Independence Month 2011

Ummmmmm...... 

Well, things didn't go as I had planned from my last post.  You know what they say about storm clouds?  That came in the form of a February 2011 Blizzard and an injury that kept my husband sidelined for 3 months.  I have one thing to say about that, short term disability isn't extremely helpful in budgeting.  We did get through it without incurring any new debt, so I will call that a battle won. So what did that mean for our plans?  The good news - WE PAID OFF THE MAZDA!  The okay news - we've had some altered schedules and smaller paychecks but the budget is still working.  The bad news - we skipped our anniversary trip AND I still have that one nagging little debt left.  No call to Dave yet. 

One lesson to share:  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND! YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU'LL NEED TO TAP INTO IT! 

Is it just me?
I'm just not finding the incredible deals at the grocery store anymore.  I mean, don't get me wrong.  My stockpile is still functioning, but I think my DOOMSDAY husband may be right, and an increase to our grocery budget is inevitable.  Either that, or I really just have to get back into the mode of planning meals according to sales, and spending more time scouring ads and coupons. 

You can maintain it a lot cheaper than buying a new one!
The Hyundai went into the shop for some maintenance.  I have to say, $500 is sooo much cheaper than buying a new car!!  Going no payments for awhile is just what our budget needs right now. :)

End of Year Round Up

Almost there
I always spoke of my husband as "Mr. Doomsday".  Y2K?  Oh, yeah... he expected the world to close down. The Gas Crisis, The Economy is Tanking, Buy Gold, The Banks are all Going to Close Down, I've heard everything.  I try to stay positive minded even if it does mean that I'm ignoring the inevitable.  I refuse to live in a negative mindset waiting for something bad to happen.  Unfortunately, even though the worst hasn't happened - it's the media that can make or break my happy joy joy concept.  I'm about a month away from having enough money to pay off my car.... VERY EARLY!  Shortly after that, I should have enough to pay off my final debt and that would have me screaming, "I'M DEBT FREE" - but hold the phone.  If the economy tanks. If my husband's hours get cut back again like they did on 2008. If. If. If.... we'll need that money to make the ends meet.  I'm in a rock and a hard place.  Of course, paying the car and that last credit card would free up about $425 a month from our budget, but will that be enough?  I'm chomping at the bit.  It's every Dave Ramsey follower's dream to make the call to tell Dave that I'm debt free!   Long story short - we're almost there!

Debt Free Christmas
What do you know - we paid cash AGAIN for Christmas this year!  We stayed under $1000 for everyone (and that includes my son's 19th birthday which falls in there too)  $1000 is probably about $200 more than we spent last year I think, so it felt like we hit the lottery and betcha believe that I used coupons, hit sales, comparison shopped via Internet like you wouldn't believe. My motto - NEVER PAY FULL PRICE!!

Goals for 2011
Oh, I will be debt free this year.  That's not even a question.  We have our 20th anniversary and we WILL be celebrating that ....with CASH someplace nice, romantic and not HERE!   If all bodes well, I will be well into BS3 by the end of the year.

Baby Steps
Baby Step Four - Retirement.     That one's got a big "YEAH RIGHT" attached to it.  We're so far behind in saving for retirement, and with the markets the way they are - I'm not too gung ho for this step at all...
Baby Step Five - College.   My son just decided to go to school.  He'll be starting his freshman year at a state college.  Very proud of him.  Very happy to see that a lot of what money he has been gifted through his life will come close to paying for it, and he will be coming up with the rest. Or such is the game plan currently.

Where do you put this?
Is there a Baby Step Sub Category for this or is it just a budget line. Once this debt is gone, Once BS3 is complete, I want to save money for another car.  Husband's car is going on 7 years.  Not bad for a Hyundai. It could last for several more years {God willing}, but his inner child went looking at cars and is somehow figuring that 2012 is the death date of the Elantra.  We have a difference of opinion on that - but having a nest egg would be nice. 

