A Financial Reflection of 2007

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Today is the last day of 2007 and I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the past year financially. Our income has increased through my blogging but with gas prices also increasing there hasn’t been a very noticeable difference (my husband commutes to work). It feels as though things have improved but the actual numbers aren’t showing much improvement from last year.

Our “gazelle intensity” has reduced significantly and I think it has to do with the fact that things don’t appear to be changing very. Things are improving slowing but not as fast as I would like it to. We have not acquired any new debt since November of 2005 and I am quite proud of that. Even when times were tough we decided to trust that God would provide and He always did.

There are some things we decided not to give up that would have probably helped our financial situation. Our two horses have added to our expenses but I don’t want to give them up because quite frankly, I am attached and good horses are hard to find.  Unlike a car or a boat, it takes time for a horse and human to bond. Time invested in training and bonding is not simple process either. My husband and I both realize that by not letting go of these horse we are sacrificing at hopes of gaining financial freedom sooner than later but we feel it is worth it anyway.

Though things did not go the way I had hoped this year I am still hopeful that next year will bring better results. There are a lot of plans in the making for increasing my income in 2008 and I am confident that my income will increase. Now that I have my own laptop I am able to work more in less time which means the new year will be far more productive than this year.

Investing time into blogging and other online ventures is very important key in success. Since I am a home schooling mother of two children and a toddler, time is usually not on my side. As a wife, work-at-home mother and teacher, I have had to find balance this past year. This is not an easy task because there are so many responsibilities that need balance. This past year I decided that what time I could contribute to my online ventures would have to be enough and have asked God to bless the time I could contribute. Just about on a daily basis I have asked God to bless my efforts. By giving up my perception of control and allowing God to do His work in me, He has truly blessed my efforts.  I will continue to do this in 2008 and believe that God will continue to bless my efforts.

My hope is that this blog as well as my other blog can be an encouragement to the people who read it. Whether it is that you can relate to our families financial struggles and find comfort in that or that you have found information I have posted useful my hope is that this blog can be helpful to it’s readers. Have a Happy New Year!

December 31, 2007 | Filed Under Dave Ramsey Financial Freedom, Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals, Financial Planning, Life Goals | 1 Comment 

Wishing You A Merry Christmas

I will be taking a couple days off from posting on this blog because I need a little break ;) . Thanks for reading Time To Budget and I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

December 24, 2007 | Filed Under Just Whatever | Leave a Comment 

10 Smart Websites That Can Save You Money by Pay for College Blog

I found this list today and thought I should share. Even though I don’t have a college student yet ( 2 more years, yikes) I think it’s important to start thinking about ways to save money. May of the websites on this list can help everyone not just those it college. I have just included the website but if you go to the Pay for College Blog you can find the descriptions as well.

  1. PriceGrabber.com
  2. RetailMeNot.com
  3. Restaurant.com
  4. GasBuddy.com
  5. Skype.com
  6. Goldstar.com
  7. Google.com/goog411
  8. CampusBooks.com
  9. Frys.com
  10. StudentUniverse.com

So lets start saving. ;)

December 21, 2007 | Filed Under Financial Planning, Saving Money, Savings | Leave a Comment 

15 Things I Learned in 2007

I in the process of counting down 15 things that I learned in 2007 that improved my blogging and increased my income. I want to be sure the readers of Time To Budget know about this list since most my readers are follow bloggers. Today I posted the #11 “thing” so there are a full 10 days left of the count down.

Check out the posts I have so far.

15 Things I Learned In 2007 That Improved My Blogging and Increased My Income

#15 - Not all monetizing options are best for you blog.
#14 - Don’t be afraid to set goals and don’t be afraid to fail.
#13- Strive to become an authority.
#12 - Contribute quality content to other blogs and networks.
#11 - Write down your ideas.

December 20, 2007 | Filed Under Blogging Tips, Making More Money | 2 Comments 

carnival of money stories blog carnival #39

Wow!, here it is, the Carnival of Money Stories 39th edition. There were a total of 40 submissions to this carnival and there are some really great articles. I was notified by the Blog Carnival that this edition of Carnival of Money stories will be featured on the Blog Carnival homepage all day Wednesday the 19th. I am excited and honored to be hosting this weeks carnival and hope that you will enjoy reading the submissions.

