The Incentive I Needed . . . Mortgage Pay Off Here We Come . . . .

So the company that has had our mortgage since we refinanced seven years ago has sold our loan to an unknown company.   My old established company allowed me to pay online, check my balance, and pay extra principal payments with no fees.  The new company has a fee for everything except just snail mailing your payment and we all know how reliable snail mail is when it comes to getting things to where they are suppose to go in tact.  I sent my sister a Christmas card one year with the boys Christmas picture in it with Santa.  The post office delivered her a giant plastic bag with the words "We Care" printed all over the bag and inside that bag was a mere corner of the envelope which I had placed the Christmas card.   Does that say anything about "we care" to you?  I think not!!
Now the new unknown mortgage company wants me to mail my very precious loan payment to them via snail mail or pay a fee to send it any other way.  To say that I am a little perturbed is the understatement of the century. 
I know why the more reputable company sold my loan, they are not making enough money off of me.  They are still making money just not as much as they were before because we are paying our house off early.  You know what a big Dave Ramsey fan I am and I have been Gazelle intense these last several years at paying our house off.  So the amount of interest that they were making on us had decreased dramatically.  I have voiced my displeasure and complete and utter dissatisfaction with all of this to my old mortgage company and of course they do not care every thing is about the bottom line and I am not contributing enough to their bottom line so I do not matter.  Apparently I do not matter to this new company since they are going to FEE me to death in order to pay my mortgage.  What ever happened to customer service and taking care of the customer even if they are a small customer?   I hate to inform this new company but, I will not be with you long, I am more determined than ever to pay my mortgage off.  Debt Free Baby!! the only way to be!!

Car Shopping . . . but no car payments. . . .

I absolutely detest shopping for a car.  The last two vehicles we purchased were from a car rental company that sells their cars after they are no longer renting them.  Very pleased with our purchases from a quality and a cost standpoint.  You guys know how much I love Dave Ramsey and these vehicles fall into the DR category. 
Sprat is going to need a car this next year at school, Big T gets his car in August. Sprat's new school is a little further out of the city than that first school and the new school allows sophomores to have cars on campus. No, he does not get to pick out what he wants, he will take what we pick out and be happy.  We are now shopping reliable used cars and I have gone back to the rental place.  I have been hawking this website and the lot since it is close to us.  They used to carry a lot of the vehicle I am looking for for Sprat and now they do not have any from this manufacturer. I  am a little bummed and so I have ventured out to the local car lots.  Big mistake, car lots are awful, they want to sell you more car than you want or can afford.  In my case they are trying to sell me more than I want to afford.  I have a dollar amount I am going to spend and I am not going over that for any reason.  I am sticking to my DR plan.  I am not borrowing money to buy this car, we did not borrow to buy the other two and I am not going to for this one either.  Whewww!! It feels good too say that, I will not go into debt for this. 
I will share a little secret too, I am having a little mid - life crisis around this car shopping.  I have found a car that I want and again I have been hawking car websites and such looking for the best deal.  I have had to put that on the back burner till we can get Sprat something to drive but I am still shopping for me.  This will put my mid - life crisis on hold for just a bit because I will not go into debt for my mid-life crisis.  NO more debt for this family!!
Stay tuned for my car shopping adventure.

A Little of This and a Little of That. . . .

I follow a lot of different groups on Facebook and on pinterest.  My reasoning behind who and why I follow certain groups is to learn and better myself.   I have learned scads of interesting things through both sites.  I follow herbal garden pages, financial pages, recipe and craft pages.  On one of my financial pages someone asked what you did to pamper yourself on a budget.  I was amazed that these ladies are paying $20- $80 for a manicure and possibly a pedicure on a routine basis.  I shared what I do to pamper myself,  I have a detox bath with my herbs and some Epsom salt.  I do not do nails I enjoy playing in the dirt too much to pay that kind of money for nails.  Now this particular site is about paying off debt and gaining financial peace yes, it is a Dave Ramsey site.  You know how I feel about Dave, I really like him a lot.  The hubbs and I are proudly debt free except our house, that is why I still follow these sites.  There is always something you can learn.  I was telling the hubbs about this particular post and he laughed and said you know, you are a girly girl and you don't get your nails done.  He asked why I don't get them done?  I said, I play in the dirt too much and I am in the sink washing dishes and cooking.  I grew up going to the barn everyday working around the barn and riding horses and would have been a waste of good money.  I have to laugh that my husband thinks I am a girly  girl.  He has never referred to me as that before.  I am not sure where that came from but, I guess I am a girly girl, I do like girly things like jewelry and handbags.  Just the other night I took a very relaxing bath with green tea and mountain mint with Epsom salt.  We have a great Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom and it is perfect for the detox bath.  I also like using Epsom salt with Lavender, Rosemary, and Eucalyptus essential oils.  These make for a wonderful relaxing tub.  I am not sure if these baths really do detox or anything else but I sure do feel relaxed after them and that is all that matters to me. I guess my baths that I like make me a girly girl too. I am afraid the girly girl comment may come back to bite my sweet hubby.
One of my herb pages I follow has inspired me to try my hand at making my own essential oils.  I have an abundance of fresh oregano and I think that is the one I am going to try first.  According to one article I read oregano is a very powerful antiviral, anti-fungal, and antibacterial now my oregano is not medical grade of course but it might help keep some bugs away.  I put some of oregano in the dehydrator yesterday and it should be ready some time today.  My hubby has suggested I give my dried oregano to friends and family as gifts and I may just do that, we have so much and if I keep cutting it, it will keep growing.  We transplanted some to my new herb bed too, working in the dirt really is therapeutic.  We are still talking about my cutting bed for fresh cut flowers. 
I found a recipe for basil pesto yesterday and I cannot wait to try this one out.  I will share it with you if it turns out well.  My basil is not quite ready for cutting yet so it may be a little bit before I can try it.  Stay tuned for more herb stuff and the Boy will be coming home from college in a few weeks too.

