Where to begin?

[MrsTittlemouse]

I have lurked many times before, and I am dipping my toe in to lurk and ACT this time. I have felt SO incredibly overwhelmed and shamed regarding my finances in the past. I have had my head in the sand since I met dh and started a family 10 years ago. I am pulling my head out and jumping aboard- the wind has changed!

But where the heck should I start? I came to MDC to search for Dave Ramsey, but then got caught up in no-spend months and all of the other threads.

A little about us- we own a busy remodeling business, but we are messy with the finances both personally and professionally. I have brought on a friend that is a CPA who is helping us get more organized with the business. I am very grateful to be overwhelmed with a lot of work, things seem to be turning around, or people just have repairs and needs in their current homes that they can no longer ignore. SO, we are good there.

But, being self employed means that the unpredictable nature of our income has led me to not be proactive about planning.
I want to change that and I would love some input on what has helped others.
My plan right now is to:

sort through boxes of papers and get them put away
figure out how much we have spent in 2010 and what we have spent it on
get a list of debts
figure out how much we need in order to pay our bills
create a debt snowball
put money into savings on a regular basis

I thought I had an emergency savings account started, and I know this is awful, but now I am wondering how the heck we are going to do Christmas and Ds' ortho work! GAH!

In some ways it is easier to stay ignorant! We don't use credit cards, but we do do the bill paying dance and don't have savings. At least in my state of ignorance I could more easily fake my way through Christmas!

What advice would you give me if you were just getting your act together? Please help!

[vannienicole]

I HIGHLY suggest The Money Book for freelancers, self employed, part timers, temps, etc. It really helped me get my finances in order (multiple part time jobs means variable income).

[MrsTittlemouse]

Perfect, that sounds like a great recommendation!

[lucky_mia]

No advice but right there with you - just pulling my head out the sand myself.

[MrsTittlemouse]

How are you getting started lucky_Mia?

I am hoping that today I can put away the laundry, fulfill my volunteer commitment, then come home and go through those boxes of papers. My first realization is that my time management skills need to improve.

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by vannienicole

I HIGHLY suggest The Money Book for freelancers, self employed, part timers, temps, etc. It really helped me get my finances in order (multiple part time jobs means variable income).

I just finished reading this book as well and highly recommend it as well. My dh is self employed and I my income is variable since I technically work pt and do side jobs. Over the years I have found traditional financial management books don't work as well when you don't have a regular income stream. Yet this book spoke my language and while I can't implement every thing it suggests its given me ideas for moving ahead.

Good luck! I am pretty much where you are.

[mich]

I can totally sympathize with the boxes of paperwork. At one point I had 4 large boxes full of papers and mail. I am now down to one box of old stuff. I put a file cabinet next to the desk and just did it. I got a box of file folders, sticky labels, put on a good movie and sat in the living room for hours organizing. It took a few nights but what a relief!

This was my first step in getting organized. The trick for me was to not get hung up on the content of the papers. Like finding something that needs attention. I was just organizing, putting like with like. The last few months have been much easier. If I need something I know where it is. I can clean off the desk and know where everything goes.

Your to do list sounds great. I also just made a ledger page of just debts to pay off. It has been so helpful to see this on one dedicated page.

[MrsTittlemouse]

I ordered the book.

[MrsTittlemouse]

I finally made space in my day to go through the boxes. It was way easier than I expected, hardly any of it was relevant. It was all old old papers that we never filed. I didn't bother filing them, I just sorted them according to their years and relabled the boxes by year. Easy. That leaves me with 2010. I can handle 2010, no problem. I am hoping to have any unfiled 2010 papers organized and a list of our debts by Thurs when the book arrives.

[mich]

[carmel23]

Cool, I reserved the money book from the library

[greenemami]

Just put this on hold as well-dp and I are both self-employed with variable incomes, and we just had a conversation about how some of the "other" money management plans don't really apply to our situation.

I too am just pulling my head out of the sand-it is a frightening place to be, but the first step is admitting we have a problem, right?!

[vannienicole]

Since I started doing what the book suggests (a % out of each check that comes in) I now have a retirement fund, emergency savings, christmas money, and even started saving (very slowly) for a down payment on a house in the future. I have found that I really don't miss the money since I never "see" it just like people with salaries never "see" their retirement contributions, taxes, etc come out of their checks. I mean we see them, but that is money I can't touch.