Boots and Tears!

I just walked in the door after visiting with our neighbor and Hotsauce looks at me and says:

"Do you know it's Sunday??"

"Yes."

"Well, you haven't blogged in two days!"

So, here I sit a submissive and loving wife carrying out my husband's wishes!

For the last several weeks I have shook my head every time our girls get ready for church.  They pick out church clothes, brush their hair and teeth and as we get ready to walk out the door they put on their shoes... their tennis shoes that is.

Now, I don't care if they wear jeans.  I don't care if they wear khakis or skirts or dresses.  There are very few rules concerning church attire.  If they wear jeans they can't have holes in the knees.  Their clothes should match.  Their clothes should be clean.  I prefer that they don't wear wrinkled shirts, but their Daddy and I have different definitions of what wrinkled is...

But, white tennis shoes and black dress pants or dresses make me cringe.  Almost as bad as discovering that Chubba made it out of the house and into church in sweat pants a few weeks ago.  I was aghast with embarrassment!

So the clothing fund was stocked and I went on a search for girls' church shoes.  I found some really cute black flats.  They were on sale and on top of the sale price they were buy one, get one free!  I snatched them up and came home all excited.

They didn't fit.  Whicka, whicka, what???  I bought the same size as their tennis shoes.  GRRRRR.

So the whole family got back in the truck and across town we went.  While we were there Hotsauce mentioned that flats might not be the best idea since it's only a matter of weeks before the snow starts to fly.  We decided black dress boots would be the way to go.

Boots are more expensive then flats.  BOOOOO!  But, it's more expensive to buy flats today and then in a few weeks come back to buy the boots.

Saucy Pants picked out the least expensive pair of boots there.  They had a cute little bow and a reasonable heel.  They were ca-ute...

I found the same boots in Bean's size and had her try them on.  Perhaps it's being the older sister and not wanting to have the same boots as her little sister, but she was eyeing another pair and was obviously heart broken to have to try these "lesser" boots on.  The other pair of boots didn't have the bow so visible.  They had a more grown up look and a rounder toe ... or maybe it was a pointy-er toe ... or a more square toe... anywhoo it had the perfect 9 year old toe and she was locked in.

Hotsauce looked at the price and said... "No."

He doesn't understand that all the 9 year old home schooled girls who buy fall boots have collectively decided that dress boots must have the right toe.  She would likely be laughed out of Sunday School wearing the wrong toed boots.

So I had an idea.  We would pay $21.99 for boots.  If she wanted the more expensive boots she would have to pay the difference.  Everyone would be happy.

The wheels in her mind start turning.   It's only $3.  But, she wants a Kindle.  If she uses her $3 towards the boots she won't have it to spend on her Kindle.  She starts to cry.

I have no idea where she gets that from!

She decides the "toe" is fine in the less expensive boots. Hotsauce tells her that she made a wise decision. We start walking towards the check-out.

She starts to cry again.  Seriously, where does she get that from??

I pull her aside and we have a heart to heart.  She really wants the other boots.  She really wants the Kindle.  She doesn't know what to do.  Hotsauce steps in and we decide together that she should get the boots that she wants... she has a long way to go before earning enough money for a Kindle and she's saved all of her money without spending any for a LONG time!

She gets the boots she loves.  Before making it home she starts crying again.

Again?  Really?

We have another talk.  We finally tell her that at 9 years old we won't allow her to make a poor decision with her money.  There will come a day when we will give her the opportunity to make poor or wise decisions, but this isn't the day.  We encourage her heart and tell her that we are excited that she bought something she loves.  We tell her that by making the choice to purchase a portion of her boots that we believe she will take better care of them and that she will have more pride in them.

We also tell her that we are glad that she is feeling the "cost" of the boots.  It's the first time that she's had to make a decision about how to spend her money and it wasn't easy.

It was a good lesson.  One that I would encourage you to do with your children.  Those $3 could only be spent once and on one thing.  I hope that your child will weigh the decision and that it will change the way that they think about money.

I just hope that you don't have all tears! :)

Thank God Friday (and I'm in love)!

Stop here.
Thank God for 3 things you haven't thanked Him for this week.  I want to see your fingers counting your blessings.  Even the hard things.

I have a friend who's a teeny tiny stick of a woman.  Seriously she makes all the size 1 girls look chubby.  You know what's fun about her?  She's pregnant and she's a spitfire.  By pregnant I mean, the girl is PREGNANT and by spitfire I mean, the girl is FEISTY! She was telling me this week that her husband was laying on the couch and she sat on him and made him say 3 nice things about her and she didn't get off until he did.

She makes me giggle.

I bring this up because it really does make me giggle and because I believe that God wants us to say nice things about Him.  And we don't want him to have to sit on us and squeeze the praises out of us!  For reals, that would hurt!

I have my list of 3 things that I'm thankful for but today I'm going to focus on just one.

I am incredibly thankful for my Hotsauce.  He's my biggest fan and my best friend.  There's no one else that I would rather be on this Total Money Makeover journey with than him.  Yesterday he came home from work and told me that he was talking to one of our neighbors earlier in the day and that she might be over later to work on her budget.  She did show up and I was blessed to hear him go line by line through our budget.  He explained every step and why it was important.  His nerdy little self was almost giddy with excitement as he moved from one topic to the next!  And it's not the first time that he's done that with friends and neighbors. 

Earlier in the week I heard him answer his phone and within a few seconds of greeting the caller he was saying, "Yes, liquid cash is all the money that you have access to right now..."

Hotsauce not only wants to provide for our family and see us thrive, he wants everyone we know to have the same hope in their lives.  He wants our family, our friends, our neighbors to know that God cares about them.  He desires to help others and I love that about him.  I really admire his openness to share our situation and to bring others along with us on this journey.

He could be selfish.  He could decide that our finances aren't anyone else's business and he could have told me not to blog about it.  And I would've honored that decision.  But, instead he keeps telling me that I need to blog more often.  He also gives me great ideas about topics that I need to be covering in my blog!

So if you've been at all blessed or encouraged by this blog it's in large part due to my Hotsauce.  He truly is the brains of this operation and I get to watch God use him to bring so much joy to others. 

It's Friday and I'm in love.

Beware...Whining Below.

I want Pizza Hut pizza like nobody's business.  Hand-tossed supreme pizza.

