My husband and I are in the 5th week of Financial Peace University, a Dave Ramsey program. The first week in the class we were given the Dave Ramsey envelope system. After doing our quickie budget per the program, I put the envelopes into play. I have been using cash only on my purchases, as I lost my ATM card over a year ago and decided not to get it replaced.
I have to say, I am amazed at how well this system actually works! It really does make me re-think my purchases. While I have been using only cash for a year now, I didn’t really designate any money in any category. I did have real envelopes for a month or so, and then I just jumbled it all up in my wallet.
After starting the class and getting the “real” envelope system, I carefully went through my written budget, then went through my written budget, then went through it again. I carefully considered what I really spend money on, to see what envelopes I really need. I considered the basic necessities that I buy, as well as my impulse buys. I am really bad at impulse buys. I always save money, but if it’s an impulse buy, chances are I don’t NEED it, no matter how much money I’ve saved.
Here’s the envelopes I’ve decided to use:
1. Food/Household* This includes food, paper products, cleaning products and baby products.
2. Gas
3. Entertainment
4. Birthdays (This is to be used for my kids’ presents and birthday party items, as well as family and friends birthday presents throughout the year).
5. Tithe (I use the envelope provided at church, and turn it in at the end of the month).
6. Spending cash**
7. Clothing
*I do online surveys at Opinion Outpost that I redeem for Amazon gift cards in order to purchase diapers. This keeps my baby product cost to a minimum.
**My personal spending cash is very low, but this is to cover things like a coffee (I usually get free ones, but just in case I need one…), a granola bar when I forget to eat, or I save it for the next week, and combine my two weeks and take my kids out somewhere fun to eat.
I have done really great this week, and tomorrow is Friday already! Time to load my envelopes with more money! I have not used my Entertainment, Birthdays (no presents to buy this month), or my Spending Cash envelopes. And I have a few dollars left over in my Food/Household envelope.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Budget Buster
Well, my husband and I are in our 4th week of Financial Peace University, by Dave Ramsey. After doing our quickie budget, then our monthly cash flow, I was really excited. I had planned on changing my paycheck to be direct deposited into the mutual fund account I just set up in order to save for our emergency fund. Once it was up to $1,000, I was going to set up another checking account and direct deposit into there, to save up to start paying off debt.
My plan got blown out of the water when my sister let me know (without a previous heads up) that she will no longer be bringing her kids over for daycare. I will miss the kids, and am a little upset that I cannot use my paycheck from work to start paying off debt.
I am now trying to come up with ways to make extra cash, because for us, me working nights and weekends is not going to work forever. I am home with my kids during the day, my son is very active, and my daughter gets up by 5 am almost every morning. I get home from work around 10, in bed by maybe 11:30, mostly later because I need some quiet time to clean. And I wake my baby up to nurse her before she’s completely done for the night.
Here’s what I’m doing starting NOW to bring in some extra cash:
1. Use skills! Not my skills, my husbands! He is great at woodworking, so I took a picture of a small picnic table he built for my son, and I listed it on craigslist. Don’t worry; I’m not selling my son’s adorable table. I’m taking orders for the custom made tables!
2. Surveys. I am currently only signed up for one survey website, Opinion Outpost but I will look for more legitimate ones. I signed up for some a few years back, and they turned out to be scams. I should have known this because I had to enter my credit card into. I was charged for at least 8 subscriptions to various products!
3. De-clutter and sell! I am going through my house, top to bottom, inside and outside, and selling off as much stuff as I can. We have already sold quite a bit of items on e-bay. As Dave Ramsey says, "Sell until the kids think they're next!"
Here is my current plan for the extra money. This will change depending on how much extra cash we can bring in:
1. Pay off debt (with cash from sold items).
2. Have a monthly date night. The surveys don’t bring in a huge amount of cash, but even $5 a week would be a nice $20 dinner for 2 at some local restaurants (Applebees has a 2/$20 deal!).
3. Possibly pay a babysitter for a few hours a week so that I can do some stuff around the house.
I will be posting on what “extra cash” strategies are working for me, and which ones I choose to pass on.
