Financial Goals Update...and a Splurge

Back in August, we set some financial goals in hopes to have them completed by July 1st; we base our goals around the school year as that's when our money comes in as Pete's a teacher and I babysit during the school months.

We met all of our goals in February and set some new ones.

Here's where we stand as of today:

#1: When the rest of our tax refund came in, take part of it and buy Shawna a new laptop

I got a laptop! It's pretty, and Pete was able to get an awesome deal on it. The screen doesn't shut off whenever I tilt it like the old one did, and although it also has some overheating issues, we got a cooling pad for it and that helps immensely.

#2: Have $17,000 in our savings account by July 1st.

This one is a no go.

If you remember back in March, we had some van issues and had to get a new one. This took our savings from about $12,000 down to just above $1,000. We were pretty depressed seeing all our money fly out the window, but knowing that we had a safer vehicle and we were able to pay cash for it was reassuring. We decided to change our goal from $17,000 to $5,000, figuring that was about how far we had to go to get to the $17,000 goal.

We met that $5,000 goal on Tuesday, almost 4 weeks away from our deadline.

We are in complete disbelief...with all the things we've had to buy or replace this year (a brand new water system for the house, dishwasher, mattress, heater for the basement, furnace repairs, and a van) and the debt we've had to pay off, we shouldn't be here financially. Seriously. The numbers don't add up.

All the credit goes to God. We could not have done this without Him.

Me, being the spender (or as Dave Ramsey says, the Free Spirit) is depressed with all this saving and responsibility. Yes, we've bought a lot of important things, but Pete and I have worked so hard this year and I feel like we have nothing to show for it. So totally not even close to being true, but I wanna see something fun and shiny and feel like the hard work was worth it. I want to CELEBRATE!!!! I feel so selfish thinking that, but if you're a spender, you probably know what I mean.

Pete, being the saver (or Nerd, according to Dave), is totally fine and content with what we've done.

So when we met our goal, I asked him what we should do next. He thought we could try for $6,000 by July 1st. I thought that was impossible, but hey, the rest of the year had been pretty impossible and surprising so far, so who was I to question it?

However, I asked if we could buy something fun. Pete was really hesitant, but he told me I could make a list of things I had in mind and we could discuss it.

I only put two things on my list. First thing on my list was patio furniture. If you know me, you know how badly I want patio furniture! I also put a new TV on the list. We had a really old TV (okay, so maybe not really old, but we've had it for almost 7 years, and it had been used when it was given to us), and it was starting to have issues with connections, so the screen wasn't always clear and the sound was getting muffled.

Pete told me I had to choose which one I wanted.

It was hard.

I really really really really really wanted patio furniture, but we'd use a TV more.

And he found a TV with a great deal: 37% off, plus an additional $50 rebate (a total savings of $270!). Because the sale ends tomorrow (Saturday), he ordered it Wednesday night.

And it got here this afternoon:

It's fun AND shiny!!!!

We were naughty and borrowed from the babysitting money I was earning the remainder of the week as well as the first couple days of next week. We really don't recommend putting big purchases on the credit card like that, but we knew we'd have the money and as we pay off our credit card in full on time every month, we decided to go for it.

It's also awesome because it makes our living room feel bigger. Having a big entertainment center took up a lot of space:

...I think I like the after better...

Watching a movie with the kids on the big TV was so much fun! It was nice having the TV on the wall because kids could stand in front of it and there was no yelling to get out of the way. It's the simple things in life :)

We've started talking about new goals for next year, but our list isn't complete yet. Here's what we have so far:

#1: Have a fully funded emergency fund by July 1st, 2014
We could probably get away with a $15,000 fund, but we'd feel better having $18,000.

#2: We'd like to not have to buy a vehicle in 2014
We've bought a vehicle every year since we got married. We're hoping that just for one year we can keep the car and van we have without accidents or major catastrophes that cause us to have to purchase new ones.

#3: Have our mortgage paid off by the time we turn 45
Okay, so this isn't for next year. But we really want to start chipping away at it. We're giving ourselves 15 years to do $92,000 of work.

Yikes.


What financial goals do you have right now?

Financial Friday: Learning To Say No To Debt

As you may know, we're van shopping.

No, not because I blew a brake line, but because it's getting older and we want to make sure we have time to shop around while we have the money for it so we don't have to take out another car loan.

On Saturday, we went and checked out a SUV. I love vans because of all the cargo space (very important with three kids, especially when one of them is going to want to start playing sports soon!), but I prefer the look of a SUV.

We happened to find a Subaru Tribecca in our price range and in a color I loved. I was getting my hopes up about it; we really miss having a Subaru, especially with the all wheel drive on our roads and driveway in the winter. However, the cargo space was half of what we currently have, and I had to say 'no' to it. Depressing, yes, but space is more important than the looks.