Seriously almost pregnant-like craving right here.  I'm not pregnant.  Seriously, Dad, I'm not. I promise.

I do have my blow fund.  Which I have been so responsible with ...  It's been in my wallet for a week and I haven't touched it.

I always budget my blow fund.  Not even joking.  I give 10% away, save 45% and spend 45%.  Who budgets their blow fund?  I know right.

I've even gotten on their website and filled out my order.  I just have to hit the button.

So here I sit on this gloomy Thursday night dreading getting up to cook.  I've thought thoughts.  Some aren't nice.

I've considered leaving Hotsauce and the Turkeys here to fend for themselves.  After all I don't have to use my blow fund on them.  I could get the pizza and eat it in silence and savor every.single.bite.all.by.myself.

Or I could find someone to watch the Turkeys while we go on a mini-date.  But, then I'd have to pay for a babysitter or at least come up with a much better reason to ask someone to watch the kids for free...

Or if I could make it a mere 3 hours they would all go to bed and I could eat it without them knowing any better.  I could save a lot of money that way.  Dave Ramsey would almost be proud of me right??  Or maybe not.  But, I could live with that.

I'm a terrible person.  But, I can live with that too.

Maybe I just need to start making Macaroni and Cheese and try my hardest to be a good person.  That will only last so long though.

Mentally I am laying on the floor kicking my feet and throwing a fit! But, I don't want to make supper!  I just want to get a stinkin' pizza.

Oh, no I'm not...

We received an overdraft notice in the mail today.

I saw the envelope from the bank and thought, "They don't send us a bill for our loan. What is this about?"

According to the notice we were overdrawn by $9 and some odd cents.

I was ready to go on a rampage.  I know I'm not overdrawn.

Seriously, I KNOW I'm not overdrawn!!

I decided that my passion would not be best received on a phone call.  We don't live in the same town as our bank (that will be changed soon, I hope) but we already had plans that would take us through Podunk, America and I made sure we had plenty of time to stop in at the bank.

Hotsauce came with me.  His passion was equal to my own.  

He started the conversation and was much, much, much more polite than I felt.  He's not as confrontational as I am. This works out real well for us, because if I come charging in, for some reason people aren't as sympathetic to my situation.  On the other hand Hotsauce is charismatic, but if I feel him slipping I can put on my mom eyes and talk in my mom voice and let the other person know that they had better not mess with me.  

Our teller was amazing though.  She printed off our bank statement and we quickly saw what the problem was... there was an unauthorized charge on my debit card.

I.knew.it.  

In August I bought a product from a company and they put me on an automatic ship for the next 3 months without my knowledge.  Last month they shipped it to me and I called the lady that I bought the first product from. She told me that if I didn't want to keep receiving the product on automatic shipping that I could go online and change the setting.  I was planning on buying it anyway and so I didn't call the company.  Bad idea.

I went online as instructed and took it off of automatic payment.

Turns out they didn't listen.  My bank instructed me to call the company and get that off.  I called them from the bank.  I also demanded that said company would not only refund my money, but also refund the overdraft charge.  The guy on the other line, of course, said that he wasn't authorized to do that... but if I faxed a letter from my bank saying that this unauthorized charge caused me to go overdrawn that I would "probably" get a refund.  

I took down the number and asked our teller to fax the letter while I stood there watching.   I was also going to take the fax for my records.  Guess what?!  "Mike" from this Jack Wagon Company gave me a bad fax number.  

Guess what else?!  He was going to send me a confirmation email stating that they took me off of auto pay and guess who hasn't received it?  

This.girl.right.here. 

This is so not over.  So.not.over.  I will get my money back and they will rue the day the tried to rip me off.  

Have any of you had similar problems with a company charging you for something you didn't authorize?   How big of a headache should I expect? 

I'm going to miss you when you're gone!

Second blog post today!  I don't have my laptop yet, but some amazing friends let me borrow theirs.  I.am.blessed.

I've been going through some serious blog withdraw.  So many things floating in my head and I keep thinking, "I should blog about that."  Only to remember that my laptop is still out of commission.  I practically totally and completely whine to Hotsauce daily about it.

Well, here's just a little story that I think you should take into consideration.  If you're trying to get your Emergency Fund up to $1,000 or trying to get some of your snowball (aka debt) paid off and can't seem to make your money last to the end of the month you have a few options.  Either you can try to cut spending (eliminate that $4 coffee everyday, get rid of your cable T.V. and your iPhone) or you can bring in extra income.  Not exactly rocket science I know.

I know because I'm not a rocket scientist and I get it.

Hotsauce and I are trying to make as much extra income that we can without having to get extra jobs outside the home.  As you know, we have a friend staying with us to bring in a little extra each month.  I have also had a garage sale and sold things on a local online garage sale (Local friends check out Oelwein For Sale on Facebook). In addition I've opened an online store called "Turkey Bottom Haven".

Turkey Bottom Haven has items that Hotsauce and I have bought along the way that needed some love.  We take a lot of items that most people would just junk and upcycle it to something beautiful.  After we finish a project I almost always find myself emotionally attached to it.  Hard to believe right?

Sometimes I even find myself bargaining with Hotsauce in order to keep it.  He has a very gentle and tender way of saying... "Heck to the N-O."

Perhaps the most difficult thing that we have let go of was this:

A wonderfully distressed yellow chalkboard.  The reason that it was so hard?  It was Bean's crib.  And after Saucy Pants and Chubba were born so close together Saucy was in this crib, while Chubba was close by in another crib.

I didn't want to give it up.

But, it had sat in the basement for so long and I kept telling myself that I if I "live like no one else, then I will live like no one else."

I want to be free.  This is just a thing.  I have other reminders of when my Turkey's were babies.  So when the time came to sell it I was completely at peace about it.

And I was overjoyed when the lady who bought it told me that it would be a part of her daughter's wedding!  This chalkboard that meant so much to me was a part of (what I hear was) a beautiful wedding!  I lurve that!

And better yet?  The completely talented photographer from the wedding loved the chalkboard so much, that she purchased it after the wedding.  Perhaps we will one day see it in one of Fonda Photography's pictures soon!  If we do, it will again have a special memory in the life of some other family.  I lurvesauce that!

I went back and looked at all the items on Turkey Bottom Haven that I have sold and so many of them I thought, "I'm going to miss you when you're gone!"  In reality, I barely give most of them a second thought, other than to praise God for blessing us so richly.

