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What Are YOU Going to do with the New Year?

what-are-you-going-to-do-with-the-new-year

As we celebrate the new year we often decide on a few personal new years resolutions. New years resolutions are great except for the fact that we usually fail to accomplish them.
A few years back I decided not to set just new years resolutions but to set goals as well. It may seem like a goal is the same as a resolution but it’s not.

Definition of resolution: A resolution is a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

Definition of goal:The purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective

I think may of us set a new year resolution for ourselves without setting goals that will help us make changes. Without setting goals our resolutions are meaningless. You might as well not make resolutions if you don’t plan on setting goals as well. The best goals to set are small ones. For some of us we need to make each goal very small.

If your goal is to start your journey toward financial freedom I encourage you to set yourself some goals. If you are struggling with managing your money then maybe your first goal should be to find out how you are spending your money.  Or if you are struggling with spending too much maybe your goal should be to set a budget for yourself that will work for you (Dave Ramsey’s budgets are really easy to follow).

The year of 2009 could be the year that changes your life direction if you set resolutions that have goals attached to them. I for one will be making resolutions but will be focusing more on how I will fulfill my resolutions by setting small goals that will lead to success.

I wish you a Happy Successful New Year!

~Mona

December 31, 2008 | Filed Under Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals, Financial Peace Baby Steps | 1 Comment 

Resolving to gain financial peace. again. and again. and again

J and I have hit a few rough patches, that would have been doubly as bad before our Dave Ramsey days.  One of the first things we did when we joined FPU was to get rid of our 2 car payments by selling our cars.  We bought one car that has since blown an engine, and my parents gave us another, that blew a transmission on I-95 on one of the worst traffic days of the year.  We haven’t gotten a repair estimate for the latter, but the former is 3k.  We’ve not saved any money in this car.  What we’ve put into it could have easily paid for at least 5 or 6 months of car payments.  I guess I’m trying to rationalize what I must now confess.  We have another car payment.  We thought long and hard about it, but right now, it’s cheaper in the long run than to try to continue to fix these cars.  In the meantime, we’ll save money to fix whichever car is cheapest to fix, if either one of them is worth fixing.  It had to be done.  We were down to one car, and that car was gone.  It’s a given that J has to get to work.  We still have our baby emergency fund, which can be put towards fixing the transmission in the impala. I think we’re going to just let the Outback go to car heaven.

I did really good before Christmas.  I resisted overspending before Christmas to undo some of the damage on the after Christmas sales.  Listen to me rationalize again… it’ll save me money next year when I don’t feel the compulsion to by Christmas ornaments.  In the end, I didn’t blow that much money, but I hate it I hadn’t planned to blow some money.

We’re going to go through FPU again starting in January.  We’re going to play close attention to the insurance and annuities portion of the classes, and hopefully gain some more gazelle intensity.  Looking back over last years resolutions, we’re lightyears ahead of where we were then, or even 6 months ago when I was thinking of leaving J because I couldn’t take it anymore.  I’m such a perfectionist that I’m going to cut myself a break.  My resolutions next year will be to spend cash, spend cash, spend cash.  We need to plan for this because getting to the ATM is something we don’t do if we don’t make the time.  Some of my [over spending] over the last 2 days was in cash, but when I ran out, I whipped out the plastic. Ca Ching.

Here’s fishing you Financial Peace in 2009.

December 28, 2008 | Filed Under Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Financial Peace University | Leave a Comment 

Living, Learning, and Teaching financial peace

I watch very little TV outside of what my toddler watches on PBS.  Even so, it is impossible to escape news of the bailouts.    I’m very pessimistic that these will do anything but worsen the Nation’s economy.  You can’t fix what’s broken by- as Dave says- doing what broke people do.  The cold, hard, plain truth is that people need to start living their Wage.  The entire country needs a lesson on maturity, and the government needs to stop enabling it’s citizens by creating a false sense of security with these bailouts.  Where is this money coming from?  If my business is doing badly, and I borrow large sums of money from the bank in order to keep that business afloat, and continue to make bad business decisions, what changes?   I wonder how our country would have changed if the Government had bailed out the railroads- instead of allowing the car industry to monopolize transportation.

My grandmother died on the 2nd of this month.  She was a child of the Great Depression.  She grew learning to live with nothing.  She never had a credit card, but did do the old Southern thing of extending credit at stores.  She had credit for gas, for groceries, for her furniture, as was the way of life in small towns.  When going through her papers after she died, I did find a credit rejection from Ford Motor Company when she was co-signing a loan for a cousin that was taking advantage of her unwillingness to say no.  My grandparents had been living on nothing but my grandfathers social insecurity for years.  I imagine that the rejection was devastating and embarrassing for her.  She was raised in a very different financial age when people just didn’t borrow huge sums of money and commit to 5 years of repayment.  Perhaps she kept that rejection letter for a reminder. She died with nothing.  She sold her house years ago and spent it on nothing, and the aforementioned cousin all too willing to take advantage of her.  To my knowledge, I don’t think she ever had a savings account.

