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.

Decisions

Hey everyone...

Sorry for the silence around here the past few days. It's been mentally draining lately with us having to make some big decisions, and my brain needed a break. Apparently I let it rest so much that it decided to let another cold virus enter, and I'm trying to beat that into submission. Yay for kids sharing germs...yet again.

So what decisions did I/we have to make?

My role for VBS:
Last Sunday (the 10th) my mother-in-law approached me in church. She is the director for our VBS (vacation Bible school), and I usually handle all the decorations from planning, designing, making, and installing them all. She asked if I might be willing to design and lead all the crafts for the preschoolers this year, and that I could let her know within a week.

At first, I'm all "YES!" because the past few years of decorations have burned me out, and I was tired of making vines and trees and anything outdoorsy. But I also would have to give up VBS week; Ryan will be going this year, and Pete and I were going to be using those mornings of kid free time to get some house projects done that would go smoother without little hands trying to help. However, doing crafts would be much easier to plan; decorations takes months and all the supplies take over my house. Would giving up several months be worth just one week of mornings without kids be worth it? All last week I was going back and forth as what to choose, and it was really hard for me.

After a very emotional 2+ hour conversation with Pete on Friday (after I had babysat for 14 hours straight...eek!), I decided to stick with decorations. My heart wouldn't let it go; although they're a pain to plan and carry out, I love doing it so much. I'd love to be a crew leader or run the crafts one year, but until I feel completely led to hang up my decorator's hat, I'm going to be crazy decorating lady :)

On that note though, if anyone in the area has big pieces of cardboard, save them for me! I need lots and lots of pieces for this year!

Our van:
We've been planning on replacing our van (aka Iron Man) this upcoming summer and had been saving and saving so we could pay cash for it. Well, last week you may remember I blew a brake line, and Pete drove the van down to a local shop we like to use for emergencies on Thursday and it was fixed Friday. When we picked it up on Saturday, the mechanic told me that it was indeed a brake line, and the rest of the lines looked good. Yay! Everything in the middle of the van looks great, and all the important things also look great for the van's age (she's 10 this year). However, the supporting frame under the doors is rotting out so much that it's very very difficult to put her on the lift to get her in the air. She's still sound to drive, but looking for a replacement should start becoming a priority.

We had already started getting more serious about our search; whenever we start thinking about replacing our vehicles, they start to break; usually it's a bunch of little things followed by something big (all the brakes followed by fuel pump) or just something big unexpectedly (like an engine or transmission). When the brake line went, my radar starts going off that it's time to get something newer, and we started looking harder.

After consulting our experts (my mom and her Consumer Reports magazines as well as my dad, a mechanic for 30+ years) and checking out a few vehicles in person (Subaru Tribeca is waaaaay too small), we basically narrowed down our list to just be the Toyota Siennas. There was one only 20 minutes from our house and then 2 about 45 minutes from the house, but in opposite directions from each other. The one closest had the most miles and the highest price tag, but we figured we'd go check it out Saturday afternoon just to make sure we liked them. Why drive 45 minutes to discover you don't like something when you can drive 20, right?

We arrived at the dealership, and they brought the van up for us. Immediately we said no to that particular van; it was dirty on the inside and one of the AC adapters in the front wasn't securely attached, and when you tried to take the cap off the entire thing pulled out of the dash and had exposed wires. No thank you. We test drove it anyways (Pete did all the driving; why should I drive it if we weren't going to buy it?), and we loved the way it handled and how smooth the ride was. Pete said it was just like driving a car; not bad for it being the biggest minivan around!

We got back to the dealership, told them we weren't interested at that point, but if our other options didn't pan out, we'd be back. Our salesman being a salesman said if it was just price that was affecting our decision, we could definitely talk. We told him of the problems we had, and he was really upset that those hadn't been taken care of already, that those problems would definitely be taken care of. We told him that if they could take care of them, that maybe we would have a deal. He asked if we'd be trading a vehicle in, and we said we had our van, and we looked up a trade in value, and it was about $2000. Actually it was more like $1500-1600, but we wanted to see what we could get. One of the sales guys drove our van, talked to the guy who's in charge of the Sienna's price, and our sales guy came back with our number:

They were willing to give us $3500 for our van as a trade in.

That dropped the Sienna's price from just out of our budget to below $10,000. Definitely doable!

The total price we would pay including taxes and fees was just above $11,000, which meant that we could pay cash and still have more than $1,000 in our emergency savings fund.

So we had our deal: we'd buy the van if they could fix all the problems.

Deal!

So today I'm cleaning out Iron Man, and we're picking up this girl tonight:

Meet Sherlock!