So today I celebrate letting go!  Holding on only keeps me trapped where I am.

What do you need to let go of?

Behavior Changes... Heart Changes.

As our finances have made a huge shift in the way that Hotsauce and I behave it has obviously made an impact on our Turkey Bottoms.  Not only are we changing our behavior, we are changing our language in regards to money.

For instance, Chubba recently asked if we could afford to go to McDonald's.  In reality we are better positioned to go to McDonald's then we ever have been before.  But, the restaurant envelope only had $5 in it, which isn't enough for a family of 7 to eat.

We can afford it.  We are choosing not to.

It was the perfect opportunity to discuss the difference.  As my friend Dave says this change is 20% about having the information and 80% about changing our behavior.  Eating out has been too high a priority in the past.  I've shared about how even in the midst of this new journey we made the decision to eat out when we should have applied that money to something else in the budget.  It wasn't a good feeling.  But, we learned from it and we want to pass that on to our children.

A few days ago an email was sent out from our church with prayer requests from Awana.  Our Saucy Pants asked that her class pray that:

"Her mom would sell some stuff, that Mo-Mo would feel better and that she would stay healthy."

I lurvesauce that.  

They know that we are on a mission.  They ask if things are in the budget.  They point things out and say, "Are we keeping that or are you going to sell that too?"  :)  Soon we are going to implement commission based chores.  Not because we believe that they should be paid to do things around the house... we don't ... but because we want them to learn some valuable life lessons. 

1. If you don't work, you don't get paid.
2. Sloppy work doesn't get paid.
3. Even young children are called to be good stewards of what they have.
4.  Your choices have consequences.  That dollar can only be spent once, so be wise.

Really those are just the beginning!  

I am really interested for those of you who have made changes to your spending behaviors how it has effected your children.  What types of discussions are you having with your children about money?  What things should we start teaching our children early about managing money, saving, spending, giving and investing?  

Fa-Poo!!

Our friend has started calling FPU (Financial Peace University) "Fa-Poo"!  He's a boy. Boys think that kind of stuff is funny! ;)

You know what else he found out?  He and his wife are the youngest in the Fa-Poo class, which means they have the greatest opportunity to invest themselves into millionaires!  How cool is that?

At the beginning of the class our Class Coordinator (who gets to wear a very official looking badge) asked the class what they wanted to get out of the class.  Some answered that they wanted to budget better, some said they wanted to get out of debt, but not I.  I said that I want to become rich.

And I said it with a fist pump.

I know, I know.  It's not the most adult answer.  But, it is absolutely true.

I want to be rich, so that I can give more back to God.  I want to help people.  I want to adopt.  I want to go places I've never been.  I don't want to worry about retirement.  Heck, I don't want to worry about tomorrow.  I don't want my kids to worry about money...ever.  I want Hotsauce to be able to breathe.  I want to bless my neighbors.  I want to be a blessing to you.

Who wouldn't want that?  I don't think that wealth will change our character.  I believe our character will dictate what our money does.

I don't need money to make me happy.  I'm already happy.  My joy comes from the empty tomb and the One who has set me free.

I may or may not ever be rich.  That's fine.  But, no matter what happens from this point on I know that I will never ever be able to stick my head in the sand again.  Education does that.  It forces you to be accountable.  It forces you to be responsible.

So what have all of you been up to?  How many of you are educating yourselves in the area of personal finance?  Other than The Total Money Makeover and FPU what resources would you recommend I read?

Thank God Friday...I miss you guys!

Man, I miss you guys!  Every day I think of something that I want to blog about, only to remember that I have no laptop.  I keep hoping the Geek Squad is going to call any second and I will be back in business!  No such luck yet!

Who knew a girl could be this anxious for a geek to call her?  ;)

I couldn't miss Thank God Friday though.  Even Hotsauce said that I couldn't miss a Friday. 

I have to tell you that so much has happened this week that just choosing a few highlights has been incredibly hard!

I will start with today, because it's freshest in my mind!  Hotsauce and I have been feeling the pinch of our house insurance for some time.  Our insurance requires us to pay a $40 membership fee (for benefits we have never used) and their price was just plain high.  I believe that our agent even told us that our quote was high when we got the policy.

So not long ago, while searching for some extra Swag Bucks, I filled out an online request for a quote on homeowners and car insurance.  The local agent called me yesterday and Hotsauce and I went over and spoke to an agent today.  Turns out that we will be saving over $700 a year on our homeowners!  And no more silly $40 fee!  I love that.  No, I lurve that.  Actually, I lurvesauce that! 

*Oh, lurve is love on steroids.  Lurvesauce is love on steroids without the facial hair and other disturbing side effects.  It's a word, you can use it in Words With Friends... go ahead, try it sometime.

Even better than that was half way through our conversation the agent looks at us and says, "You must be Dave Ramsey people!"  It was my questions about term life insurance and all of Hotsauce's request for a discount that tipped him off.  :)

He mentioned that there's a "Dave Ramsey class" coming to town soon.  Ya, as if we didn't know!  We encouraged him to come and he said he'd have to drag his wife kicking and screaming.  We didn't see anything wrong with that...

Did I mention that I've been saving up part of my blow fund?  Did I also mention that on Wednesday night I took my Hotsauce out to HUHOT's for supper?  I did!  Oh, how I've missed her!!  She didn't disappoint either!

So, this week I am very thankful for Dave's teaching on insurance and God's blessings of $740 a year savings!  And I'm also incredibly thankful not only to be able to go out (guilt-free) to HuHot Mongolian Grill, but for date night with my wonderful hubs.  He melts my heart (and listens to me vent about kids). 

Not much time...

So what's the worse thing that can happen to a blogger?

Yep, our laptop is out of commission for a few weeks.  Ahhhhh!  It hasn't been holding a charge and I cannot tell you how many times I've blogged with one hand while holding the cord into the port at the same time!  So frustrating.

Fortunately S.O.S. reminded us that we bought the warranty on the laptop.  How fitting is her name now?  I know right!

So our computer is visiting its manufacturer and I just snuck into Hotsauce's parents house to check on my Turkey Bottom Haven store and to update all of you on my situation!  I know it's only supposed to be gone for one to two weeks, but I fear that it will be longer. 