We looked at a Kia Sedona minivan, but it was smaller than our current van as well. Another no.

Then the salesman brought over a Toyota Sienna, which is my dream van. It was perfect! It had seating for eight, tons of cargo space, the back row of seats folded flat into the van (no more having to take them out for hauling furniture or for trips to the drive in!), and all the bells and whistles we could have ever wanted.

All five of us fell in love.

Then we saw the details: it was a 2011 with just over 14k miles on it. There was no way we'd be able to afford it without taking out a loan.

Would the van last us a long time? Definitely.

Did it have everything we wanted and needed in a new vehicle? Yes!!!!

But could we afford it? Probably, but at what cost? We'd be tied down to another loan, and we've worked so hard to get out of debt and build up our savings so we wouldn't have to get another loan when it came time to get a vehicle.

We said no. We walked away. We had to. It wasn't easy, but we wouldn't have enjoyed the van knowing how much debt we would have been in.

We have a couple other Siennas we're going to check out. They're not as new, and have a lot more miles on them. But both are relatively in our budget and should last us a few years. As long as there are no other problems with our current van, we're hoping to trade it in, haggle, and we'll still be able to pay cash without completely draining our savings account.

And we'll drive the new van away, excited to drive it knowing that it's paid in full.

When have you had to say no to something that was out of your budget? Have you ever said yes to debt and regretted it later?

Thankfulness Days 14 - 20: Hello Busy Life!

Hi everyone :)

As always, it's been busy around here! But there have been many many reasons to be thankful...

Day 14: I have always lived in a village...moving to the country has been a big adjustment for me. I have to walk down the driveway to get the mail, there are no side walks, and we can only see 3 houses from our house. In fact, the neighbor to our left is a mile away!

But Wednesday I was glad we live where neighbors can't hear screaming. Paigey was supposed to be cleaning up her room, and after procrastinating for an hour, she came out and said her finger was bleeding. I bent down to look at it, and she pulled away and began screaming like she was being tortured because she was afraid it was going to hurt. Long story short, Pete had to pin her down and I had to try to cut her hang nail off. About ten minutes later, I ended up having to pull it off so I didn't cut her, and she didn't even notice...she just kept screaming that it would hurt!

I am thankful we live in the middle of nowhere; if we had been in a village, I'm sure the police or child protective services would have been called!!!

Day 15: A year ago we adopted a dog. I didn't want a dog, but my husband and children wore me down. He's a cute little thing, but after our carbon monoxide leak, he's been going through separation anxiety/post traumatic stress disorder. Whenever he thinks we're leaving, he starts having tremors. When we leave him in his crate (which he has never had a problem with), he starts shrieking and whining. He's destroyed his blanket, his bed, his blanket covering his crate, one of Pete's shirts, the cat's blanket, the plastic tray at the bottom of his crate, part of one of our bed sheets and our comforter all while he's been locked up. How did he do all of this? He's been able to actually move his crate around until he reaches something to shred up. We've done some research into it and are working with him, and we're seeing a little improvement, but it's still stressful.

I am thankful for my dog; I hate the dark, and whenever I hear weird noises in the middle of the night, I know Mason's the first one to check it out. He's also very protective of us, and whenever we have someone come to fix something and Pete's not here, he stays between his family and the repair man. He's also entertaining with his tricks :)

Day 16: Friday was very very long. I was exhausted as Ryan was awake for part of the night, I had a heavy babysitting day, all the kids wanted to do was fight, I had a migraine, and lots of cleaning and cooking to do as we were having friends over that night for movie night.

I am thankful for coffee! It helped my migraine go away, and then kept me awake for the extended version of Lord of the Rings: Two Towers with some great friends and good food (3 kinds of pizza and 4 flavors of popcorn!).

Day 17: Our friends left just before midnight, and Pete and I went to bed. As soon as our heads hit the pillow, Ryan started crying. Pete got up with him, got him back to sleep, and came back to bed. Ryan started crying again, so Pete checked him again. We took turns doing this for a while, and then I noticed the dreaded hand holding the belly pose Ryan was striking. We ended up giving him an enema around 1, and got him back to bed a little bit later. We finally got to bed around 1:30, tired, stressed, and completely worn out.

I am thankful for kids playing quietly on Saturday mornings. They let us sleep until 8 and didn't damage anything or create a big mess! Pete let me stay in bed until 10, and I even got breakfast in bed, too.

Day 18: I have a bazillion projects on my to-do list that haven't been getting done lately. I haven't had time to work on them, and whenever I had time to get things done, laundry, cleaning, and paying bills had to be more important. With Christmas coming, my list grew exponentially as I'm making a lot of gifts again this year. Finding time to get things done has been stressing me out.

