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The cheapest $93 I ever spent. Spreading Financial Peace.

I kept the promise to myself and listened to all the CD’s this weekend. It made the time go by really quickly. J and I were in different cars. After I finished one, we’d pull over for a potty break  for our newly potty trained 2 year old. I’d hand him the one I’d just finished and offer some inspirational quip for him. He might call it nagging, but he’d be wrong.

As I listened, I tried to pay attention for something for which to write about for my last post of the month. In lesson 4, dumping debt, Dave says that he knows that he can often identify callers who “have it”, and those that don’t. Those that “have it” are angry, and ready to get out of debt. They find no excuses, have no reason to delay it. They get on board, and they get on board quickly. I would be one of these callers. J would not. He’s a bit more inclined to not own up to things right away. He needs to be knocked around a bit before he sees things accurately, which is why we’re a perfect match. For every bully, there is a wimp.

Our Baby Emergency Fund has a little gremlin that we call Dave Murphy. Any time it gets funded, something happens, and he takes all the money out. We’re 4 months into our Financial Peace journey, and are back to Baby Step 1.. re-again. We’ve had 2 yard sales, we’ve sold a jet ski, cut out our retirement, sold our van, gone to the bare bones for insurance, cut out trash service. We’re still holding onto our cable services. I’m in my final semester of my graduate degree, and internet service is a necessity for us at the moment based on our circumstances. But we have to dig deeper. We have to find a way to get it funded again. We’ve been trying to sell our hot tub, and hopefully, since hot tub weather is nearly here, it will sell. So, I’m going to cut the price again, and all but give the thing away to get our Baby Emergency Fund re-re-funded.

J has a meeting with the manager of the local Domino’s tomorrow. He’s to take in his driving record, and we suspect he’ll be hired on the spot. That will certainly help in getting it funded. We’re also looking to sell Jason’s truck to knock out the 8k debt, leaving us with only one left from the medical bills of our daughter.  My comprehensive exams are next week, and once that is over, I’m going to see about getting a job at Kohl’s as a seasonal employee.  We’re starting to prepare for July. In July, my student loans will come a knockin’. My girls will definitely not graduate from college in debt. Through FPU, I’ve learned about ESA’s, and as soon as we complete Baby Step 3, we’re going to start funding these college funds. Current law allows a 2k year contribution. Our oldest is 2, which seems awful young, but each year we aren’t contributing is a year that her fund will miss out on the compounded interest that would make the 2k per year starting at age 0 until age 18 nearly 200k. There are many steps to get from here to there, but it is important to keep an ear to the ground to be ready, to have a game plan.

One thing that Dave said in the same lesson about those that are going to “make it” is that when your broke friends are making fun of you, you know that you’re doing it right. Some family members have been a little worried, accusing us of joining a cult and such, but I guess I have great taste in friends, because my broke friends are checking out Dave’s books, they’re funding emergency funds. I’m such a convert, so determined to get out of debt as soon as possible, that I’m going to be co-teaching FPU starting in November. It’s offered through my church, but anyone can attend. The next session is going to start on the tail end of a sermon series on debt- in anticipation of the holidays. It is my hope and prayer that my broke friends will join me at least for the FPU. It’s the best $93 I’ve ever spent. 10 years from now when I’ve changed my family tree, and I’m giving like no one else, in the memory of my daughter, I’ll be even more thankful of the small investment. After I’ve co-taught a lesson, then I’ll start teaching my own FPU courses. The lessons learned during the 14 weeks don’t end at the 14 weeks. After listening to the DVD’s (which come with the $93), I’ve learned more, and I know that as I do the course as an instructor, I’ll learn even more. J and I are a bit deficient in the life insurance part. I have none. Nada. Zip. What he has is what is offered at work.

Very quickly, before I close, in speaking of the Holiday’s, I noticed that the Coinstar at our grocery store doesn’t charge if you get an Amazon,com gift certificate from your coins. So, we’re emptying Piggy Banks. We got… ha… $93 out of one. No trips to the mall. It eliminates impulse purchases, and “gotta have its”. We’ve got 2 more to empty so that we can go get plastic stuff for our kids.

The last thing that I re-heard, not for the first time, but I was like “Oh yeah”, was that Prayer really does work. It does. It does. I’ve no doubt that God led me to Dave Ramsey’s program because I prayed for help with finances. If there are any two people that are a testimony to how much things can change in 14 short weeks, it is us. I can’t even begin to tell you of the denial that I was living in, and of the lengths J was going to hide it from me. After 14 weeks, J and I are caught up on our bills, and are working with one another, not against one another. More importantly, is that Jason has become a Christian. The promise and the proof that he was seeing after doing it God’s way, not only financially, but in every aspect of our lives was the evidence he needed.