That's already a long time for a home schooling family.  How dependant we have become on technology!  And more importantly on the convenience of having it in our homes.

So I will end this here and just ask that you pray that it might get fixed in world record time! 

FPU Coming Soon!

Financial Peace University is coming to our church in T minus 11 days!!

You will never ever guess who they asked to be in charge of promotion!?  Wait, how did you know?  I reluctantly agreed.  ;)

I've place ads in the local newspaper and the flyers will be here soon!  In the meantime the promotional kit had a few flyers in it that needed to have all the important information hand written on them.  I must admit that I would normally find such a task to be B-O-R-I-N-G and tedious.  But, I was given them last night while in the nursery (we have Awana on Wednesday nights) and I quickly finished them while chatting with Hotsauce and other friends who stopped in... and of course I was also diligently watching all of the tots too.  Moms are awesome multi-taskers!  And work is so much easier when you're in good company!

Not only am I excited to sit in one my first Financial Peace University class and be entertained and taught by my good friend Dave Ramsey, I'm excited for my community to have such an amazing opportunity!  In our present economy and almost everyone feeling the effects of high gas and grocery prices I think this is such valuable information!  I also think that very few people have any idea how to invest their money and if they're currently investing they have no idea in what kind of fund/stock/bond that they are investing in.  I love how Dave makes it very clear that if you don't understand what you're investing in that you have no business investing in it.  Education is key in financial planning!

How many of you have attended FPU?  What did you find to be the most beneficial aspect? 

I will mention that this class is open to the public and not just members of our church... Hope to see you there!!

 

Thank God Friday - Fish, loaves and salvation!

I love fish and loaves!  I love the way that God just amazes me! 

As I told you before we had $55 in our food fund for 9 days and I needed meals to feed these Turkey Bottoms!  So I took some of my own advice and implemented my meal plan that I discussed in Get Your Grocery On and started shopping my pantry.  As expected I found a few packages of noodles, flour, sugar, potatoes, dried beans, some canned veggies, some chili beans and a few odds and ends.  Next I inspected the freezer and found plenty of ground beef, a few roasts and even some green beans that we froze.  The fridge was a little bare, but I did find a few eggs and some milk... and a few moldy leftovers that will be no help at all.

I began shaping a plan. 

The roast, some beef broth, a few potatoes, flour, salt and eggs... I almost had everything I needed for beef and (homemade) noodles with mashed potatoes.  Add some green beans and viola!  The only thing I wanted was onion soup mix to throw in with the roast while it cooks in the crock pot. 

Ground beef, diced tomatoes, chili beans, chili powder and again I had almost everything I needed for a pot of chili.  Tomato juice was added to the list.  I knew that an onion and green pepper would really help step it up and added that to the other side of the list ... the wishful thinking side!

What to do with lots of ground beef and potatoes??  One of Hotsauce's favorite meals is potato wedges with taco meat and cheese.  I had everything I needed except the taco seasoning and cheese.  I hate buying cheese.  It's more expensive every time I go to the store.  But, I LOVE eating cheese so I knew this would be a bit of a "splurge" item.  I also knew that I could make the taco seasoning, but honestly I've tried two different recipes and it just doesn't have the flavor I'm looking for... in other words both have been blah-city!  And taco seasoning is pretty stinking cheap so I went ahead and added it to the list.

We will also be having hamburgers and homemade potato chips.  The following night meatballs with roasted potatoes!  Then eggs, pancakes and fried potatoes.  So 5 out of 6 meals planned so far have potatoes and all cooked a different way... and all ways that we love!  No complaining kids here!

I needed 3 more meals and found almost everything I needed for Lasagna.  Again I needed cheese.  So I added a note to the grocery list that I would need enough cheese for two meals.  So that's 7 meals.  I needed 2 more meals for supper.  And I needed quick, simple meals because both were going to be on nights that we had to be out of the house by 6 pm. 

Macaroni and Cheese baby.  Both meals.  I will add ground beef to them and buy boxes of cheap store brand mac and cheese.

So I hit the store with my list in hand and I paid just over $22!!  That leaves $32 and some change for anything else that comes up!  Honestly I'm praying that we will have leftover cash.  Just like the basket fulls of fish and loaves that the disciples collected when Jesus fed the 5,000. 

Every week day hour moment of our lives is a moment to thank God for what He's done for us.  He cares for us on an individual level and as He builds His church He wants you to know that not only does He care about your finances... but He cares about your heart.  He cares about your soul.

While I spend the majority of this blog talking about our financial makeover what I really hope that you will find is that our journey is more then about our bank accounts.  Our journey is a daily walk with the Creator of the universe and the Author and Perfecter of our faith.  Hotsauce and I believe with all that is in us that we have fallen short of the glory of God.  We have made horrible decisions in our lives ... mostly out of selfishness and thinking that our way was better than God's.  We have found forgiveness and acceptance at the throne of Christ.  He knows exactly who we are and how we've fallen into temptation and while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  That gives us great hope and a reason to be thankful every moment of our lives.  Whether in want or in plenty we know that God has provided for the salvation of our souls through the death and resurrection of His only Begotten Son. 

And while I am excited to share the many blessings that God has poured on us through our Total Money Makeover I would be ashamed if I never invited you to know Christ as your Savior. 

 

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

My hearts desire is that everyone who reads this blog will know the love and the mighty provision of the God who created them for a purpose. 

Enjoy your Friday and be sure to take time to be thankful!

Cash only, means cash only!

Are you using the envelope system?  Filling those envelopes with cash on payday and sticking to them?  I know you are... right?


You can buy an envelope system like this from here.

Here's what happens at our house to keep the cash system flowing.  Long before payday rolls around our budget is written out and agreed on by both of us.  Before that check is ever deposited we have a plan and we have determined that we will stick to that plan to the best of our ability.  Once that check is in the bank (it's a direct deposit) we put our plan into action.

1. First we pay the bills allotted for that paycheck.  We pay most bills online, through an automatic withdraw or by phone.  The only bills not paid this way is the water bill and our garbage bill.

2.  Next, both Hotsauce and I will withdraw the maximum amount that our debit cards allow.  Occasionally Hotsauce will have to withdraw more money the following day.

3.Then we check the budget to see how much cash goes into each envelope.  It's likely that we budget X amount of dollars for groceries a month, but only put half in each paycheck. 