I am thankful for kids taking long naps/rests, and a husband being on kid duty. I was able to finish Ryan's apron, pot holder and oven mitt and his cape, all things he'll be getting for Christmas. Pictures will be coming soon! The apron, pot holder, and oven mitt are all made out of this fabric:

via fabric.com

Day 19: So many things to be thankful for on this day: my in-laws came over to watch the kids as I had parent teacher conferences to go to, I had great conferences with the teachers, and I finished another Christmas gift, this one is for my niece! It was a long day as Pete was gone 6:45 am - 8:30 pm, but we made it through without major difficulties :)

Day 20: Today was my only day babysitting all week, and it was for our buddy J, who is Nate's best friend. Nate was a wreck this morning; Paige even commented that it was weird that he was the cranky one and she was the happy one! Pete came home a little after 11, and it was nice having that extra set of hands and eyes with four kids in the house. It was a good day, tiring, but good :)

I am thankful for to things today: pie (the new school Pete works for gave out pies to all the teachers, and we had it after dinner), aaaaand......

...*drum roll*...

the final check for Pete's car went out in the mail today! We paid it off!!!!

WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, except for the house...but we've completed Step 2 in Financial Peace University's baby steps, and after we buy a new mattress, we'll move on to Step 3 - 3-6 months living expenses saved up. We're aiming to have $10,000 saved by the end of June. I'm guessing we'll have about 3/4 of that (we have some saved already as our emergency fund), but who knows what the next few months will bring!


Thanksgiving is only a couple days away! What do you have to be thankful for?

Thankfulness Day 11: Being Responsible is Hard...

Back in August we wrote about our financial goals for the year, and let me just say it hasn't been as easy to stay on track as I thought!

We might be able to get the car paid off by Thanksgiving as originally planned. We had to replace the water softener system in our house, which set us back by a few thousand dollars.

We don't think we'll be able to get our camera by our planned date either. This time it's us choosing our priorities. Our mattress is really old, and Pete and I are so stiff, sore, and exhausted from sleeping on it. After lots of talking, we decided that our sleep and well being has to come in front of a camera, even if we miss out on getting some great pictures of family memories.

This decision was really hard for me; I feel like we've missed out on a lot of family moments because the camera is just not working very well. Our Halloween pictures came out extremely dark, and other things have come out blurry. But being rested has to be important, too, right?

Yesterday we went and looked at mattresses at two local stores. We found one we liked at one store for $600, and one that we loved at the other store for $2000.

Would we love to buy the $2000 one? Yes.

Could we get a mattress and the camera now? Yes, we definitely have the money for both things.

Are we going to get the $2000 mattress? Unfortunately, no.

Are we going to get both the mattress and camera now? Again, no.

We are soooo close to being debt free (minus the mortgage). We were debt free earlier this year, but then jumped right back into debt because we found something we just had to have right then and there. We don't want to do that again!

We do have the money in our account to buy both mattress and camera, but at what cost? All of our savings would be tapped. Money would be really tight, and we'd have to cut funds to some other areas of our budget, like food. Am I really willing to let myself or my children go hungry so I can have all my wants right now? That would be a big fat No.

Am I bummed? Definitely.

Am I being responsible? Yes...but it's not easy!

Day #11: I am thankful that Pete and I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and know when to make those hard choices; even though they're not easy to make, it will benefit our family in the long run.

Oh, and I'm thankful for flexible financial goals too :)


Have you had to make any hard financial decisions lately?

Financial Fridays: Having Financial Goals

Hi everyone! I promise, next week I'll start having somewhat regular posts again! We're doing well, just really busy with summer things.

Pete and I were discussing earlier today about setting some financial goals for ourselves. We've noticed that when we have a goal, especially when in regards to financial things, we seem to handle our money better.

Why is it important to have financial goals? It helps you to stay focused, to keep your spending in line, and help you tell your money where to go.

What kind of time line should I have for my goals? Honestly, that may vary on a few things: what your budget allows you to do, what you're willing to sacrifice, and what how much money you need to accomplish said goal. Because Pete is a teacher and only gets paid during the school year, we've found that basing our goals around the school year rather than calendar year works better for our situation.

How can I stay motivated? I know that it can be hard when you have a goal that's not super fun, like paying off a loan. To me, it's much more fun saving for something like a vacation that you get something for all of your hard work! Having a chart where you can see the numbers go up (if it's a saving goal) or down (if it's a paying off debt goal) can help. Setting up mini-goals may help, too: if you're paying off a $5,000 loan, setting goals like paying off each thousand dollars and treating yourself to something small can be helpful and rewarding!

So what goals did we set today? These are all things really important to us for our family's security. I have them listed in chronological order, not order of importance.

#1: Have our car loan paid off by Thanksgiving
This hopefully won't be too much of a stress for us; if we worked really hard, we might be able to have it paid off by October, but Thanksgiving gives us a little bit of wiggle room. We were originally hoping for end of the year, but Thanksgiving means we have to work at it, but not too awful hard. We try to not have any debt, but as Pete's car was totalled in February of this year, we had to take out a loan. We're really excited that our 3 year loan will be paid off in less than a year's time!