Yes, we name our vehicles. This is the first non-superhero named vechile we've had in a while; Pete's white Subaru that was totaled last year was Storm, our current van is Iron Man, and Pete's current car, a black Elantra, is Batman. We didn't like any super hero names for the Sienna; names we had tossed around were Gandalf (from Lord of the Rings) and River (as in River Song from Doctor Who). Sherlock was the only one all five of us could agree on!

Pete's job for next year:
Okay, so we haven't made a decision on this for next year, but that's only because we don't know the full plan yet.

What we do know is that at least one of the schools he works at now is thinking about making him a .8 position. Although it would be nice to have him at just one school, a .8 is like the most annoying option. It's somewhere between part time and full time. It's almost full time, so he couldn't work at two schools, but still part time enough that finances would be tight.

The other school would love to make him full time, but we're waiting to hear how that goes.

Once we know what his employment is going to be like for next year, we will then decide if he should go back to school or not. At one school he has a technology position where he helps the teachers integrate more technology into their classrooms. The other school doesn't have any computer classes other than just an introductory class, and there may be an interest in adding more computer classes. Having Pete get a Master's degree in technology would help with job security and would benefit both schools. We just want to make sure he's employed enough to either let us have enough money to pay for the classes or have the school pay for them!

Kid's schooling:
This one isn't really a decision yet, but more of us wondering if we're going to have to make a decision in the next few years to home school. The idea is just floating around our heads right now, but the longer they're in school the more it seems like it may be a real option down the road. It's not because of problems behaviorally or with bullies in school, but more academics and that my kids are bored and need to be challenged more!


How are you all doing? Anything new with you guys?

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?

The New Normal

As you may have noticed, it's been very quiet on the blog lately. I mentioned before it's because we're adjusting to the new school routine, but that's only part of the story. I alluded to things being stressfful during our vacation, but things actually started months ago.

My husband is a high school Chemistry and Physics teacher (yes, he is ridiculously smart!). The first year we were married he was a long term substitute teacher at a school in Buffalo. When that year-long position was finishing, he began the search for the next job. He accepted a great job at a school towards Rochester, and we were thrilled.

Paigey helping Daddy set up his new classroom!

The next three years were hard. We were set financially, but the principal was a nightmare. It seemed like he never had anything good to say about Pete's teaching; all his observations were filled with petty little things Pete needed to improve, and each time the principal was looking for something different, so Pete never knew what to expect, or much less how to improve his teaching. Each spring we waited on pins and needles to see if Pete would indeed have a job for the following year, and each year we would finally get confirmation that he would indeed be employed again. Finally that third year, Pete was given tenure. Our worries were put aside; once they're given tenure, they're safe, right?

Wrong. So very very wrong. This past year was Pete's fourth year at the school...and the first with a new superintendent. The school was making cuts for the budget, and noticed the science department hadn't had cuts in quite a few years. And when you're bottom on the totem pole, just as Pete is, that means your position would be affected first. He was told that he'd probably be cut to a 0.4 (full time is a 1; half time is like a 0.5), but it depended on the budget. Over the next couple months, the story changed: he was going to be a 0.6, then full time, then back down to 0.4. The principal was fighting for Pete to keep his full time job, and we appreciated everything he was doing.

Then the final word came in, and it caught us completely off guard: My husband was not going to be full time, or half time. He was going to be a 0.2, and that would barely cover his gas getting to and from work, much less our bills.

We began preparing: I started buying extra groceries and freezing meals. I stocked up on toilet paper, tissues, toothpaste, and every necessity we would need. While we had extra money, we were going to stock up on things now for when money was tight later. Pete started that dreaded job search again.

Come to find out the principal at Pete's school wasn't done fighting for Pete yet: he wanted to create a position for him. Technology, as you may know, is becoming a big part of our daily lives. Pete incorporates a lot of the technology into his classes; one thing he does is he has all of his students sign up for Gmail accounts and then they use the documents option for all their labs. They can work on labs with their groups whether they're in school or not, and they're never leaving their lab books somewhere and not having them when they need them. There is no longer any excuse for students not having work done. The principal wanted Pete to help other teachers do the same thing, and the superintendent loved the idea. They were able to create a 0.4 position for him, bringing him up to a 0.6. Not great, but so much better than it was.

We continued to prepare for money being tight; I took on a couple extra babysitting kids for the upcoming school year. Pete was going to be home around lunch time every day, so why not? It's extra money coming in, and Pete would be here to help. Pete continued to look for a job, and even applied to a part time physics position at a local school. The superintendent at this school used to be the middle school principal at the school Pete was working at, so we assumed it would be an easy in for him.

Pete made the final interview; it was between Pete and another man. And that's when I started feeling uneasy, like he wasn't going to get it. We had seen God working and providing for us all along, and now I felt different, like God was preparing us for Pete to not get the job. And Pete did not get the job. The other man didn't have any job lined up, so they gave him the job. And we were okay.

