Expenses

I went to my sister's house last night and she gave me some awesome advice on my expenses and budgeting and saving. I was planning on getting a new car when I graduated however as you know I've been applying for credit cards and I keep getting denied so I was not so hopeful about getting that. Well, my sister turned me onto this guy Dave Ramsey who is a financial advisor or something. His tips are awesome, his ideas and advice are fantastic. I watched a video on his website explaining that you don't have to have a credit card or credit at all to be able to buy a car. He explained it like you buy a $6,000 car out of pocket with cash, then instead of paying a monthly car payment for however long, you take the money that you would be spending on that and put it into a savings account and save that up for several months to be able to buy another car outright. It makes a HELL OF A LOT MORE SENSE to me! I don't like credit cards. I don't believe in them. I figure that if I can't afford to get something right then and there then I do not need to get it. His philosophy is mine. It's NOT the American way to be in debt. . .despite the facts of how many people are, it's just a myth.

So my sister also turned my onto a website I think it's called expenseview.com and it's free. You can enter your daily, monthly, and yearly expenses, as well as your salary and do a budget report and everything. I'm also using an Excel worksheet that she sent me that she uses as well. Instead of keeping a daily money journal that I write I've decided to do this. I've learned the hard way that NO ONE is going to do this for me. The best way to save myself is to put in the work to be able to do so. It's important that I do this because not only do I not want any more debt than what I already have from school, but also because I need to learn how to manage my money a lot better. I'm excited, but I'm also not really looking forward to it. I have to practice keeping EVERY SINGLE ONE of my receipts and I've already failed at this lol. I need something in my car that can hold onto my daily receipts and then each night I will empty it out, notate the expenses in my expense reports and then I'll need another thing to hold onto the receipts after. I have to remind myself to keep up with this because it's easy to give up with frustration just like I did with my money journal.

Wish me luck. Also, if you are interested in any of these websites or reports feel free to let me know and I'll email them over to you. Dave Ramsey's website is daveramsey.com.