Financially Fit Date Night

This past Friday night, Jason and I had our very first money management date night. Sounds pretty wild and crazy, doesn't it? Well let me tell you, there was nothing wild or crazy about it. HOWEVER, it was necessary. Did you know that a Kansas State University study found that the leading contributor in divorce among the couples surveyed was FINANCES?! Additionally, they found the income the couple made wasn't even a factor. So basically, a major reason couples separate is poor communication and compromise in regards to their finances. Jason and I are nowhere near that point and have always had pretty clear communication in regards to our finances but nonetheless it's scary to think about the impact it can have on your relationship.

Friday night we sat down with an excel spreadsheet, all of our bills and a couple of cocktails.

We essentially went through the nooks and crannies of our financial situation and I'm going to be honest, it sucked. I really thought going in that I would end the night invigorated and hopeful and ready to conquer the world. Not to say our date night was bad, quite the opposite. But, I'd be lying if I said we didn't argue and tears weren't shed. When we took a cold hard look, line by line, at what we are making and spending each month along with a list of our debt...well, it stunk and stunk bad. There were definitely moments of feeling really deflated and defeated. However, everyone has to start somewhere, right? As Dave Ramsey says, and we have already realized, it is going to take us a couple of months to really get our budget system nailed down but we set some goals and a budget for March and are confident that if we stick with it, we'll see some extra money to start using towards our Baby Steps at the end of the month.

While it was hard facing the facts, our date night was also great in accomplishing some big initial steps such as:

• Setting a budget & plan for March
• Putting our credit cards in an envelope to be used only for an emergency, then once we have our emergency fund set up those suckers are getting cut up!

• Creating our debt snowball and tabulating our total debt {not fun, but good to just have a number to start chipping away at}
• Scheduling our money date nights for the rest of the year {if it's on the calender, we'll stick to it!}
• Finalizing our super awesome comprehensive finances excel file {more to come on that!}
• Doing our taxes {again, not all that fun, but awesome to have done}

And then, in celebration of surviving our first financial date night and taking one step forward...we took a shot. That's just how we roll. 

I plan on posting about our progress and what we learn and accomplish along the way. Erin and her hubby Jared along with their alter egos Sallie & Perkins have been such a huge inspiration to me, so if I can help or inspire even one person with our plan, I think it's worth posting!

Yaaaaay money!