Wedding Budget

So me and the fiance, talked out a budget (again) for the impending nuptials here's what we came up with:

Wedding:

Church & Reception Hall $500
Cake $400
Dresses* $1,150 (5 @ $200 each, 1 @$150)
Tuxedos* $950 (5 @ $150 each, 1 @ $200)
Photographer $1000
Flowers $300
Car rental $180
Preacher(s) $300 (2 @ $150 each)
Piano & Guitar Player $100
Singer $100
Cocktail reception $1,300 (130 people @ $10 each)
Invitations $125
Bells $100
Extra Rings $400 (2 @ $200 each)

Total: $6905

Honeymoon:

Hotel, Flight and transport - $2,000
Spending Cash - $1,000

Total: $3,000

Grand Total: $9905

Weddings can be costly - when you're paying

So I did a 'high-low' budget for my impending nuptials and sent them to the boss (aka my fiance) for approval here what the damage came to:

Church:
Low: $250
High: $500

Photographer:
Low: $750
High: $1500

Flowers:
Low: $200?
High: $500?

Preacher:
Low: $100
High: $500?

Candles/Decorations:
Low: $250
High: $400

Limo/car rental:
Low: $150
High: $750

Tuxedo/clothes:
Low: ? - I have no clue
High: ? - I have no clue

Reception Hall rental:
low: $500
High: $1000

Food:
low: $2000
High: $4000

DJ:
low: $500
High: $1000

Bar* (*assuming I can find a happy medium for ultra-religious adopted parents-to-be)
low: (cash bar) $500
high: (open bar) $4000

Honeymoon:
low: $2000
High: $6000

Totals:
Low: $7200
High: $20,150

Dang that's expensive!

I'm so proud of my fiance

My fiance, a few days ago pleasantly surprised me...

As she was talking about wedding-this and bridal-that she said the word 'budget' without any prompting from me. I may have not been paying attention* but as soon as she mentioned 'budget' my attention snapped back.

As I sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds I eventually regained my composure and heard her repeat "wedding budget" and I realized again why I want to marry this woman.

After I came down from my cloud of joy/relief (the next day) we agreed on a set budget amount for the wedding and the things we will need for the wedding.

I guess my frugality is starting to rub off on her. That's a great thing in my opinion.

*this is very unlikely as I always listen to everything my fiance says ...no matter what! Love you babe.

Why I didn't use Credit Counseling...

to get out of debt.

About a year and a couple months ago, I made the decision that I was going to get out of debt. The only thing was, I didn't know quite how to do it. I knew there was a Credit Counseling office a few blocks away so, on a day off, I went in.

I met with a gentleman who had the title 'Financial Counselor' listed on his business card. We went into his office, and for the first time, I told someone about all of my debt. I had explained to my mother some of my debt, but didn't want to overwhelm her with all of it.

When we were done though, I decided I needed to 'think about it' before signing up. Ultimately, I didn't choose to get out of debt through credit counseling, and here's a couple reasons why:

1. I didn't like being charged extra - When I went into the credit counseling office, I initially thought 'hey, this is great' that is until the F.C. brought up the $30 month fee for using the service along with a '$50 1-time set up fee" - that's right they wanted to charge me $80 from the word 'go' to get out of debt. I thought I could do better. I did and saved about $500 in the process...
   
2. I was too impatient to get the debt paid off - After doing all the calculations, the financial counselor found my debt to be $18,830.64 at the moment I stepped into his office. When one calculated the $560 monthly debt payment he suggested, I would be debt free by 'August 21, 2009' after only 40 monthly payments.
   
3. I didn't want my credit cards canceled, just paid off - I knew from a little research beforehand that by canceling my credit cards I would not exactly help my credit score. SO when the F.C. suggested that by using their system they would effectively 'freeze' my credit and only pay on the remaining balance I became more concerned. Also, while in this freeze mode, the best interest rate he could promise me was around 11-13% - as opposed to 0% which I was shooting for.
   
4. I figured I could do it myself - Ultimately, I just felt like something was slightly up when I was going through the budgeting process with the F.C. and he kept assuming my budget for different monthly things should be pushed upward because 'most people' have a budget of '$XYZ'. For example, as I look at year and a half-old packet, he had a category for 'work lunches' & a category for 'grocery expenses' that totaled $450 a month! Currently, I spend about $80-$150 monthly on both categories combined. But I guess I'm not 'most people'.
   

Given these as well as other reasons I just figured I wanted to get out of debt faster, pay less and have the satisfaction of knowing I had control of my life. I think I accomplished all of these goals.

Credit counseling is a great resource though, for those who just can't trust themselves with credit cards. One especially beneficial thing I did take out of the credit counseling experience was the importance of budgeting - The Financial Counselor did make out a very itemized budget of everything I was spending each month. This woke me up quite a bit and showed me where the 'leaks' in my budget were and what I could afford to cut in order to tackle the debt.

One thing's for sure, paying off my debt in just over a year felt a whole lot better than waiting three years & three months to get out of debt.

Compund interest is amazing...

I'm going through my records here and there and it looks like the first couple years that I decided not to to pay off my balance on my card monthly, it came to about $1,000 in interest and late charges(never over 30 days late though) so far - some of my old bills are missing though.

I think I'll try and add up all the interest paid over the next couple of days to see how much I've paid the credit card companies for being 'cool'.

In other news: My girlfriend just got done whining to me about how she does not have any money. I was not quite the sympathetic ear to lean on though. She was previously living with her adopted parents rent-free and saving probably half of her income, spending the other half.

Now she spends about 70-80% of her income on regular expenses. One of my requirements for getting a certain piece of jewelry for her was for her to move out of the parent's house. She's been on her own for the first time for a few months now. I'm proud of her, but every time she can't buy some 'frill' or get her nails done as often as she wants - she gets angry with me and calls me to let me know her displeasure.

In the end I believe this will be fore her benefit though. She is learning who she is as a person and learning how to budget (she has an envelope system) assuming we get married this will make her dealing with a family/household budget a lot easier. Otherwise I can see her and I having conflict on why we can't just buy whatever she wants - whenever she wants. Hopefully, it'll all work out for the best.

V is for Victory - I'm DEBT FREE!

I officially determined my debt is paid off yesterday. I'm in kind of a good mood. I thought I'd add some mood music:

If You've never seen V for Vendetta - don't hit play. If you have, in this scene I play 'Evie'-short hair & all - while the credit card companies play "V"





This scene, the 'God is in the rain' scene, I think makes a good analogy of what I've gone through over the last several years. I've been trapped and lived a tortured life pretty much of my own making. At any time I could have given up all hope but a little over a year ago I made a decision that I needed to be free from this debt if it was the last thing I did. Now, as I've accomplished this goal I realize this experience, being in debt, was a necessary life lesson that I won't soon forget. This lesson from the school of hard knocks has also allowed me to appreciate the benefits of saving much more than I did beforehand and hopefully, with some willpower I'll be able to realize the benefits of budgeting as well.

Budget thus far - to get out of debt

It's late. my feet hurt and I need some sleep but I thought I'd try a post a hap-hazard example of my budget as I approach the debt-free club.

I'll eat right quick and then I might post some more - it's more likely I'll pass out though.

Budget for becoming debt free

I've been sitting around playing with Google spreadsheets for the last few hours and I think I may have completed my rough budget now. Assuming no other major obstacles - such as the unexpected $122 bill I just got, I will still be on track to be debt free by early August.

I've adjusted some of the figures to protect the innocent, but most of the budget is pretty much correct:

here's a copy if you'd like to take a peak:

Reggie's budget