4. Fill the envelope with the allotted amount of cash.

Easy enough right?  You could do that, right?

Here's a list of cash envelopes that you may want to have:

• Food/Grocery
• Christmas/Gifts
• Clothes
• House Repairs
• Car Repairs
• Emergency Fund (depending where you are in your savings)
• Gas
• Medical
• Insurance
• Taxes
• Restaurants
• Entertainment
• Babysitting/Daycare

Why is it important to put the cash in the envelopes instead of keeping it in your bank account?  Because it's much easier to swipe a debit card then it is to pay in cash.  Don't believe me?  If you only have, oh I don't know, say $55 in your food envelope for the week and you're at the grocery store, you're going to keep a very close eye on how you're spending the money.  It will force you to keep a running total of every item you put in the grocery cart.  The last thing you want to do is get to the checkout and have the total equal $57.34. You don't have the extra $2.34 to spend and you'll be forced to put stuff back and face the "humiliation" of the people waiting in line behind you, not to mention the checker and the high school kid who's taking things out of the bag! Ugh, no thank you! 

What if you know you have $55 left in your food budget, but are using your debit card.  If you go over $2.34 how likely are you to put things back and face that "humiliation"?  Not likely.  You'll justify it in your mind and decide that it will be OK this one time.  So what happens if every week you go to the grocery store and go over budget by $2.34?  You're "just this one time" has turned into going over budget by $121.68 a year.  Now, what if you do that for every category listed above (with the exception of the Emergency Fund) in the suggested envelopes?  That's $1,460.16 over budget because you didn't use cash.

$1,460.16.

Sounds like you wasted Baby Step #1 and then some.

You can argue the math.  You can say that you don't buy house repair items every week.  Fine.  But, you also will overspend on groceries more than $2.34.  In my mind the $1,460.16 is actually a very conservative estimate.  I would also believe that if you're doing this you'll be paying out the nose for overdraft fees.  It's not a game you can win. 

But, you could have that money in a savings account.  At 1% or 2% interest you may have broken even, but I doubt it.  I imagine that you've wasted far more then you'd save interest.

Maybe you're thinking that you'll just rob Peter to pay Paul?  In other words you find yourself at the checkout line and have gone over that $2.34 and you'll just pull it out of your clothing fund.  Well, the first thing that I would say is that you need to grow some...discipline.  But, even if you "steal" cash from another envelope you're still only spending the cash that you have and are avoiding overdrafts.  Even with that in mind you will find yourself regretting this later when your impulse decisions leave your kids in shoes with holes in them for an extra month or your husband won't let you buy that new dress for your sister's wedding because you blew the money on overspending the grocery fund.  Another quick fix would be to only take your food envelope in the store if you can't be trusted not to dip into other envelopes.

So you decide.  How disciplined are you really?  With the possibility of saving your family over $1,000 a year is there any good reason why you wouldn't go to all cash? 

Fish and Loaves...

Do you ever have fish and loaves kind of days?  Weeks?  How about a month?

 

Photo Credit

Fish and loaves kind of times are those when you look at all the food in your pantry and think this is never going to make it all week/month.  Your mind will say, "Never going to happen." While your faith says, "God is much bigger than this."

I call it fish and loaves because it reminds me of the little boy who offered his meager meal to the Lord. Jesus turned it into a feast that fed 5,000 men (not including the women and children it also fed). 

We find ourselves in a fish and loaves kind of time.  It wasn't exactly how we planned for things to go these next few weeks, but our plans are just that "our plans".  Because of a budgeting error with how much income we will have this month our grocery budget has taken quite a hit.  I had planned on having $250 more this month than I will actually have... which means that in the course of the next 2 weeks I will have $125 less than I had thought.  This makes things quite a bit tighter.

To make things worse I've spent all but $55 of what I have to spend from now until the 18th of October.  It's time to get creative.  And to see how God will do big things with this small amount of money. 

Now, I should also say that my cupboards aren't bare.  I have plenty of beef in our freezer to get us by too.  I have a 5 gallon bucket almost full of potatoes.  And many other random items filling my pantry.  We will not starve.  Not even close.  The difference will be how "well" we eat.  I wish we had more vegetables and I'll have to be careful to spend that $55 wisely on frozen veggies instead of fresh ones.  That's fine.  Perhaps we'll even have to buy canned vegetables ... ahhhh! ;)

A friend recently told me that she stopped buying groceries for a month.  She said they had plenty of food in their pantry and there was no reason to go out and buy more.  Furthermore, her husband and her made it a game with their children to see what they could come up with for dinner each night.  That makes my frugal side smile.  They essentially made lemonade out of lemons... or more so they made a lot of baked beans in a lot of different ways!

The competitor in me says that I can do this with money to spare. 

Hotsauce is far more practical and points out that we have a babysitter fund for this month that we will not be using.  It doesn't make any sense to keep money in a babysitter fund while we go without toilet paper!  But, what's the fun in that?

I have no doubt that no one is going hungry over here... but that a little more planning will serve us well.  I look forward to seeing how God blesses us and how the kids will rise to the occasion of finding unique snack options!

How about you?  What do you do with $55 and 7 mouths to feed for the course of 9 days?

*Note: While looking for a "fish and loaves" photo I found this website http://tentalents.org and read a few of the articles.  I would recommend checking the website out if you're interested in "devotional type" articles on finances.

Thank God (Freezing) Friday

Holy Moly Batman!  It was a fa-fa-fa-freezing Friday today!  OK, that's obviously a bit of an exaggeration seeing that it was 40 degrees and there wasn't actually anything frozen... unless you count our noses!  We were sitting outside on this windy Friday waiting to get rich at our garage sale.  OK, we didn't really expect to get rich, but we were hoping to bring in around $300.  So far our 2 day total is around $80. 

We have one day left and are still praying that God will move mountains and bring in another $220 tomorrow. 

Even if He doesn't He has blessed us richly! Perhaps you remember me talking about selling two old laptops that no longer worked for $75? That was the just beginning of our Emergency Fund... that was September 1st.

 Yesterday, October 4th, we celebrated the completion of Baby Step #1!  That's $1,000 in our Emergency Fund.  The Fiscal Misfits NEVER have an extra $1,000.  We don't "come up" with that kind of money in just over a month ... ever.  We don't "come up" with that kind of money in a year!