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Originally uploaded by skettalee

Debt

David presents How to Eliminate Credit Card Debt posted at Worldwide Success.

Pinyo presents My Foray into Prosper as a P2P Lender posted at Moolanomy.

glblguy presents Chase doesn’t really love me they just act like it posted at Gather Little By Little.

Alison presents The Story Of Our Emergency Fund posted at This Wasn’t in The Plan.

Free From Broke presents Family - Can’t Live With ‘Em…Unless It Helps Debt posted at Free From Broke.

:) monawea presents Why Baby Steps Are So Important - Decision Happen Now, Results Take Time posted at Time To Budget.

Investing

Value Seeker presents Why Most Investors Underperform The Market posted at Stock Investing.

Dereck Coatney presents How To Make A Million Dollars In About 8 Years posted at The Best Stock Trading in the World.

The Investor’s Journal presents Lessons from the Dot-com Bubble posted at The Investor’s Journal.

Super Saver presents Staying Calm In A Volatile Market posted at My Wealth Builder.

FIRE Finance presents Our 7 Mutual Fund Investing Mistakes! posted at FIRE Finance.

Brip Blap presents learning to walk away posted at brip blap.

Pivotal Investor presents Top 10 Growth Stocks For Under $10 posted at Pivotal Investing.

Net Worth

Jacob presents Early Retirement Extreme: On how car dealerships helped me save money posted at Early Retirement Extreme.

Business

Woody Maxim presents What will you do with the message? posted at Woody Maxim.

Blaine presents Something From Nothing- Think Big, Start Small posted at BlainePower.com.

Sutocu presents Domain Name as a Business Brand posted at Your Website Profit.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents How Christmas Can Cost Your Life’s Savings posted at The Digerati Life.

Peter25 presents Building Relationships For Business Growth posted at Business Opportunities.

Blaine presents Business venture is starting to take root posted at BlainePower.com.

Kenton Newby presents Can You Really Make Money Showing People “How To”? posted at KentonNewby.com.

Credit

Credit Help presents Do Capital One Credit Cards Work Abroad? posted at The Truth About CreditCards.com.

Ted presents Using a Credit Card in College posted at The Campus Grotto.

General

FMF presents Sumo Omni: My Son’s Dream Come True (And How You Can Win One) posted at Free Money Finance.

James D. Brausch presents The $200 Horse posted at jamesbrausch.com.

Lynnae presents How Much Emergency Fund Do You Need? posted at beingfrugal.net.

JS presents Six True Stories of People Who Found Cash and Turned it In. Part 2 posted at Smart Money Daily.

paidtwice presents My Lack of Organization Costs Me Money posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already….

Ashley presents Why Didn’t I Major in Finance? posted at College of Cash.

supermom_in_ny presents Do You Have Money You Don’t Know About? posted at Getting Out of Debt.

Madison presents Volunteer Income Tax Assistance posted at My Dollar Plan.

Raymond presents Sometimes Saving Money Isn’t Worth The Extra Time and Effort posted at Money Blue Book.

Eden presents What I Have Learned Since Starting My ‘Finance and Fat’ Turnaround posted at Finance and Fat.

Paula presents Sleeping With Money: Going Along for the Ride posted at Queercents.

David presents Customer Service At Its Best - Thanks SmugMug. posted at My Two Dollars.

Blaine presents Frugality, America’s worst nightmare posted at BlainePower.com.

Joshua C. Karlin presents An Amazing Story posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents How Christmas Can Cost Your Life’s Savings posted at The Digerati Life.

wilson ng presents No Luggage, No Hand Carrys in the Final Journey of Life posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife.

JP presents Being frugal posted at Watch Me Become A Millionaire.

That concludes this edition of the Carnival of Money stories. Submit your articles to the next carnival here.

December 18, 2007 | Filed Under Budgeting, Carnival of Money Stories, Credit Card Use, Financial Planning, Money Management Tips | 14 Comments 

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