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???

Life . . .

Life is not all it is cracked up to be.  Life is:  hard, unpredictable, happy and sometimes sad. I think I have felt all of these emotions this week.  Heck, I think I had a couple of these all in one day.  This was a particularly difficult week.  When I have difficult weeks, it makes me want to hold my kids and never let them go.  Try explaining that to a 14 and 18 yr old boy, they do not understand. 
On my worst day this week I called the house on the way home and talked with Sprat, I told him how much I loved him and I cried most of the way home.  They may be making arrangements for me at the loony bin and I just do not know about it.
Sprat is not any closer to deciding on a college than he was two weeks ago.  We are on the trail of some scholarships though.  I do believe I could make a full time job out of searching for scholarships.  There are so many and you have to read all of the details before you can apply because there may be one little thing that would disqualify your child. 
Stay tuned for the scholarship hunt.. .

Financial Friday and Eyes Wide Open. . .

Long week of work and lacrosse, not upset this week has come to it's end.  After our hiccup with the hubbs and his lay off last year we have been working very hard on our finances.  If you have followed anything on my blog you know that I read a lot, especially when it comes to finance.  I have almost finished Chris Hogan's "Retire Inspired, It's Not an Age It's a Financial Number" (Chris works with Dave Ramsey).  It is really enlightening.  I highly recommend this book, and it does not matter what age you are.  In fact I would recommend reading it in your 20's so that you can retire inspired.  I really wish I had started sooner with thinking about things like this and thinking about saving rather than the immature notion of immediate gratification.  That may be another one of those all too important life lessons you have to learn for your self.
Our life changed, our thought process changed, and our eyes were opened wide when my hubby was laid off two weeks shy of his 25 year anniversary with his company.   Update on that in case you did not know.  The hubbs is back with his same company, at his previous managers request, after 6 months of looking for another job.  He did get a raise and with their new product launch has been making a great bonus and we are taking full advantage of this extra income to pay off our house.  An irresponsible response to this extra income would be to buy new cars that we do not need or take lavish vacations etc. . Because we have been debt free, except the house, for a couple of years now that was not our response to this extra income.   It would be so great to be free of house payments so that we could really save for our "Inspired Retirement."   We are not only paying down the house but, we are adding to our retirement savings.
Yes, I have two boys getting ready for college in one year and in four more years.  We have been saving for college since the boys were born, it is never too early to start a child's saving fund for college.   College is important but do not skip saving for your retirement to save for your kids college.  This is not a Dave Ramsey thought and I do not remember exactly where I heard it but it makes a whole lot of sense.  Banks will let you borrow money for college, they will not let you borrow money for your retirement.  This one is a Dave Ramsey, kids can get jobs and help pay for their college.  You do not want to have to depend on your kids to support you in your retirement.  It is not their responsibility.
Recommendations for today:  If you have kids start a college saving fund, no mater what age you are start a retirement fund (IRA, ROTH IRA etc. . .),  read a book on finance (Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or Thomas J Stanley), and last but not least enjoy this beautiful day.
Stay tuned because college planning is coming. . .

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.

Personal Finance? ? ?

Sprat is taking personal finance this semester in school.  He brought home a list of questions for his dad and I on our experience with money.  I honestly believe I could teach a young adult personal finance class.   I think I have made all the mistakes out there with money.  I am very proud to say I learned from my mistakes and did not make the same one twice.  
One of the questions asked, if I could share one important lesson about money what would it be?   With out a doubt it would be, never sign up for a credit card.  I signed up for my first card as a freshman in college.   I was working partime and had a $2, 500 credit limit with a 29% interest rate.  What was I thinking?  That is the point, I was not thinking.   I was too young to know better and my parents had never warned me of the evils of credit cards.  I do not think they ever imagined a company would give me credit.
I think I have shared this before, when talking about credit cards,  about all of the offers the hubbs and I received in a month.   I had over $352, 000 and my hubby had over $450, 000 in credit card offers.  This would have been in 1998 when the credit card companies sent out these types of offers every day.  We did not have that kind of money nor did we need that kind of credit for anything. 
You can live without credit cards but it takes patience, planning, and delayed gratification.  These are three things the kids of today are not being taught.  They are the now generation.  They want it now and do not care how they get it.  My kids are guilty of this too, so please do not think I am pointing fingers.   This has been an ongoing lesson for both of my boys.  We talk daily about saving for that all important pair of shoes they absolutely must have or the game that they cannot live without.  If it is over and above what they NEED for school then they pay for it themselves.  Both the boys have bought their own shoes with their own money (birthday or commission) if it was something that was a want and not a need.  Yes, I am that mom.

Commission Vs. Allowance for Kids. . .

