I am married for over 20 years; we have two children: one is in college and the other one is learning how to drive. My husband and I both work full time at fairly demanding jobs for which we trained very hard. We have a good income between us.
Obviously, though, up until now, we have not managed our money well because we have too much debt, too little savings, and, we do not even live as nicely as we would like. If we keep going down this road, we will be working far past the age for any sort of normal retirement -- maybe, for the rest of our lives. I recognized this fact a few months back and it became clear that we needed to change before we do any more damage to our financial health.
If we sound like you, then you know something about us already: we live in a suburb, in a house, that may very well be worth a good deal of money but which is mortgaged with a first mortgage and a home equity line of credit, we have two cars which we need for work and to get around, two teenage children, one of whom is in college and one who is heading there in two years, and we have lots and lots of debt. We have a little savings, mostly in retirement accounts that we have not given sufficient attention and we are becoming nervous -- we are aging, our house is aging, our kids are aging, and, with age, comes new expenses. Unfortunately, we are not done paying off the old expenses. We need to change and we have been changing right here in these pages all throughout the summer as I have been documenting the changes in this site.
I am a teacher at a public high school. Every summer, I start off with the grand scheme of getting my house de-cluttered and my finances in shape. And every September, without fail, I go back to school with portions of my house de-cluttered and some of the work down toward getting our finances in shape, but no plan for change that will carry us through until the next summer, or even until the next long break. That is because, until this summer, I have not once really created a plan -- not just a step-by-step guide, but a living, breathing strategy for accomplishing the twin goals: getting my house de-cluttered, and my finances in order (my family's house, my family's finances -- but am the one who takes care of them). I am amazed at what planning and focus can accomplish.
I have set up a few core systems that require a bit of time everyday, but, not so much time that I will not be able to follow through during the school year. While this may not have been the most fun summer I have ever had, it has been one of the most rewarding, because when I go back to school, I will carry with me a way to keep fixing up my family's finances and moving my family toward our financial goals.
Although part of our goals ended up including this website, I had no idea that I would turn this plan into a website until I began to write the site. Believe me, building a web site is definitely not for the feint of heart. I find it extremely rewarding: I have learned a ton of new skills, I have been honing my writing craft, and I have been maintaining the finances because if the financial plan fails, the web site fails. After all of my hard work, I have a real desire to succeed at both the financial goals and with making the web site as good as I can make it.
Our financial goals may or may not be similar to your own, if you have them. If you do not yet know what your own goals are, I hope this website will help motivate you to set your own goals and give you some knowledge and plans to allow you to take control over your money.