My plan got blown out of the water when my sister let me know (without a previous heads up) that she will no longer be bringing her kids over for daycare. I will miss the kids, and am a little upset that I cannot use my paycheck from work to start paying off debt.
I am now trying to come up with ways to make extra cash, because for us, me working nights and weekends is not going to work forever. I am home with my kids during the day, my son is very active, and my daughter gets up by 5 am almost every morning. I get home from work around 10, in bed by maybe 11:30, mostly later because I need some quiet time to clean. And I wake my baby up to nurse her before she’s completely done for the night.
Here’s what I’m doing starting NOW to bring in some extra cash:
1. Use skills! Not my skills, my husbands! He is great at woodworking, so I took a picture of a small picnic table he built for my son, and I listed it on craigslist. Don’t worry; I’m not selling my son’s adorable table. I’m taking orders for the custom made tables!
2. Surveys. I am currently only signed up for one survey website, Opinion Outpost but I will look for more legitimate ones. I signed up for some a few years back, and they turned out to be scams. I should have known this because I had to enter my credit card into. I was charged for at least 8 subscriptions to various products!
3. De-clutter and sell! I am going through my house, top to bottom, inside and outside, and selling off as much stuff as I can. We have already sold quite a bit of items on e-bay. As Dave Ramsey says, "Sell until the kids think they're next!"
Here is my current plan for the extra money. This will change depending on how much extra cash we can bring in:
1. Pay off debt (with cash from sold items).
2. Have a monthly date night. The surveys don’t bring in a huge amount of cash, but even $5 a week would be a nice $20 dinner for 2 at some local restaurants (Applebees has a 2/$20 deal!).
3. Possibly pay a babysitter for a few hours a week so that I can do some stuff around the house.
I will be posting on what “extra cash” strategies are working for me, and which ones I choose to pass on.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Meet the Crew
Stella is the oversized puppy, aka Great Dane, Boomer is the spoiled mutt, and Mater (like tuh-mater, but without the tuh” is the chug (chihuahua and pug mix). Misty, Pacifica and Georgia are the cats of the house.
Boomer has been in my family since my Junior year in high school, and came to live with me and my husband shortly after we purchased our first house in a not so great neighborhood. He used to be an outside dog, but we sure fixed that! He is so spoiled now, he won’t go outside to do his duty if it’s too cold! This is the dog that lived outside for years, rain, hail or wind! He’s our kid protector too. If I have my daughter on the couch, he will sit on the floor next to her, just watching her. My son can sit on his back, pull his tale (not a condoned behavior!) and Boomer will just sit patiently.
Stella is a 3-year-old puppy. She likes to curl up on our laps (okay, she thinks she’s curled up on our laps, but given that she is a huge Great Dane, that’s not really going to happen). She does a “crazy run” several times a day, running from the back door to the front door, over and over again. She hasn’t smashed into the sliding glass door yet, but I’m just holding my breath waiting for that to happen!
Mater is the newest addition. He is about 6 months old, we got him from my sister when he was 8 weeks old. My son loves this dog! They literally take turns chasing each other back and forth around the house. Mater also has a thing for ears, which isn’t great for Aidan, since Mater can reach his ears!
Misty aka Fatty is my 8-year-old huge gray cat. I love her, she is cuddly and needy, but…she pees around the house, and that drives me nuts! We can’t keep rugs in the bathrooms, because it never fails, she will pee on them. I would give her away if I thought someone would put up with her.
Pacifica is our car lot kitty. We were looking at Pacificas one day, and my then soon-to-be husband felt something at his ankle. He looked down, and this little fur-ball had attached itself to his pant leg. I talked him into letting us keep her until we found her a good home. That was about 8 years ago!
Georgia (or Kitten) came from under a van. We had pulled an all-nighter after we bought our house, trying to clean and prepare to move. When we got to our apartment at about 3 a.m. we heard this awful screaming/crying. Sounded like a baby at first, then my husband finally figured out that it was coming from under the van parked next to us. We also kept this cat until we found it a good home, 5 years ago! She was only about 8 or 9 weeks when we found her, but she is all stray…scavenges for food, stalks flies and spiders outside….but, her best friend is Boomer! They curl up together for hours!
