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Lo siento y Feliz Navidad

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That means I’m sorry, right?  I’ve not been available to write lately, despite my commitment to do so twice a week, but I hope that I can beg your pardons.  My grandmother died at the beginning of the month, the next week I had two papers due in my very last classes of my Masters degree.  I’ve only recently gotten the Christmas tree up and decorated.  I feel that I’ve been running non-stop, because- I have.

I wanted to put out a little warning, well, really, a thought about purchasing and buying gift cards.  J and I have gone from being people who dined out quite frequently to almost never.  We can’t make peace with spending $30 on a meal.  However, we remembered we had a gift card for Landry’s restaurants, and it is one that starts to deduct from the balance if it goes unused.  We called to verify the balance, and then went out to eat after going to the mall to visit Santa.  We ordered modestly, skipping the appetizers and drinks so to be able to not go over our balance.  At the end of the meal, we whipped out the gift card and were pretty peeved when our server told us that they no longer took that particular gift card.  I called for the manager, only to be told that this vary thing had happened to other patrons.  I wondered why there was no small disclaimer on the door. In the end, he comped our daughters $2 kids meal, but we had to pull out the debit card *argh* to pay for the meal.

The moral of the story is to pull out the gift card BEFORE you order at a restaurant.  With the number of stores going out of business, I’d personally stay away from all of those that I didn’t feel totally comfortable with being there in 2009. Personally, I think gift cards are a cop-out.  You can’t opt out of the gifting process.  I don’t like receiving them, (unless of course it’s a Starbucks card).

I watched Dave last night and he said that the week before Christmas is traditionally when people start to blow Christmas budgets.  Since I buy most everything online, I’ve reached the shipping deadline, so I doubt there will be any last minute gift ideas now.  I was working on my mother a scrap book that did not get finished in time, so I had to get something online yesterday so that it will get there in time.  It wasn’t poor planning on my part.  I lost a substantial amount of time with the death of my grandmother.  I did go over what J and I said we would spend on one another.  I hope he forgives me and I have to promise to be a big girl and not be tiffy if he did the mature thing and stuck to the budget.  Next year, I’ll do better.  I doubt we’ll be debtfree, but we’re getting more financially mature every day.

We have $2800 left on one debt.  We’ve already planned to do our taxes early and pay that off and then our one and only debt will be my student loans.  We’re looking forward to a productive 2009.  I need to revisit last years resolutions.  Working on finances was one of ours.  I wonder how close we came to achieving it.

If I don’t have the opportunity to write again before the holidays are in full swing, please have a very merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.

December 18, 2008 | Filed Under Financial Planning, Just Whatever | Leave a Comment 

Dave’s shopping tips for shopping during Christmas

When you take Financial Peace, you are a member for life. It really REALLY is a worthwhile $93 bucks. If you find yourself needing a refresher, find one in your area and GO. Regardless of whether or not you are an FPU member, you can sign up for Dave’s eNewsletter at daveramsey.com. November’s issue, of course, deals with the top 10 Christmas shopping mistakes.

J and I are working on keeping our Christmas at a bare minimum this year. Our children won’t go without because we have parents who overspend during Christmas, ignoring all practical financial advice. We’re working as examples to them and hope one day that we can bring them over to the peaceful side of finances.

The first mistake, Not Prioritizing, sort of hits a little about what I talked about in my last post. Dave suggests you differentiate between what HAS to be done, and what is just fluff. Holidays aren’t fun if you’re stressed out. Realized from the onset what is important, which is also his 10th mistake Forgetting Why We Celebrate. Family, friends, loved ones are more important than the material things.

The mistakes between 1 and 10 are Dave’s every day principles that have been translated into the holiday setting : make a list, make a budget, shop around, using credit cards. Number 4 Buying for Everyone is a common mistake. I’ve done it. In the past I’ve bought for my husbands nieces and nephews that don’t even know my name, and I’m hard pressed to remember theirs. Dave’s suggestions are to talk to people at work about drawing names for a gift. In the past, I’ve been in workplaces that do a month long secret Santa that really added up. In the current economic client, I’m doubt this behavior will decrease, and that spending limits for gifts will be decreased. For the past 3 years I’ve gotten to know a group of mothers in an on-line community, and exchanging Christmas gifts was part of the norm. This year, only 2 mothers signed up to participate. $30 is a lot to spend on a child not even your own. The decision was made to instead have an ornament exchange with a $5 limit. Before you get stressed out about the holiday, and you undo the hard work you’ve done in financial peace, stick to what you’ve learned and talk to family members and co-workers about realistic expectations. This economic crisis is not limited to a few, chance are, your friends and family members will welcome the suggestion.

So far, J and I are doing pretty well in our Christmas spending. I took all of our change buckets to the local Coinstar and got free coin counting because I redeemed my change for Amazon ecertificates. Until December 7, you can get a $10 bonus when you redeem more than $40. I just need to find my receipt and send it in. Before FPU, I wouldn’t have worried about losing “free money”, but now I really see the missed opportunity. J is working a 2nd job delivering pizza at night, and we’ve earmarked that money for Christmas, however, our hope is that we won’t use it and will make another big loan payment after the New Year.