Do you pay your kids an allowance or a commission?  Do you know the difference?  Do your kids know the difference?   This is a brief rundown of how I understand these words.  Allowance to me means; money given for just being around.  Commission, on the other hand, is money paid for doing work.  How do you want your kids to understand the money they are given each week?  Do you want them to take pride in their chores and do the work and get paid or do you just want to dole out your money to the couch potatoes that occasionally grunt hello when you come into the room?  I opt for the first one, I wanted my kids to have responsibility and chores in our house.  There are some things that they are required to do just because they are a part of our family and there are other things they get paid for.  Each chore has a dollar amount attached to it and if it is not done they do not get that money.  My hope is, this is teaching them to have a good work ethic.  My boys are 15 and 12 and this is what they are paid to do:  bring laundry down to be washed, put clean laundry away, take out the trash and recycle, stomp soda cans, and keep their rooms semi-neat.  These are the things they do just because they are a part of this family:  yard work with dad, get the mail, help with the dishes, unload groceries and anything else their dad and I can come up with that needs to be done.
I follow the Dave Ramsey plan with the boys too.  They have a give, save and spend envelope that they divide their money into each week.  I hope this is teaching them to spend responsibly and save and give to others in need.
I never had an allowance growing up, I had friends that did and maybe if I had I would have been better with money as a young adult.  My mom and dad gave me money when I needed it for clothes, movies or going out to eat but it was never attached to a specific chore.  I had things that I had to do around the house and at the barn.  I did not have money that I would call my own until I started working when I was a junior in high school.  I did not have a bank account until I started that job either.  My kids had savings accounts as soon as they were born.  I am sure I have mentioned this before but I will tell it again.  I had a big empty plastic water cooler bottle that we would put spare change in when Sprat was little.  I kept this in his room, when grandparents came to visit they had to pay to see the baby.  Ha ha ha ha ha!!!  just kidding.  Anytime they got money as a gift it went in the bottle and that in turn went to their savings accounts.  I only recently told the boys that they even had bank accounts.  The later they find out the better.  I ended up having to tell Sprat because he went to his daddy and told him I had stolen his money.  He told his dad he had X amount of money and now he had a lot less and of course I was the only suspect in this crime.   I did take his money to put in his bank account so it would not end up going to the grocery store for candy and junk.  Thank goodness my hubby was able to explain to him what I had done and I told him we had a savings account for him at our bank.  

Budget????

Have you made out your itemized budget yet?  I encourage you, if you have not put your budget down on paper, be intentional and do it.  If it is not on paper you might just float around your intentional spending and mess up your budget.  It is ok if you have to change your budget, it is a living organism and change is to be expected.  I always write mine in pencil for that very reason.  If you are married or are doing your budget with a significant other always talk with them when things come up and you think the budget needs adjusting.   Your budget should be a group effort and if you have kids you should include them in some of the decision making.  There are certain areas you would not consult them in but, things like entertainment and eating out the kids could weigh in on.  If we do not teach our kids that we as adults have guidelines and a responsibility when it comes to spending they will not learn that very important lesson.
This realization hit me right up side the head one day while I was out doing some shopping with my kids.  I had my list of groceries that I needed to buy and I was keeping to my budget.  Sprat picked up something that he absolutely had to have and was not on my list or in my budget.  I had to explain he could not have it and as you can imagine that did not go over very well.   The objections came with, "why don't you just swipe your card, then I can get it."  This opened the door to explain what that card really is.  We do not use credit cards, I do have a debit card and that is the card that Sprat was referring.   I think we send the wrong message to our kids when they see us swipe that card.  We think they understand the concept of a debit card but they really do not.  A plastic card is a plastic card they do not understand where that money comes from.  Sprat, Big T, and I had long talk about what those plastic cards mean and how they really work.  My kids did not know you had to have money in the bank to use those cards they just saw me swipe that card and walk away with our purchases.  I never thought about all of this before, we go about our lives going through the motions of buying groceries and going to the post office and not thinking about all the things our kids pick up on when they are young and go along with us everywhere we go.  We must be deliberate in our spending and in our education of our kids.  They pick up on more than you realize.

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.  

Financial Resolutions. . .