Courage for the New Year. . .

Courage doesn't always roar, sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.  

By Mary Anne Radmacher.

I have placed this quote in my planner for the start of this year.  I cannot remember where I saw this but it really stuck with me.  

I bought a new book for my hubby earlier from Dave Ramsey, "48 Days to the Work You Love" by Dan Miller.  This was a suggested book from one of groups I am in on Facebook that is a Dave Ramsey group.  I have shared numerous times that my hubby is in a very volatile business, and of course you know he was laid off two years ago and then re hired for the same position 8 months later.  Well, they are looking at downsizing again, his company has already sold off several divisions and laid off several sets of sales representatives.  My dear sweet hubby could be laid off again with no severance package this time.  This is what prompted me to buy this book.  He got several books this year for Christmas so he has not picked this one up yet.  I decided that I would check it out and see what all it had to say.  I have read the first chapter and love it, I think I may be in the work that I love right now.  That first chapter has re affirmed my choice in work and being affirmed in my decision makes my work much more rewarding.  My hope is that my very sweet hubby will find something that will make him happy too.  Starting out in his job he enjoyed it because he was educating people and sharing his knowledge and his passion for his product.   Now there are unrealistic and unattainable quotas that are created by people that have no idea what it means to be a sales person.  This job has sucked the life out of my sweet hubby and I would love for him to find his work that he would love.  Fingers crossed and I will keep you updated, lots of changes coming for our family. . . 

Random Thoughts for the Start of 2018. . .

2018 is off to a BIG start at our house.  The hubbs got back safely from Florida after a few delays.    He got his name up in  lights on the jumbotron for being ranked number three in the country in sales.  This is huge since he was laid off  in May of 2016 and then re hired in December of 2016.  You just do not realize the satisfaction I find in this whole ordeal.   It was not his direct manger that laid him off it was the pointy heads at corporate that have no clue what goes on at the sales level. 
Enough of that, because we have been too blessed to be ugly about the pointy heads.  I do believe God moves in mysterious ways.   We have made huge strides in paying our house off and saving for retirement.  I recently read the book by one of Dave Ramseys group called "Retire Inspired" by Chris Hogan.  This was an awesome addition to the Dave Ramsey collection of Financial Peace.  I highly recommend it to anyone that has done the Financial Peace class or who has read the book "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey.  Full disclosure:  I am not being paid to write this, I write what I feel, love and believe in and I do love and believe in each of these programs.  We are saving and giving like crazy and it feels good!!  Could not have done it without Dave and his program.  I would not have gotten serious about it without knowing the facts behind his plan/program and that is what the class gives.  I dabbled at this plan until I took the class.  If you have the opportunity to take the class I highly recommend it. 
Stay tuned, work is really busy this time of year and I feel very overwhelmed most days.  I use my blog as a means to vent some days and as a means to chronicle what is going on in our family.  You never know what you might read about hear at the Pampered Mom???

Friday and Finances. . .

Since it is Friday and I try to talk about finances on Friday I am going to talk a little about them today.  You all know how much I like Dave Ramsey and I will start by saying if you have not read his book or at least looked at his website, Dave Ramsey, I highly recommend it.  You may not agree with everything he has to say but he does make a lot of sense about money matters.  I do not agree with everything, but there are areas that he really helped my family.
I would suggest you also check out his "Tools" section on his home page.  He has what he calls "ELP's"  this is an endorsed local provider.  This is a real estate agent, insurance provider, or financial adviser that follows the Dave Ramsey plan but is located in your area.  The hubbs and I looked up an ELP to help us move our kids 529 plan that we had set up years earlier and just to talk to someone else that followed Dave Ramsey.  They have helped us for the past ten years and they were one of the first folks I called when my very sweet hubby was displaced.  We knew we were going to have to move his 401K and possibly his pension and a few other benefits.  We had no clue how to proceed, thankfully these guys knew exactly what we needed to do and they made this part of our displacement very easy.  
One other thing I will point out that was a big benefit to us is Dave's debt snowball.  This helped us get out of debt except for our house and helped us get our emergency fund in place.  That emergency fund is really important because, should the worst case scenario play out, that will pay our bills.  The funny thing is, since they stopped contributions on his 401K and his HSA his severance pay is actually more than when he was actually working.  This has allowed us to add to our emergency fund and to add extra on our house.  I am also still using my envelopes just as I did before our displacement.  The envelope system is great and I encourage you to check it out too.  The envelope system helps you stay with your budget and helps you save for specific items like:  vacation, a car, college tuition, or the braces your kids might need.  I have an envelope for each one of those myself.  I put my college on hold when my dear hubby was displaced but we used my tuition money I had already saved to buy him a new laptop and a printer.  That money did not upset our regular budget because I had already saved it in my envelope.  If you are going to use a particular envelope's money for something other than what it was intended it is very important that you and your partner are in agreement on that move.  A budget and the envelope system only work when both parties are in agreement and work together.
The most important thing to remember is that a budget is a living organism, it grows and changes with each month or even week depending on your life style and where you are in life.   You must look at it each month to make sure you have everything covered.
Have a good weekend!