~Manda

September 29, 2008 | Filed Under Budgeting, Dave Ramsey Financial Freedom, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU), Financial Advice, Financial Goals, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Financial Peace University | 1 Comment 

Passing up on the “stupid tax” and walking the path to Financial Peace

About six months ago(before Dave), J was offered the opportunity to go on a business trip to California. Included would be an apartment, a rental car, and a per diem rate with which we could buy groceries. We’re on the east coast, and who knows when an opportunity like this would ever happen again. It was something we couldn’t pass up. A free trip? Free to poor people trip. Now, we see the situation through different glasses, with Financial Peace in our sights. Truthfully, after air fare, boarding our dogs, spending money in CA, this “free trip”, could’ve easily cost us $1500. Before Dave, $1500 was nothing. We refinanced our house in order to remodel it a year ago, and I spent half of it without blinking.

This morning, J told his boss that he’d be unable to go. We’re okay with it. We were very excited about it 6 months ago, planned the trips we would take while in the San Diego area. But now we’re more excited about the opportunity to be debt free in 2 years. We can’t throw away all the lessons learned in the last 13 weeks for a trip that, as those striving for Financial Peace, those doing what rich people do, can’t afford. If I’m honest, we’re quite proud of our decision. We’re delaying instant gratification and instead walking the path of Financial Peace.

We’re living like no one else, so that later, we can live like no one else [and take a trip to San Diego that we pay for with cash!]

~Manda

September 22, 2008 | Filed Under Budgeting, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU), Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Financial Peace University, Financial Planning, Money Management Tips, Stupid Tax | Leave a Comment 

Relating With Money: Fight now to save your relationship later. It’s always time to budget.

Our marriage has vastly improved in the past thirteen weeks. After the preview class, and then the first lesson, J and I, although buying in to this Dave Ramsey thing, were still rationalizing our debt. We were still thinking like poor people, and doing what poor people did. During the relating with money lesson, Dave tries to prepare you for the arguments and fights that will most certainly happen. Money is the number one reason for divorce. Everyone knows it. But no one believes it, and it is something that happens to others. I will avoid saying that it would be impossible to win with Financial Peace if both partners are not on board, but it would be nearly impossible. There are a lot of hard lessons learned, or more accurately, realized in this lesson- like separate banking accounts. His money, her money situations are not a marriage. My parents separate their money. J’s parents separate their money. I don’t know how prevalent it is, but as Dave says, it isn’t a joint venture. Two are one.

The thing that J and I learned is that both partners have to be actively involved in the financial part of a marriage. Dave hosts a TV show on the Fox financial channel. He’s dubbed Friday’s as Debt Free Friday’s. People who have completed their debt snowball call in and celebrate the achievement. Before hanging up, they get to yell “I’m Debt Free”. In the interview, the wife and/or husband always report that being on the same page is an integral part of succeeding and becoming debt free.

J and I have had to learn to relate to money. The true state of our financial indebtedness was revealed to me over the course of FPU, not just in any particular week. It had to come to a point where I demanded that we get the new checking account open, and that I see the physical or virtual copies of our bills. All were caught up, except 2. As far as I knew, they were all caught up. I can’t pretend to explain J’s motivations, I only know what he’s told me: that he wanted me to take over the bills with all them up to date. The lesson learned is that if all had been laid out on the table during week 2 in Relating with Money, I believe that we’d be farther along now. J removes his band-aid as slowly as possible. He hates conflict. I’m a rip it off and get it over with type, and I thrive on confrontation.

That’s just one of our differences. Dave explains the differences between men and women. Women need financial security, and I am no exception. Opposites attract and marriages typically contain a free spirit and a nerd. J is our free spirit, and I am the nerd. No doubt, our financial situation would be better had I been the Nerd I should have been. It was just too easy over the last two years to let Jason take the stress of the medical bills from our daughter, our diminished income due to my no longer being an active member of the work-force. I suspected all was not well, but that is where my involvement ended. With suspicion. And yet I dared to be angry with him, to blame him, when, if I’m being honest, I’m at just as much fault as he. Finances in a marriage is not a one person show. No matter who “earns the money”. Both should know what is coming in, and every dollar that leaves should be accounted for. It is always time to budget, no matter how inconvenient it is. Both must be bothered. Both most be active and to get on the same page in order to acheive FPU. Thirteen weeks ago, J and I weren’t even in the same book.

