"D" Day

or "Dave Ramsey" day as it is known in this house will arrive on Monday May 20th (yes...tomorrow) and if I told you I was excited it would be a lie.  I am terrified, afraid, worried, nervous and feeling all sorts of inner anxiety right now that I really don't know what to do with myself.  Today after church we watched our first DVD class, did our workbook, discussed what we saw and heard and made our first tentative plans.  I have always been a “budgeter”, I have always HAD a budget, the older I get, the better my budgets get (and considering the financial mess we are in, that should be enough to scare the living daylights out of the strongest among you).

 
The very first page in our workbook we were asked to tell our story.  What is it we expect to be our greatest challenge as we get started with FPU?  Wow, pop quiz right there on page 1!  Both my husband and I pretty much agreed with one simple facet of this process that we expect will be our tallest hurdle to overcome.  Mainly because, in this ONE area of our married life (thus far), we are both exactly the same (go figure).  Our biggest challenge, as we see it, will be following through, especially when it starts to “feel” painful.  We are both GREAT starters…however, we are horrible “finishers”.  We are both very determined to finish this though.  I know that if he wavers all I need to do is say something and he will be right back on board.  However, if I waver I also know that all I need to do is cry and he will do anything to make me happy.  Our project will end and I will then face the guilt knowing it was all my fault.  In order to avoid this I will come here, as often as absolutely necessary, to kick and scream and throw my tantrum like any self-respecting toddler that can’t have the new toy she wants right now, until it is all out of my system.  Accountability (and emotional release) will be my saving grace.

 
Of course, we were given homework for the week, of which we have completed our “quick-start” budget form (basically this is a bare bones skeleton budget that we will fine tune as the week’s progress).  We each still need to read chapter 1 “Super Saving” in the book “Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money”.  (I called “DIBS” first since I am a faster reader when it comes to financial books and anything "self help").  We still need to register for the online tools and then Complete our Financial Reality Check (not really sure how much more reality I can take where our finances are concerned).

 
I will admit, today it was fun (in a way), we did have a couple of “arguments”?  And I am pretty sure we were both arguing for the same thing but as usual we see things differently and arrive at the same destinations but by very different routes.  We’ll need to work on that too I suppose.  Baby steps...