Be Prepared for the Storm. . .Life Lessons. . .

I have debated and debated on whether to write about something going on in our lives.   You may or may not know that we are a single income family, I have written numerous times about how much I love Dave Ramsey and how his plan helped us get out of debt.  I have also written about my faith in God and how he works in our lives.   We are by no means a perfect family but, I know that God loves us and that he is constantly at work in our lives. I am writing this today to inspire and encourage others that may be facing similar circumstances.
My husband was a pharmaceutical sales representative with the same company for 23 years, I say was because he was just recently downsized.   Now we are a no income family of four.  We have not shared this with anyone but our family thus far.  We are a prime example of why you should use Dave Ramsey's plan to get out of debt.   To use Dave Ramsey's words, you never know when it is going to rain so, you better be prepared.   I always talk about how God works through our lives and this is a huge example.  I was able to take the Dave Ramsey class in 2012 and we had just bought a new car. Before taking his class I had dabbled in the envelope system but only got serious after taking the class.  Dave's class showed me that we had to get out of debt and how debt is bad.  In 2012 we started following a budget and using the envelope system to curb our spending and save for special things that we wanted to do.  I know that it was God that pointed us in that direction because he knew his plan for us.    I was able to pay our car off and get out of debt, except for the house, in two years.  Since our only debt is the house we have been working like crazy to get it paid off too.
I said earlier I do not want anyone to pity us because I know this is God's plan and because he got us on the Dave Ramsey road to financial peace, we are at peace financially.  If you have not checked Dave Ramsey out I encourage you to do so.  Dave Ramsey has a plan that anyone can work if they want, you have to want to get out of debt though and you have to be serious about it.  I am not being compensated in any way for this post.  This is just something that I am very passionate about and a plan that I believe in and that is working for my family.
This is a shining example of why everyone, even those professionals that think it could never happen to me, need to be preparing for the rain.   I am so thankful that God pointed us in the direction of Dave Ramsey because otherwise we would not have been prepared for this storm.   Not that anyone can be prepared for something like this but I feel we are better prepared than we were five years ago.  We had our six months worth of expenses emergency fund in place and no debt other than the house and our house payment is manageable.  As our storm rages there are so many emotions; there is anger, frustration, sadness, shame, and yes guilt.
This is why you have been seeing so many garden and recipe posts from me.  I have not really known how to talk about this but I feel like I need to talk about it because it is happening all over the country these days.  I have put my classes on hold for the time being, the hubbs did get a severance package and that is a huge blessing and we used my tuition money to buy him a new laptop.  His laptop was company property so it went back to the company.
I know this is God's plan and I do feel blessed that he is working in our lives.  He has blessed us with a bountiful garden this year and I am truly thankful.  The hubbs and I could live out of our garden and have been these last few months but the kiddos want meat and well, I cannot bring myself to raise anything to butcher just yet.
Stay tuned this and the garden will by my focus these next few months.

"There is hope in your future."  Jeremiah 31:17

Financial Friday the 13th. . .

Good Friday morning.    On this rainy and overcast Friday the 13th I think we should do a check up of our rainy day fund/emergency fund.   Are you saving for that rainy day or emergency?  If you are not prepared for the rain a simple appliance problem could send you in to financial ruin or at least zap your budget.  Dave Ramsey talks about saving $1,000 in cash and fast as your on hand emergency fund.  He also talks about saving three to six months of expenses for your long term emergency fund. If you have an emergency fund in place, your emergencies do not seem so big.  
If you have not checked out Dave Ramsey I highly recommend it.  Read his information and test out his theories for yourself.  I am not a financial guru nor do I claim to be, I have followed most of what Dave Ramsey says to do and we are debt free except our house and saving like crazy for the boys to go to college.   I was thrilled that my friend Beth invited me to my first Dave Ramsey class and I was excited when my friend Craig said he would be teaching a class.   You do not have to attend a class to learn his system, check out the Dave Ramsey website.  I also encourage you to read books from other financial people like Suzy Orman.  There are many financial businesses that will counsel you in your financial matters but, do you really want to take advice from someone who has less money in the bank than you?  I am not saying that they are all like that but, I find it hard to take financial advice from someone who is in more debt than I am.  As Dave says, if you want to be a millionaire you do what millionaires do and millionaires do not take financial advice from broke people.   You can find Dave Ramsey's books at the library and at some used book stores.
Here is my disclosure:  I am not receiving any perks or kickbacks for this post.  I write this because I truly believe in this system and I think we would all be better off out of debt.   Imagine the contributions that could be made to charity if we were all out of debt. . .  

Rainy Days. . . Be Prepared. . .

