Financial Friday: A Book Review

Okay okay okay, I know. It's Thursday.

But I'm too excited to wait until tomorrow to post this, so bear with me.

For the past couple years, I've been following a blog called Words of Williams. If you remember, I did my very first guest post over there last year. Eric and Kelsey write about topics on marriage, parenting, and finances, and I'm really enjoying seeing all the cute pictures of their daughter, Rooney, as she grows.

Today, Eric's first book, It's Your Money, released in hard copy and ebook on Amazon, and it's amazing.

I was able to get an advanced copy of it (thanks, Eric!), and I was a little skeptical. I'm familiar with the Williamses' financial story from their blog, and as I've taken Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University (FPU), how much more would I get out of the book? Would the book really speak to me if I wasn't brand new to the budgeting process? I had my doubts, but I gave it a try.

Let's just say I sat down in my recliner one night with the book on my tablet, and next thing I know, it's an hour later and the book was finished. I couldn't put it down!

And you know what? I got so much out of it!

It's Your Money is based upon the same principles as FPU, but it spoke to me and encouraged me in ways FPU couldn't:

•  Eric and Kelsey are the same ages as Pete and I, and we got married around the same time; no offense to Dave Ramsey, but he's...umm...well, older. We're at different stages in life, and that plays a huge part in your monthly budget.
• In case you haven't noticed, the economic situation today is not what it was years ago. Hearing Dave talk about 12% interest for savings accounts is not easy to find these days; knowing that Eric and Kelsey are achieving their goals in relatively the same financial market that we are is encouraging. If they can do it, why can't we?
• They made similar mistakes to what Pete and I have made. We haven't been on the brink of bankruptcy like Dave and his wife were, but we still had finances out of control for awhile. And we're still making mistakes today, even while we're making progress on our goals. 

I think my favorite part of the book was when Eric was talking about when he wanted an iPhone while they were still making progress on their goals. He talked about how important it is to celebrate milestones and progress. Those aren't always words I hear when talking about finances, but for a free spirit like me, it was so encouraging! I do better with goals if I get to celebrate often; it keeps me motivated to keep up with the hard work. Having him say that and knowing that they have their six months of living expenses saved up (the goal Pete and I are working on) and are now on their next goal, just made me feel like it is okay to splurge sometimes, and that it's not going to deter from us still making progress. Wanting to celebrate milestones is hard wh
en you're married to a financial nerd...but sometimes he lets me do it anyway :)

This book would be great if you have never attempted a budget, if you're struggling sticking to a budget, or are a seasoned budgeter and are on to other steps. If you're familiar with the Williamses' financial story or FPU, you will still find something new and exciting to apply to your financial situation. 

To get your own copy, head over to Amazon to grab it for Kindle or get a hard copy! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

You can read my other Financial Friday posts here.

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 Friday: Intro to the dreaded B word

I remember when Pete and I took Financial Peace University, we took it with another couple. Vanessa and Pete are very similar in that they save their money. Stephen and I, on the other hand, like shiny things. Shiny things distract us from saving. Money burns holes in our pockets. Budgets were evil things that made us not have fun anymore and we hated the word. But if you ask us now, we're kinda fond of our budgets!

Why are budgets important? A budget is a great thing to have because it helps you tell your money what to do, rather than your money tell you what to do. It helps keep your money in line, and forces you to prioritize where the money needs to go.

What isn't a budget? When I was talking to Pete about this post, he mentioned that I should talk about this. Stephen and I thought that budgets were really restrictive and controlling, but really they're not. Yes, they do keep you in line with your spending, but they give you freedom to spend as well. And if you use them right, you'll have extra money at the end of the month for other things like saving, paying off your debt and new shoes!

I mentioned before that when we started FPU, we were so proud of ourselves that we knew how to budget. Some months it worked, others not so much. So imagine our shock when we discover that we had no idea how to budget. What we did was write down every penny we spent over the month into categories (food, utilities, clothing, etc.). At the end of the month, we checked that against what money we had brought in. Most of the time it balanced out, but there were some months where we'd be off by a few hundred dollars...and not in a good way. Fortunately we never spent more money than what was in our account, but there were times I couldn't pay off the entire credit card bill (something we strove to do every month).

We were doing part of it right: keeping track of every penny we spent. But the part we were doing wrong was checking at the end of the month. In order for you to be in control of your money, the key is to write down how much you plan to spend in each category before the month starts. Yes, it's hard the first few times when you're trying to figure out how much to put in each category, and some months are going to be off more than others. You'll have to make hard choices (like seeing deck furniture you want for $75, marked down from $300...but you have to pass on it knowing that there really isn't money in the budget available for it...). But you'll be telling your money where to go, and life will be less stressful in the long run.

Next week I'll go more in depth about starting your first budget! The first month's budget is very easy, so don't panic!