Everyone makes resolutions at the start of a new year, most of them are dealing with health and attitude.   Do you make resolutions, are any of your resolutions financial?    You probably do not think of financial goals as resolutions but, if you do not set goals and make a plan you will never achieve what you want.  This especially goes for your finances.   Dave sets up "Baby Steps" to help you achieve your financial goals when using his plan.
Dave's first Baby Step is saving $1,000 in cash fast.  You may think this is easy, if you do then great go to it.  This money should be set aside for emergencies and kept in cash.   Just so you know; Christmas, birthdays, new clothes, eating out, gas, and groceries are not emergencies.
Now let's talk about how you can reach that goal quickly.  We cut back on eating out, I did not realize how much money we spent eating out before I started budgeting.  That was our black hole for our money and boy could it suck it down.   If you are not doing a budget each pay period I really do recommend you start one.  I started by keeping all of my receipts for everything we did for one pay period and then I wrote everything out long hand to see exactly where our money was going.  That gave me a good idea on how we could save money and how to set up our budget.  
My hubby hates carrying around change in his pockets so as soon as he came home he would dump that change on his dresser.  I started having him put it in a tumbler so that I could keep up with it.  About once a month I take that money to a coin machine and get cash, that is one way to add to your $1,000.  That will not get you there by itself, you will need to do some other things.   I am a clothes and pocketbook horse,  I will admit it.  I sold a few pocketbooks that I did not carry as much anymore online to help get us to our $1,000 fast.   Dave also recommends having yard sales and getting extra jobs to help you finish that first step.  
I did not think having that extra cash would be a comfort, but it really is.  When life throws you crazy things, it is so nice to know you have that cushion to keep you sane.   You always hear people talk about saving money for a rainy day.  This is your rainy day fund, and it will rain, so be prepared.

Happy Friday! Topic Today the Big B. . . Budget

Yep, it is time to revisit that nasty word, Budget.   That word always carried a restrictive connotation with me for many years.  It is actually very freeing to be able to sit down and tell each dollar where it is going before you get it.   If you do that you want be wondering where it all went at the end of the month.   I told you when I started this that I was terrible at balancing my checkbook and doing a budget.   I had never balanced my checkbook till I took Dave's class and worse than that I had never really looked at my bank statements before either.  I know, that is the worst.  That is why I tell you, I have made many mistakes and I wish I knew about Dave or anybody else for that matter earlier.  It would have saved me so much money and heart ache too.
Let us get down to the nitty gritty of the big B.  Dave says, managed money is like getting a raise.  That is so true, I would have never thought that before I put together a budget.  Do not look at your budget as restrictive, look at it as spending on paper for a purpose.  (another Daveism) The first thing I did was write out, longhand, what we spent in a month.  Even though we are in the technology age I still like using pencil and paper when working with my budget.   I took old bank statements and looked at each one and wrote down what we had spent to try and compile my budget.  Group your items together for example, restaurants, groceries, insurance, car payments, house payments, utilities, and phone bills etc. . .  Do not forget to put give and save at the top of your list.  Remember what your grandparents always say the more you give the more you receive so, always keep giving at the top.  You also have to remember to pay yourself (save).   If you are at the height of your debt snowball you may think, how can I give and save if I am paying crazy to get out of debt?   You may have to cut back on saving during your debt snowball period.  That is ok because once you are out of debt you will be able to save and give like crazy.  I did not believe it either but it is possible and we are giving and saving like crazy.  We are still paying down our house but it is not like before.    Dave says during the debt snowball that everything should be going to pay off your debt.  He talks about using your savings to get out of debt.  I guess if you were in several hundred thousand dollar debt then that would be understandable, we were not that bad off so we did not use any savings to pay ours off.  We used everything else though and, we never stopped giving.  To me giving was the most important part of our budget.  The old adage stands true the more you give the more you receive.  We are proof positive in that.  I cannot tell you how many times early in our marriage that we did not know how we were going to pay bills but we never stopped our giving and we never missed any payments.
Being able to budget and get out of debt has been a huge blessing and I want everyone to know how to do it.  Imagine a debt free world, imagine the amazing things that could be done if there was no debt hanging over our heads, imagine the lives that could be changed.  That is what I hope for, amazing changes for everyone.

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.

Living on a Budget. . . .

