What a Debt Free Budget Looks Like
February 28th, 2008 by Ana
So I completed Baby Step Two this week, and am debt free but the house. So how does that change my budget for March? (big grin) Oh I am so glad y’all asked!!
I haven’t put hard numbers up here yet, and I probably won’t for this budget either. But I will list the categories left standing on my budget to give everyone an idea of just how sweet it really does look on the expenses side!
- Mortgage payment (same as it’s always been)
- Gas & Water company (expecting it to be higher thanks to a rate hike and a very cold month)
- Electric company (no A/C yet LOL so it is holding steady at the winter rate)
- Groceries (rising slowly but steadily, not to mention I have to feed a teenage boy)
- Gas for the vehicles (EEEK! Stupid gas prices have jumped recently! This category got upped … again)
- Home Phone (stripped down to local line only for the past year)
- Cable (Mostly just internet, TV is stripped to lowest level possible, but must keep to gt the “good” rate for my internet)
- Son’s private school tuition (fixed until August)
- Central Heat/Air maintenance (after last year’s furnace breakdown, a necessity … didn’t know they lasted this long LOL)
- Cell Phones (paid through hubby’s account)
- My puny Roth IRA contribution
- Son’s puny mutual fund contribution (long story)
- Eating out (gonna bump this one up for March to CELEBRATE!)
- Household products and clothing
And … that’s it! Now that the debt is gone, that is all we have left to pay each and every month! A couple items got raised for March, with the necessities being gas, groceries, and the heat bill. Without any debt payments, we will be able to absorb these increases without any problem. I’ll still gripe about the higher expenses mainly because I really want to breeze through Baby Step Three (the big honkin’ fully funded cash emergency fund) so I can get busy on saving for retirement.
The “fun” extra expense is our celebration plans, set to go down next week Friday. I’ll ask tonight for that day off, then the plan is I get to drive to Nashville area that morning/afternoon to watch the Dave Ramsey radio show live in the lobby, and make my “I’m DEBT FREE!” call from his lobby. Then when I get back home the plan is we will go out to our favorite German restaurant downtown for dinner and catch a play at the regional theatre. Friday is the first night of their annual spring Shakespeare play, and this year is Julius Ceasar. Then back to the little German restaurant for a beer and open mic night entertainment. Hubby and I haven’t done this since before he went to Korea for a year!
Posted in budgeting, savings, Dave Ramsey |
February 28th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Please post about your Dave Ramsey “live in the lobby” experience! I’m so excited for you. I know how hard you’ve worked for this.
Isn’t it amazing how little it actually takes to survive when you don’t have debt?
February 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I didn’t know you could watch his show from the lobby! That is so cool. If I lived closer (and was actually done with BS 2…) I would so do that, too.
Congrats again, and enjoy your celebration night!
February 28th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Fantastic job! I’m so happy for you. I’ve caught up on your blog and you deserve the respite for all the hard work you did.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I’ll be so excited to hear you scream it, i’ve been following your blog since september. $7100 to go till mine
February 28th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Whoo! I am so excited to hear you on the radio
I was on DR today asking about home business and property taxes (Shanti in Seattle). I’d never called in before and it was pretty awesome 
I think it’s great that we get to keep watching you grow up and up even after debt is gone. Way to go!
February 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Very good job!!! Hopefully someday i will be in the same shoes. No more debt.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
You can watch and hear the show from the lobby. The studio has a HUGE window for visitors to the lobby to check things out.
If you’re an FPU coordinator, you can call your sales guy at his office and they can pull some strings so that you can sit in the very small studio booth with Dave. The day I went, I got to hang out in studio and chat with Dave between segments about each caller. That was a hoot!!
Then you get the tour of the building so that you know where all the other departments are and other services that he offers.
The day I went I goofed off too long next door at Cracker Barrel for lunch and missed prayer time just before the show. Dave, Blake, Laura and other staff members all pray right before the show begins.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
You did what you had to do to make it work. I acknowledge you for that.
March 9th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Nice job! (found you thru the blog carnival).
March 12th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
[…] my posts were the Carnival of Financial Planning at the Skilled Investor which listed my post What A Debt-Free Budget Looks Like at the top (many thanks) and the Carnival of Ethics, Values, and Personal Finance which included my […]
March 15th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
[…] Less Per Month onFree EbookI Think This is BAD Money Advice onPay Off Credit Cards with a HELOC?What a Debt Free Budget Looks Like onOFFICIALLY DEBT FREE But the House!!!shuchong onChanging My MajorLifecycle Funds in the Thrift […]