We’ve allowed some credit card debt to accumulate (because I’m an idiot), and we started using Dave Ramsey’s cash envelope budgeting system and debt snowball system back in October in order to focus on killing that debt as quickly as possible. Then Joe Sangl got everyone FIRED UP at Pine Ridge this weekend with his outstanding Financial Learning Experience. It made me realize that even though we’ve been working several years to reduce our expenses and manage our money, I haven’t really written about it much.

So I’ve decided that March will be Financial Action Month here, and I’ll write about a personal finance topic every day in March. Why am I calling it Financial Action Month? Because money is one of those areas where there’s often a huge gap between our knowledge and our action. We know the smart thing to do, but we do stupid things anyway. As Joe Sangl said, “I took eight semesters of calculus, and I was still broke.” So each day will be about a specific topic and will end with a suggested specific action to take.

Some topics I’m planning:

• Facing the Music: being honest with ourselves about our financial situation
• Dead Presidents Scare People: the power of paying with cash
• Filling Our Bellies without Emptying Our Wallets: buying groceries the smart way
• Worth More Dead Than Alive: the importance of life insurance
• A River, Not a Cesspool: giving away rather than hording our money
• My Hooptie: all about cars
• Black Socks and Sandals: preparing for retirement
• If You Don’t Ask, the Answer is Always “No”: negotiating for the best deal
• Being Fred Sanford: making money by selling your junk

I’ll write about some of this based on our past experience, and I’ll be walking through some of these steps as I write about them (shopping for a better deal on car insurance and making sure my long-term disability coverage is adequate, for example). I’ll also rely heavily on outside help - books, web sites, and tools that have helped us. In other words, it’s about my continuing financial proces and not about me saying I have all the answers.

I’ve chosen about 25 topics for the month, so I have room for several more. Have an idea or request about a topic I should cover? Shoot me an email.