Things always tend to go awry when you least expect it.   This is why it is important to have an emergency fund and to plan for the expected as well as the unexpected.  When my hubby and I were first married he traveled some with his work.  It never failed, when he would go out of town something would break down.  The first time he went out of town my washing machine broke down, the next time the dryer.  I do remember one icy February he went out of town and the people that were putting in our fence cut my phone lines and then we had a big ice storm and the power went out too.  This was before kids and we had a beautiful chocolate lab that thought she was a lap dog.   On this particular nasty night I took the dog out and twisted my ankle in a hole in the yard and fell.  The dog thought I was playing and proceeded to jump on my back, all 90 pounds of her.  I crawled to the back door dragging her behind me and held on to the door knob to stand up.  Did I mention it was snowy and icy?   I look back on these memories and just have to laugh at how incredibly crazy life is sometimes.  
All of these things happened before I found Dave Ramsey and we did not have an emergency fund and these things did zap our budget.  Today, if any of this happened, it would not be that big of a deal because we do have our emergency fund and we are prepared for those rainy days.  Our heat pump went out one of those times the hubbs went out of town. I learned then, that we needed to be on a schedule for routine maintenance and yearly check ups for our heat pump.  I highly recommend this if you are not already doing so.  There are lots of good companies that will do this for a nominal fee and it is well worth it.  They come out two times a year and check everything out and by doing this they can tell if there is anything that is not working properly before it breaks and messes something else up too.   You also get preference when you do have trouble and discounts on parts and labor.  To me, this is a very good investment.
I have talked many times about my envelopes and I do have one called home repairs.  This is for anything around the house.   We had a little washer trouble this week and thank goodness I was able to cover it with my envelope.  If you are not using the envelope system or some other system to save money for specific things I encourage you to start.  Start small with maybe one or two envelopes and see what you think.  You do not have to do Dave Ramsey, do some research and find what fits you best, but get started.
I really wish our school system taught Dave Ramsey.  Our kids do not learn enough about personal finance in school, I am trying to teach my kids about money using Dave Ramsey but they all need to learn.   It should be one of those mandatory life skills classes.  I am embarrassed to say, I did not learn how to balance my checkbook until I started using Dave Ramsey and saw a real need for it.

How is Your Budget????

How is everyone doing with their budget?  I learn something new ever time I work on mine.  Remember those budgets are living organisms and that they will change each month and sometimes each week.  I learned during football season that with two boys playing football I need to allocate some extra cash for concessions and gate fees.   Here are some other things that you might want to think about including in your envelopes if you are not already.
Car repairs and oil changes, you are going to have to do these things why not add a little cash to an envelope each pay period and save for them in advance.   This has really saved me, those car fees use to zap my cash flow before I started planning for them.   Do you have an envelope for the barber shop or  beauty shop?  Those can zap a budget too.  I set aside a little money each pay period in my envelope system just for hair.  My hubby asked me this morning if I had any hair money, because he wanted to go by the barber shop on his way home from work.   Entertainment money is also very important, you do not want to feel like you cannot have any fun while on a budget.  We use our entertainment money for movies and sometimes sporting events or concerts.   School fees are another area that can zap my budget.  I use school money during the school year for kids lunches and field trips, I keep saving in my school money envelope even over the Summer and that money is used to buy school supplies at the beginning of the year.   School fees and supplies can also zap that budget but if you are planning for it there is no fear.  I feel as if I have really accomplished something if I can buy all of the new school supplies and pay school fees with my envelope money.  Do you have pets?  I have my beautiful Basil and I also have a Pet envelope, I set aside a certain amount each pay period for my sweet Basil too.  I pay for her food, toys, and vet visits out of her envelope.  I am sure you know vet bills can really stack up if something bad happens to Rover, but if you are saving a little at a time they will not blow up your budget.   Do you save money for your home repairs?  I have an envelope for that too.   With my Home Repair envelope I pay for:  my annual heat and air check up, to have my gas logs cleaned, pest inspection and any type of appliance repair.  Each of these would surely blow your budget crazy but, if you plan there is no fear.
These are just a few of my categories that you may not have thought about for your cash envelope system.   The basis for this system is your grandma or great grandma and Dave Ramsey tweaked it and I have tweaked mine.   The great thing about this system is that you can customize it to fit your needs and it is very easy to follow.   I do not get kick backs for any of my posts, I write about things I like and that work for me.  This envelope system is the best and if you use it right, it will help you curb your spending.

New Year and Finances. . .

I am curious how everyone is doing with their financial goals and if anyone is still doing the Dave Ramsey plan I posted about last year.  If you are new to the blog, Dave Ramsey is a financial "guru" that says you should not use credit cards and to pay cash for everything.  The hubby and I have been doing his plan for many years.  I read all of his books and followed Dave for many years before I actually took his class, Financial Peace University.  I have to give a shout out to Beth Cotell for inviting me to the class she was taking.  A huge thank you!!  
There is a lot of free information out there for anyone looking for financial help but, be careful who you take advice from.  You would not want to take advice from a financial person that is broke, right?  Dave Ramsey is a millionaire and has been bankrupt too, so I feel like he has the credibility to teach me what to do and what not to do.  The information I share on this subject is Dave's and I give him all the credit.  I am not being compensated by Dave for writing this either.  I truly believe in what he says and how he approaches money matters.
One of the things that I really like about Dave's approach is, he not only uses a mathematical approach but a biblical approach too.  He incorporates what the Bible has to say about financial matters into his teachings and I love it.  His budget system is the first one that I have seen that put giving at the top over and above anything else.   Giving to others is so important in this day and age of the self-involved and self-centered society that we live in.   The hubbs and I have always given to our Church and other charities even when we did not have very much we still gave.
I am very proud to say that with the help of Dave's plan and his cash envelope system we are debt free and have been for two years, except for our house.  We are paying it down though with great speed and we are also saving for College for the boys too.   There are lots of options to save for college; there is the 529 if you are in North Carolina, Roth IRA, and I know that other states have savings plans for in state tuition.   If you are going to do the 529 and you have two or more kids you only need to do one 529.  Put the account in your oldest child's name and if for some reason that child does not need that money then it can be passed to the younger children and even to the parents if they want to go back to school.    These are all good ways to save for college and let's face it, College is not getting any cheaper.
Please check out Dave at www.daveramsey.com and you can follow him on Facebook too.

