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?