I'm neurotic at how I pay my bills. I get paid on the 15th & 30th of every month. My paychecks are literally planned at least 6 months in advance. I budget some discretionary spending, but my savings are substantial enough to handle most typical emergencies. While I generally reject the ethereal preachings of Dave Ramsey, his other messages on finance are my gold standard for how to act. For the past 18 months I have been obsessively over-paying down all of my debts by a method called "snowballing. By July of this year I will have every single debt I owe payed off. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I'm of the opinion that I make pretty good money at my job, so I have no excuse to be in debt and when I am no longer as such, I will have roughly 3/4 of my income (if I desired it that way) as free and clear to blow as I chose... which I will not do, of course. While I am agnostic and get annoyed at Dave Ramsey's constant injection of bible quotes and prayers into his teachings, I nevertheless am a staunch fan and follower of his economic strategies and HIGHLY recommend his book, "The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness" as a way to change your life. I can name my attendance at one of his seminars (and they are NOT expensive) as one of five "LIFE CHANGING" events in my 33 years. It's not complex, it doesn't involve weird investing strategies and suspicious activities. As he puts it: "It's stuff your grandmother would have done, and advice she would give." And it's true. It's just clarified a bit for easy understanding as to why and how. It's an easy to follow (and aggravatingly obvious) in it's simple (a), (b), (c) type steps to make your life more secure and financially stable. I've followed them and am constantly kicking myself for not doing it sooner. ~String
