I missed a calling as a financial planner..

This post is extremely random. But the more I see people spend recklessly, the more I want to share this information with the world.

I confess that I am a very strange young adult. I actually really, really enjoy planning our finances. (I've talked a little bit about it here.) It motivates me like nothing else can. I've always felt that I acted older than my age and I think this little hobby of mine proves it. 

In college, I was the ultimate cheapskate (seriously, definitely the annoying kind). From day one I had the mentality that I was supposed to be poor, so I lived like I was poor. I never went out to eat or to get coffee unless I had a gift card, and could live on $15/week of groceries. I rarely went to bars so those expenses were nearly non-existent. I worked as close to 20 hours as possible at the daycare (since I was a University student at a University job, 20 hours was the max) and came out of college with more money than I did going into it. 

Andy and I were fortunate enough that we had hardly any debt going into our marriage compared to the norm - most of that was because we both have families who were also financial planners. But it was basically high priority number one that we pay off any debt we had ASAP. Although Andy was not accustomed to living simply for the sake of saving money like I was, and joining our two philosophies has been interesting (we definitely fit the saver-spender titles), we have found a balance and both come a long way. 

I lightened up on the spending part (or lack of), but the obsession with growing our savings continued. Andy became more interested, too. And then a few years ago Dave Ramsey came into my life and has been feeding the obsession ever since...

I honestly don't remember how I came across Dave's infamous Baby Steps, but they are like the 7 Commandments of being a grown up. They basically confirmed all of my philosophies and financial life choices leading up to this point. If everyone lived like this, the world would be a much better, happier place. I have scoured Dave's website and read most of the articles posted to his Facebook page.

Here are the Baby Steps in order:

1. Start a $1,000 emergency fund

2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball (this is a good one if you have debt)

3. Set aside 3-6 months of expenses in savings (keep this up to date)

4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs (do this every year)

5. Start a college fund for children (Dave says best ways are ESAs or 529 plans)

6. Pay off home early

7. Build wealth and GIVE!

There really is no point to this post, other than to encourage other people to worry about these things. It has not been hard for me to do this because I run on logic rather than emotion. Self control and behavioral change is not difficult for me if I know the benefits. 

Know your priorities. I would rather have a few high ticket items than go out to eat frequently or have a bunch of cheap crap. If it were up to me we would solely eat at home, but Andy thoroughly enjoys dining out so we have to meet somewhere in the middle. I also don't really buy clothes or "things" for myself. I don't go to Target for fun. I know the difference between need and want. I also consider myself to be a minimalist so this is how I choose to live.

The world of financial planning can be empowering and fun. Now go to Dave's website and start saving, darn it.