We have no doubt that God's hand is blessing on us daily.  We are so very grateful.

Last month I had a huge success with my online store Turkey Bottom Haven. One of the items that Hotsauce and I made that was especially meaningful to us was a chalk board made from our Turkey's crib. We had a really hard time parting with it, but I believe that it may start something bigger for us.


Chalkboard made out of our Turkey's crib.

Isn't she a beauty?  I still love her.  But, soon she's going to be in a wedding!  I think the chalkboard will make a great addition to a rustic fall wedding!  Well, when her new owner, Cindy, got her home she sent me a message to tell me that she had fallen in love with the chalkboard also.  After a little chatting I offered to help Cindy (who's daughter is getting married in a few weeks) with any other needs they may have for the wedding.  Cindy mentioned that she was looking for a few custom signs.  I just so happened to have the other end of the crib and together we came up with an idea to announce the location of the wedding!  Would you like a sneak peak?

What do you think?  I have to admit that I kinda like this gal too!  Hotsauce was a HUGE help with the lettering.  We're going to be making two more signs for this wedding and have some plans in the making to make a few more signs for Turkey Bottom Haven!  We will also be offering custom signs for homes, weddings and other events! 

God keeps opening doors for us.  We are so incredibly blessed and in awe of His goodness.

How have you seen God's blessing in your life this week? 

Get Your Grocery On.

I've been asked lately about saving money on grocery shopping.  I have a method that keeps our grocery bill lower than most families of four that I know.  It takes a little time and some planning, but when done it works out every time.  It works so well for us that I can save around $150-$200 every month that I do it.  No exaggeration.

Here's what I do.  I grab scratch paper and a pencil and begin:

1. Look over your calendar for the next 2 weeks.

What do you have planned for the next 2 weeks?  How do these thing affect your meal planning?  For instance, every Wednesday night we have Awana at our church.  We have to be at the church by 6:15.  That means everyone needs to be fed and that Lumpy and Mo-Mo will need to have time to change their clothes before we go (why do I always make spaghetti when we're in a hurry and Mo-Mo is guaranteed to smear it in his hair and pour it in his diaper?).  With this in mind I try to plan quick, easy meals that all the kids like; so no one is sitting playing with their food instead of scarfing it down and getting out the door.  I also plan for every night of the two weeks even if I know that we will be eating out on Friday night.  I do this in case someone gets sick, the car breaks down, or HuHots burns down - having a back-up plan saves money.  If we do go out to eat and have an extra meal left over, it gets rolled over to the next 2 week plan.

2. Go through your pantry, cupboards, freezer and refrigerator.

The very first thing that you need to do is to go through the food that you have on hand and start planning meals with it.  If you have ground beef, spaghetti sauce and noodles you have your first meal.  Continue to find complete meals.  Write down the meal on a list (see picture below). Continue to go through your food, writing each meal down until you have finished completed meals.  I sometimes gather the items that I need on the counter so that I'm not using the one can of spaghetti sauce multiple times on accident.  Once you have complete meals done, start looking for parts of meals.  Maybe you have some ingredients for BBQ Meat Balls, but need to pick up an onion.  Write down the meal that you're planning on having and the items that you need.

Not exactly the highest quality picture the world has ever seen, but you get the idea.

3. Pick other meals to fill in the gaps.

After all that planning you may find that you have come up with the ingredients (or at least some of the ingredients) for 12 meals.  You'll need to plan on 2 more meals to fill in the gaps. t I try to pick ideas that might have some sort of carry over.  For instance, a whole watermelon will last 3-4 meals at our house.  Around here a watermelon costs $4.  That's fresh fruit for a family of 7 at $1.33 a meal.  Not bad.  Another idea would be to pick meals that would need potatoes as a side.  Potatoes are inexpensive and filling.  Not to mention there are a hundred different ways to prepare them.

4. Shop using your grocery list.

You took the time to make the list out.  You searched even the deepest darkest most cobweb covered corners of your pantry to make this list.  You might as well use it!  Try to shop when you're not hungry and when the kids aren't tired and are least likely to throw fits.  You know what I mean with both of these tips.  If your hungry everything looks better and buying more of it sounds like a good plan.  Also when your child has a melt down in aisle 5 you will grab anything in sight to fill the cart up and make a get-a-way. 

In general be legalistic about sticking to the list.  You can make exchanges (swap apples for oranges) and you can subtract items that you decide you really don't need... but no add-ons.  And when I say swap items I mean items of similar prices too.  No swapping your store brand hot dogs for a 4 lb. bone in ham.

5. Write your plan down.

I will typically make a hand-written calendar showing what I plan on serving for each meal each day.  Something a long the line of:
Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: PB & J, Chips, Carrots and Dip
Supper: Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Corn

I will then post it above my stove.  I am not very legalistic about what day we eat what meal, because some Mondays I won't feel like meatballs.  The exception would be meals planned for days like "Awana Wednesdays"... those I protect fiercely.  As we eat a meal, I cross it off the calendar. 

5. Stick to the plan.

When I get to the final days of the planned meals I find that typically these meals are left because they're the ones that I'm the least excited for.  Or they take the most work.  I have to fight the urge to run to the store and pick up Mac & Cheese to make it easier on myself. 

I also have to remember to stick to the plan in a wise manner.  If I buy something that will spoil over the course of 2 weeks I need to eat that meal early on so I won't be in a bind towards the end of the two weeks.  Wasted food is wasted money. 

6. Stay out of the grocery store.

One reason this plan will save you money is because you're not going to be buying items you don't need on a whim.  An extra trip to the grocery store will cost you extra gas.  It will also give you an extra opportunity to buy items that you don't really need ... like 4 boxes of brownies, ice cream to go with the brownies and chocolate syrup to go on the ice cream for the brownies that you don't need!  One way that we have found that helps keep us running to the store is by buying milk for the two week period and freezing what we won't use right away.  Just make sure that you pour some out before you freeze it.  Once it thaws give it a shake and you'll never know the difference. 

This plan has served us well for many years... when I do it.  Some of you who use coupons can add that in to the meal plan easily.  For those of you who live locally I would also recommend using bent and dents like Carter's Discount Groceries or Yoder's.  I generally go to Carter's before heading to the grocery store.  Again, stick to the list and try to buy only what you need.