Last Day of School. . . .

Whoot Whoot!!!!  Last day of school!!!!!  Yes, I am glad school is out for my kiddos.  In fact they are not going today.   Sprat did not have an exam today so he does not have to go and Big T will not have anything going on.  They are both sound asleep right now.  One of my friends referred to days like today as mental health days for the kids, it is more of a lazy day for me.   My dear hubby heads back to work on Monday so we are going to enjoy a nice day all together.  We are going to check out the new "Jurassic World" movie.  The hubbs and I went to see the first two at the movies when they came out.   We were not big movie goers before we had the kiddos, we would only go to a movie once or twice a year.  When the boys were old enough to go to the movies we went to most everything that came out for their age.  Big T saw "Finding Nemo," or slept through it in his little infant carrier.   Ahhhh, the good ole days.   They enjoy going to the movies and it is just one other thing we do as a family.  I do not remember my mom and dad taking us to the movies when I was little.  I do remember going when I was in 7th and 8th grade.  Mom would drop us off at the theater and then come back and pick us up at the Burger King across the parking lot.   That was our Friday night thing when I was younger, we all went as a group.
I remember the first 3D movie we took the boys to, it was "Journey to the Center of the Earth."  It was a great movie and great in 3D.   We had gotten a big tub of popcorn for us to share and about mid way through the movie and elbow deep in the popcorn Big T starts fussing about his eyes burning.  I am sure you can imagine, he said the 3D glasses were burning his eyes.  He had rubbed his eyes and had gotten the popcorn stuff in them making them burn and sting.  To this day he still blames those 3D glasses.
Here is my financial part of this post.  Since my hubby has been out of work for his knee we decided we would get a few things done with our finances.  Dave Ramsey has what he calls ELP's (endorsed local providers), these are financial consultants and real estate agents that are in your area that follow the Dave Ramsey system.    I decided I would look into an ELP to help us with a few things, this was several years before I actually took the Dave Ramsey class.  I told you I had read everything about him before I took the class.  At this time the hubbs company was going to give us control over his 401K and let us manage it rather than pay someone associated with the company to manage it.  I was not confident enough in my own knowledge about a 401K to take on that responsibility myself.   We found an ELP close to us and they were associated with the company that was handling our college fund for the kiddos.   That was just perfect.   I met with them originally and set everything up, they made recommendations with regard to the 401K and also made some recommendations with the college fund.  I took their suggestions and we made the necessary adjustments, this was almost nine years ago.   Flash forward to about a week ago.  The hubbs and I went to see our ELP to make a few more adjustments and to see if there was anything we needed to change with the 401K.   Dave Ramsey says, if you are getting a 12% return on your investment that you are doing good.   Our ELP said that we had made well over the 12% on our college fund and the 401K each year since we had been with them, that was a very pleasant surprise.  We had stopped funding the college fund while we were paying down our debt so now that we are debt free (except for the house) we started funding the college fund again.  We never stopped funding the 401K, you never turn down free money (aka company match).  
My tip for the day:  check out Dave Ramsey and his ELP for your area I would bet that most would offer a free consultation.  www.daveramsey.com  You will find the ELP section toward the bottom of the page.  Check them out and see what you think, it never hurts to talk and gather information.  I am all about gathering information before I make a major decision.  The more you know the better off you are.  If you have not read about Dave or his books I recommend checking him out, go to the Library.

More on Dave. . .

I told you when I started this, that you would probably get tired of me saying, "Dave says," or "According to Dave" and such.  I follow most of Dave's principles  which in reality follow God's principles.  Dave said, you could get a PhD in finance simply by reading Proverbs.   At that point we were in the middle of reading Psalms with the kids, so I decided that after Psalms we would read Proverbs.   In all my years of reading the Bible, I had never really sat down and read the book of Proverbs.  You know, you read a verse here and there relating to a specific sermon or a Bible study but you do not sit down and read every verse.   After Dave's class we read Proverbs.
One of the things that impressed me most about Dave Ramsey is,  he incorporates the Bible and God into his financial lessons.  I have read a couple different books on finance by different people and so far, not one of them does that.  Dave not only talks about saving money but he also talks about giving, stewardship. Not many financial gurus would even think of discussing stewardship much less devote a whole section of their financial class to the subject.    He encourages you to give to charities and to the Church.  His big point at the end of his lesson is that could you imagine the good that can be done if we were all out of debt and could give freely to those in need.   Cool idea.

