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???

Feeling Accomplished. . .

I am feeling accomplished today.  It has been a long week but I feel good about myself, my job, and my family.  There were several days in these last seven weeks or so that I felt completely overwhelmed.   I am a little ashamed to admit that I also felt like giving up a couple of times too.   I felt like; what am I doing trying to go back to work after thirteen years?   I must give huge thanks to my sister, my mom and my very sweet, loving, and supportive husband.  I am very serious when I say if it were not for their support and confidence in me I would have given up on myself.   My sister reminded me that God was working in my life and that I should walk in Godficance (confidence in God) and that is what has gotten me through to this point of thankfulness.   I am also very thankful to my friends that have kept us in their prayers.   I have renewed my relationship with God on this journey and that may have been His ultimate plan.  I have really leaned on Him as well through this tumultuous time in our lives.
The hubbs is back at work with his old job and we will not be as naive as we were the last time.   There is no trust there anymore with job security for either of us.  We are saving for the kids college and paying off our house as fast as we can.  In true Dave Ramsey fashion we are also padding our emergency fund for when this happens again.   Based on our experience, I suggest you shoot for at least a six month emergency fund.   It took my hubby exactly six months to get his job back and it took me three months to find my job.   I talk an awful lot about Dave Ramsey but, we are a prime example of what can happen and that Dave's plan does work.   You do not have to trust me check it out for your self do your own research but, make a plan.  As Dave says, it will rain and you should be prepared for that rainy day.

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.

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.

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.

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.