The 0-Sum Budget
You can get out of debt. It is not that difficult, but it will take
some time. All you need to do is want to.
For many years we struggled to get control of our finances. We simply
had no plan in place for the money we earned and thus it would just
drain away each month. It was my wonderful wife who discovered the
solution that worked for us — she checked out Dave Ramsey’s
Total Money Makeover from the library, and in a rare display
of brilliance on my part, I read it too.
The idea behind what I call the 0-sum budget is that you start with
all of the money you realistically expect to earn that month, and then
you allocate it all. The goal is to end up with $0 left in the budget
at the end of the month. As the month goes on, each time you spend
money, you log it in the correct budget line item. Once you have spent
all the money budgeted for that item, you do not spend any more money
on it. It is that simple.
We have been doing this type of budget for over 10 years now and it
has honestly changed our life. We have no debt now. No credit card
balances, no car loan, no student loan, no house loan. You can gain
control of your money, no matter what your income — being in
control of your finances and not letting them control you is one of the
most liberating (and stress reducing) experiences you can have.