He talks about the things that our grandparents used to say, "the more you give the more you will receive."  
Several years ago we were doing a stewardship series at Church and I was asked to give my testimony.  I was terrified and yet very excited about getting to share how God had blessed our family.  I am very passionate about how God has worked in our lives.  We were only supposed to do a two minute talk, when I had finished writing down what was on my heart I had about a 15 minute talk.  I did trim it down, I did not want to drive anyone away.  The hubbs and I talked about what I would say, so I had his approval.  I shared some very personal things about our first few years of marriage and how we struggled and strained with money some days.  My point to my talk was that even though we struggled we still gave to our Church.  Money always found us just when we needed it and I believe it did because we gave and had faith.  We are after all, mere managers of what God has given us.  

Finally Friday. . .

Another crazy week behind us and a crazy weekend ahead of us.   The other day I was trying to get my house back to some semblance of normalcy and I found an old journal from when I was finishing up the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class back in July of 2012.  During this time we were trying to refinance our house to get the great rates they were offering then.  The hubbs and I both had pristine credit and almost no debt due to our Dave Ramsey plan.  We were getting the run around from one bank and so I called one of my friends in the banking business and her reply was priceless.  I told her what was going on and all she said was bring me your papers and I will see what I can do.  We had been jumping through hoops for this one bank for 2 1/2 months and she got it done with a lower interest rate in less than 30 days.  Love her dearly, she was a life saver.
My point to this story is, shop around anytime you are looking for a loan of any sort.   Find out what they require up front and what the turn around time is for the paper work and what their time line is for your approval.  If you know someone in the business talk with them, I would probably still be waiting for the first bank to get around to our approval if I had not called my friend.
As I am reading back over my journal of what was going on in our lives I realize how God has worked through so much for us.  During this particular time of refinancing and getting out of debt my dear hubby was also facing a company wide layoff.   This was the third time in a few years that he survived and was not laid off.  I give full credit to the good Lord above for getting us through that ordeal.  We are a single income family and I do believe that God watches over us each and every day and I see it more clearly reading over my old journals.  I began writing in a journal when I participated in my first Gemeinschaft ( geh-mine-shaft) Bible study in 2009.  Gemeinschaft is a small group Bible study of the Moravian Church designed to provide an intentional and disciplined program that will enable people of faith to grow and experience God's saving grace and power in our lives.  I still journal and read my daily text and Bible daily thanks in part to the routine that I began during Gemeinschaft. 
When you journal and write your prayers down or write down things that are troubling you that you are asking God for help with you can look back and see how he responded.  

I know I have gone in all different directions today with this post but, I write what is on my heart and some days my heart is all over the place.  

Emergency Fund?????

Do you have an emergency fund?  You may have your $1,000 quick cash emergency fund but I am talking about the 3-6 months of income emergency fund.  They are both important and are both very necessary.  The $1,000 quick cash is cash on hand that you can get to easily for emergencies like broken pipes and pay day is a week away or broken heat pump in the middle of summer.   The 3-6 month emergency fund is for times when you may not have an income.  Maybe you or your spouse are hurt and cannot work or you get laid off.  Unfortunately both of these situations can be your reality in today's economy.  
If you follow Dave Ramsey you have heard him talk about both of these items in his Financial Peace lectures.  I told you earlier you would get tired of me saying, "Dave says."  I do believe what he has to say works, we do not do everything according to Dave but we do most.  If you read what he has to say and really sit back and think about it, it makes sense.  I would not do it or recommend it if it did not make sense to me.
I have dipped into my $1,000 emergency fund and I replaced it as soon as dear hubby was paid.  With all of our debt paid except the house, any extra money we get is divided between the 3-6 month emergency fund and extra house payments.  We have already taken two years off of our mortgage and saved a good deal on interest.  You would be surprised what a mere $200 extra could save you in interest.
Now to figure out how much you need for your 3-6 months emergency fund.  Take your expenses for the whole month, be honest, short cutting and lying to yourself will not help you in the long run.  When you have your expenses for the month multiply them by 3 to get a 3 month estimate and multiply by 6 to get a six month estimate.  Last time I checked we had about a 5 month emergency fund.   This is very important for us because my husbands' business is very volatile, he has survived 5 lay offs in the last 4 years or so.  You just never know when you might get that call.  With our emergency fund in place it is not quite as scary.
Since my dear hubby had his injury and had to have surgery and is facing short-term disability and lots of rehabilitation, that emergency fund will be a cushion for us.  Dave always says you need that rainy day fund, because it will rain.  
I think when you have an emergency fund it is insurance against the rain.   We may need ours for doctor and hospital bills too.
I would recommend setting your 3-6 months emergency fund up in a money market account if your bank has one.  As your fund grows you can take advantage of that extra interest.  If it is in a money market account you are less likely to spend it on something that is not an emergency.
I do not get kick backs from Dave Ramsey, this is just something that I believe in and am passionate about.  

Finance Friday

I would like to talk about the envelope system by Dave Ramsey today.   My oldest has to have a palate expander and then braces.  We met with the orthodontist last year and found all of this out.   They gave me a rough estimate in what it all would cost.   We started our orthodontist envelope.   This is not an emergency so we will not use emergency money.   I planned for this so, this will have no effect on our budget.  It has been included in our budget for a year now in a very small amount.  We have terrible dental insurance so the bulk will come from us.  I have no fear of this  because I planned and used the envelope system.  You could also use a health savings account in the same way.  
This is the same way we do our Christmas money.   We save all year a little at a time so Christmas does not break our budget.  What a feeling that is, to not feel guilty about spending money on your loved ones.   Like Dave says, Christmas is not an emergency.   There is no reason to max out in credit card debt. We know it is coming and planning will help.  I encourage you to check out Dave's envelope philosophy.   Google it and see what other people say about it.  Pick one thing in your budget and try it with the cash envelop system.   I would suggest something simple like eating out, groceries,  or coffee money if you drink a lot of  Starbucks ( $4 bucks) coffee.   I am not judging if you like their coffee, I like it too but I only get it every now and then.    The envelope system has been around for a very long time, Dave just brought it back to the mainstream.   Dave showed an envelope system he found at an estate sale dated in the early 1900's.  I thought that was very cool.

