There was a point in mine and Chris' relationship where our finances were constricting us, making us feel suffocated, anxious and uneasy month to month.
DEBT
Debt was looming over our heads and we felt trapped under it's heel. We wanted to learn how to make healthy financial choices so that we could model them to our future kids and set them up for a better financial future and set up our future more securely as well.
Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover," was gifted to us and to say it was life changing is an understatement. I will link it HERE for any who are interested in all of the detailed systems he has helped thousands of Americans with.
Having a dual steady income was huge! We both knew I'd be a stay at home mom once we had kids, it was something I'd wanted for so long. And when we were trying to conceive I was feeling frustrated at our unsuccess and mentally couldn't focus on work. But long term, with our finances in poor condition I needed to find a job that had a steady income for me. I found a cleaning job as well as co-directing the children's ministry at church. These have helped us to pay off our debts and focus most of Chris' income on our necessities.
We also ceased our Credit Card spending. You can't get out of debt if you're still racking it up. Cut up your cards so that the temptation is gone. Then focus on the next 3 steps.
Snowball Debt Eliminator. Write out all of your debts lowest balance to highest balance and then start tackling the lowest one first. Still paying off the minimum payment for your other debts. Once you've paid off your smallest debt you add it's minimum payment to the next highest debt. This allows you to pay off things faster and doesn't change the amount you are paying monthly.
Download the EveryDollar App. This is a great place to keep track of all your utilities, payments on cards or loans as well as gas, groceries or any gift funds you have for the month. It shows you how much you'll have left over at the end of the month. It's perfect to have on your phone, for easy and quick tracking, forces you to keep with your budget and shows how much wiggle room you have in a month's time (if any).
Paying in Cash for groceries or eating out. Take out the amount you CAN afford to spend. This forces you to only spend the money that's in your wallet and helps you reevaluate what you are spending your money on.
All of these tips have been extremely helpful to us over the last year. If you want to dive in further I highly recommend Dave Ramsey's book that I mentioned above.