Emergency Fund

At the beginning of our third month on a budget our dishwasher decided to start leaking. We had established a small emergency fund so that IF something came up during our money makeover we would have it covered. Luckily we had enough to cover the new dishwasher. Ray used his employee discount to save us a good chunk of change. He then put his handyman skills to good use by installing it himself. Parker helped too!


Doing dishes by hand was an inconvenience but not the end of the world. Don't get me wrong I was very thankful once the new one was installed and working. We were back in action before the holidays!! It felt great to have cash set aside to make this purchase. That was a big step for us!!

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What Are We Saving For?

We currently lease both of our cars. Did I mention we leased these cars on the same day? Yeah, double stupid tax being paid here!! Needless to say we are counting down until our leases are up, January 26, 2015. We can't sell our cars, we would have too much negative equity. So we are going to stick it out and just save!

The current plan is to save as much money as we possibly can and purchase two cars. Ray drives less than 10 miles a day to and from work. He is a car guy but knows that having an in expensive and paid for car is better for everyone. I drive a little further to work and we want to have a bigger more reliable car for the family. I will be getting a minivan! I will put it on the table now so it's not a surprise to anyone later. :)

A great friend told me, "The best time to look for and buy a used vehicle is when you don't need one!" We are currently looking so we have an idea of what is out there. It's exciting to have a plan and working the plan. We know what we want and we are going after it!!

Any car recommendations??


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Second Month of Having a Plan

Wow, it's December 2nd already! Time flies when you are having fun!! We have finished our 2nd month of being on a budget and actually having a plan! If you didn't read my first post click here to read from the beginning.

We started our journey on October 1, 2013. The first month we had to figure out how to work together and to communicate how we would spend out money. We also used this time to change habits and communicate with friends and family. For me it was letting co-workers and friends know that eating out was no longer a first option of visiting and catching up. I had to ask my lunch dates if it would be OK if we packed lunches and visited that way instead of dining out. If dinner plans had already been made I kept those plans and took the opportunity to fill friends in on the life changes we were making as a family. So far so good!

They say changing or creating a new habit takes 21 days. It's now been 60 days since we started and I have to say many new habits have been formed and many old ones have gone by the way side. Here is a run down of our changes...


- Have not bought soda for the house in 60-days

- We have been soda free for 30-days, we have them on occasion if provided at an event. Not totally soda free but maybe 1 a week if that. Pretty good either way! :)

- We (Ray & I) have both lost weight. I have dropped 10lbs and Ray has dropped a belt notch! Ray doesn't weigh himself so measurement is a bit different :)

- We all have new Nalgene water bottles that we use on a daily basis.

- In the month of November we ate out ONCE! This was for Parker's birthday, so a good reason to celebrate!

- We started a food calendar to track our meals in hopes we can build a calendar for the future with past data :)

- We have been shopping at Aldi's for 90% of our food and the other 10% (meat/chicken/lunch meat) at another local grocery. I have been trying out and comparing Giant Eagle, Kroger & Sam's for meat.


The first month was tough. The second month has been easier. The third month includes Christmas. The difference from month to month doesn't scare me anymore because we have a plan. We are talking and communicating more than ever before. Now that we have a plan all we need to do is execute the plan. I want to list all of the items we won't be doing this Christmas but I want to make sure I am perfectly clear that we are not really giving up anything but in turn gaining our sanity back and planning for our future. The "to-do" list around the holidays can be crazy and for us enough is enough...

* No mailing of Christmas cards. Might do a yearly recap here and email out to everyone.

* No gifts. OK, so Parker is getting one big gift that will save our sanity but that is it. No gifts. This also means no wrapping paper, no gift tags, no tape. We have plenty from years past.