So how do you get your grocery on?  What tips and suggestions do you have? 

In Response to KB

After posting "We're Already Doing That... Kinda. Sorta. Not Really."  I received this comment on my Facebook account:

"I've recently read his book, and it seems like all of a sudden we have no money even though I'm scrutinizing every last cent that goes in or out of our account. Seems like we can't save any money, and when I do our budget it seems like we should be able to save at least $150 a month. Of course not using our credit cards makes me feel like we have no money I'm sure...but I dont' know. It seems so much more stressful than before. Do you feel that way? How long have you been doing it?"-KB

I'm going to try to answer some of these things in this post, but I would like to start with your last question first.  I've only been doing this for one whole month.  We finished the book around mid-August and started our budget in September.  It should be obvious at this point that I am in no way a financial advisor or even have enough experience to be considered anything other than a friend trying to help a friend out.  I'm posting here because I hope that some of the other members of our community will have valuable advice to add!

It seems to me that maybe you're feeling the pressure of living within your means?  Using a credit card before probably gave you a false sense of security, making you think that you had money when in fact you didn't.  I found that when I used credit cards it was because I couldn't afford the item that day, but thought I could on payday.  When payday rolled around that $200 item didn't seem so affordable now that I had my mortgage due, utilities to pay, groceries to buy and gas to put into my car.

My understanding of the TMM is the first thing you need to do is to get caught up.  So any bills that got skipped to pay another bill have to be made current.  I have no idea where you are with your bills, but if you're behind (we were) you have to get caught up so that you can start saving.  This getting caught up process can make you feel like your not really getting anywhere.  But, it's vital.  No one likes to pay late fees or fines to have their utilities turned back on. 

If you don't have enough money coming in to cover these things you'll have to decide what your options are?  Do you have cable TV? Do you go out to eat too often? Getting rid of these items will free up money.  Also one way that we've saved a lot of money is by planning our meals for a two week period.  I buy everything that we need (after doing a check of our pantry) for those two weeks and keep the menu posted.  Before shopping I consider what activities are going on in our week.  For instance, we have Awana on Wednesday nights and home school group on Thursday nights.  I want quick easy meals for those nights.  Or I have to plan ahead to put something in the crock pot.  After shopping for that 2 week period I do my best to stay out of the grocery store.  Multiple trips to the store equal paying more in groceries. 

If after cutting out all of your "extras" you still don't have the money coming in to cover the money going out you'll have to make changes to add income.  This may mean a part-time job for you or your spouse.  Or selling things around the house.  This doesn't always mean a garage sale.  I would actually advise you to use Craigslist to sell items like furniture or higher price items.  For children's clothes you may want to consider taking them to a consignment store and seeing if you can get a higher price for them then you would at a garage sale. 

Do you have lots of similar items that you could sell?  I had lots of furniture and home decor items that I had big plans of refinishing or upcycling for use in our house, but while I was waiting to find the time to get those projects done, I bought other things that were already finished.  Before long I had more projects than I had house.  So I decided to finish up some projects and make an online store.  The store is only on a Facebook page called TurkeyBottomHaven.  In my first month I sold over $500 worth of items! 

Another way that we found to bring more money in is through renting out a few rooms in our house to a friend.  We charge her half of what she paid for her rent and utilities.  Plus she will buy a few household items (toilet paper, soaps, detergent, Kleenex, etc) from time to time.  We don't have to worry about groceries because she will buy her own and we will buy our own.  Perhaps you have extra room in your house?  A basement or an extra room that a friend might be interested in renting?  Or even extra storage space in a garage that may house a camper over the winter?  Be creative in coming up with ideas that might bring in extra money, but won't require you to have to get a 2nd job!

Those are just a few ideas that we've been using.  But, my number one bit of advice... DON'T GIVE UP!!!!

Anyone else have advice that KB could use?

We're Already Doing That...Kinda. Sorta. Not Really.

I talk about our Total Money Makeover a lot.  A.LOT.  I also think about it quite a bit all the time.  I find that there are as many reactions to what we are attempting to do as there are people.  The majority of people are either encouraged by our journey or are committed to encouraging us on the way!  Some people nod and continue on their way.  Others claim that they're already doing that... well, not the Total Money Makeover per se, or maybe not with the intensity that we're doing it, or the Suze Orman version of the Total Money Makeover etc. etc.

I worry about those friends who think that they're doing the TMM, but have never read the book, gone to FPU or heard the Dave Ramsey radio show.  Now, before I go in further, let me say that I do not idolize Dave Ramsey or think that he is the end all and be all of personal finance.  Sorry Dave.  Even he says that he didn't think of all of this by himself, he just put it together and marketed better than others. 

Here's why I worry.  I know me. 

So what does that have to do with them?

Nothing.  Everything.  Maybe something.

Here's what I learned in our first month.  We have money.  Maybe not a lot by the world's standards, but we have money.  For years I prayed that God would provide for our family and help us get out of debt.  That prayer was in many ways "wrong".  God was already providing for us.  We could have been out of debt by now if we had the tools.  We didn't have the first clue how to get out of debt. 

Reading the Total Money Makeover, hearing how it's changed the lives of so many people that we know and making the decision to discipline ourselves in the practices outlined in TMM has given us the tools not only to get out of debt, but a much broader picture of how to build wealth for retirement and invest wisely in the future. 

I think the number one non-negotiable tool is the budget.  I can account for every dollar that came into and went out of this house last month (within a $30 margin of error).  I can do it without guessing or estimating or "fudging a little bit".  I cannot do that for any other month that I have ever been alive.  And I can say with 99% certainty that for the other 220 months of my life (where I was earning money) that I wasted upwards of hundreds of dollars each month because I wasn't paying attention to where my money was going.  I would say that I'm 100% certain, but that just sounds arrogant!  One might even say that I wasted millions of dollars; because had I managed that money wisely I would not still be paying on student loans, but instead have invested it towards building wealth.

That.makes.me.sick. 

Here's my new reality though. I estimate that in five years I will have no debt, except our house, and I will have an Emergency Fund of around $10,000.  We may also be investing 15% of our income into our retirement and making double payments on our house. 

Boom Shaka Laka.

I'll have gone from ostrich to virtually out of debt by 40.

