fpu & death to self

I have never had much success with doing things that require will power. Mine is in serious short supply. Diets/Excercise/Quiet time...

For some reason it's always been difficult. Mostly I am my own worst enemy. Sabotage. Then there is the series of beating myself up, guilt... repeat. I know I have come such a long way in some areas.. I mean I'm slowly but surely getting down to my goal weight by exercising and eating healthy. I would have never said I loved exercise but I do.. I think partly cause I love the women I get to be with each week.. they motivate me and help me be a better person. My goals are loftier then they used to be cause I am not AS afraid of failing.

I think that alot of it also has to do with self worth.. believing that I am good enough to receive good things, good results...

Now to really take you deep... The Staillion and are doing a course through the church we have been attending called Financial Peace University. Dave Ramsey is AWESOME. I was so nervous going into this cause admittedly I was not good with managing money... It was a real sore spot in our marriage. Dave came from the extreme opposite of me.. super stingy with money. Where I grew up viewing money differently. He can go months without spending a dime.. it's actually seriously irritating. Anyways we were heading for trouble... this course has changed our lives. Mainly cause it's changed the way I view money and the emotional tie I had to it... saving it, spending it, hoarding it, throwing it away. The whole thing.

The first class I walked away still a bit scared as we went into planning our cash budget. Dave's program is broken into baby steps and he is so passionate about it.. makes you feel you can really do it.

Our first money meeting went so well... no fighting and it actually helped us realize that we were not in trouble. We just needed to understand where the money was going and figure out that we control our money not the other way around.

I can say that now 10 weeks in (actually a few more cause we had a Christmas break) we are better off than we have ever been.

We have payed off a huge amount of debt already and I have learned so much. The way it works is all the money that comes in is spent on paper.. you allocate it ALL where it belongs. I take out money each payday and place it into envelopes and spend according to what we need and what's in the envelope.. some weeks I go to put money in after payday and I STILL HAVE MONEY!!! Amazing... I just view what I spend it on so differently then I used to.

I am excited to see where this takes us and even more excited to see that my willpower is all in the view... I can have a rich and fulfilling life without holding back. Planning takes work but if we live like no one else now later we can LIVE like no one else. It's exciting.

I got lots of posts planned for this week. Buckle up. :)