* No new decorations, use what we have and make the rest with stuff we've got! Pinterest is good for new ideas on using old things. It can also drive you batty wanting to buy new things but I am using it for "up cycling"

In general my sanity will be spared. Ray won't worry about the credit card bills that would pile up in the coming months. Parker gets happy parents who love him unconditionally and are trying to teach him that it's not about the PILE of presents you receive. We are very excited to have completed our second month and to be starting the third month on the right foot, with the right attitude and a plan!

Plastic Surgery

Not the kind you are thinking! But yes we have had "plastic surgery".

It takes a lot of strength to admit you have a problem. Ray and I are facing this problem head on and taking control of our financials. People have asked me why I feel the need to share online and for me the answer is simple. I hope to help others. I hope that by sharing our story others in similar situations will find that they are not alone. We all struggle with different aspects of our lives and knowing that you are not the only one can bring peace and hopefully a call to action.

So back to plastic surgery. When I showed a long time friend my "jar of terror" she ask, so how long have you been saving credit cards to put in this jar? My answer, "Oh we just cut them up last week!" She was surprised to say the least. (this is a pint size mason jar)

We had Target, Best Buy (of course) 2 kinds, Citi Bank, Discover, Menards, Babies R Us, Chase, American Express, Lowe's, and ok you get the point. We had lots. We have good jobs and make good money but it's going out as fast as it's coming in! Spending/charging was just a way of life. Past tense, "was"!

Little did I know that not being on the same page about money was cracking the foundation of my marriage. Ray and I have been married for 10 years. I was 23 years old and we didn't discuss how we would save or spend money. We have been navigating the waters of life together for over 15 years total so we have really grown up together. Neither of us really knew how to plan for our future. Ray is self taugh in learning what not to do with money by learning from the mistakes of others. I have always made "good" money during each stange of my life but I didn't REALLY know what to do and not do with money. Our marriage is strong but something like money can eat away if not addressed and on the same page. We are good but it could have contiued down a bad path leading to a not so good ending.

Money is not the root of all evil, your attitude in which you view and use money is. I grew up in a modest home with hard working parents. We didn't "live it up". I never saw my family as being poor. I just knew there were things I would have to live without or buy on my own. I started my first job at the young age of 15 years old. I worked all through high school. I went to college and paid for it on my own. I started working at the college I was attending two years into my degree. The majority of my college was paid for in benefits but the first two years were not. I didn't know you could pay cash I just thought EVERYONE took out student loans. I always pictured my life as having student loan payments, having a car payment, having a house payment and charging everything I needed. Who carries cash?? Just charge it!!

Wow, my attitude and view of money recently just came to a fork in the road. Either I start to face the girl in the mirror who has a problem or loose everything I worked so hard for. I have decided to go down the path of correcting the problem and keeping everything I have worked for. This is the first step. I am admitting I have a problem. There are no more excuses. The spending just has to stop. Everyone's view of a "problem" is different and some situtations are more diar than others. Either way it's a problem and it needs to be fixed.

Ever heard of Dave Ramsey? Well, I had seen people posting money saving tips on Pinterest, ya ok I will pin that and look later. Dave Ramsey's name kept coming up. I would see friends on Facebook posting links to tips and again on Pinterest. Something drove me to do a search for his book at the Columbus Library. I reserved all of the books I could via ebooks and then requested the others in hardcopies. I then saw that "Total Money Make Over" book had recently been republished in September 2013. I went to iTunes and bought the book. I knew that if I though this book was good then Ray would want to read it too. I read the book in about a week and then Ray read it in about two days!! We FINALLY had a place to start. We needed a starting line. We needed a fresh start. We needed to forget the past (but remembering and learning from it). WE needed a plan!! We now have all of these things.

Dave's books are worth every penny. They are not rocket science. They make sense. They are not a get rich quick scam. They are for real people with real lives. I would recommend that anyone in any situation read his books. Borrow them from the library. Go to Half Price Books do what you can to just read the books. We just started our journey but I can say that the past month has been the best month in our marriage in a long time. It's amazing what a little extra communication can do for a marriage!! We will need to work this plan for the rest of our lives. This is a journey and not a destination. Sure we will hit milestones but we will have to stay the course. This is a lifestyle change.