Debt Snowball. .

How appropriate since we are experiencing crazy cool weather that we talk about the "debt snowball".   This snowball has nothing to do with cold though.  Yes, this is from Dave Ramsey.  It is an ingenious plan to get out of debt.  I am not judging anyone, remember,  I have made these mistakes and I know it is easy to get into debt.  In fact I got into debt in college with my first credit card, that I had no business having.  I had a modest job and was going to school and they gave me a crazy high credit limit.  Needless to say I let it go to my head and bam!! Debt.  I am sharing all of this because if my mistakes can keep someone else from making them or help them recover from them then it is all worth it.  You know the old saying, if I had known then what I know now.  Well here ya go.
Look at each of your credit cards and loans, list them  from smallest balance to the largest balance.  We are only going to think about the balance, the bottom line nothing else.   You want a quick win, that means paying that first balance off quick.  This means putting any extra money you have left after you; give, save, and pay bills.   Always give first, even if it is just a few dollars it will help someone else and will open doors for you that no man can close.   Then you pay yourself (save) and then take care of those bills.   Macy's should not get theirs if your house payment and power bill is not being paid.  Take care of your family first.  While you are pouring extra money into that one smallest balance try to keep up your minimum payments on all the others.   Once you have paid that first one off, shout wahooo and if it was a credit card cut it up.  As Dave says, do a little plastic surgery, it will do wonders for your bank account.  Now you take what ever you were paying on that balance plus the minimum you were paying and start paying the next smallest balance on your list.  This is called the "debt snowball" and it does work.  I am proof positive it does.   I kept a copy of my balances on my fridge and as I paid things off I took a red pen and marked through them.  It was a great feeling when we got down to just the house being on that list.  We are now dumping crazy money at the house to get it paid off so we will truly be debt free.   It took me two years and we were not in as bad a debt as some but we took things slowly and made sure we were giving and saving while we were paying off our debt.  

When I talk about giving I am talking about money, time, and things you may not need.  Especially this time of year there are so many that are in need that if you have things laying around that you cannot wear donate them to your local Samaritan Ministry, Church, Goodwill or the Salvation Army.  There is an old adage that when you give you get back ten fold.  This means when you give you get back ten times what you gave.  You may not see it immediately but it will come back to you.  Our family has been so blessed because we share generously.   If you have not realized, I am a very passionate person, about God and my family and what I believe in.  I truly believe in sharing and the blessing that we have received because we have shared.  I have gotten a little off track today, sorry about that but I do believe I needed to share.
So far we are trying the envelope system and working on that debt snowball.    Stay tuned who knows what I will tell about next week.  

Feeling very excited about Financial Friday

I have told you some of the things I have done that I am ashamed of and I will tell you many more but today I am going to share something I am extremely proud of.  As of today we (my family) are Debt Free!!!!!! except our house.  Wahoooooo!!!
This is why I love Dave Ramsey.  I could not have done this without his class and my wonderful teacher that guided the class.  We paid off our car in 2 years with Daves' debt snowball plan, which is pure genius.  I will share that with you next week.    Today I would like to hash out the envelope system.  Dave gives credit to all of the grandparents for this system because that is how they managed money back in the day.   You were paid in cash and you divided it up into your envelopes to make sure your bills were covered.   I love this.  I told you last week that we started out with our Christmas envelope and we now have about 9 envelopes.   These are my categories, they work for us, you feel them out and see what works best for your family.  
Christmas, vacation,  restaurants,  groceries,  mad money,  entertainment,  clothes,  school, tuition, hair cuts, and prescriptions.  Most of these are self explanatory, mad money is money that I set aside just for me.  My hubby has his mad money too.  It is just for us to spend with no guilt on what ever we wish.  The entertainment envelope covers movies,  putt putt,  bowling, and football games.  School money pays for school fees, supplies,  lunch money, and field trips.  I put money in each of these every pay period according to what I have budgeted.  Just because it is summer does not mean I stop funding the school envelope, this is when I am saving for back to school supplies.   When an envelope is empty there is no more of that till next pay period, which for us is every two weeks.   It was hard for the kids to grasp that, when it came to eating out.  That was our big vacuum, when it came to spending.   Once I put a cap on what we would spend it was amazing how much we could save.  That is not to say we did not have our weak points, because we did.  Your budget is a living thing and it grows and changes just like your family does, that is why you need to look at it periodically to evaluate how it is changing.   The categories I picked for my envelopes fit our family, they may not fit yours.  You should evaluate what you want to pay cash for.   Some have a gas envelope to pay for their gas in their cars.  I do not like having to go in and pay for gas that to me is more trouble than it is worth.   