Make a Christmas shopping plan and stick with it. Use all you’ve learned in FPU. Don’t use your credit cards at 18% interest to buy gifts for everyone you know. Make a list and stick to it. Shop sales. Study store flyers before going out so you know who has the best deal. Take sales papers with you to stores that price match. We live in a town with a handful of Wal-Marts. If you know that an item is cheaper at the Wal-Mart on the other side of town, be vocal about it and you’ll get the cheaper price. Stores want your business. I think Circuit City might be having some good deals because they declared bankruptcy and are facing closing their stores. I worry about shopping there because if their doors are closed, where do you take your returns?

When all else fails, bake something, make something, send a thoughtful handwritten card. I’m making a lot of gifts this year. I’m making my mother and mother-in-law a scrapbook. It really is the thought that counts.

~Manda

November 22, 2008 | Filed Under Bargain Hunting, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University (FPU), Financial Planning | Leave a Comment 

Dave Ramsey’s Personal Finance Software – Budgeting Software

A few months back the Dave Ramsey website was having a deal on there Financial Peace Software so I decided to buy it. Though I have had the software for a few months I only just started using this month. So far I really like it. There are a lot of great tools offered in the software.
All of the worksheets found in the Financial Peace University curriculum (Monthly Cash Flow, Allocated Spending, Income Sources, etc.) is also found on the CD-ROM. You can print out blank sheets or the sheets you have filled out.

The great part about this budgeting software is that it calculates everything for you. So you just enter the numbers and then the software takes care of the rest. Percentages are also automatically calculated for you.

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There are some other tools that are useful as well. In the Tools section of the CD-ROM you can use the Financial Calculators, Glossary and Check Register. The software is fairly simple (as opposed to too complicated that you get frustrated and don’t bother with it) but very useful. The Debt Snowball program is one of the best features. Enter in all your debt balances with monthly payments and it will calculate how long it will take for you debt to be paid. The Debt Snowball features also allows you to view your progress in charts and graphs.

The software is $24.95 and totally worth it. I like having my budgeting software on my computer since it’s with me just about everywhere I go. You also have the choice of downloading the software straight from the website. No need to wait on getting your budget started. Check it out! Dave Ramsey’s Personal Finance Software.

~Mona

October 28, 2008 | Filed Under Blogging Tips, Dave Ramsey Financial Freedom, Financial Goals, Financial Planning | 3 Comments 

Components of the not-so-quick get rich plan

We live in a world of instant gratification. We allow that it takes years to get 40 lbs over weight, but we want to lose the weight in a month. If not we don’t see “results”, and give up. The same applies to cash flow planning. Dave wants you to give it 3 months before you’re on a working system. After the initial first month of Financial Peace, it’s easy to lose the momentum, the excitement when the “found” money in your budget is reassigned and accountable. Eventually, there is no more money to be found. J and I just sold another vehicle. We have officially no car payments. We have no more vehicles to sell. Our budget is now working, and it feels great. But we’re at a point that we will have to be diligent, we’ll have to know, deep down that it is working, that it takes time, or it will be easy to give up. We can fall into the temptation, the lie that it is “too hard”, or that it isn’t happening “fast enough”.

After giving up both of our nice vehicles, it is easy for me to look at what others are driving and feel envy, covet their ride. But, I definitely don’t want those car payments again in my cash flow plan. It is easier to live frugally now than it once was, even a year ago. I’ve said that I poked fun at my girlfriend, but now, I see the wisdom in some of her decisions. There are less and less people to poke fun at. I know, because of the emails I get from friends and family asking about our Financial Peace journey. It’s nice to know that we’ve made such a change that it is visible to those in our life. From the people who also want to get involved in Financial Peace, I’d hazard to say that it is a good change.

I’ve also realized that you don’t need to be cheap to be frugal. There is a difference. Someone who is cheap, is stingy. Someone who is cheap isn’t hospitable. Along the same lines, one doesn’t need to be unnecessarily wasteful. There is a happy, sensible middle. I think, for the time being, we’ve found it. We’re not wasteful, but also not cheap. It is this happy, sensible middle that will help us get through the next 18 months. Our living needs to be tolerable, or it won’t be doable. We’ve given our cash flow plan a couple of months. We talk, with less screaming, about money. We’re both involved in the financial decisions. We have the same goals. All of which are part of our not so quick get rich plan.

~Manda

ETA.  I’ve been reading the book of Proverbs.  It’s a terrific book to read each day, every day.  There are 31 chapters.  When you’re done, start over again.  It’s a book of finances, relationships, forgiveness, marriage, parenting, wealth, debt, and everything in between.  I’m amazed that each day there is always something that jumps out that is specifically relevant to what I’ve been thinking about, talking about, praying about…  Today it is Proverbs 21:5:

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty,
But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

October 21, 2008 | Filed Under Financial Planning | 1 Comment 

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