Boomer has been in my family since my Junior year in high school, and came to live with me and my husband shortly after we purchased our first house in a not so great neighborhood. He used to be an outside dog, but we sure fixed that! He is so spoiled now, he won’t go outside to do his duty if it’s too cold! This is the dog that lived outside for years, rain, hail or wind! He’s our kid protector too. If I have my daughter on the couch, he will sit on the floor next to her, just watching her. My son can sit on his back, pull his tale (not a condoned behavior!) and Boomer will just sit patiently.
Stella is a 3-year-old puppy. She likes to curl up on our laps (okay, she thinks she’s curled up on our laps, but given that she is a huge Great Dane, that’s not really going to happen). She does a “crazy run” several times a day, running from the back door to the front door, over and over again. She hasn’t smashed into the sliding glass door yet, but I’m just holding my breath waiting for that to happen!
Mater is the newest addition. He is about 6 months old, we got him from my sister when he was 8 weeks old. My son loves this dog! They literally take turns chasing each other back and forth around the house. Mater also has a thing for ears, which isn’t great for Aidan, since Mater can reach his ears!
Misty aka Fatty is my 8-year-old huge gray cat. I love her, she is cuddly and needy, but…she pees around the house, and that drives me nuts! We can’t keep rugs in the bathrooms, because it never fails, she will pee on them. I would give her away if I thought someone would put up with her.
Pacifica is our car lot kitty. We were looking at Pacificas one day, and my then soon-to-be husband felt something at his ankle. He looked down, and this little fur-ball had attached itself to his pant leg. I talked him into letting us keep her until we found her a good home. That was about 8 years ago!
Georgia (or Kitten) came from under a van. We had pulled an all-nighter after we bought our house, trying to clean and prepare to move. When we got to our apartment at about 3 a.m. we heard this awful screaming/crying. Sounded like a baby at first, then my husband finally figured out that it was coming from under the van parked next to us. We also kept this cat until we found it a good home, 5 years ago! She was only about 8 or 9 weeks when we found her, but she is all stray…scavenges for food, stalks flies and spiders outside….but, her best friend is Boomer! They curl up together for hours!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Where’d my motivation go?
Where’d my motivation go?
So I’m sitting on my living room floor, with my niece in the playpen, my baby asleep in her excersaucer (yes, I left her in there to sleep!) and my son playing with legos. My kitchen is a mess, I have 2 loads of laundry to put away, 2 large bags of hand-me-down baby clothes to sort and see what I want, a messy living room…oh, and now that I’m thinking of it, I have taxes to do, dinner to prep for, health insurance applications to fill out…I am exhausted just thinking about it! And to top it off, I got not sleep last night, then both Aidan (2) and Kaytlin (6 months) woke up at 4:30 this morning. Needless to say, I have lost my motivation for the day! At least I got my nephew off to Kindergarten on time!
I read lots of tips on how to be a not grumpy mommy, how to keep a clean, organized home, how to keep kids entertained (without using the t.v.), and how to find “me” time in the day. Well, all that goes out the window when you can’t sleep! My kids mostly sleep through the night (go to be around 8 or 9, very rarely 10), and wake up around 6 or 7. I work until about 9:45 p.m. 5 nights a week, get home around 10, wake Kaytlin up to feed her once to make sure she doesn’t wake up un the middle of the night hungry, then I clean the dishes I didn’t get to during the day, straighten up, get clothes ready for the next day, and I get to bed. That’s usually around midnight, occasionally 1 a.m. I have trouble sleeping, thinking of everything I didn’t get to during the day. By the time I get so tired that I HAVE to sleep, it’s time for me to get up. My sister drops her kids off sometime between 6:15 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. depending on what day it is. I like to be fully dressed and partially awake when they get here. Then of course, they are always hungry and ready for breakfast when they get here, and it never fails, my niece needs a diaper change immediately, and conveniently that’s around the same time Kaytlin wakes up and wants to be nursed, which coincides with when Aidan wakes up and wants to cuddle…I run around cleaning up after 4 kids (including Kaytlin, she’s rolling now and tearing up any piece of paper she can find), 2 kids get picked up around 5:30, I have 30 minutes to nurse Kaytlin again and get ready for work. Then I either wait for my husband to get home, or drop my kids off somewhere so I can start work at 6:30. I really don’t think this is what life’s supposed to like. I’m going to have to talk to God about my schedule!