The more things change the more they stay the same
Cash. Coupons. Envelopes. Budgets.  - the plan works if you stick to it!  Looking back at the debt we've paid off - well over $45k, I'm quite proud of how far we've come, HOWEVER - I don't feel comfortable trusting myself without our plan, without a budget -we'd fail.  by allowing the use of credit cards - we'd fail miserably.  Stick to the plan, Stan and have a Happy 2011! 

Been a long long time ....

Looks like I haven't posted on my blog in over a year.  Wow, that's REALLY good, Wendy!  It's been a whirlwind year, that I can promise you.  So let's backtrack just a touch.  Rewind to July 2010.

YEAR THREE UPDATE:
Gazelle?  No.  Steady?  Yes.  We entered our third year of getting out of debt by STILL using envelopes, STILL sticking to a monthly written budget, STILL paying cash, NO new debt and plugging away at that last credit card with the almost 0% for life APR and the loan on the Mazda. Monetarily, life was steadily moving forward.  Should we be out of debt by now?  Sure.  Could we have been?  Possibly.  Three envelopes got a little extra money than they had in the past:  Dining, Grocery and ENTERTAINMENT and the additional money placed in those envelopes could have helped out the debt.  To that I add: "ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES WENDY A DULL GIRL"

FAST FORWARD TO PRESENT:
Not the best of news but with a definite silver lining -
Writing on the wall:  Felt it coming.  Oh boy, did I ever feel it coming.  So much so that I was actually relieved to hear the words: "We're going to lay you off, Wendy."  It came at a good time.  While monetarily everything was working right, so many more aspects of life were not.  This time off is giving me the ability to work on getting everything on an even keel.  Meanwhile, on DH's workfront - several raises and a promotion since I last posted.  Our "storm cloud savings" has us set with a pretty good buffer for my off time. So much so that I could actually pay off the credit card, but with the cloud still looming. I'm waiting it out.  Quick thinking had me save for Christmas PRIOR to the layoff, so I had my 3rd Debt Free Christmas.

COUPONING:
Have had a lot more time to play the coupon game a little more, and have been on so many great blogs and message boards so I am back to saving some serious coin on groceries.  My stockpile has increased again.  It's amazing what a comfort it is having that stockpile.  It's like a safety net. 

Here's a few of the great places that I've been hanging out lately:

A Full Cup - Message Boards for just about ANY store you'd go to!
Couponers Welcome - Message Boards like above
Jill Cataldo - OMG! She's amazing!

So all in all, would Dave Ramsey be proud of me?  Not entirely.  He'd probably yank my ear and tell me we're dragging our feet and it shouldn't take this long to become debt free and that doesn't even begin to talk about retirement savings. I'm proud of how far out of the pit we've climbed, but there's always someone to tell me I'm doing it wrong. ;) 

End of August - Start of September Update

What we're doing - How we're doing
Summer is a hard time to stick to the budget. Isn't it? There's always something to do and only so much in the Entertainment Envelope to do it with. What to do when the itch isn't satisfied when the money runs out? We re-established our Netflix account and filled up our queue with movies we missed all summer.

Despite playing catch up with our slow months we had this year, we were able to take a real healthy bite out of the Chase credit card. The 0% teaser rate is over and I was really hoping to have knocked that out before that happened - but I also wanted to throw some of this extra money into the Gifts Fund because alas .... Christmas is coming! Don't shoot the messenger! The remaining balance will be under a grand and I'm hoping that my hours for fall won't change too much that it will accommodate saying "Zippee-dee-doo-da" to the Chase Disney Card AND fun the rest of my Christmas shopping.

Budget Lines that Need Help
We have to sit down and look at the budget really hard. We've been running with a strapped budget and using the extra summertime wealth to try to kill that Chase card. There are a few budget lines that got cut that I really need to start funding....and fast!!! House Maintenance and Vet Fund. I'm down to my last $100 in the House account and although we have a newer house, I'm not too terribly comfortable going into the winter months with a mere hundo in that account! We adopted two kittens (brother and sister) and the entry vet bills are a little more than I had anticipated or planned for. I've got a couple months to come up with Spay and Neuter money before little Miss Nala goes into her first heat!

