good things.