It's a learning process

In response to my last post I would like to share with you mine and Danny's journey with MONEY!! It has been said that the most common arguments between spouse's is over money.  And let me tell you, we've had our fair share of "discussions".  There are going to be a series of these posts becuase it has been a big learning process for us.  I would like todescribe my take on money and Danny's take on money because we did not start out on the same page AT ALL! this is why we went on a search to learn whats best when it comes to money. I'm sure many of you out there feel the same way in that you and your spouse might not see money and budget in the same way.  I hope to encourage some of you to start thinking about your money more. 

I'm quite conservative when it comes to money.  I have an extremely hard time sometimes.  I love to keep extra cash and hide it away in my house just so I know I have it.  I have a difficult time buying things I want unless I see a need behind it.  I always like to say to Danny "is it a need or a want" :) It will actually make me cringe sometimes when I think about having to buy new work shoes or pants.  I buy things when I need them.  If I don't see a need I will feel buyers remorse before I've even made a purchase.  I will wear some things out till they have holes all over and i can tear them apart :)  I even still wear some of my jeans and t-shirts from high school. I had a pair of jeans that got so worn out and thin I tore them off myself one night :)
Anyway, I've never had a credit card in my name and I didn't have any student loans because I got a full-ride track scholarship for SUU so I never had to pay for schooling.  I know that this is not the case for everyone but I was lucky to have it for me. 

Danny also likes to save money.....but he LOVES to spend it more.  When we first met he really was an impulse buyer.  He has gotten so much better now....however his purchase prices are getting larger each time he is smarter in the way he does it.  If he sees something he wants he can't stop thinking about it, or planning how to get money to buy it or how hes going to get me to let him buy it.  I do have a weakness of not being able to say no to him very well)(.  This aspect of him sometimes drive me absolutley nuts.  I could not understand how one person could want soooo many things!!

Then there was the big money thing that happened when we got married.  Danny did what he wanted to do by becoming a pilot.  He has been very successful in it but has also accumulated an immense amount of student loans with it.  looking back I do think there are lessons he has learned about how he got so much debt which has led him to become smart about money now.  This was probably the biggest issue when we got married.  I had a very difficult time taking on all his debt after marriage.   But along with Danny's spending/impulse buying/wanting everything on the face of the planet (love you honey) he does have a good sense of how money works and everything I've learned about money is becuase of him.  My take on money is to hold on to it and never let it go...which isn't always the best.  Danny's take on it is that it's okay to buy things if you do it the right way.  so here are some books that got us started.  And we started this money journey about 4 years ago

first we read The automatic Millionaire
Then The Richest Man in Babylon
Then Rich Dad Poor Dad
 
These books were all great about what to do with the money you have but they didn't help us in our issue of getting out of debt and how to be smarter with our money. Then Danny read Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey and he loved it! I have not personally read this one, but it did lead us then to read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and that has gotten us to where we are now.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO EVERY PERSON OUT THERE WHO MAKES MONEY :)  and I will talk about the total money makeover in another post because this one has gotten waay too long :)