J and I missed our final class (and church) because our Dave car wouldn’t turn over. We discovered it had an alarm, but not how to turn it off. We had to disconnect the battery in order to keep the neighbors from mobbing our house. The air conditioning went out in J’s truck, so we decided to stay at home today instead of subjecting the girls to today’s heat. I was disappointed to have missed today in order to celebrate our class. A few of us attacked our debt with Gazelle intensity. The class has been life changing for J and myself. I hope that in a year, maybe 2, we’ll be calling Dave one Friday (if I gather the nerve) to scream “We’re debt free”.

~Manda

September 14, 2008 | Filed Under Budgeting, Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Financial Peace University, Financial Planning | 2 Comments 

Babies on a Budget: Going Green for more Green

In our days of debt, grocery shopping was little more than going to the local high-end grocery store, piling it high with organic food, and not thinking once, much less twice about the total at the end of the grocery tape. This wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, I clipped coupons, drove 30 miles to a store that tripled coupons. As I got older, it became more cost effective to buy convenience food- time is indeed money.  Slowly, the ardent penny pincher grew lazy and even laughed at those who, I donned “cheap”.  I’ve not yet gone as far as creating an excel spread sheet and recording prices of staples around town, but if I choose to go that way, I have a friend who has.  While I’ve secretly laughed behind her back, and sometimes, even to her face, I now appreciate her efforts and realize that a penny saved- is a penny saved.

As a new parent, I wanted to provide the best possible nutrition available, which- to me- meant homemade purees made from organic produce. As my oldest grew past purees, I started to spend more and more and more on organic food. She’s two now, and I’ve given up on most organics, except milk, and cereal, and a few other products. It’s a definite change from when everything was organic.  No doubt, I could save money by purchasing organic produce and making her food.  I loved making baby food last time, but now, every minute I have that isn’t tied up in something related to my children is rare, and I guard it selfishly.  If prepackaged organic food can be purchased, purchase it I will.  As a result, W, the baby isn’t getting homemade organic purees; she’s getting Gerber Organics. It’s a budget buster, but it makes me feel better to give her developing body and immune system the best.  I even went so far to get coupons off of ebay, something that it pains me to do, to make up the difference in price between organic and non-organic.

Children’s developing bodies are especially vulnerable to toxins and they may be at risk of higher exposure. Baby food is often made up of condensed fruits or vegetables, potentially concentrating pesticide residues.

But, here comes the big fat BUT. It is possible, and even cost effective, to go more green when raising a baby. The first is cloth diapering. Ewwww. Right? No. No ewwww. Poop in cloth is just as gross as poop in disposables. Poop is poop. My oldest, A, outgrew her cloth diapers, so I made plans to potty train her. Everything was on track for early potty training until the baby was born. When I don’t have time to set the timer, or the energy to clean up pee spots on the (thank goodness) hardwood floors, I put her in pull-ups. Each and every time I go to the store to buy diapers, I come home with a resolve to get serious about this potty training thing. The truth is that using cloth diapers saves an estimated 3,000 per child. I think that’s incentive enough to at least look out the new options in cloth diapering instead of just dismissing the practice as archaic and gross. When using disposables, you pay for the convenience. You really don’t realize how badly disposable diapers stink until you’ve had your baby’s bum in cloth. Since this is a blog on budgeting, I’ll stick to that sensibility, although there are many many others when considering cloth diapers.

Another way to save money going green is with your cleaning products. Make them yourself. Yup, that’s right. Get some vinegar, some baking soda, some essential oils, and make them your self. Then feel confident when you put your baby down on your clean floors that s/he isn’t getting covered in chemicals. It’s so simple it’s stupid really. Why pay money to make your home toxic? If you have a swiffer wet-jet you love, hack it into an eco-friendly version AND save money by not wasting your money on refill solution and pads.

Since starting FPU, I’ve become aware of the link between the “natural living” community and frugality. One naturally leads to the other in some cases. My reasons for cloth diapering weren’t primarily related to saving money, that was just a plus to me. It was during a time where I’d pay $1-$2 more for something organic instead of store generics. I knew that the price difference added up, somewhere. But, for now, as Dave says, we’re living like no one else, so later- we can live like no one else.

~Manda

September 2, 2008 | Filed Under Budgeting, Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Financial Peace University | 1 Comment 

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