While others may be left behind.  Being left behind stinks.  Especially when you're being left behind as a slave.  I really don't think it matters how much money you're making either.  The TMM is just as valuable to a single parent scrapping by on $10,000 a year, as it is to a family of 8 making $50,000 a year, as it is to a family of 4 making $150,000 a year.  The point is that in this short amount of time I understand the value of the plan.  A plan that gives you your money back and helps you to build wealth, a plan that could eliminate a lot of stress in life and fights in marriage.  A plan that makes the difference between going on a cruise in retirement or eating Alpo for dinner every night.

This is a plea to my friends who are still holding out. God wants you to be a good steward of your money.  That might look differently for you then it does for me.  Maybe Dave's plan isn't the plan you've decided on.  Fine.  Just make sure that you're educating yourself on all aspects of personal finance.  Make sure that you've included a plan for today, a plan for tomorrow and a plan for the next 20 years or longer. 

Please.

October is Here!!

I have to say that Hotsauce and I are a little giddy to start this new month!  Here it is month two and God has been so very good to us!

We are only a few hundred dollars away from having completed Baby Step #1 of the Total Money Makeover!  Thursday is payday and we will have that knocked out of the park!!!  There will be happy dancing, high fiving and joyous celebrating!  I imagine that we will spread the money out on the floor and make "snow angels" to mark the point when we begin on our Debt Snowball.  Well, that is we would, if the money was in the house and not in the bank... but maybe we will just make some confetti and throw it in the Nanny's room.  That way I'm not responsible for cleaning up the mess! ;)

For just a quick change of subject, about that Nanny girl.  I've decided that "Nanny" doesn't clearly communicate our friendship and so from here on out the woman formerly known as the Nanny will now be played by "S.O.S" which stands for Sister Of Sorts.  Our Turkey Bottoms all call her their older sister and she is helping to save our sinking ship known as our finances by living with us and so I love this new nickname!

So we shall confetti-ize (yes, that's a word) S.O.S.'s room on Thursday.  And she shall be so excited!

After supper tonight we sat down to go over the budget and examine whether we had considered all of our October needs.  Turns out that we had forgotten about our home school group dues, the cost for  Financial Peace University class that our church is hosting and some other odds and ends.  Fortunately, we will be having our small group at our home again this month so we won't have to pay for a babysitter and that frees up some of our budget.  Also I'm having a garage sale this weekend with my favorite mother-in-law and praying that will bring in some extra money. 

Think there's a chance that I can earn $2,500 in a garage sale?  Especially since we're marking almost everything at 50 cents a piece?  We're still working on paying for a cow and we've also added a pig into the mix!  Perhaps we should consider becoming vegetarians?  We're also going to need tires on the Suburban soon and there's the maintenance fee for that stupid timeshare that we bought on our honeymoon.  Grrrrr.

How's your October budget looking?  Got enough extra to buy a timeshare in Palm Beach, Florida? Seriously, it's real cheap... you should pray about it! ;)

 

To Swagbuck Or Not To Swagbuck...

I'm not sure where I first heard of Swag Bucks (most likely from the hundreds of blogs about being frugal that I've been scouring the web for) but one thing that I knew for sure... I had no idea what the heck a Swag Buck was or what you would do with it if you had one!

So last Thursday I updated my Facebook status to say:

What are swagbucks? Anyone use them? Educate me.

A few friends responded that they use Swag Bucks to do surveys, watch videos or use their search engine  (among other things) to earn Swag Bucks.  They eventually turn their Swag Bucks in for gift cards.  One friend in particular mentioned that in the 3 years that she's been doing it that she's earned $500 in Amazon gift cards.

Since I didn't have to pay to get started (those things are always a red flag for me) I decided that it didn't hurt to give it a try.  My friend gave me a referral and I clicked on it and began my adventure.  That was about 5 days ago.  While there are numerous gift card companies that are available, I believe that I'll try to earn Amazon.com gift cards.  So in order to earn a $5 gift card to Amazon I have to earn 450 Swag Bucks. 

Because I'm concerned with whether this is really worth my time or not I had to do some math.  1 Swag Buck = 1 cent.  I'm not sure that sounds like a great return on my time.  As I mentioned before I've been at this since last Thursday and so far I've earned 293 SBs... or $2.93!  I haven't really kept track of how long it's taken me over those 5 days to earn that HUGE amount, but that's OK.

I have had very little "luck" with their option of earning SBs from surveys.  It seems as though I don't qualify for much.  I'm not going to buy a new car in the next few years (or ever), my Turkey Bottoms aren't allowed to watch as much TV or play video games as much as the standards require or perhaps there are too many other white married females taking these surveys ... but whatever the case I don't make much off the surveys, especially for the amount of time that they require.

I downloaded the Swag Bucks toolbar which is nice and earns me 1 Swag Buck a day just for using it.  But, even better than that it allows me to "search and win".  I use it in place of Bing or Google to search for things that I would normally search for... and every time I do there's a chance to win Swag Bucks.  The most I've won in a search is 29 SBs.  That's a decent return on the 2 seconds it took me to type into the search engine box something that I would have just typed into a Bing box. 

The other way that I have earned quite a few Swag Bucks are from "watching" SwagbucksTV.  Basically they have hundreds of videos: from Movie Trailers, to jokes, to clips from TV shows and tons and tons and tons of Hollywood gossip and much more.  If you watch 10 videos you get 3 Swag Bucks.  So here's what I do.  While I'm writing blogs, checking email, playing Guess My Word on Facebook I have a video playing on a different page.  Pretty soon I've earned my 3 Swag Bucks while doing the over things that I would normally be doing online anyway.

Another way to earn Swag Bucks is referring your friends.  You invite them through your referral link for instance, mine is http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/FiscalMisfit and when your referrals earn Swag Bucks through searches you win matching Swag Bucks up to 1,000 SB per referral.  So be sure to click on that referral and start searching away!! ;)

There are many other aspects of SBs that I haven't even begun to explore so I will try to update you more later on how successful this whole project is!  For now the jury is still out on whether or not this is worth my time.  I figure for now if I continue to use it for searches and watching the videos while I'm online it really doesn't waste any time.  And if I earn a $5 gift card every week from now until Christmas that will add $60 to our gift giving and every little bit helps! 

So how about the rest of you?  Anyone else use Swag Bucks?  What's the most that you've earned?  Was it worth your time?  For those of you who have never tried it does it sound like something that would be worth your time?