#2: Save up and purchase a new camera (in cash) by December 31st
Our camera's flash died a couple months ago. Can I just say how hard it is to take pictures without a flash? We might consider looking into just replacing the flash part, but as it's a few years old, we think a new camera might pay off more. Any suggestions on what kind we should look for? We're looking mostly for a SLR that's budget friendly.

#3: Have $10,000 in our savings account by July 1st
This one is going to take a lot of work and some sacrifice. We have just over $2,000 in there now, but getting that $8,000 is going to be tough. We're really going to have to watch our spending in order to accomplish this one! However, having this money saved is part of Dave Ramsey's Step 3 in his Financial Peace University; Step 1 being save $1,000 in an emergency fund, and Step 2 being debt free (with the exception of mortgage, which we should have by Thanksgiving!!!). Step 3 is having 3 - 6 months of living expenses saved, creating a fully funded emergency fund; $10,000 is somewhere between 4 and 5 months for us. Please help keep us accountable with this goal!


Do you have any financial goals set? How do you stay motivated to accomplish your goals?

Financial Fridays: Why we took Financial Peace University

Welcome to my new series, Financial Fridays! Every Friday for the next few weeks I'll be briefly talking about various topics, from budgeting to saving, investing to making big purchases, and giving some out of the box tips we've used to help cut corners in our budget. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities. 

This week's topic is a quick look into our financial situation, from before we were married to the early years after marriage, and why we felt the need to take a financial course.

My husband, Pete, and I were raised with two different backgrounds when it came to handling money: he knew how to spend and save wisely, and I was very good at doing everything wrong. Right before Paige was born, my credit card had been maxed out with a balance of over $3,000, and by the time I graduated college I had almost $25,000 in student loan debt. Between a tax refund and a refund from my college, I was able to pay off the credit card before we were married in 2006.

I knew starting our marriage in off with my student loan debt was going to weigh us down, and even though it was a hard decision (mostly for me), we paid for all of our wedding purchases in cash, had a small ceremony and reception, did almost everything ourselves and walked away paying around $3,000.

Our table center pieces - silk flower petals and candles, which doubled as favors

We rented a small apartment and tried to pay off my student loans as well as we could. We had a budget set up; some months it worked, some it didn't. I was struggling with sticking to it. I was a shopaholic, and although I was trying to tame my ways, it was easy to listen to that little voice in my head saying “You NEED that item!” or “You DESERVE that item!”.

In 2008, when Paige was three and Nate was a year old, we decided to buy a house. Our two bedroom apartment wasn't big enough anymore, and we were tired of noisy neighbors. We found a mortgage that didn't require a down payment or have us pay the pricey PMI because we didn't put a down payment down. We were approved for almost $170,000, but bought a house for under $100,000.

The kids and I in our new yard!

After moving into the house, money was tight. We didn't know how much money the utilities would be, and the mortage payment was higher than our rent had been. However, it was a new house and needed new things! We needed curtains, organizational supplies, paint...you know, the important things. I learned quickly that I couldn't have everything I wanted or thought I needed. Our budget still wasn't working well all the time, but it was getting better.

In 2009, our church announced they would be hosting their first course of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU). I asked Pete if he wanted to take it, and he said no. And I agreed with him. Why would we waste one night a week for thirteen weeks when we already knew how to budget?

A couple weeks later, our pastor played a promotional clip on what FPU was about. Dave made the lessons entertaining, he was funny, and he put financial terms in every day language. Pete and I looked at each other, and we decided to take it, but only for planning Pete's retirement and sending our soon to be three children to college without loading them up with student loan debt.

Looking back at those thirteen weeks, it was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Dave mentions in the class that a typical American family can pay off their debt between 18 and 24 months (I think that's the right range!). We entered the class with just under $13,000 left in my student loan debt, and I remember Pete and I saying that there was no way we'd get it done that quickly. Oh how wrong we were! In the 15 months after starting the course, we not only paid off that debt, but we bought a van for $6,000 in cash, and went from being a family of 4 to a family of 5, all on a teacher's salary (which really isn't as much as people think it is) and me being a stay at home mom. Dave also talks about changing your family tree, as in teaching your children how to manage money wisely and staying debt free from here on out. Our kids now know what a budget is and that there are some weeks where we just can't buy that one special treat for them at the store; they also love yelling "CHEEETAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" when the mail comes! What we didn't expect was for us to change the family tree in the other direction: my parents took the course last year, and Pete's parents just finished the course up a couple weeks ago!

We highly recommend the course to anyone; you can go online to find a course close to where you live, take it online, or even buy the course for at home study as well.

Do you have a budget? What little tricks do you use to save money?