This week's money savings tips are in regard to those of us who have swimming pools. Pools are a wonderful thing to have during a hot summer, but they can be super expensive!!!

Buy supplies in bulk. A couple years ago we bought the cholrine pucks in a huge bucket; if we bought them in bulk, it worked out that each puck was about half the cost of buying little packages. We still have a lot left, and they're still good!

Check the ingredient list! We had to just put a bunch of chemicals in our pool as the levels were off. There's a pH buffer powdered product that comes in a big bag; the bag was over $20 at the pool store. My chemist husband looked at the ingredients and noticed that all it was was baking soda. I just went to BJ's yesterday, bought a bag of baking soda that was bigger than the bag of pH buffer, and paid less than $7 for it. Score!

Thanks to reader Jennie; last week she mentioned a way she saves on money for laundry: she cuts her dryer sheets in half! I tried this tip all week, and I didn't even notice a difference in how my laundry felt and it still smelled super fresh.

Do you have a budget that works? How do you save money if you have a pool?

Financial Friday: Emergency funds

Financial Fridays: Emergency funds

What a response last week! I'm really excited that people are so interested in getting their finances in order. Just remember, it's not easy, but sooo worth it!

If your refrigerator was to die today, what would you do? Would you panic because you had no way to pay for it? Would you race to the store and buy the first one you see, and then use your credit card (or even open a new credit card account) to pay for it? Or would you be able to calmly go to the store, pick out a great fridge, and buy it in cash?

I'm sure many of us would either panic or use a credit card. This only leads to stress, buyer's remorse, and spending more money than you thought (due to interest on the credit card). But with an emergency fund in place, emergencies will seem a lot less stressful.

What is an emergency fund? Well, it is just that: money set aside for when emergencies happen, because I'm sure you all know that emergencies do happen!

Where do I keep an emergency fund? What we do (and Dave Ramsey recommends) is we have a money market account (ours is through Capital One). It makes more interest than a typical savings account, and we have a checkbook that goes with it, making emergencies much easier to deal with; there's no transferring of money or running to the bank involved. The interest we're getting right now is extremely low (less than 1%), but when we started, I think it was between 6 and 7%, and we were making quite a bit of money each month (and who doesn't love free money?).

How much should I have in an emergency fund? For right now, $1000, or $500 if your income is less than $20,000. Later, after all your debt (excluding mortgage) is paid off, it'll be increased to 3-6 months living expenses.

How am I supposed to find the money for an emergency fund? I can barely pay my bills! This is the hard part. Try saving a few dollars every month, even if it's only $5. Put any unexpected income into your fund, whether it be overtime you weren't expecting, a bonus from work, or that $20 you found in an old purse. Every little bit helps. It's not going to happen overnight (unless you have a fund already established or you have $1000 sitting around unused). But once it's there, you won't worry so much about a car breaking down or living without a stove as much.

A tool that will greatly help in saving, either for an emergency fund or for bigger purchases, is that dreaded B word we all love to hate: Budget. We'll talk about how to start setting one up next week!

And, as promised, some tips for saving money in unexpected places! I'm sure a lot of us know the usual tricks, like eat out less, make your own coffee in the mornings, and bring your own lunch to work. But what if you're already doing that, or it's not making a big difference in your budget? Here are some ways we save money on laundry:

Hang the clothes out to dry: I'm sure this is an obvious one! What's better than pulling bed sheets off the line and they smell all fresh from being outside? I love that smell! Granted, this is probably a seasonal thing for most of you, but even during the summer it can cut costs. And for a few dollars start up cost for line and clothes pins, it really pays for itself!

Use your machines at off peak times: Off peak times are apparently first thing in the morning and late at night. I've tried that and haven't seen a big enough change in my bill to warrant me only doing laundry at those times, but who knows, maybe it would work for you!

Make your own fabric softener: I was wary about trying this...but I'm soooo glad I did! My clothes are all softer and smell better. It's not as strong of a smell as fabric softener, but because I get to choose the scent I want it to be, I like it better. You could skip the conditioner and just use vinegar, but I like the smell of the conditioner added. I even used a little less than what was recommended and didn't notice enough of a difference to go back to adding more. We buy gallon jugs of vinegar (and they only cost .25 more than buying a quart jar!) and I use whatever cheap conditioner I find.

Make your own dryer sheets: I have yet to try this one; I had just bought a huge box of dryer sheets at BJ's when I discovered this. Instead of cutting up fabric like they suggest, I'm going to try some baby washcloths that have seen better days!

Make your own laundry detergent: I haven't tried this either as I tend to be a detergent snob. I've heard great things about those who have tried it, so it's something I may consider in the future......maybe.

All the principles regarding the emergency fund were based on Dave Ramsey's teachings from Financial Peace University. I only touched on the subject; for further information, you can check out his website! And as always, feel free to ask me questions about emergency funds or anything else :)

How would an emergency fund change your life? How do you save money when you do laundry?

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?