I’m not sure if I had told y’all, but I gave up any unnecessary spending for Lent. It has not been an easy task, and I thought this would be a good time to reevaluate my financial planning. Prior to now, my plan has been nonexistent. That’s not true, limited is more the way to describe it. I make a plan but then rarely follow it. I try but that is why I feel that getting help from someone such as Dutchess Partners is the way to go. I need someone to help me get some of my debt under control while I practice using my budget every month. I will say not making purchases I don’t need to this season has been refreshing. I’m not trying to juggle the bills and all the things we want. Those items are going onto a list and in a few months if we still want them then I will consider making the purchase. If not, then we didn’t need them, anyway. It may not be the best practice but it works while I am in planning mode. The kids have gotten behind it. When they see something they want they either add it to the list or tell me to add it. I can just imagine the size of the holiday gift wish list this year.

Financial Planning with Dutchess Partners

Deciding to use Dutchess Partners as part of my financial planning was easy. I knew I needed to figure out a way to cut a few of my bills in half. By cutting them in half or at least the interest in half I will be on more solid ground. I have plans for the future and the only way to reach those plans is to get rid of some of my debt. Plus some of my debt is from prior to and because of my divorce. It took years to pay off the IRS with back taxes that my ex didn’t pay. All of that debt ended up on my shoulders. I don’t want be forty-five with a mountain of debt. So I took a chance and used a debt calculator and was surprised at what I discovered. I could cut my monthly payments way down. Now, I included utilities and everything in that calculation and I think I need to change that. I know those sorts of payments aren’t included.

What is Financial Planning?

Before we get too far into my planning, I thought I would take a moment to define financial planning. A financial plan basically an evaluation of an individual’s current pay and future finances. By knowing these variables you can then predict and thus plan your future income, asset values, and withdrawal plans. It will also allow me to create a personal budget which is what I need for a month-to-month plan. There is six steps to financial planning:

• Establish your goals
• Work out and write your income and liabilities
• Evaluate current financial position
• Develop your plan
• Implement that plan
• Watch and review your plan

Writing It Down

This was the hardest thing for me but I knew I needed to be honest so I sat down and made a full list of my finances. I included every single piece of information including bills that had one or two more payments.

• Mortgage Payment
• Electric Bill- Varies
• Water- Varies
• Cable- Varies
• Verizon Wireless
• JD Williams
• QVC- three more payments
• Walmart
• Old Navy
• Kohl’s
• Fingerhut
• Sam’s Hospital Stay- ten more payments
• Groceries
• Car Insurance
• Car Payment- two more payments
• Monthly Prescription Costs
• Monthly Medical Visit CoPays

You get the idea from those listed above.  I also made a list of all of my monthly income. By doing this you can calculate fractions to show what your income ratio is to your expenditure. Although my blogging income can vary from month to month. I include what I know I am getting each month. Looking at my lists I know that I need to plan my blog income a little better. Campaigns and such come up at the last minute sometimes and in the past I have used that as extra money. I need to earmark that for a payment but allow for some fun too. Those bills and income that varies is what is so hard for me. I can overestimate but then I seem to get lost in the numbers. If I over estimate too much, I don’t make a change and then I end up buying something. I have the extra money since I planned it for something else and I didn’t need. What I need to do is switch that overestimate to another bill or just leave it in my account.

What Will Dutchess Partners Do For Me?

Dutchess Partners will help me by allowing me to combine a few of my smaller bills into one payment. That will get things paid off much quicker and allow me some breathing room. I have one account that every month I make a payment, only to have new interest charges eat up the payment. I am trying to get it paid off so I can close the account but I can’t seem to get ahead. The account is from my divorce which wrecked me financially. I have had to start over and not fall into old patterns. If I can use Dutchess Partners to cut that interest rate I will get my head above water on this account. Getting ahead will allow my financial planning feel less of a mountain I need to climb.

Deciding to take control of my finances was both an easy and difficult decision at the same time. I had to learn the lingo which is more complicated than you would think. I had to figure out my asset value and to be honest I wasn’t sure what was an asset and what wasn’t. I had bought stock this year, and it was doing okay but not well enough to pay off. I figured that would take a while but I am hopeful. It is only a single part of my future plan. I don’t want my children to have a pile of debt of mine to deal with. I want to know I have left them debt free and taught them to make wise financial decisions.

Would you consider using a company such as Duchess Partners? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.