For the next two months, Pete kept looking for a job, and nothing happened. No interviews, no call backs, nothing. So we prepared where we could, and just accepted that the poor economy was finally taking it's toll on our family.

Then we went crayfish hunting. In the middle of our hunt, Pete's cell phone rings. He picks up, says things like "yes, I'm still interested in the job" and "okay, I'll call my principal and superintendent this afternoon and let you know tomorrow." Come to find out the man that was hired over Pete took a full time job at another school, and the local school was in need of a part time physics teacher again!

The next few days were full of playing phone tag with the two schools, figuring out if the schedules would align, waiting, and praying. The local school needed to know by Friday, and Pete didn't finally get to talk to his current superintendent until Friday morning...nothing like cutting things close, huh?

In the end, Pete accepted the job at the local school, and between the two schools he is a 1.1 position. He's teaching two sections of physics, one section of 8th grade science (a first for him), and leading at least one lab (I think it's a chemistry lab), as well as his part time tech position, which come to find out should actually be a full time position by itself. He's going back and forth between each school every day; he starts out at the first school in the mornings, then quickly drives over to the more local school. On Mondays and Tuesdays he stays at that school until 3, then comes home. On Wednesdays and Thursdays he goes back to the first school, staying until 3 or later. On Fridays he leaves the local school by 2 to come help me as it's my heaviest babysitting day. He brings work home almost daily, and it's stressful for him.

I kept all my babysitting kids that I had "enrolled", even though Pete got a second job. Before anyone panics, it's not as bad as it may sound. I have eight kids I watch. One is before and after school every day for a couple hours, two are after school for a couple hours every other week. Two kids I see a couple days a week during the day, and they leave right about when the bus leaves. Two others I see only on Fridays during the day, and they also leave around the time the bus leaves. The last child is Miss K, who I see for preschool two mornings a week, and maybe twice a month if her mom needs a babysitter during the day. It's not uncommon for me to have a whole day with Ryan free during the week to run errands, so although my schedule looks crazy, it's not bad. It's taken awhile to get into some sort of routine, but I think we're finally getting there.

Ryan and Miss K during preschool; it was Hippo day!

So with Pete's and my crazy work schedules, we have two kids in school, which means two sets of papers, two sets of home work, and two very tired kids at the end of the day. I have preschool to plan, and serve on two committees, one at school and one at the local library. I'm still hoping to open my etsy store soon, but as you can see, that's been put on the back burner for a little bit longer.

So that, in a very very long nutshell, is what our life is like right now. Our lives are busy, but it's helping us determine what is really important and take advantage of those little moments with our family. There is more stress this year, but there is also more love for each other. We're relying on each other more, and I can honestly say that I feel like our family is more of a team that it was before. The kids are adjusting well, and are definitely enjoying having friends over almost daily!!! I won't be updating the blog daily or almost daily any more, but a couple times a week I hope to be posting.


What does your "normal" look like? Anything I can be praying for you about?

*** If you have any private prayer requests, please do not hesitate to email them to me at mommyapps@gmail.com or message me on facebook!

Summer Recap: My To-Do List

A few weeks ago I posted my summer to-do list. If you remember, I was overwhelmed and burned out just by looking at it! Now that summer's over, what did we accomplish? Were we successful?

Here's our list, and what we were able to do:



Item #1: Refinish the kitchen counter tops.

So our counters were a pale green. They were in great condition, just not our color. We wanted a cheap fix as we're eventually planning on redoing our floor (white floor + kids + coal stove = big mess!), and would hate to do brand new counters and not have them match the floor. After a little bit of research we decided we were going to paint them!

Nice, just not our style.

We were successful! They are done!!!! They are NOT what we planned, but I think they're better and fit our space and style more than what we were originally going for. The plan was to use textured spray paint that had flecks of various colors in it so it would look like regular counter tops, then put 3-4 coats of poly on it to protect it and smooth out the texture. We bought 4 cans of spray paint; the cans said 3 would cover it, but hey, they were on sale and you never know, so we bought 4. Here's what 4 cans looked like:

Splotchy is not what we were going for!

 I don't know about you, but that is NOT very pretty. Or even. Or even remotely counter top like. So we went out to the store and bought regular cheap wall paint. In gray. We thought gray was going to look better than the original tan, and we think it's a much better fit!

Much better!

