Today, we’re taking a little peek into the finances of two twenty-somethings who are currently working on getting out of debt, having just started in October 2008.

Ages:

• Her: 26
• Him: 24

Occupations:

• Her: Executive Assistant
• Him: Student

Location: New Jersey

Gross Income:

• Her: $55,000
• Him: $26,000

Snapshot of Assets:

Snapshot of Debt

• Her: $17, 264.33
• Him: Debt Free

Snapshot of Budget

BUDGET NOTES

Rent/Mortgage $1030 for a 2 Bedroom

Utilities $45 in Electricity, heat and hot water are included in rent

Internet $137 (for internet and cable tv)

Cellphone ($109 for me, fiancé, and dad who also shares a line with us)

Food ($0 …MIL takes care of this as she agreed to pay for groceries while fiancé was in school)

Eating Out ($60/month)

Entertainment ($10/month Netflix, average $50 for entertainment)

Clothing/Gifts ($80)

Retirement (stopped contributing to 401K this year as I am snowballing about 2k a month to debt and wanted to give my debt as much money as possible)

Emergency Fund ($350)

Savings ($380)

Other Pets ($80)

RENT & EATING OUT

They got rid of the awesome FiLife Stackers! *cries* This is what they have in place now

How did you decide to get into your occupation(s)?

I am currently working at an Insurance company as an exec assistant as I needed a decent paying job while I am in school pursuing an Interior Design Degree.

I have an MA in psychology but those jobs do not pay nearly as much as what I am doing currently. Fiance is a fulltime PHD student in Microbiology.

Are you in debt?

Yes! (ugh…) 2006 was a very hectic year for me, I was unemployed 2 times, my grandmother passed away, I was involved in a serious car accident, and my fiancé started his phd program.

As a result of all of this I became really depressed and used shopping as a means of self medicating…I already had some debt before I got out of college…probably about 10k (consumer debt)…when I crunched my numbers in Oct of 2007 I had about 29K in debt.

I realized I had a problem and needed to do something about this.

I found out about the snowball method in October of 2008 and now my debt is $18k. I should be done paying off my debt in Jan 2010 (I snowball 2k per month towards debt and have cut back a great deal on shopping).

Thanks to all the PF blogs and information on the internet, I have learned a great deal on how to manage money.

What are your top 3 financial goals?

Get out of my consumer debt, save about 48k for a down payment for a house, and save about 30k for savings.

What are the top 3 common budget busters for you and why?

My fiance’s spending habits…I don’t think he realizes sometimes that things add up!

What is the most frugal thing you’ve ever done?

Added water to dishsoap to extend its life

What is your single best financial decision?

Getting a grip on my debt on Oct 2008

What is your single worst financial decision?

Getting myself into this debt in the first place

Where would you like to be financially in 5 years and what are you doing to get there?

I would like to have my own home, have about 30k in savings. I am paying down my debt currently and the money I am using to pay down debt, once I finish paying, I will save that money (2k per month) towards a house.

There are so many benefits to having less things other than saving money.

Easier to keep clean

Less furniture means there is less to clean, and it’s easier to vacuum around because there’s… nothing.

I don’t have to vacuum around little knickknacks or furniture.

And nothing really breaks because.. there’s nothing TO break.

Any decoration is secured to the wall, or is the type of decoration that isn’t very fragile.

We aren’t into figurines or delicate little things. I like very strong, bold art pieces, and we don’t have any of those yet as we don’t have a permanent home… and I am planning on making my own art pieces.

Feels healthier

Since I can clean more (and around the edges), getting rid of the dust bunnies and mites will be a lot easier than having a lot of furniture around.

That’ll really help my asthma and allergies, because I sneeze a lot, as is.

You spend less money

You don’t buy anything except what you TRULY, DESPERATELY use. Enough said about that. We’ll see how it goes.

I don’t want to talk to BF any longer about this because he takes everything I say way too literally and starts tossing out toothpaste and soap.

I learned my lesson with my New Year’s Resolution!!

It’s safer for kids

Just pad all the edges around the floors, but with less furniture, it means they have less to climb on, less to pull down onto themselves by accident, and they bump into sharp edges less.

*shrug* And I don’t have to stub my toes on anything. Bonus.

I am slowly coming around.

Case in point:

We visited condos for sale (not for us, a friend) and immediately I wanted to sweep all the items off the tables, remove some unnecessary photos, roll up mats and just ZEN out the damn place because it was so cluttered it gave me a headache.

Even the uncluttered rooms give me a headache.

They had this huge set of sticks in the corner. But that thing is daaaamn heavy to move!

How am I supposed to vacuum around that beast?

That’s when I realized: I’ve been brainwashed!