I’ve been turned down for credit plenty of times.  It’s no big deal to me.  I can do it in the privacy of my own home, taking off the sting.  Growing up, my mother bought everything on credit cards- groceries included.  More than a couple of times we were standing in the check-out line in Wal-Mart with enough groceries to keep four teenagers fed for a week, and the credit card was denied.  I was humiliated as we had to walk out of the store, everyone staring at our abandoned carts.  From that I learned not to rely on credit cards.  I use debit cards, and the few times my card has been rejected, it’s often been due to bank errors -satellites down, or what ever reason.  Once I was in the drive through for Starbucks and my card was rejected, and I was mortified.  It was probably my first clue that all was not well with our financial picture.  But sweet J was stupidly trying to create a financial picture to make me happy.  I have to confess that I was drinking STBX once, sometimes twice a week, and buying milk for me then 1 year old on top of it.  I was easily spending $75 a week at STBX.  I don’t even want to do the math.  I’ve matured so much financially in that one year, actually since starting Financial Peace in June.  Now when I crave STBX I do Dave math in my head.

When my grandmother died, I didn’t have to worry about where we were going to get the money to travel 900 miles to Alabama.  I had my emergency fund, but I also had my blow fund.  This is where I put J’s tip money.  We still weren’t able to afford to fly down, and had to live for 4 days traveling in our car, but now we don’t have to chose which bills won’t get paid next month.  This is on top of additional Christmas spending, which has been more excessive than I’d like to admit, but I am learning.  I’m being an example to my children.  I’m teaching them the use money wisely, to save for emergencies, not to be reliant on credit cards, and never need to be humiliated or embarrassed because of their financial situation.  I am living- learning- and teaching.  Financial Peace.

December 10, 2008 | Filed Under Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU), Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals | Leave a Comment 

Back to basics: the fundamentals to Financial Peace

Dave’s website is full of quick little newsletter type articles. It’s all common sense advice that is reiterated, or somehow complementary to what has already been said. Yet, it isn’t unnecessarily repetitive. Why? Because sometimes we (i.e. I) need it said a variety of ways before we get it. Even when we do “get it”, we need someone reliable to say it again. and again. and again. Secretly, I have lofty dreams of moving to Nashville and becoming a writer for Dave. Maybe then I would actually REMEMBER the advice Dave dispenses. Today J and I took the fam to the local COSTCO with no budget, or even plan in mind. We spent $137 without even planning to do so. Not much of it was wasteful spending. However, it is still disappointing because we know better. I even used my debit card because we’ve fallen out of habit of using cash. Actually, that isn’t true. I continue to use cash, I’m just not using the envelope system.

Why oh why do I fall away from what I know works? It doesn’t require copious amounts of energy. But what’s comfortable, or “the way I’ve always done it” is hard to let go of, even if it is making us miserable. I know, it doesn’t make an ounce of sense. Before Financial Peace, I was not so blissfully ignorant of how better my financial life could be. I assumed it would be hard to be responsible. The truth is that it is in fact so simple that my ignorance is hard to swallow when I must confess to irresponsible financial behavior. Less stress is the result when you have an accurate and truthful screen capture of your financial life. It is hard to let go of the bad financial habits. We are absolutely light years of where we were when our minister first said the words “Financial Peace” in a sermon last January. Now at least I know better and have a little disappointment- even shame- when I don’t name every single one of the dollars in our income and outgo. I know now that I can blow all my hard work in one shopping trip, and that shopping trip might make the difference in how long it takes us to break free from Financial Peace. Dollars that are being frittered away because of poor planning aren’t going to pay down off our dept.

I hate balancing the checkbook. I hate paying bills (if you do like it, you’re weird). I spend more energy dreading doing the tasks than it requires to do them, and since starting Financial Peace, it’s never as bad as I feared. I’ve been conditioned to think the worse. But the truth is that the lessons really are sinking in, and one day of less than perfect (not necessarily bad) choices doesn’t throw it all away. I’ve just got to break the budget forms out again and sit down and have our budget committee meetings. We need a Financial Peace Check-up. It’s been our 3 months (actually a little less )or 30k miles.

There are a number of ways to get back on track. The easiest for me is to go to Dave’s website and do some reading. Today I read of How to Become a Stress-Free Shopper. There’s nothing new learned because the steps to Financial Peace are consistent and Biblically based. It isn’t a gimic, or membership dues. In fact, it is possible to take Dave’s advice for free. Check the books out from the library, download the budgeting forms for free. His radio shows and TV show is also free. The FPU course is reasonable, and it’s a lifetime membership. It’s necessary for hard heads like me to have accountability. I can’t begin to quantify the stress that we’ve let go of since making the commitment to start the program. I’m grateful that now, with Dave’s help, I have the common sense to know when I’m making bad decisions and can be responsible and accountable to my self. I have the fundamentals that are important to our financial plan, and must be in place in order for us to obtain Financial Peace. How long it takes us to get there is dependent on how well we stick to our plan.

~Manda

November 30, 2008 | Filed Under Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU), Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Financial Goals, Financial Peace Baby Steps, Life Goals | 2 Comments 

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