Deployment Pay-What To Do With The Extra Income

Once all the checklists are done and your soldier has packed up and shipped out the family dynamic has already begun to change. The "man of the house" has left for an extended stay in sunny Iraq (or elsewhere), and you are left in charge of everything. This can be a daunting experience and when faced with adversity from the media, co-workers, friends and even relatives the last thing on your mind is going to be your finances. Just waking up and getting through the day without having a panic attack every time the phone rings takes every ounce of energy and self-control. I've come up with some tips on what to do with that extra income your soldier earns, yes I said earns, while dodging bullets and camel spiders.

Perhaps you already have these talking points incorporated into your budget...or perhaps you don't have a budget.First start out by preparing a budget and foreseeing any increase in pay while your husband is deployed. Such as hazard duty pay and or separation pay. Your spouse should be able to get the rough estimates, based on rank, of how much he will be earning while in a combat zone. Once you have some round numbers to plan with start out slowly and decide based on your outgoing bills how much extra is left over. If you follow Dave Ramsey's, author of Financial Peace, financial planning strategies you'll find the next step is to set aside emergency fund money. Dave Ramsey suggests saving for up to three months of expenditures. That includes house payment, food, gas etc. Once you have your emergency fund set aside move on to credit card debt. Dave Ramsey suggests start out with the smallest going to the largest. If you pay off the smaller one's you can start taking those monthly payments you would have made to the small cards and put them onto the larger ones. Then you can really start focusing on getting your credit card debt under control, if it isn't already. Take the opportunity to hammer away at your debt load while your soldier is deployed.

For example; my husband deployed to Iraq in 2005 and was gone for a year. We paid off $25,000.00 in credit card debt between his extra income and my full time job. I also went to stay with his mother during this time so we wouldn't have a rental payment or mortgage payment and could put that much more towards our debt. It worked! No more student loans and no more credit card debt! Living debt free is an amazing feeling! The key though is not to backslide into the debt cycle again. Unfortunately for my husband and I, we went right back to our old habits as soon as he came home from his deployment. Some mistakes that are commonly made are buying cars or trucks once a soldier returns from a deployment. These high ticket high expense items are a money pit and a very poor investment. Your better off paying cash for a "new to you" used car or truck and pocketing the extra money or better yet putting it into savings for that trip to the islands! Time and again I've seen where a soldier returns home and buys a brand new vehicle only to turn around in a year or so and realize they can't afford the payment and or the gas and can't get rid of the vehicle without taking a huge loss. Vehicles are very poor investments, and as Dave Ramsey says "your vehicle should get you to point A and point B and that's it."

In closing, take that extra income and use it wisely. You never know what tomorrow can bring. Budget, Save and pay off your Debt! Once you have been released from your shackles of debt you will know what its like to have the freedom to do anything and go anywhere and not ask your car payment for permission first.

Keeping your money your own....God Bless you and yours,
Cassie Allen