Dave says that when you pay with cash you feel that pang of the money leaving your hand.  When you swipe that debit card there is no feeling attached to it.   This is true, if you don't believe me pay for a meal at a nice restaurant with cash, you will feel it.  You can set your amounts that you put in your envelopes yourself.  Just be sure you are honest with yourself when you are setting up your budget, do not fudge on how much you spend in certain areas because that will just create a problem in the end.  Remember I have made most of the mistakes I warn you about.   If you are married you should set all this up with your spouse too, the system will never work if you do not work together.  I ask my hubby periodically if he is ok with our budget and normally he says he is fine but sometimes he points things out that I had not thought of and there is where we revisit our budget and tweak it.  He pointed out this year that we needed to re-evaluated our entertainment money during football season.  Both boys play football and going to games and concessions were expensive so the next pay period we upped our entertainment money amount to cover these things.  I love this system, it is ours and we can change it to suit our needs and so can you.  I would suggest that you pick one thing and try it out before you dive head first into all the envelopes we have.   I would love to know what envelopes you will have.   Good Luck and we will talk about Daves' debt snowball next week.  

Financial Friday. . . Background on Why. . .

If you are going to talk finances you should go to someone that has made lots of money because they are obviously doing something right.   My favorite financial person is Dave Ramsey, and just be warned you will see,  Dave says a lot on here.  I am not being paid by Dave or any other financial person, the things you will read here are my heart felt beliefs about money and some of my personal experiences along with what I have learned from Dave.  I do not have a background in finance but, goodness knows I have made enough mistakes to have learned what not to do.
I like Dave a lot, I like his Christian approach to handling money.  He is the only financial person that I have seen that lays out a budget with giving at the top.  
I was invited by my friend Beth to go to a Dave Ramsey class and I took her up on that opportunity.  It was one night and they were talking about investing, something I did but very minimally.  I was intrigued right off the bat and a big thank you to Beth for inviting me, this started my following of Dave with regard to finances.   I went to the Library and checked out one of his books, I loved it and I ended up buying it at our local used book store.  Notice I did not go out and buy his book without  checking it out at the Library first and when I bought it, it was used.   It was two years before I took Daves' Financial Peace University class.  During that two years I read everything I could get my hands on, from the Library and the used bookstore, about finances.   I was very intrigued by Dave's envelope system.   That was the first advice I tried and it helped.  I only used the envelopes for certain things, we started out with a Christmas envelope.  We put $20 a week in an envelope for Christmas.  Our first year we did this we got a little late start so we did not have enough money to pay for all of Christmas but it helped.  The next year we started earlier and that year we paid for Christmas in cash, with the exception of things we bought online.   The next year I was able to officially take the Dave Ramsey class.  I was so excited, I was like a kid at Christmas.
One of the first things we talked about in class was a budget, I am ashamed to say I had never done a budget before.  We did a "quick start" budget, this catches the major things, paychecks coming in and bills going out.  I always thought of a budget as being evil and very restrictive.  It is actually, you telling your money where to go rather than wondering where it went.  I was a wonder where it went kinda gal for many years.  Oh, I wish someone would have told me how to do this sooner.  I was actually relieved when I did that first budget and a little surprised at where we were spending all of our money.   I will tell another ugly truth about myself, I was not someone that balanced the checkbook either.  Now, I do a budget every two weeks and balance my checkbook every time my statement comes in.  Yayyy me!!  If you are a financial person you may think that is no big deal.  To someone that did not do either of these things for so many years it is a huge deal.   If you are doing both or just one of these kudos to you, you are already rolling in the right direction.   There are lots of places to go and find budget software or budget forms.  There are a lot of them on Pinterest.  I personally like Dave's forms for budget.  Check out his website www.daveramsey.com
Also check out your local used book stores and Library, they are full of good free information and I am all about FREE.   Here is something to think about for next Financial Friday:  what are some things that you could pay cash for?  Groceries, restaurants, clothes, school supplies or barber or salons.

Evil Credit Cards. . .

I have posted numerous times about how much I love Dave Ramsey.   I am not paid by him so this not an advertisement but a testament to his program. 
I read his books and semi followed his plan for several years before I got serious.  It has been two years since I took his Financial Peace University class,  I loved it.  It brought all of my reading together and wow.  We are on our way to being debt free.  I am not saying you have to do everything he says, you can pick and choose how you want to approach each thing.  We don't do everything he recommends but we do most. 
The item that rings so true is the; do not use credit card part.   When I was in college I was a credit card queen.  I had them all and they all had a balance.   I wish I had known about Dave in college.   When my hubby and I decided to have the plastic surgery, as Dave puts it, we started keeping the free credit advertisements that we got in the mail.  I kept them for each of us for a month.   I totalled up how much credit or debt we could have if we had signed up for them all.  Hubby had a total well over $500, 000 and I had over $300, 000.   Now imagine, we have two boys we hope will go to college one day and we would like to retire before we die.  Thank goodness after I totalled everything up I shreded those nasty little papers.  I must say having Dave's plastic surgery  was the best thing we ever did and I highly recommend it.
We use the envelope system which is like how your grandmother or great grandmother kept up with their money.   We give,  save, and spend in that order.  If you want a risk free look into Dave's program go to your library and check out one of his books.  That is how I got started.  Then I went to a used bookstore and bought his book.  Do your own reaearch and see what you think.  As always, I would love to hear from you and your thoughts on Dave.