The definition of instanity, defined by some, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. We are taking control and making changes! More to come on this journey...

To end with a quote from Dave Ramsey, "If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else."


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Unsubscribe

How many emails do you get in a day? I get at least 10 emails a day and that's only my personal account (you don't want to know about my work account). If you don't check your email daily it can become overwhelming. These emails with "great" deals were also leading me to buy things I didn't need. I finally decided that instead of just deleting these emails I would "unsubscribe". I used to put my email on everything & that's how I got on so many mailing lists but not anymore. On every store type email or advertising email you can scroll to the bottom & find an "unsubscribe" link/button. Some sites are easier than others but I highly recommend you take the time to stop the emails. It has helped me tremendously! I have less emails, less stupid spending & less stress! :)


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DINC - No longer

Well, for those who don't know what a DINC is .... Double Income No Children. That is what we were. We are no longer. When we wanted something before Parker (BP) we would just go buy it. No second thought. No plan, just go buy it. One, we could leave the house anytime we wanted and two we thought those things would make us happy. We have quickly learned that no longer being a DINC family is a good thing but also a change in mind set.

Our priorities have totally shifted since Parker's arrival. We got lots of advice from other parents but just like each child is different so is each family. We are very blessed that we rotate around Parker. Not in the since that we do everything around him and we don't do our own things. But instead of having to use an outside childcare provider, Parker stays home and we rotate around him. This is saving us a lot of money and is very motivating for all of us. We are very, very lucky to have this option. This cost saving alone is helping us tremendously!

My next topic... coupons... for me they are bad. I save more money not having coupons than I do having them. I am talking about food coupons & store coupons. It's a mind set for me. If I have a coupon I think I need to use it before the expiration date, even if I don't need the item. It's not often that I need to have something, it's always more of a want. I have a handy dandy coupon organizer that I just finished...




I added note cards to divide each section so that I had more room for additional labels. If the coupons I do need aren't organized then I will forget about them. This little organizer is from Target & has a magnetic clasp. I like this one better than the plastic ones with the elastic band. This has helped me keep all of my coupons organized & makes me feel less overwhelmed when out shopping! Until next week... :)

Stop Stupid Spending Saturdays! (SSSS)

A few weeks ago I implemented a new rule/idea/motto, whatever you would like to call it....

Stop Stupid Spending
(and since is started on a Saturday we will add another "S")

I am so over having my house filled with things we will never use. When my Grandma Mehl is reminded me that when we leave this world we leave all material things behind. We think the more we have the better off we will be. I know can you believe this is coming from the girls who loves all new gadgets, Coach purses and just loves having stuff!?! Well, I am trying to change, so make sure you help me!! :)

Online shopping, cause you know it's too hard to get out with a baby, WAS a problem before I implemented SSSS (stop stupid spending saturday). We have lots of bills to pay down, kids aren't cheap. We are not longer in the DINK (double income no kids) category and our SS (stupid spending) needed to stop. People/me always think that if I have the next big thing everything will be great when all it does is add more complications in my life. I still think I NEED an iPad but I am going to use this as "bate" to save. Ray is the saver and I am the spender. I used to say CHARGE IT! Well, that can add up quick and gets you no where. Yes, I now know this. I am a pretty smart cookie but it takes time for things to sink in.

Since I have implemented SSSS it has been going pretty well. No random stops at Target or Walmart. I don't just go to the store to go, I have a list and I do my best to stick to it. I did order some items from Diapers.com but I did a full disclosure to Ray so he knew that boxes would be arriving and what was going to be in them. We have also started purging and cleaning. I took clothes (the ones that were too big :) to Clothes Mentor. I am taking some of Parker's clothes to Once Upon a Child and then planning to have a garage sale. It feels great to purge!

If we want our dreams to come true we have to chip away a little at a time. Always moving forward, even if that means falling forward & getting back up!