No Credit Cards
Still no NEW DEBT on the credit cards! The credit card companies have been sending transfer checks like demons. I haven't cancelled any of my cards - but I did find that Sears closed my account due to inactivity. I'm not sure if I got a letter on that or not. I didn't pay attention to it.
I should probably pull my credit report and see what the dealio is with that and other cards. I wonder how that effects the credit score.

Our 2 Year TMMO Anniversary

July 1st marks our 2nd year of our Total Money Make Over with Dave Ramsey. Those who read my blog knows where I stand now.... but how did this all start for us?

How we got so far in debt - in a nutshell
Two Words: Credit Cards
One Idea: Living WELL past our means
Why?: Keeping up with the Joneses
Frame of Mind: Scared Stupid

It was just too easy to live on credit cards. It wasn't even that we were charging wonderful wardrobes, stereo equipment, vacations, posh furnishings for our house, etc. Because we weren't. Don't get me wrong, we were buying things we didn't really need but the brunt of our debt was basic survival charging: Groceries, Doctor's Visits, Bills, Dining Out, Diapers, Clothes, Gasoline etc. It was insane, but we charged over $1000. a month almost EVERY MONTH! Then there's Christmas, birthdays, weddings, etc. We didn't really see any problem with it as long as we were paying the min balance due every month - we were fine! Oh crack me in the head! It was just too easy to live on credit. The stupid thing (besides the obvious) is I could justify everything. I would cut coupons and save at the grocery store - but use my charge card to pay for it. I kept track of my grocery "savings" and put that money into a vacation fund so we could go to Disney. Stick with me on the thought process.

1. So I was taking money out of our checking account and moving it into a savings account for a Disney trip.
2. I used credit cards for the groceries at like a 12.5 APR.
3. Needed to use the charge card more because the extra cash was sitting in my savings instead of paying for things I needed or at least the groceries I bought!

Worse of all ... I didn't see a problem with this.

Our other survival tactic: The Balance Transfer Check
Can't pay the bill? Transfer the balance to another card! That means we don't have to make a payment this month! I did that often. Too often! Wayyyy too often.

So when Dave Ramsey says, "I've done Stupid." I can nod my head and raise my hand because friends... "I HAVE DONE STUPID!"

When to say when ...
I've attempted several times to throw up the white flag. "We need to cut back our credit card use" "We need to pay some of this stuff down" And we tapered down successfully for a little while... until a birthday or school clothes and supply shopping or Christmas. We were paying about what we were charging and while that was better than what we had been doing - it wasn't getting us anywhere! We were skimming yet we felt triumphant.

Finding the Light called Dave
Purely accidental. I had no idea who he was - this concept or anything about him until I was on a website/message board for coupons, deal hunters and freebie deals. There was a banner ad for Dave on there with comments from the forum regarding it. The banner ad was for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. I clicked the ad and have followed ever since!

The Cold Hard Truth
How bad is bad? The numbers paint a story. Dave's first lesson is to come to reality with the debt. Add it all up. Get a number. Find out what kind of hurdle you need to leap. Our hurdle was in access of $65k - easy! In fact, I can't find the exact number when we first started but I know it including some very high balances on credit cards that had been surfed there for safe keeping and a car payment. I had read about people committing suicide for being in debt less than that or at the very least filing bankruptcy to try to get rid of it. Embarrassment had kept me out of bankruptcy court at first - Dave has kept me out of it since. My debt. My responsibility.

Not Perfect
Last July there was a moment of weakness and her name is: Golden Sand Mazda 3 to the tone of $325 a month. It is what it is. It's proof that I'm human. It's proof that I am still capable of making bad choices. It's proof that although I have come a long way .. there's still traveling left to do. If I hadn't bought the car I would have had that much more going into the snowball and I'd be that much closer to being debt free.... but instead: I'll be stumbling through Baby Step Two a little longer. So be it. As the snowball works it's magic the car will be paid off in half the time the loan was for.

Happy Anniversary
Here we sit at our second year - a little smarter, a little more secure and a lot more happy!
What an experience!