We've been asked how it's holding up and if we'd recommend it. It is holding up BEAUTIFULLY. The roller from putting in the paint on left a little bit of texture, which keeps things from sliding all over yet not too much texture you can't keep it clean. Would we recommend it? Possibly. If you're looking for a quick fix that's budget friendly, then yes! I think this cost less than $40, not including the original spray paint. For a long term thing, maybe. We've heard after awhile it will start to chip, and we're anticipating that. We do have to go over it with sandpaper one more time as dust and cat fur landed on it while the paint and poly were drying, but other than that, we're really pleased with how it turned out!


Item #2: Replace or fix the front side walk.

Successful again! Replacing the whole side walk was going to be very expensive, so we just patched the ginormous holes. We're planning on buying a sealer to make it all smooth, but it's not a priority at the moment.


Item #3: Replace or fix the front porch stairs.

I am SO glad I pushed to get this done this year! I could feel just by walking on them that they were ready to go. When Pete and his dad were taking them apart, they literally were falling apart. The finished product is so much sturdier, safer, and nicer to look at! Because it's pressure treated wood, we have to let it dry for a year or so until I can paint it. It's going to be a loooong year because seeing the mismatched wood is driving me nuts, but it's going to look great when we paint them. Instead of doing the red that's on the porch now, the stairs and floor will be gray and the railings and posts will be white.


Item #4: Refinish the dining room table top.

I so wish I could take credit for this. I really do. One of my readers actually took my table and refinished THE WHOLE TABLE. It is a beautiful piece of furniture now, and we are so blessed by the work they put into it. It really makes my dining room look much more finished! I'll post a picture once we get a new camera; ours is trying to die and just doesn't make the table look as gorgeous as it really is!




Item #5: Finish weeding the rocks by the driveway.

*sigh*...not done. But, it's mostly done, and what is finished looks great! We have the bigger rocks at the bottom to do, and once it gets cooler we'll finish it. It's on our fall to-do list!


Item #6: Finish putting in the flower garden by the driveway fence.

Another thing not accomplished. We need to go out and finish getting the pavers from my aunt, and once we do that I can cover up the grass so it'll die and be ready to plant in the spring.


Item #7: Finish the new garden around the pool.

Partially finished. The part I've been wanting to do since we moved into the house got planted, but the part I just thought about doing this year has not been done. Baby steps, right?


Item #8: Build the new bed and headboard for our bedroom.

Just need to buy the wood and screws, we have stain and poly out the wazoo. Maybe this fall or winter?

  
Item #9: Help the kids accomplish their summer goals.

Partially finished! Paigey got her books read, and Nate learned some sight words! Paige hasn't finished learning to ride her bike without training wheels, but that was more we were busy with other things, so it fell to a lower priority. We still have time this fall before the snow flies (or at least I can hope, right?)

 So all in all we didn't do too bad with our list. Everything was worked on at least a little bit. We got the really important things accomplished, and that's what really matters!


Have you been able to cross things off your list 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: Starting the first budget

Wow, has it really been over 2 weeks since my last post? I'm sorry about that! Life has been ridiculous lately, and I'll be posting on all of our adventures soon.

The last Financial Friday segment I started talking about budgets; today I'll share on how to start that first month's budget.

Before you run and hide, trust me...it's easy! For the first month, all you do is keep track of every single penny you spend. I know we're a few days into August already, but try and guess to the best of your abilities how much you've spent already. You can keep track on paper, in a spreadsheet, or any budget program you may have accessible. There are also lots of free worksheets on the internet you can download or print out to use as well.

The best way to keep track is in categories, such as food, personal, medical, entertainment, gas, etc. Try to be as broad with the categories as you'd like. I actually combined my food, personal and cleaning products into one category so when I go to stores like Aldi or Wal-Mart I can put most if not all of the receipt into one category.

Easy, right? This step is going to be really important when we set up our first 'real' budget next month as it's going to give you approximately how much you spend each month so you'll know how much to allot in each category.


This week's Saving Money tip is dealing with coupons! I am NOT an extreme couponer. I do not use a lot of coupons in general, actually. We received some coupons for McDonald's in our local Pennysaver, and were really excited that they had a lot of buy one, get one free coupons for foods we actually like. But when we read the fine print, it pretty much said you can only use one coupon per customer per visit...also known as Pete takes one coupon, does an order, then I go through with another coupon and we still pay an arm and a leg for food.

But my husband was smart; we had spent the afternoon at my grandparent's house and were headed home around dinner. We were all hungry and exhausted, and we had the coupons with us. We stopped at McDonald's (a very rare treat for us!), and he asked if we could use more than one coupon. The cashier's resonse?

"As long as you have more than one person with you, you can use as many as you'd like!"

Really?!?!? Yay! We were able to get 3 Happy meals, 2 Quarter Pounders, 2 Large Fries, and 2 Frappes/smoothies for less than $15.

So make sure and ask if you have coupons like that! You may just save yourself a trip through the check out :)

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?