Guest post from Kaui of Thrifty Military Mommy
I grew up as a typical American who went to school but wasn’t taught basic budgeting skills. I can’t really blame my parents for this because they too were not taught how to budget by their parents.
“Go to school, get good grades, get a good job and you’ll be successful,” was the typical mentality. When I left the nest I found out pretty quickly that graduating from school and getting a good job did not make me successful.
Two Incomes Didn’t Solve Our Problems
When I got married, having two incomes didn’t help things out much. In fact, in many ways, things got even worse because there were two people who didn’t budget and spent their money on anything they wanted!
When we had our first baby we chose to go to one income so I could stay at home, which brought even more strain as we tried to figure out how to survive on one income. Everything changed when my husband got out of the Marine Corps and our daughter was one.
The School Of Hard Knocks
With no jobs and just a small amount of money coming in from my husband’s GI bill, we both kicked into survival mode, realizing that we had to get our finances in order now or we wouldn’t survive the year. We didn’t realize then that we’d be thanking God for allowing us to go through that temporary time of suffering, and if it weren’t for Him we would have self destructed for sure.
Thankfully, some friends of ours were excellent at budgeting so they taught us how to use the emergency budgeting technique since we had so little to work with. They also advised us to use the envelope system and only spend the cash that we had on hand until we could refill it the next month.
At the same time we were becoming familiar with MoneySavingMom.com and Dave Ramsey. Because of all the support we received online, the vast amount of education regarding budgeting, and the help of our friends, we were able to avoid more debt and live within our means.
Our Success Today
Now we are so much more successful with our finances than I ever could have imagined. I have come to love budgeting so much that I now have my own blog to help spread the word about finances and handling money properly. We have been blessed with another baby (boy), we own our own home, and we have more money left over in the bank at the end of every month than I thought we’d ever have… and it continues to grow!
We owe it all to budgeting!
Kaui is a proud army wife and mother to two very active children. She saves her sanity by blogging about the military, saving and making money, investments, and her own struggles and triumphs as a mom to two military brats at Thrifty Military Mommy. She is passionate about nurturing anyone else who has been through the same struggles she has and loves offering her advice and wisdom.
WorkSaveLive says
Congrats on getting everything in order! I used to struggle pretty seriously with finances and Dave Ramsey/getting on a budget also turned things around for us!
I now firmly believe that getting on a solid budget is the foundation of financial success.
Thrifty Military Mommy says
Hooray!!! Better late than never I always say. Congratulations! It can be rather daunting at first but you’ll get really good at it and then you’ll start to love it like most of us ’round here 😉
And you’re very welcome for the link. So sorry it wasn’t working on my blog. Thanks for letting me know so I can fix it.
Thrifty Military Mommy says
BTW everyone, if you’d like to learn more about the “emergency budgeting” technique then you can view it here: http://cleverlychanging.com/2011/09/finance-friday-guest-post-budget-emergency/
Sorry for forgetting to put this into the post.
Tara H says
Ooh thanks! I clicked the Emergency Budgeting link on your blog and couldn’t get to it so I’m definitely checking it out. My husband and I are sitting down for the first time ever (in 11 years of marriage) to make a budget tonight!!
Thrifty Military Mommy says
Oops, I pushed the wrong button when replying. Please see the comment bellow. Thanks.
Anna @ Feminine Adventures says
Such an inspiring story! We are saving up for our first major purchase since paying off the last of our student loans (a badly-needed “new” car for my husband.) Budgeting and saving up instead of just buying on credit makes the end result SO much more fulfilling!
Way to go Kaui!
Thrifty Military Mommy says
Thank you for the thumbs up! I’m so happy to share with everyone 🙂
MJ says
I just checked out the blog and was excited to get some new tips, but was disapointed with her blog. The colors were cool, but could not read anything because it was the same color on top of itself. Just did a quick look but have not been able to easily get to the information I was looking for. Congrats on budgeting though.
Crystal says
It’s a white background for me. I wonder if it’s your browser, perhaps?
Amy says
It’s a white background for me as well… did you try a new browser or reloading?
Ashley says
White background for me as well. I wonder if something is going on with your browser.
Kamila says
when I click on her blog link, I get a “generic” looking page offering slip sofa covers but on top it states “thrifty military mommy” but it doesn’t look right. I’m on Mac Book Air chrome
J says
I think your points are very valid. I certainly was clueless on managing money and have a past life to prove it. My husband was much more savvy but I didn’t listen to him and sort of danced to my own drum. After all, I worked and brought home a significant amount of income so what was the problem? We were always in debt, struggling to survive. Mainly because of me. Sad but true. I changed, I listen to my husband very closely and now we only have a mortgage which we are busy paying off very fast. We can learn and I love that there are sites like this one and others that help those of us that didn’t start out full of knowledge.
Thrifty Military Mommy says
I can totally relate to this except my husband and I both danced to our own drums, lol! At least we have learned, right? Good job for getting it together!
Mike says
I can’t recommend this class enough:
http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu
Find a location near you and sign up. I know a ton of people who have taken the course and every single one has said it changed their lives both financially and otherwise. I’ve taken it one and led it once and I learn new things every time.
Sara says
I agree. My husband and I have made car payments to ourselves for a few years. Tonight we are taking that cash and driving a car off the dealership lot WITHOUT payments. It truly changed our lives.
Thrifty Military Mommy says
Wow, that is FANTASTIC! Congratulations!
The Prudent Homemaker says
Congratulations! That is a wonderful feeling.
Amber says
Awesome!