I am looking for some motivation here! Ideally, I would like to sleep at least a solid 5 hours (solid being the key word, not waking up to night sweats, dry throat, headache, etc.) Okay, 6 hours would be better, 7 would be best. But, I’ll take the 5! I would love to be able to get up at least an hour before my kids, so I can exercise, have quiet time with a cup of coffee, prepare breakfast, and straighten up before they get out of bed. Oh, and maybe getting to chat with my husband before he’s off to work would be nice too, since we don’t get a chance to later in the day. I leave for work when he comes home, and he’s usually asleep when I get home.
Anyone in a similar situation? Any tips on what I can/should do so I don’t pull my hair out? Speaking of which, I’m about 12 months over due for a hair cut!
So I’m sitting on my living room floor, with my niece in the playpen, my baby asleep in her excersaucer (yes, I left her in there to sleep!) and my son playing with legos. My kitchen is a mess, I have 2 loads of laundry to put away, 2 large bags of hand-me-down baby clothes to sort and see what I want, a messy living room…oh, and now that I’m thinking of it, I have taxes to do, dinner to prep for, health insurance applications to fill out…I am exhausted just thinking about it! And to top it off, I got not sleep last night, then both Aidan (2) and Kaytlin (6 months) woke up at 4:30 this morning. Needless to say, I have lost my motivation for the day! At least I got my nephew off to Kindergarten on time!
I read lots of tips on how to be a not grumpy mommy, how to keep a clean, organized home, how to keep kids entertained (without using the t.v.), and how to find “me” time in the day. Well, all that goes out the window when you can’t sleep! My kids mostly sleep through the night (go to be around 8 or 9, very rarely 10), and wake up around 6 or 7. I work until about 9:45 p.m. 5 nights a week, get home around 10, wake Kaytlin up to feed her once to make sure she doesn’t wake up un the middle of the night hungry, then I clean the dishes I didn’t get to during the day, straighten up, get clothes ready for the next day, and I get to bed. That’s usually around midnight, occasionally 1 a.m. I have trouble sleeping, thinking of everything I didn’t get to during the day. By the time I get so tired that I HAVE to sleep, it’s time for me to get up. My sister drops her kids off sometime between 6:15 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. depending on what day it is. I like to be fully dressed and partially awake when they get here. Then of course, they are always hungry and ready for breakfast when they get here, and it never fails, my niece needs a diaper change immediately, and conveniently that’s around the same time Kaytlin wakes up and wants to be nursed, which coincides with when Aidan wakes up and wants to cuddle…I run around cleaning up after 4 kids (including Kaytlin, she’s rolling now and tearing up any piece of paper she can find), 2 kids get picked up around 5:30, I have 30 minutes to nurse Kaytlin again and get ready for work. Then I either wait for my husband to get home, or drop my kids off somewhere so I can start work at 6:30. I really don’t think this is what life’s supposed to like. I’m going to have to talk to God about my schedule!
I am looking for some motivation here! Ideally, I would like to sleep at least a solid 5 hours (solid being the key word, not waking up to night sweats, dry throat, headache, etc.) Okay, 6 hours would be better, 7 would be best. But, I’ll take the 5! I would love to be able to get up at least an hour before my kids, so I can exercise, have quiet time with a cup of coffee, prepare breakfast, and straighten up before they get out of bed. Oh, and maybe getting to chat with my husband before he’s off to work would be nice too, since we don’t get a chance to later in the day. I leave for work when he comes home, and he’s usually asleep when I get home.
Anyone in a similar situation? Any tips on what I can/should do so I don’t pull my hair out? Speaking of which, I’m about 12 months over due for a hair cut!
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