     Have you ever actually written down a budget?  Have you ever followed a budget?  I ask these questions not to judge anyone, because I had never sat down and made a budget myself until two years ago.  I wish I had approached this concept much sooner.  The word budget seems to bring forth many emotions;  fear, panic, anger, and a thought of restraint.   I learned two years ago, when I took the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, that budget is not a dirty word.  I also learned that by making a budget I am telling my money where to go instead of wondering, at the end of the month, where my money went.
    The first budget I set up was crazy because I did not know what I was doing but I learned the budget is not set in stone.  It is a living organism changing as life changes and little things come up.   The first few months I had to go back and adjust our budget several times.  Now that I have been doing this for the past two years I rarely have to change it up or re-adjust it during the month but, I know that I can if I need to.
     I was so afraid of setting up that first budget.   I set it up and filled it out and then dear hubby and I went over it.  If you are married it is important to include your spouse in the process.  I am the CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of our family but, hubby and I both make major decisions together.  A major financial decision for us  is anything over $250.   When I set up that first budget I found where a lot of our money was going.  We spent a lot of money eating out.  I am sure there are a lot of folks that do the same thing and don't even realize how much they spend.   It made me sick to my stomach when I realized how much money we had wasted eating out.
     Dave Ramsey also explains his envelope system.  I love the envelope system and use it for our cash only items.    When you set up the envelope system you set aside a certain amount of money to be spent on certain items.  My envelopes are:  groceries, restaurant, clothes, entertainment, hair cuts, vacation, pet supplies, and home repairs.  Each time my hubby gets paid I put a certain amount in each envelope, the amount comes from how much I had budgeted for each item.   When we go out to eat we use the envelope money and if the envelope is empty then we eat at home.   My kids know this now and realize that we cannot go out to eat 5 times a week.  I am not saying this is easy because it is not.  Our first run with the envelope  system met great resistance from my kiddos and we had to stand firm on the decision to stick to our budget.  Using the budget, every dollar has a name and restaurants only get a certain amount.  We give, save and spend a certain amount each month and we do not exceed our income.
     I am amazed at how much we have saved  and given in the two years we have been doing this.  I wish I had known about this when my dear hubby and I were first married.   We are older and wiser now and live on a budget and that is not a dirty word.  It is our plan to save money so that we will be able to do the things we have always wanted to do.   We also do not use credit cards, debit cards yes but not credit cards.  We are paying off our car and house at a rapid pace.  I want to be debt free!! That is for another post.
    For more information on Dave Ramsey I highly recommend you google him and check out his site.   You don't have to do everything he says, you can pick and choose what works best for you.  Try out some of his recommendations and see what happens.

Dave Ramsey. . .continues

I completed the Dave Ramsey class last year and to date we are still credit card FREE!  I am so glad for that.  We are well on our way to paying off the car and we are building our emergency fund.  We still have a way to go but slow and steady will win this race.  I have been using Dave's envelope system now for a year and it does make you think before you whip out that cash for an item.  You feel that money going out of your wallet rather than that swipe of the debit card or credit card.  
With all of the identity theft and stolen credit card numbers, what more reason do you need to use cash.  Even if you just use cash for eating out, you are taking your credit card or debit card out of extra hands and eyes.  The more people that have access to your pertinent information the more likely that it will get taken and used by someone other than you.  Try using cash in one or two areas of your life and that will reduce some of your risk.  In my opinion, eating out is one of the easiest ways to cut back on debit and credit card use.  I feel sure I have posted about this before but it needs to be repeated.  One of  the couples in our class said that their credit card number was stolen while they were on vacation.  They were able to track it to their waiter at one of the restaurants they had visited.  When the police tracked him down he had a notebook with many other credit and debit card numbers written down that he had stolen.  That was my wake up call.  What will your wake up call be?

Dave Ramsey class update

Finished the Dave Ramsey class and loved it.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  Dave is a very accomplished man and a good speaker.  He is not afraid to tell of his mistakes in the hopes that others do not fall into the same traps.  He has gone from millionaire to bankruptcy to millionaire on more than one occasion.   I realized I had made many mistakes myself when it comes to money.  My favorite quote from Dave is, "live like no one else, so later you can live and give like no one else." 
I am a big believer in giving to the Church and other reputable charities.   My dear hubby and I have always  given, since we were married.  There were times in the early part of our marriage that we struggled to make the ends meet but, we never changed our giving.  I firmly believe that we are where we are today because we give.  I guess that is why I like Daves' philosophy so much.  He wants to help people grow their wealth so that they can share their wealth with those in need.  Imagine what our world would be like if nobody was in debt and could share what they had with others.  WOW!!  How cool that would be.  I have been a fan of Dave's for many years but, was only able to take his class this year.   I will tell a tale on myself today, in all my years I have never balanced my checkbook.  I know, how dumb is that?  I am very proud to say that I now balance my checkbook and I do a zero based budget every month before the month begins.  Thank you Dave!!  Those little steps just give you so much power over your money.  The budget allows you to tell your money where to go, instead of saying at the end of the month, where did all my money go.   With the help of Daves' class and Craig our teacher we have no credit card debt and are paying like crazy  on the car and next is the house.  We are on our way to being debt FREE!!!!!!  Check out Dave's website       www.daveramsey.com   Just a little tip from frugal me, you can check his books out at the library and you can also pick them up at the used book store sometimes.   The first Dave book I bought was from the used book store.  Here are some of his titles that I like:  The Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace Revisited, and The Complete Guide to Money.