5 year plan

Growing up, my Momma regularly told me that I needed to have a five year plan. So I created one. After I finished college my 5 year planning process ended...I had vague goals, such as get married before 30...didn't manage that one...but came close. I wanted to have a baby...by the time I was 30. I missed that goal too, but not by much...just a couple of years. I knew I wanted to be working full time, and be able to support myself. Check! I managed that goal...but what I never imagined, not in a million years was that my next five year plan would be financial.

Yes folks, I'm the money lady around our house. Scary!!!! I have an English and Philosophy degree and to say that I'm not good at math is an understatement. I'm HORRIBLE when it comes to math...but oddly enough, decent when it comes to finances. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't care much for money. In fact, if I were to create a world, money wouldn't exist. It simply doesn't matter much to me, unless of course I don't have it.

Well, not having it has been a problem for a while. My husband and make a decent living...well...more than a decent living, but we're struggling to make ends meet and I finally had, had enough. So this month, I became the money lady. My husband handed the bills over to me and the passwords to accounts, etc...and told me to go to it. So I am.

And I've developed a five year plan! Ha! Who would have thought...I'd be back to five year plans? But they work. So here's the plan...and the steps to get there.

We are going to get out of debt, have another child, save for the future, pay off our mortgage early, go on a trip to Italy, and contribute to our retirement, save for our child's (or children's) college expenses, and I'm going to take a couple of years off from the outside the home workforce and be a Stay at home Mom for a couple of years. Then going further into the future. I'll go back to work, we'll continue saving for the future (retirement and children's college), we'll buy at least 5 acres and build a nice house in the country and my husband will be in business for himself. Then,we'll sell or rent our our current home.

Nice plan, huh? So how are we going to accomplish this? And why am I dreaming of leaving the workforce or going to Italy while our country is in the worst economic slump since the Great Depression? Well...it's simple. I've decided I'm sick of debt and I heard of Dave Ramsey and debt free living for the first time this year.

And we've begun to move through the steps to get there. There are 7 baby steps in the debt free living plan. We've been on this plan for 3 weeks now, I've been visualizing it for 6 weeks. We're half way through step one, and starting on step 2.

Let me break down the steps though and explain where I see them falling in our lives.
Step 1: Save a thousand dollars. As I said, we're half way now.
Step 2: Pay off all credit card, car loans, student loans, etc... (anything but the mortgage) as fast as possible. When one debt is paid off, apply the extra money to the next debt. We've been working on this step for 3 weeks. It will take us just over three years to finish this, although it may happen faster and I hope that it does.
Step 3: Save up the equivalent of 3-6 months of expenses. I want to do a few more months than 6 for us. I anticipate we will have this step finished in just under 4 years from now.

The following year, I will quit my teaching position for a few years. Don't get me wrong. I love teaching, but I've wanted to be a stay at home Momma for as long as I can remember and the reality is that I can be...soon. In four years that is...after we get out of debt.

Yesterday, I did the calculations, and realized once our debt is gone...our expenses for the month will be less than 1/2 of our income...way less. So it's possible...and so are our other dreams. Who would have thoughts. Not I. But we do have a five year plan...so where does Italy fit into this. That's our 5 year anniversary present...and I can hardly wait. This September, will be year three of marriage (not of the get out of debt plan). So we will have two and a half years to save for our trip and I just know that's possible too.

Debt free living...that's our plan...so what's your five year plan. Do you have one?